His English teacher at Beaufort (SC) High School encouraged him to be a writer. Conroy returned to the school as an English teacher himself. He also taught for a year at a two-room schoolhouse on Daufuskie Island, off the South Carolina coast.
Because of his father's career as a Marine Corps pilot, the family moved constantly, and Pat attended 11 schools in 12 years.
His father pressured him to accept a scholarship to the Citadel, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English in 1967.