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The
College DropoutsNeed Not Go to College |
Famous and Successful People
Who Were High School or College Dropouts
I'm a firm believer that most college students would be better off dropping out of school and investing the money they now spend on college. Then take the four years they would have spent on college and travel, work, play, and spend time with smart people talking about important things. It would be your choice on what's important, not a professor, not a dean, not a faculty committee.
You don't have to go to college to be a success. Even if you go for awhile, you don't have to graduate to be a success. Here are just a few of the people who have become famous and/or successful without graduating from college and/or high school.
S. Daniel Abraham, billionaire founder of Slim-Fast. Joined the Army at the age of 18 and fought in Europe during World War II. Did not attend college.
Gautam Adani, commodities billionaire from India. Dropped out of college.
Sheldon Adelson, billionaire casino owner. Dropped out of City College of New York to become a court reporter. He made his first fortune doing trade shows.
Ben Affleck, actor, screenwriter. Left the University of Vermont after one semester; then dropped out of Occidental College to pursue acting.
Dennis Albaugh, billionaire founder of pesticide company Albaugh Inc. Earned a 2-year agriculture business degree from Des Moines Community College. Did not continue on to a 4-year degree.
Paul Allen, billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, owner of Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers. Dropped out of Washington State.
Woody Allen, screenwriter, actor, director, and producer. Was thrown out of New York University after one semester for poor grades. As he admitted, “I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics final. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.”
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin, wrestler, actor. Dropped out of the University of North Texas a few credits shy of a physical education degree.
Jimmy Santiago Baca, poet, activist, and filmmaker. At a young age, he ran away from the orphanage and lived on the streets, spending some time in juvenile detention centers. Before he was imprisoned for seven years for a narcotics conviction (a charge he's denied), he was functionally illiterate. During his time in prison, he taught himself to read and write, eventually earning a GED. Baca has written ten books of poetry, a memoir, a book of essays, a book of short stories, a play, and a screenplay for the 1993 film Bound by Honor.
Steve Ballmer, billionaire chief of Microsoft. Dropped out of the Stanford MBA program to join Microsoft.
Ronald Baron, billionaire money manager, founder of Baron Capital. Dropped out of George Washington University law school to pursue a career on Wall Street.
T. Bubba Bechtol, comedian and radio show host. Transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi his junior year but left soon thereafter. As he notes, “There was one course I was looking for that wasn't in the curriculum catalog: How to Make Money. So I left.” Nonetheless, he was inducted into the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Hall of Fame in 2005.
Kate Beckinsale, actress. Dropped out of Oxford University to pursue her acting career. Starred in Nothing But the Truth, Much Ado About Nothing, Snow Angels, Winged Creatures, Van Helsing, Whiteout, and the Underworld series.
Natasha Bedingfield, singer. Dropped out of college after her freshman year to pursue a music career. Her Unwritten album debuted at #1 in England.
Robert Bergman, portrait photographer. Dropped out of the University of Minnesota.
Carl Bernstein, Watergate reporter, Washington Post. Never finished college. Started as a copy boy at the Washington Star at the age of 16.
Halle Berry, Oscar-winning actress. After high school, she moved to Chicago to pursue a career in modeling.
Joey Bishop, actor, comedian. Never finished high school.
Timonthy Blixseth, billionaire founder of Yellowstone Club. Skipped college, failed as a professional songwriter. Made his first fortune as a timberland investor. At the age of 15, he bought 3 donkeys for $75 and resold them a week later as pack mules.
Ray Bradbury, science fiction author. Never went to college. “I never went to college. I went to the library.”
Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Music, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and other Virgin enterprises, billionaire, balloonist. Left high school when he was 16.
Sergey Brin, founder of Google, billionaire. Dropped out of Stanford Ph.D. program in computer science to start Google in 1998 working out of a friend's garage.
Edgar Bronfman Jr., billionaire heir to the Seagram liquor fortune. Skipped college to pursue a career as a songwriter and movie producer, but soon began running the Seagram corporation.
Ronald Burkle, billionaire supermarkets owner and investor, Yucaipa. Dropped out of college and returned home to work in family's grocery store. Had started early stocking shelves, joined union local as a box boy at age 13.
Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist. Started work at the age of 13 as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. One of the first mega-billionaires in the U.S.
Julia Carson, U.S. congress representative, did not graduate from college. She was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis.
John Catsimatidis, billionaire oilman and real estate magnate. Studied engineering at NYU but dropped out to help a friend save his family's supermarket business. Owned 10 stores of his own by the age of 24 with $25 million per year in income. During college, he “did not study much. Would not tell my kids that.”
Eleanor Clift, reporter, Newsweek. No college degree. Went to night school for several years while working as a secretary.
Patrick Collison, software wizard. Dropped out of MIT during his freshman year to help two friends develop and eventually sell Auctomatic for millions of dollars.
Christine Comaford-Lynch, founder of Artemis Ventures (venture capital firm) and Mighty Ventures. Dropped out of high school. Later also dropped out of the University of California at San Diego and UCLA. Dabbled as a model, trained as a geisha, spent years as a Buddhist monk, dated Bill Gates and Larry Ellison. She is the author of Rules of Renegades.
Sean John Combs, rapper, producer, fashion designer, entertainer, actor, and entrepreneur. Did not finish college. As he said in an interview in Time magazine, “I'm just not that type of person. As soon as I got out of the womb, I was ready to do this. Then there's other times—I'm not really high-tech computer savvy, and there's some things that I do have weaknesses with. I don't know if school would have made that better for me. I'm cool the way I've turned out.”
Jackie Coogan, actor. Flunked out of Santa Clara University and transferred to the University of Southern California, but never graduated.
James Fenimore Cooper, novelist. Was kicked out of college for a prank.
Simon Cowell, TV producer, music judge, American Idol, Britain's Got Talent, and The X Factor. A member of Forbes 2008 Celebrity 100, he made $72 million in 2007. He dropped out of school at the age of 16.
James M. Cox, newspaper publisher, 3-term governor of Ohio, presidential nominee in 1920, founded Cox Enterprises. A high school dropout.
Claire Danes, actress. Left Yale after two years to return to acting, but did say that “College was just so essential for my sense of self and my development.”
Sammy Davis, Jr., singer, actor, comedian. Never finished high school.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, billionaire, among top ten wealthiest Americans. Founded his company out of his college dorm room. Dropped out of the University of Texas to run the company.
Barry Diller, billionaire, Hollywood mogul, Internet maven, chairman of IAC/InterActive Corp (owner of Ask.com, Ticketmaster, CitySearch, Evite, LendingTree.com, etc.). The son of a wealthy real estate developer, he attended Beverly Hills High School but dropped out of UCLA to work in the mail room of William Morris.
Snoop Dogg, rapper and actor. Never attended college. “A lot of people like to fool you and say that you're not smart if you never went to college, but common sense rules over everything. That's what I learned from selling crack.”
Dominique Dunne, actress. Went to the University of Colorado to study acting, leaving after one year to pursue her career as an actress.
Thomas Edison, inventor of the phonograph, light bulb, and many other inventions. He quit formal schooling after his teacher called him addled. Was home-schooled by his mother. Joined the railroad at the age of 12.
Albert Einstein, Nobel prize-winning physicist. At the age of 15, he dropped out of prep school because of its militaristic bent. Then attended Zurich Polytechnic. At the age of 16, he conducted a thought experiment that led to his theory of relativity.
Larry Ellison, billionaire co-founder of Oracle. Dropped out of the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois.
Queen Elizabeth II, queen of England. Tutored at the palace. Did not attend school.
Israel Englander, billionaire hedge fund manager. Dropped out of NYU's MBA program to work fulltime on Wall Street.
Shawn Fanning, developer of Napster. Dropped out of school when 19.
William Faulkner, Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning novelist. Never graduated from high school.
Harrison Ford, actor. Dropped out of Ripon College. He worked as a carpenter for almost ten years before finding success as an actor in Star Wars and other movies.
Henry Ford, billionaire founder of Ford Motor Company. Left his home on the farm to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, Michigan. Later ran a sawmill and became a chief engineer for Edison Illuminating Company before starting the Ford Motor Company.
Aretha Franklin, singer. Dropped out of high school.
J. B. Fuqua, industrialist, philanthropist. Never attended college, but learned about business by checking out books from the Duke University library through the mail. Later donated $36 million to support a business school at Duke.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, richest man in the world, philanthropist. Dropped out of Harvard after his second year. As he noted, “I realized the error of my ways and decided I could make do with a high school diploma.”
David Geffen, founder of Geffen Records and co-founder of DreamWorks, billionaire. Dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin after his freshman year. Admittedly, “I was a lousy student.” Started work by sorting mail at the William Morris Agency.
Alan Gerry, billionaire cable TV executive. Dropped out of high school during World War II to join the Marines. Trained as a TV repairman on the GI bill. Launched his cable business with $1,500 in 1956.
Alex Gordon, professional baseball player. “What would I do if I weren’t a ballplayer? I would have finished college. I went to Nebraska, and I’m good with animals, so being a veterinarian would have been cool. I looked into it in college, but I was so busy with baseball that I didn’t have time for it.”
Kelsey Grammar, actor. Attended Juilliard for two years but was kicked out for poor attendance. Went on to acting success in Cheers, Frasier, and Back to You television shows.
David Green, billionaire founder of Hobby Lobby, religious philanthropist. Did not attend college.
Philip Green, billionaire retail mogul, Topshop. Dropped out of high school to apprentice with a shoe importer.
Gene Hackman, actor. Discharged after six years in the Marines, he entered college as a journalism major but after six months he dropped out for good. Since then he's earned an Academy Award for best actor (The Conversation) and an Academy Award for best supporting actor (Unforgiven).
Joyce C. Hall, founder of Hallmark. Started selling greeting cards at the age of 18 while living at a YMCA in Kansas City. Did not attend college.
Louise Hay, one of the bestselling authors in history and owner of Hay House. Of other famous women authors, Levine Breaking News has noted, “They did not change the spiritual landscape of America and several of its Western allies. They were not pregnant at 15 and they did not lack high-school diplomas.” Louise Hay did.
William Randolph Hearst, newspaper publisher and movie producer, was thrown out of Harvard for poor grades (apparently due to heavy partying).
Kenneth Hendricks, billionaire founder of ABC Supply, the largest supplier of roofing and siding materials to contractors. Dropped out of high school and eventually joined the family roofing company.
Kevin Hendricks, roofing store operator. Skipped college to go into the roofing business. His high school graduation present was $100, a nail bag, and a roofing hammer. Later, he turned a money-losing store into ABC Supply's biggest profit center.
John Henton, actor, comedian. Never finished at Ohio State University. “I never ended up going back to Ohio State. I just wanted to be a comedian, you know, and I was getting a good response.”
Eric Hoffer, longshoreman, philosopher, and author. A self-educated philosopher, he was at various times a dishwasher, lumberjack, gold prospector, migrant farm worker, and longshoreman. He is author of The True Believer, Working and Thinking at the Waterfront, and Reflections on the Human Condition.
Ernest Holmes, founder of the Science of Mind churches and author of The Science of Mind, ended his formal schooling when he was fifteen.
John Hughes, director, producer, and screenwriter. Dropped out of Arizona State University in his junior year.
D. L. Hughley, sales manager, actor, comedian. Never finished high school. He got his job as a sales manager by paying “a guy I knew at Cal State Long Beach $100 to tell personnel that I was just a few credits short of graduating from college.”
H. Wayne Huizenga, billionaire founder of WMX garbage company, builder of Blockbuster video chain, owner of Miami Dolphins. Skipped college to join the Army. Started business in 1962 with a used garbage truck.
Don Imus, national radio host. Dropped out of college after a week.
Reggie Jackson, baseball player. Attended Arizona State University for two years before he was drafted by the Kansas City Athletics.
Micky Jagtiani, billionaire retailer, Landmark International. Flunked several exams and dropped out of accounting school in London. Started out cleaning hotel rooms and driving a taxi. Eventually started a retail business in the Middle East.
T. D. Jakes, pastor, bestselling novelist. Dropped out of high school.
Peter Jennings, news anchor, ABC. Left high school at 16 to work as a bank teller.
Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Computers and Pixar Animation, billionaire. Dropped out of Reed College after six months and went to India before returning to Silicon Valley. As he said, “I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and how college was going to help me figure it out.”
Billy Joel, singer and songwriter. A high school dropout.
John Johannesson, founder of Bauger Group fashion retailing group, finished Commercial College in Iceland (the equivalent of something between high school and junior college in the U.S.) and then launched a discount grocery with his father.
Bruce Johnson, cosmetologist and owner of Avatar Salon & Wellness Spa. Dropped out of the University of Maryland 26 credits shy of an engineering degree to study cosmetology. “I wasn't loving engineering. I was just doing it. ... I don't think I would have been as stimulated by a career in engineering. I wanted to be happy and successful,” he says. “You're not supposed to leave college. It was a struggle. But my heart was in this.” Now his clients include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Kenny Johnson, founder of Dial-A-Waiter restaurant delivery service. Dropped out of Wichita State University.
Jeffrey Kalmikoff, cofounder and chief creative officer of Treadless.com. Never graduated from college.
Ingvar Kamprad, billionaire founder of IKEA, one of the richest people in the world. A dyslexic, he never attended college. When he was 17, his father gave him a reward for succeeding in his studies. He used this money to establish what became IKEA. As a child, he peddled matches, Christmas decorations, fish, and other sundries via his bicycle.
Garson Kanin, screenwriter, playwright, novelist, memoirist, director. A high school dropout.
Ben Kaufman, 21-year-old serial entrepreneur, founder of Kluster (a virtual forum that allows consumers and businesses to collaborate on the design of products and services). Dropped out of college in his freshman year.
Alicia Keys, singer and songwriter. Graduated from New York's Professional Performing Arts School at age 16. She enrolled at Columbia University but dropped out after a semester to sign with Columbia Records.
Jared Kim, founder of WeGame. Dropped out of the University of California at Berkeley halfway through the spring semester of his freshman year to devote himself full-time to starting the online gaming site WeGame.
Heidi Klum, German supermodel, actress, fashion designer, television producer, and host of Project Runway and Germany's Next Topmodel. One of Forbe's 2008 Celebrity 100, she makes $14 million per year. Became a model immediately after graduating from high school.
Bruce Kovner, billionaire hedge fund operator. Dropped out of a Ph.D. program at Harvard to drive a taxi in New York City.
Chad Kroeger, frontman for Nickelback rock group. In a Playboy magazine interview, he noted that “I didn't go to school. I mean, after the eighth or ninth grade, I don't remember going to school five days out of the week, ever.” He was a few credits short of graduating from high school when he left school and took to the road.
Peter La Haye, Sr., inventor of plastic replacement lenses for cataract patients, owner of La Haye Laboratories and Neoptx. Dropped out of high school.
Ralph Lauren, billionaire fashion designer, founder of Polo. Left the City College of New York business school to design ties for Beau Brummel.
Peter Lawford, actor. Never finished high school.
Doris Lessing, novelist. At the age of 14, she chose to end her formal schooling. She then worked as a nanny, telephone operator, office worker, stenographer, and journalist. Her first novel was published when she was 31. She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007.
Rush Limbaugh, the most popular radio talk show host ever. Never graduated from college. Dropped out after being required to take ballroom dancing at college.
Abraham Lincoln, lawyer, U.S. president. Finished barely a year of formal schooling.
Carl Lindner, billionaire investor, founder of United Dairy Farmers. Dropped out of high school at the age of 14 to deliver milk for the family store during the Depression.
John Mackey, founder of Whole Foods. Dropped out of college six times. Never took a business course.
Harry Macklowe, billionaire real estate developer. Dropped out of college to become a real estate broker.
Steve Madden, shoe designer. Dropped out of college to sell shoes on Long Island.
Ivory Madison, comic book author and founder of the Red Room social network for authors. Dropped out of school at the age of 13. Eventually went to law school without finishing high school or attending college.
Dean Martin, singer, actor. Never finished high school.
Manuel Marulanda, aka Pedro Antonio Marin, leader of the revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The son of a peasant farmer, he had only a sixth-grade education.
Billy Joe (Red) McCombs, billionaire founder of Clear Channel media empire, car dealerships, real estate investor. Dropped out of law school to sell cars in 1950. He owned his first automobile dealership by age 25.
Malachy McCourt, actor, author. Dropped out of school at the age of 13.
Gardner McKay, actor, novelist. Dropped out of Cornell University after two years.
Hendrik Meijer, founder of Meijer grocery stores. Worked as a barber during the depression. Did not attend college.
Chris Morrison, co-founder of PLP Digital Systems (software company). Earns more than $500,000 per year. Dropped out of high school.
Kate Moss, multi-millionaire model. Attended a little bit of college, but never graduated.
David Murdock, billionaire investor. Funding a $1.5 billion health research campus in North Carolina. Dropped out of high school.
George Naddaff, founder of Boston Chicken and UFood Grill. Never attended college. As he put it, “School and I did not work out. So at age 17 and a half, I joined the Army.” And, when he got out of the Army, his dad said if you're not going to college, you get a job. He did. The next day.
David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue airlines. Dropped out of the University of Utah after three years.
Jake Nickell, cofounder and CEO of Treadless.com. Never graduated from college.
Joel Osteen, TV pastor and host of the most-watched inspirational TV show in the U.S. Dropped out of Oral Roberts University. Has sold more than 4 million copies of Your Best Life Now.
Dan Panoz, founder of Panoz Auto Development car design firm. Dropped out of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Gainesville College.
Larry Page, founder of Google, billionaire. Dropped out of Stanford Ph.D. program in computer science to start Google in 1998 working out of a friend's garage.
Nelson Peltz, billionaire leveraged buyout investor. Dropped out of Wharton Business School.
Pinetop Perkins, blues pianist. Left school after the third grade.
Andrew Perlman, co-founder of GreatPoint. Dropped out of Washington University to start an Internet communications company, Cignal Global Communications, when he was 19.
Brad Pitt, actor, left the University of Missouri two credits short of graduating so he could begin his acting career in California.
Sidney Poitier, Oscar-winning actor, only finished a few grades.
Sydney Pollack, movie director, producer, and actor. Skipped college and enrolled at the Neighborhood Playhouse, where he studied under drama coach Sanford Meisner.
Ashley Qualls, founder of Whateverlife.com, left high school at the age of 15 to devote full time to her website business where she made more than a million dollars by the age of 17.
Stewart Rahr, billionaire founder of Kinray pharmacy distributor. Dropped out of law school in 1975 to take over family pharmacy.
Usher Raymond IV, quadruple platinum singer. He won the Star Search male teen vocalist competition when he was 18. He was signed to a music label immediately thereafter.
Kamilla Reid, book author. A high school dropout.
Marc Rich, billionaire commodities investor, built Philbro into the world's largest commodities firm, founded Marc Rich & Co. Dropped out of NYU to take a job in the mail room of Philipp Brothers on Wall Street.
Leandro Rizzuto, billionaire founder of Conair. Dropped out of college to found Conair with a $100 investment and the invention of a hot-air hair roller invention.
Seth Rogan, actor, comedian, and screenwriter, dropped out of high school.
Ray Romano, actor, Everybody Loves Raymond. Went to college for seven years but never graduated. “I would get my student loans, get money, register and never really go. It was a system I thought would somehow pan out.”
Theodore Roosevelt, U.S. president. Attended school only for a few months. Was tutored at home.
Karl Rove, presidential advisor. Left the University of Utah after two years to work for the college Republicans.
Michael Rubin, founder of Global Sports. Dropped out of Villanova University after six months. He admits, “If I had to do it over again, I would have gone to college. I missed out on that. The business responsibilities weighted hard on me in my late teens and early 20s.”
Phillip Ruffin, billionaire casino operator. Dropped out of college to flip burgers. Later saved money to invest in oil and real estate. Eventually got into casinos. The best day of his life? August 10, 2007. The day he put $1.24 billion into his checking account.
William Safire, columnist for the New York Times. Dropped out of Syracuse University to take a job as a researcher for a column.
Richard Schulze, billionaire founder of Best Buy. After high school, he sold electronics for his father's distribution company. Did not attend college.
Tom Selleck, actor. Left USC three classes short of a degree to become a contract player for 20th Century Fox. “I started out at about $35 a week, so it was a pretty big risk to leave college to do that. But it's like my dad always said: Risk is the price you pay for opportunity.”
Martin Sheen (Ramon Gerard Estevez), actor. Never attended college until he went for a few months in 2006.
J. Earl Shoaff, the Millionaire Maker, never graduated from high school.
Walter Shorenstein, billionaire investor, Shorenstein Properties. Dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania. Began buying commercial property after serving in the military during World War II.
Richard Schulze, billionaire retailer, Best Buy. Never attended college. Instead sold electronics for his father and opened a car-stereo shop in 1966.
John Simplot, billionaire potato king. Dropped out of 8th grade and left home at the age of 14. He sorted potatos and raised hogs before saving enough money to buy his first potato field. Became a millionaire by the age of 30.
Frank Sinatra, singer, actor. Never finished high school.
O. Bruton Smith, billionaire. “I didn't attend college, but still had a good time. I think I probably had more fun than any human deserves a right to have.”
Will Smith, Grammy-winning rapper, actor. Did not attend college. As the Fresh Prince, he and DJ Jazzy Jeff released their first album before he finished high school. They received the first Grammy for a hip-hop act. Due to the success of that first album, Smith decided to forgo college for show business.
Daniel Snyder, communications mogul, owner of the Washington Redskins. Dropped out of college.
Steven Spielberg, billionaire movie director and producer, co-founder of DreamWorks. Rejected by the best film schools, he enrolled in and then dropped out of Cal State Long Beach.
Ringo Starr, drummer for the Beatles. He did not attend college.
Ben Stiller, actor. Went to the UCLA film school for nine months and then headed for Broadway.
W. Clement Stone, insurance businessman, founder of Success magazine, and author of a number of books on positive mental attitudes. At the age of six, he sold newspapers on the south side of Chicago. By the age of 13, he owned his own newsstand. He continued to work odd jobs until his mother bought a small insurance agency, where he helped her by selling insurance. At the age of 21, with $100 in his pocket, he established the Combined Registry Company insurance business which he built into a multi-million dollar business.
Alfred Taubman, billionaire chairman of Sotheby, real estate investor. Dropped out of the University of Michigan. Made his first fortune investing in shopping malls.
Jack Crawford Taylor, billionaire founder of Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Dropped out of Washington University to serve as a fighter pilot in the Navy during World War II. Sold cars after the war before starting a car leasing company.
Leo Tolstoy, count, novelist (War and Peace, Anna Karenina). Dropped out after three years at the university.
John Travolta, actor. His parents allowed him to drop out of Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey for one year to pursue a theatrical career. He never returned.
Ted Turner, founder of CNN and TBS, owner of Atlanta Braves, billionaire, philanthropist, America's largest landowner with 1.8 million acres. Was asked to leave Brown University during his fourth year. Got suspended twice, once for having a girl in his room and he doesn't remember the second reason. “I'm down to a little more than a billion. You can get by on that if you really economize and don't buy a lot of planes and yachts and stuff.”
Albert Ueltschi, billionaire founder of FlightSafety International. Dropped out of the University of Kentucky to follow his passion, flying planes. After flying for PanAm for ten years, he founded FlightSafety.
Donald Eugene Ulrich, aka Don Rich, country music guitarist and fiddler. Quit college to join The Buckaroos. The band had 19 #1 country hits during the 1960s.
Jesse “The Body” Ventura, wrestler, actor, Minnesota governor. Dropped out of North Hennepin Community College after one year.
Andy Wachowski, screenwriter, director, The Matrix. Dropped out of Emerson College.
Larry Wachowski, screenwriter, director, The Matrix. Dropped out of Bard College.
Mark Wahlberg, rapper, model, actor, producer. Dropped out of school for good at the age of 16.
Theodore Waitt, billionaire founder of Gateway Computers. Dropped out of the University of Iowa one semester short of a degree to start Gateway with his holder brother in 1985.
DeWitt Wallace, founder and publisher of Reader's Digest, philanthropist. Dropped out of Macalester College after one year. Dropped out of the University of California at Berkeley after the second year.
Ty Warner, billionaire developer of Beanie Babies. Dropped out of college to go on the road selling plush toys.
George Washington, U.S. president, general, plantation owner. Ended his education after a few years of elementary school.
John Wayne, actor, attended the University of Southern California for two years on a football scholarship. He dropped out to work as a propman and stuntman for movie studios.
Kanye West, rapper. Had a hit album called The College Dropout.
Leslie Wexner, billionaire founder of Limited Brands. Dropped out of Ohio State law school.
Dean White, billionaire hotelier and billboard magnate. Dropped out of the University of Nebraska to join the Merchant Marine Academy. Served during World War II. Then took over family business after the war and built it into a billboard and real estate empire.
Bruce Willis, actor. Dropped out of college. He asserts that a college diploma “is just a trophy. I have some bowling trophies I think would be worth about the same thing.”
Oprah Winfrey, billionaire talk show host, producer. Did not attend college.
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief, Vogue magazine. Did not attend college.
Tiger Woods, golfer. Turned pro at the age of 20 after attending Stanford University for a year or two.
Steve Wozniak, billionaire co-founder of Apple. Dropped out of college.
Emile Zola, French novelist. Failed his baccalaureate, which I believe is the French way of saying he did not graduate from college.
Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, billionaire. Dropped out of Harvard to continue working on the website he founded.
“Eventually I came to conclude that I could not find real knowledge in academic life, only hierarchies of knowledge that led, ultimately, to more hierarchies, not to more knowledge. I began to see university learning as limited, human, and relative. What was seen as absolutely up-to-date did not consider the infinite and timeless.” — Sharon Daniels, author, The World of Truth
When Paul Otellini, CEO of Intel, was asked by Newsweek magazine, “As a young man you worked summers in a slaughterhouse. What did you learn from that.” His answer? “To go to college.” Sometimes, college is a better alternative.
Updated June 6, 2008
Copyright 2008 by John Kremer
Open Horizons, P O Box 2887, Taos NM 87571; 575-751-3398. Web: http://www.bookmarket.com.