Harvard left early, NYU half finished, a Reed semester cut short: none of them needed the diploma. Pick the dropout whose story everyone knows.
1Bill GatesLeft Harvard in 1975 to start Microsoft and got an honorary degree 32 years later.1000pts
2Kanye WestLeft Chicago State University to pursue music and named his debut album The College Dropout.670pts
3Steve JobsLeft Reed College after one semester, kept sitting in on calligraphy classes, then co-founded Apple.604pts
4Tiger WoodsLeft Stanford after two years to turn professional in golf.558pts
5Michael DellStarted selling PCs from his University of Texas dorm room and left at 19 to found Dell.447pts
6Ellen DeGeneresSpent one semester at the University of New Orleans before leaving for stand-up comedy.447pts
7Larry EllisonDropped out of two universities before co-founding Oracle.446pts
8Lady GagaLeft NYU's Tisch School of the Arts at 19 to focus on her music career.446pts
9Matt DamonLeft Harvard a few credits short of a degree while writing Good Will Hunting.446pts
10Frank Lloyd WrightArchitect who left the University of Wisconsin without a degree.446pts
11Tom HanksLeft California State University, Sacramento, for an acting internship that led to Hollywood.298pts
12Ralph LaurenStudied business at Baruch College for two years, then left to sell ties.298pts
13Mark ZuckerbergLeft Harvard in his second year to run Facebook full time.298pts
14Harrison FordFailed to graduate from Ripon College and became a carpenter before Star Wars.0pts
15Jack DorseyLeft New York University shortly before graduating and later co-founded Twitter and Square.0pts
16Mick JaggerLeft the London School of Economics when the Rolling Stones took off.0pts
17Brad PittLeft the University of Missouri two weeks before graduation and drove to Los Angeles.0pts
18Elon MuskLeft a Stanford physics PhD programme after two days in 1995 to start the internet company Zip2, before founding SpaceX and leading Tesla.
19Steven SpielbergLeft California State University, Long Beach, for a directing contract at Universal and only finished his degree in 2002, after Schindler's List.
20Paul AllenLeft Washington State University after two years to work at Honeywell and then co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates.
21Ted TurnerWas expelled from Brown University before taking over his father's billboard business and founding CNN.
22Travis KalanickLeft UCLA's computer engineering programme to start the file-sharing service Scour, years before co-founding Uber.
23Jan KoumUkrainian-born engineer who left San Jose State University to work at Yahoo and later co-founded WhatsApp.
24Ashton KutcherStudied biochemical engineering at the University of Iowa before leaving to model and then star in That '70s Show.
25Gwyneth PaltrowLeft the University of California, Santa Barbara, to act and won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love before founding Goop.
26Robert FrostLeft both Dartmouth and Harvard without degrees and went on to win four Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.
27Buckminster FullerWas expelled from Harvard twice and became the inventor of the geodesic dome and a celebrated futurist.
28Woody AllenFailed out of New York University and City College of New York while already writing jokes for newspaper columnists.
29David GeffenDropped out of the University of Texas and Brooklyn College, then founded Asylum and Geffen Records and co-founded DreamWorks.
30James CameronLeft Fullerton College and worked as a truck driver before directing The Terminator, Titanic and Avatar.
31Alicia KeysEnrolled at Columbia University at 16 but left after about a month to sign a record deal and pursue music.
32Russell SimmonsLeft the City College of New York to promote rap shows and co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings.
33Barry DillerLeft UCLA after one semester for the William Morris mailroom and went on to run Paramount, Fox and IAC.
34Halle BerryLeft Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland to pursue pageants and acting, later becoming the first Black woman to win the Best Actress Oscar.
Photo credits
- Bill Gates — Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union, CC BY 4.0
- Steve Jobs — Matthew Yohe, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Michael Dell — Village Global, CC BY 2.0
- Ellen DeGeneres — Toglenn, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Lady Gaga — Carlos M, CC BY 2.0
- Matt Damon — PhilipRomano, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Tom Hanks — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
- Ralph Lauren — Arnaldo Anaya-Lucca, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Mark Zuckerberg — Anurag R Dubey, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Harrison Ford — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0
- Jack Dorsey — Mark Warner, CC BY 2.0
- Mick Jagger — Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
- Brad Pitt — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Elon Musk — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Steven Spielberg — Martin Kraft, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Paul Allen — Miles Harris, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Travis Kalanick — Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Jan Koum — Tech.eu Photostream, CC BY 2.0
- Ashton Kutcher — Photographer: Jennifer Jacquemart, CC BY 4.0
- Gwyneth Paltrow — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0
- Buckminster Fuller — en:User:Edgy01 (Dan Lindsay), CC BY 3.0
- Woody Allen — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0
- David Geffen — Tony Barnard, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0
- James Cameron — Kevin Paul, CC BY 4.0
- Alicia Keys — PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY 4.0
- Russell Simmons — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0
- Barry Diller — David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0
- Halle Berry — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments 1
Both born in 1955: Jobs left Reed after six months, Gates left Harvard in 1975 and came back for an honorary degree in 2007: https://youpick.best/articles/steve-jobs-ranked-many-ways
YP
ypb-teamSep 29
