In his biography of Musk, Ashlee Vance described Musk as an awkward and introverted child.
When Musk was age ten, he developed an interest in computing and video games, teaching himself how to program from the VIC-20 user manual.
At age twelve, he sold his BASIC-based game Blastar to PC and Office Technology magazine for approximately $500.
Musk attended Waterkloof House Preparatory School, Bryanston High School, and Pretoria Boys High School, from which he graduated
Musk applied for a Canadian passport through his Canadian-born mother knowing that it would be easier to immigrate to the United States this way.
While waiting for his application to be processed, he attended the University of Pretoria for five months.
Musk arrived in Canada in June 1989 and spent a year working odd jobs in Saskatchewan with a second cousin on a farm and lumber mill.
In 1990, he entered Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
Two years later, he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he completed studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics and a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the Wharton School in 1995
He reportedly hosted large, ticketed house parties to help pay for tuition, and wrote a business plan for an electronic book-scanning service similar to Google Books.