Some say the college diploma is the start of a long and successful career. Billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg might disagree.
The two former Harvardians are one of the world’s most famous college dropouts but they are certainly not the only ones who have left school to grow up elsewhere. Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell left the University of Texas at age 19, for example, while Oracle co-founder and CEO Larry Ellison left the University of Illinois.
In fact, the list of dropouts that do not belong to Harvard is surprisingly deep: many of the richest people in the world did not attend especially prominent schools. The following is a list of ten universities that some of the most successful people in the world called home:
1. Harvard University
First, the biggest name was removed: Harvard University hosted Bill Gates and Facebook co-founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz to cast a spell.
Zuckerberg and Moskovitz, who were together on campus, both left while launching Facebook. Moskovitz later founded the Asana job management application in 2008.
Combined, these three men alone have amassed a fortune of more than $ 300 billion.
2. University of Michigan
The University of Michigan makes this list based on the success of one man: Larry Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin. Page returned to Michigan and graduated, but later dropped out of college.
3. University of Illinois
Oracle founder and software billionaire Larry Ellison is consistently among the richest people in the world alongside Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and others. He also dropped out of the University of Illinois
If making billions in the software industry isn’t enough to measure your success, keep this in mind: In 2012, Ellison bought 98% of the Hawaiian island of Lanai. He then said he wanted to build a “utopia of health.”
4. University of Texas
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies, founded his company in the 1980s after leaving the University of Texas at age 19. It is currently worth $ 51 billion, according to Forbes, and ranks it among the richest in college dropouts in the world.
Series entrepreneur David Geffen, perhaps best known for co-founding DreamWorks Pictures in 1994, also left the University of Texas at Austin.
5. Missouri University of Science and Technology
A man and his chatty chatter can call the University of Missouri Science and Technology his aspiring alma mater: Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey left the semester in 1999. Since he founded Twitter fifteen years ago, the company has turned it into a billionaire with an estimated net worth of $ 14.7 billion.
It’s not all Twitter money: Dorsey is also co-founder and CEO of financial payments company Square.
6. University of Miami
A lot of successful people have graduated from the University of Miami, from Gloria Estefan to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. But some of Miami’s most famous alumni never finished.
Micky Arison dropped out of college to work for his father’s company, Carnival Cruises. Today he is the president of Carnival and the owner of the Miami Heat of the NBA. Shoe designer and fashion mogul Steve Madden also left the University of Miami after suffering grades and his father stopped paying tuition.
A former University of Miami alumnus lived a long time and thrived after dropping out: in 1966, after dropping out of school, screenwriter and television producer Gene Roddenberry first brought in the science fiction series. ” Star Trek “on the small screen. Roddenberry also spent time at Columbia University and the University of Southern California, but never graduated.
7. San José State University
When he got a job at Yahoo, Jan Koum left San Jose State University in 1997. Fast forward 12 years: In 2009, the native Ukrainian launched WhatsApp, which he and co-founder Brian Acton sold on Facebook in 2014. for $ 19 billion. . The move sent its current net worth to about $ 10.9 billion.
8. City University / College of New York
CUNY has a handful of notable dropouts like Ralph Lauren, Polo president and CEO Ralph Lauren, and actress and singer Jennifer Lopez. Record executive Russell Simmons left New York City College to promote local musicians like Run-DMC and earned millions.
9. Tennessee State University
In 1975, a young student named Oprah Winfrey left Tennessee State University with a timid credit of graduating. Like other people on this list, she eventually completed her career again, but only after launching her successful talk show, winning an Oscar nomination in 1986 and becoming a national icon.
10. Chicago State University
This list would be incomplete without including the university that inspired “The College Dropout,” Kanye West’s 2004 debut album. West attended both Chicago State University and the Chicago-based American Academy of Art, but graduated from neither. Since West left school, she has won 22 Grammy Awards and launched her Adidas clothing association, Yeezy.
Abandoned before college
A few of the richest people in the world did not wait until they dropped out of college. Sir Richard Branson, for example, left Cliff View House School in Sussex, England, at the age of 15. “I was dyslexic,” Branson said in a 2007 TED Talk. “It was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15.” The school no longer exists. Meanwhile, Branson became the first billionaire in space last month.
According to Edubirdie, Spanish retail entrepreneur Amancio Ortega is the best-ranked non-American on the list of richest dropouts. Ortega, founder of retailer Zara, left school at just fourteen and thirteen years later opened his first store.
Ranked as the 30th richest person in the world, Li Ka-shing is also the seventh highest dropout in terms of wealth. The Hong Kong businessman was forced to drop out of school at the age of 15 after his father’s death.
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