If the Career Fair left you thinking that your Stanford education might restrict you to a career as either a consultant or a systems engineer, fear not. Fellow Stanford students have broken out of the starting-salary-is-ridiculous mold and become successful, often productive members of society at large. Having scoured Wikipedia for alumni, I feel qualified to say that I have chosen the most important of the bunch to share with you.

1. Jennifer Connelly

Academy Award-Winning actress best known for standing her ground on the issue of whether or not thick eyebrows are attractive (they are! And hers are quite becoming) has not yet officially graduated from Stanford University, where she pursues a degree in English, like many of our famous alums. She can be seen this fall in "Reservation Road," in which she plays a grief-stricken wife.

2. Jay Roach

You may not know his name, but you know his work. The director of such hit comedy franchises as "Austin Powers" and "Meet the Parents," Roach uses his Stanford education to forge a new and inventive language for comedy based on the Marxist ideal that history is a history of progress. See, you can take Marxist theory to the bank. Roach is also married, tangentially, to Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of The Bangles, whose hit "Walk Like an Egyptian" reminds us that the 1980s was a time of great strife.

3. Alexander Payne

Academy Award-winning writer and director of films such as "Sideways" and "Election," Payne is perhaps best known as the co-writer of this summer's "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." His affiliation with the film, while considered "slumming it" by some, is a reminder to the population at large that SLE kids like Adam Sandler movies. (Payne, like so many brilliant people, chose to enroll in SLE as a freshman.)

Kameelah Phillips

If you were worried that your desire to be a part of reality television would interfere with the MCAT, Stanford alumnus and former "Real World" cast member Kameelah Phillips has lived your dream! While on "The Real World: Boston," Phillips was a Stanford pre-med. Many of you may remember her from this season (I do!), and you should be happy to know that the college student who said she wanted to be a doctor was part of USC Medical School's Class of 2006.

6. Joel Stein

Once the coolest advisee of Seth Lehrer, Joel Stein is now the most adored writer in the English language. He writes for Time and has a column in The Los Angeles Times, the paper of record in America's most despised major metropolitan area. Last year, he deigned to do an interview with Intermission and appear on the cover, which led to our highest newsstand sales in history (we sold one copy to a rabid "I Love the 90s" fan for a $1 profit!).

7. Charles Schwab

When you see the name Charles Schwab, you think money, not Stanford, which is, in many ways, strange because Stanford has an obsession with money. But Charles Schwab is actually the brainchild of one Stanford alum with an affinity for entrepreneurship: Charles Schwab, Class of '59. One day, you too can have commercials about how your massive financial firm actually cares about its customers!

8. Adam West

TV's original Batman and current Mayor of Quahog took classes at Stanford after receiving his undergraduate degree. Wikipedia says he was a grad student while IMDB says that he was simply attending classes of interest. Only the Registrar knows for sure. To the Batmobile!

9. Reese Witherspoon

Like Jennifer Connelly, this Academy Award-winning actress has not completed her Stanford degree. Perhaps our inability to get smart, talented women to graduate contributes to our perpetual #4 ranking in US News. Regardless, Witherspoon is currently "dating" Jake Gyllenhaal, her co-star in the upcoming film "Rendition," and bringing home $15 million per movie. Not bad for a college drop-out!

10. Tiger Woods

Arguably the most dominant athlete in sports today, Woods spent four quarters at Stanford before dropping out to play golf for a living. Tiger lived in Larkin his freshman year (when he also won the NCAA individual golf title) before joining Sigma Chi, where he lived for a quarter with the rest of his golf buddies. The owner of 13 major

championships (second all-time) and 61 PGA Tour titles (fifth), Woods will likely own every record in the books when he retires. Oh yeah, and he'll probably be the richest athlete of all time, too.

11. Chelsea Clinton

America's once and future first daughter lived in Branner as a freshman and was a SLE tutor as an upperclassman, just like any upstanding young person. After working for McKinsey and breaking up with her Rhodes Scholar boyfriend, she now works for a hedge fund and is dating a nice, Jewish boy who also happened to graduate from Stanford.

12. Mitt Romney

The Governor of Massachusetts and sometimes front-runner in Republican Race to the Whitehouse, Romney completed two quarters at Stanford before transferring to Brigham Young University. Though he left Stanford, the spirit stayed alive within him.