14 VIPs who made it to the top without a degree

1/14

Co-founding what would become the world’s largest personal computer software company before he’d completed his studies, Bill Gates chose growing Microsoft over finishing Harvard University. Thirty years after he left, his alma mater gave Gates an honorary doctorate.

2/14

The University of Missouri may have lost a promising student of journalism, but their loss was Hollywood’s gain when Brad Pitt altered his career path to follow his muse into acting.

3/14

Ellen DeGeneres left the University of New Orleans after only a single semester, finding that college life was not for her. Instead, Ellen branched out into a career in stand-up comedy, which landed her a 1986 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, her launching pad towards becoming a household name.

4/14

Like his “Oceans 11” co-star Brad Pitt, actor George Clooney similarly pursued a journalism major initially at the University of Kentucky before transferring the University of Cincinnati. In the end, he abandoned that path to become an actor.

5/14

Before moving to London to train an as actor, Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan attended Teesside University in Middlesbrough, England.

6/14

Upon graduating high school, young Kanye West was granted a scholarship for Chicago’s American Academy of Art. Though he started painting classes there in 1997, Kanye then transferred to Chicago State University, abandoning the paintbrush for an English major. By the age of 20, however, Kanye abandoned school to follow his dream of becoming a musician, christening his Grammy-winning debut album ‘The College Dropout.'

7/14

While studying French and Russian literature at New College, University of Oxford, Kate Beckinsale landed a fateful part in Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” a role that would start her on a successful acting career.

8/14

Despite earning her status as a straight-A student and a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan, Madonna said goodbye to her studies in 1978 to move to New York City to reinvent herself. Her daughter Lourdes Leon started at the University of Michigan this year.

9/14

Mark Zuckerberg chose the internet over the Ivy League when he left Harvard University to co-found Facebook. Despite dropping out of school, Mark became the CEO of Facebook in April 2013 has earned personal wealth at an estimated $33.1 billion. Having attained major success, philanthropist Mark now receives a one-dollar salary.

10/14

Oprah Winfrey skipped out on a degree at Tennessee State University to accept an job offer as a reporter in Maryland, a career move that, in hindsight, proved highly effective.

11/14

At age 16, entrepreneurial Richard Branson founded The Student, a periodical for his schoolmates at England’s Stowe School. Ignoring the conventional path of attending a university, Richard opted instead for selling popular records out of the church in which he published The Student, marking the beginning of his Virgin Records empire.

12/14

Upon taking his O level exams at school, Simon Cowell left his studies to become a runner on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s horror classic “The Shining” before forging a lucrative career as an influential music mogul.

13/14

Initially dropping out of Reed College to study calligraphy, the late Steve Jobs went on to found personal computer and consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. His background in calligraphy inspired the first Macs’ wide range of fonts.

14/14

Turning down a pre-engineering program at MIT in favor of hip hop, Will Smith turned his mid-eighties persona as The Fresh Prince (opposite DJ Jazzy Jeff) into a successful music career, which, in turn, lead to role on television and, later, the big screen,