Any other college grads with no desire to settle for corp. America?

[newcool]

I'm going to graduate from college soon with a business/finance degree from a top 20 school. Every one of my classmates has the standard pattern of thought of going to grad school or getting a standard job in corporate America. A few times a year we have job fairs where all the top employers(google,cisco,boeing,morgan,ml,etc) come to campus and everyone tries their hardest to make a good impression and kiss ass to get hired just to settle into a typical corporate job with no other aspirations.

This just absolutely sickens me; so many bright young people who are content and eager to work for someone else, and they act like getting hired by a large corporation is a blessing and that it is the best way to proceed in life. I have periodically thought about working on wall street in sales&trading for a few years just to accumulate money.

However, I just cannot see myself taking this path and ending up in a boring 9-5 corporate job like everyone else I know. I mean my parents, relatives and friends all have regular jobs working for someone else and even though they may make a good amount of money it just seems like such a restricted standard way to live. Don't get me wrong, it is very respectable to work a steady job for your whole life. However I feel that in 60 years when I look back on my life I would feel nothing but regret at least not trying to achieve something better.

The only way I can see myself proceeding is starting my own venture and carving out my own path. However I realize that very few people actually make it bigtime, some end up as average business owners, and the majority simply fail and don't accomplish anything. I want to make it bigtime, but I realize that there is a very high probability I will end up as a failure with nothing to show for all my hopes and plans.

My relatives, especially the older ones, want me to get a good paying corporate job because they think that is the only way to become someone in life. I'm a firm believer of the phrase "If you keep doing what you've been doing you'll keep getting what you've been getting". I can see how everyone I know lives their life and by doing what they are doing, there is no way to achieve something greater. I try to explain this to my relatives and they think I'm talking out of my ass and that there is no other path to take.

Simply put, I want to accomplish something great in my lifetime, but know that chances are stacked against me and that I will end up as a failure like the millions of people before me who also wanted to achieve greatness. Do those who make it bigtime attribute it to attitude or dumb luck? Does anyone else feel the same way? Anyone been down this path before that can offer some advice? Thanks for reading.