Have you ever felt overwhelmed by your course load and wondered if it’s even worth it to finish your degree? Are you tired of hearing that you need a college certification to succeed, even though you’ve realized that what you’re doing may not be the best thing for you? Well, fear not, my exhausted friend — you’ll be happy to know that some of the most brilliant people in the world never even finished college!
That’s right, we’re talking about Steve Jobs, Rachel Ray, Ralph Lauren, and even Steven Spielberg. These titans all dropped out of college and became multi-millionaires (and, in some cases, billionaires) despite not having a degree. They proved that dropping out of college doesn’t necessarily mean giving up on the race to financial success and happiness. In fact, for these famous college dropouts, leaving higher education behind and following their personal projects ended up being the best decision they ever made for themselves.
If you’re considering leaving college to pursue your entrepreneurial dreams, take some inspiration from the stories of these atypical minds. And so you know, we’re not here saying that attending college is useless and you should leave it. We’re just here to tell you there’s always an alternative path in life, and quitting college doesn’t mean you’re automatically doomed to an unhappy existence. Hearing the stories of people who, at a certain point in their life, also considered the idea of leaving everything behind may be exactly what you need right now.
So take a break from your study and check out this list of millionaires and billionaires who dropped out of college. From tech giants like Daniel Ek and Mark Zuckerberg to entertainment moguls like Oprah Winfrey and Lady Gaga, these successful college dropouts showed that higher education isn’t the be-all and end-all. Whether they were discouraged by their professors or wanted to pursue their own paths, these business leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists have proved that life-long learning, skills, and mindset are undoubtedly fundamental — but a college degree? Not necessarily.
#1 Princess Diana
Although Diana Spencer, the princess of Wales, was an accomplished musician and philanthropist, she was not exactly a top student. She struggled at West Heath Girls’ School and even failed her O-level exams. Things didn’t get much better for her when she moved on to a school in Switzerland, as she ended up dropping out there too. For a while, she had to rely on mundane jobs to get by, but she rose to fame by using her royal status to make a positive impact on the world.
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26points
#2 Steven Spielberg
In the late 1960s, Steven Spielberg left Cal State Long Beach to focus on his TV directing career. After racking up three Oscars, he returned to school and eventually graduated from Long Beach in 2002.
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22points
#3 Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, is probably the most famous college dropout of all time. He attended Reed College in Oregon for just one semester before he had to leave due to a lack of funds. In a 1991 speech at the school, Steve admitted, “I ran out of money.”
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21points
#4 Quentin Tarantino
The award-winning movie master Quentin Tarantino said goodbye to Narbonne High in Harbor City, California, at age 15. He found himself working as an usher at an adult film theater while taking acting lessons when he could.
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21points
#5 Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak, one of Apple’s co-founders, said he didn’t really “drop out” of UC Berkeley — he just took a break to earn some cash for his fourth year of college and didn’t return for more than a decade. Despite the lengthy pause, he eventually earned his bachelor’s degree from Berkeley in 1986.
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20points
#6 Alicia Keys
In the 90s, Alicia Keys ditched her studies at Columbia University after just four weeks to snag a music deal with Columbia Records, as she revealed in an Oprah Magazine interview. And we all know how that turned out — she went on to win an insane number of Grammys!
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18points
#7 Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga, a winner of both Grammys and an Oscar, attended New York University’s Tisch drama school in the late 2000s but didn’t graduate.
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17points
#8 Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy attended New York’s Nassau Community College for a hot minute, but his comical soul got him recognition and launched his career as a comedy superstar. At just 19 years old, he became a household name thanks to his hilarious sketches and impressions on the iconic Saturday Night Live show.
17points
#9 Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks decided to drop out of university after studying theater for two years. He took an internship with a theater company in Ohio, where he spent years learning about all aspects of theater production. Hanks enjoyed watching theater shows and became familiar with famous playwrights. Six years after starting with the company, he finally got his big break with the film Splash.
17points
#10 James Cameron
Oscar-winning director, screenwriter, and producer James Cameron quit Fullerton College in 1974, where he used to study physics.
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17points
#11 Bill Gates
Bill Gates, the business magnate and philanthropist, took a break from Harvard after his second year and returned for a bit before finally dropping out for good after his third year. Both times, he decided to leave school to put all of his energy into his company, Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975.
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16points
#12 Ashton Kutcher
In the 90s, Ashton Kutcher was all set to become a biochemical engineer at the University of Iowa. But then he had a change of heart and decided to try his hand at modeling instead. And that choice ended up leading him to act and invest in tech. As he told Newsweek, “I pursued something I was passionate about, and I haven’t felt like I’ve worked a day even though I work every day. That was the right decision for me.”
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16points
#13 Vin Diesel
Hunter College revealed that before becoming a famous actor, Vin Diesel was an English major at their New York campus in the late 80s. However, he left school to follow his dreams of acting.
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16points
#14 James Dean
James Dean started his college journey at UCLA as a pre-law transfer student from Santa Monica College. However, he quickly switched his major to drama, landed a role in a UCLA production of “Macbeth,” received a less-than-stellar review, and decided to give the New York stage a shot after dropping out.
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16points
#15 Walt Disney
At 16, Walt Disney decided he had had enough of school and quit. He created a wildly successful company that rakes in around $30 billion every year. And on top of that, he went on to become the greatest animator of all time.
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16points
#16 Brad Pitt
Brad Pitt, actor and producer with two Oscars under his belt, dropped out of the University of Missouri two weeks before graduating with a journalism degree and headed straight to LA. As he told “Fresh Air,” he was just “done” with college and knew where he wanted to go.
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15points
#17 Jack Dorsey
Jack Dorsey, the mastermind behind Twitter and Square, couldn’t seem to stick with college. He left the Missouri University of Science and Technology in his junior year and NY University before graduation to pursue a short-lived project. At one point, Dorsey admitted to feeling like a failure in his mid-20s.
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15points
#18 Madonna
Madonna, queen of pop and dance floor royalty, is also a college dropout, having studied at the University of Michigan for a couple of years before heading to the bright lights of New York. Who could have imagined leaving higher education behind for a music career would turn our girl Madge into a household name?
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14points
#19 Richard Branson
You may not believe it, but the famous businessman Richard Branson started by quitting school and launching a magazine called “Student.” Later, he moved to London and started a record company called Virgin to finance his magazine. Fast forward to today, and Branson’s empire includes an airline, a drinks company, and over 400 ventures.
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14points
#20 David Geffen
David Geffen wasn’t exactly a college success story. He left the University of Texas at Austin after only a few months, according to PBS. However, that didn’t stop him from co-founding DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg.
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13points