I was reading a little section on Yahoo! today, and they had a search for “college dropouts”, and made me wonder who dropped out of college, or High School, and made the best out of their lives successfully.  While I don’t recommend people dropping out of High School, college is a whole another story, and I’m a firm believer that you can get anywhere with, or without a college degree.

  • Ben Affleck - Actor, who left the University of Vermont after one semester to pursue his acting career.
  • Warren Buffett – I’m sure you’ve heard of this guy.  He’s the richest man in the US.  He dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania after 2 years, but later did get his bachelor’s and MBA.
  • Ellen DeGeneres - A comedienne, and popular talk show host, she dropped out of the University of New Orleans.
  • Henry Ford – The founder of Ford received only a rural education.  He went on to run a saw mill, later working his way to start Ford Motor Company.
  • Tom Hanks - A popular, and Oscar winning actor, he went on to drop out of CalState University.
  • Andrew Jackson - Yes, one of our US presidents, Jackson was home schooled, and by the age of 35, he had no formal education.
  • Kirk Kerkorian – A billionaire investor, who dropped out of school in eigth grade.
  • Rush Limbaugh - A radio show host that many people enjoy, and hate.  He dropped out of college early in his day.
  • Billy Joe McCombs - You may have never heard this name, but Billy is the founder of the Clear Channel media empire.  He dropped out of law school back in 1950.
  • Yoko Ono - An artist, and singer dropped out of college.
  • Brad Pitt - An actor who left college just shy of two credits so that he could pursue his acting career.
  • John D Rockefeller - The billionaire found of Standard Oil.  He dropped out of high school just 2 months before graduating.
  • Steven Spielberg - A billionaire movie director, and producer.  Spielberg dropped out of Cal State Long Beach.
  • Dave Thomas - The founder of the restaurant chain Wendy’s, he dropped out of high school, and worked full time in a restaurant.

As you can see by now, these are just a few that dropped out of both high school, and college.  A great website that you should check out to see even more people who dropped out, I highly recommend CollegeDropOutsHallofFame.