Which university did Jack Kerouac attend on a football scholarship before leaving without graduating?

Jack Kerouac attended Columbia University on a football scholarship before leaving without graduating.

Kerouac entered Columbia in New York City in 1940 after first attending Horace Mann School, where he had gained attention as a football player. An injury and disagreements with the coaching staff ended his football career, and he soon left Columbia without completing a degree.

His time in New York remained important to his writing. At Columbia and in the surrounding city, he met people who became central to the Beat circle, including Allen Ginsberg and Lucien Carr. These relationships helped shape the characters, friendships, and restless urban atmosphere later associated with his novels.

A common mistake is to say Kerouac graduated from Columbia or studied there mainly as a literature student. He did not graduate. His later writing drew on his education, travel, friendships, and experiences at sea, but his football scholarship and unfinished university career are firmly documented parts of his biography.