this reminds me of a professor in probability who didn't have formal education

iirc, he was a 'magician' with cards or something ... who plays a lot with probability

he impressed a prof from ivy league uni, then got into grad school without having to do undergrad.

it happened around 1950, should be less possible now

actually around 2003 i had a friend doing master in EE, having background as chinese language teacher. An old chinese professor of her let her into the EE grad program :D she was really struggling :(