600 DROPOUTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

20/3/2026

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A. J. Foyt: Racing driver, seven-time American National Championship winner.
Abraham Lincoln: 16th President of the USA.
Adolph Ochs: founder of the modern New York Times.
Agatha Christie: author of 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections.
Aimee Semple McPherson: famous evangelist and founder of the Foursquare Church, did not complete high school.
Al Hirschfeld: transformative American caricaturist.
Al Pacino: one of the most influential American actors of the 20th century.
Alain Bouchard: With a net worth of $8 Billion, the founder of the Couche Tard chain took business courses at HEC Montreal while teaching himself English.
Alan Johnson: British politician, held seven different senior cabinet positions.
Alan King: American actor, writer, and satirist.
Alan Sugar: British billionaire magnate, media personality, author, and politician.
Alexander Mackenzie: Scottish-Canadian explorer, first white (and probably the first individual) to cross North America by land (take that, Lewis and Clark!).
Alexander Pope: British poet, translator, and satirist.
Alfred E. Smith: Four time governor of New York State, presidential nominee 1928.
Aliko Dangote: dropped out of business school, parlayed a small loan from an uncle into a Nigerian business conglomerate worth over $13 billion.
Allen Stewart Konigsberg (Woody Allen): Attended two different art schools, was thrown out of one and dropped out of the other.
Amadeo Peter Giannini: Founder of the Bank of America.
Amancio Ortega: Spanish billionaire businessman, 14th richest man in the world.
Andrew Carnegie: Industrialist and philanthropist, one of the wealthiest persons ever.
Andrew Jackson: American general and statesman, 7th US President.
Andy Bechtolsheim: Left Stanford PhD program to co-found Sun Microsystems.
Andrew Johnson: 17th President of the United States. Never attended school.
Andrew Perlman: Founder of nine companies in tech, energy, and biotech.
Anh Do: Vietnamese-Australian author, actor, comedian, and painter.
Anna Wintour: Fashion school dropout, became chief editor of Vogue magazine.
Ansel Adams: Renowned western landscape photographer, environmentalist.
Anthony Quinn: Mexican-American Hollywood legend.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek: The father of microbiology.
Arash Ferdowsi: Among other things, the co-creator of Dropbox.
Aretha Franklin: The Queen of Soul.
Arnold Schönberg: One of the most influential composers of the 20th century.
Arnold Schwarzenegger: Bodybuilder, actor, author, Governor of California.
Arthur Henderson: Three-time leader of the British Labour Party.
Azim Premji: The “Czar of Indian IT industry”.
August Wilson: “Theater’s Poet of Black America”.
Avril Lavigne: Canadian singer-songwriter.
B.B. King: Blues guitarist, singer, songwriter.
Babe Ruth: Troublemaking seven year old was placed in
Banjo Patterson: Australian bush poet, journalist and author, folk hero.
Barry Diller: Entrepreneur, founder of the Fox empire, chief executive of Expedia.
Bela Lugosi: The king of horror movies, in particular Dracula.
Beland Hugh Honderich: Canadian newspaper magnate.
Ben Cross: English stage and film actor, famous for Chariots of Fire.
Ben Shahn: American expressionist artist. “(Art) was my education.”
Benjamin Franklin: Statesman, author, scientist, inventor, publisher.
Benny Goodman: American bandleader, the “King of Swing”.
Berry Gordy: Founder of Motown Records, dropped out of high school to become a boxer.
Beyoncé Knowles: American singer and songwriter.
Bill Bartmann: A drunk, a dropout, and a paraplegic, became one of America’s richest men.
Bill Gates: Dropped out of Harvard to co-found Microsoft.
Bill Haley: The king of rock ’n’ roll, even before Elvis.
Billie Holiday: Jazz and swing singer.
Billy Bishop: Canadian air ace, with 72 kills, behind only "Red Baron" von Richtofen's 80. Nearly expelled from military college, dropped out to join the war.
Billy Connolly: Scottish actor, comedian, TV personality.
Billy Joe (Red) McCombs: Texas billionaire and sports owner.
Billy Joel: The Piano Man.
Bing Crosby: Completed high school, dropped out of university.
Bjorn Borg: One time world number one tennis player.
Bob Dylan: One of the greatest songwriters of all time, folk performer.
Bob Hope: British-American comedian.
Bob Marley: dropped out at age 14 to become a welder's apprentice. After an industrial accident terminated that career, he dedicated himself fully to his music.
Bob Proctor: Canadian self-help author and speaker.
Bobby Fischer: Chess prodigy.
Bobby Hull: Ice hockey legend.
Bobby Orr: Also an ice hockey legend.
Boris Becker: One time world #1 tennis player.
Brad Pitt: Academy Awards, British Academy Film Awards, and Golden Globe Awards.
Bram Cohen: Programming genius, creator of BitTorrent.
Brian Orser: World champion figure skater.
Bruce Lee: Actor and martial arts pioneer.
Bruce Springsteen: Dropped out of Ocean County College at 19, saying, “I didn’t really fit in…"
Bryan Adams: One of the best-selling music artists of all time.4
Cameron Diaz: Highly regarded American actress.
Canada Lee: child musical prodigy, professional jockey, professional boxer, star of the stage and the screen.
Carl Fisher: American automotive, highway, and real estate genius.
Carl Lindner: American billionaire.
Cary Grant: One of Hollywood’s all time great leading men.
Casey Stengel: Baseball great.
Catherine Zeta-Jones: Welsh multiple award winning actress.
Céline Dion: Canadian singer, the Queen of Power Ballads.
Cesar Chavez: Labor leader and civil rights activist.
Charles Bronson: Action-film actor.
Charles Bukowski: German-American poet and novelist.
Charles Culpeper: A founder of the Coca Cola company.
Charles Darwin: The father of evolutionary biology.
Charles Dickens: Author of at least fifteen novels, social activist.
Charlie Chaplin: English comic, pioneer of moving pictures.
Charlie Sheen: Star of the silver screen, expelled from school for poor grades and truancy.
Charlize Theron: South African movie star and producer.
Cher: Highly influential female musician.
Chi Chi Rodriguez: Puerto Rican winner of eight PGA Tour events.
Chico Mendes: Brazilian environmental rights leader, at 24 learned to read from a fellow activist.
Chris Rock: Comedian, actor, film writer.
Christina Aguilera: TV personality, actor, singer, and songwriter.
Christina Applegate: American actress.
Christmas Evans: the firebrand of the Welsh Revival, his father died when Christmas was nine, the boy taught himself to read.
Christopher Columbus: “In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”
Christopher Olah: co-founder of Anthropic, left university at eighteen.
Chuck Templeton: Canadian evangelist turned author and media personality. His friend Billy Graham called him "a better preacher than me".
Clark Gable: Acted in sixty motion pictures over thirty-seven years.
Claude Berri: French actor, director, film producer.
Claude Monet: The founder of impressionist painting.
Clint Eastwood: started a business program at Los Angeles City College, quit after one year to pursue acting.
Coco Chanel: French fashion designer, creator of the Chanel brand.
Colin Farrell: Irish actor and leading man.
Colonel Harlan Sanders: Of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.
Cormac McCarthy: No Country for Old Men and eleven other novels, as well as screenplays and short stories.
Cornelius Vanderbilt: American railway and shipping magnate.
Count Basie: Jazz pianist, composer, and band leader.
Craig McCaw: Cell phone pioneer.
Cuba Gooding Jr: High school class president, dropout, acting superstar.
D.W. Griffith: Early film producer and a founder of United Artists.
Dale Earnhardt Sr: American professional stock car driver and racing team owner.
Dan Akroyd: Canadian actor, screenwriter, comedian, producer, and musician.
Daniel Ek: Swedish tech magnate and billionaire.
Daniel Ludwig: American shipping and business magnate.
Daniel Negreanu: Winner of eight world poker championship titles.
Daniel Radcliffe: Rose to fame playing Harry Potter.
Danny Thomas: American actor, singer, comedian, and producer.
Dave Thomas: Founder of Wendy's hamburger chain, dropped out of high school. Of note is that he "went back" to earn his GED.
Dave Thomas: Canadian actor and comedian.
David Beckham: English professional footballer.
David Bowie: English songwriter, musician, and actor.
David Geffen: Magnate and film executive, in 2023 worth over nine billion US dollars.
David Green: American billionaire.
David Grohl: Of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame, dropped out of high school during eleventh grade.
David H. Murdock: Billionaire and philanthropist.
David Karp: Technology guru and blogger, developer of the Tumblr platform.
David Lean CBE: Key figure of British cinema, screenwriter, director, and producer.
David Ogilvy CBE: British advertising tycoon.
David Neeleman: Brazilian-American founder of five airlines.
David Oreck: Entrepreneur, manufacturer, speaker.
David Puttnam CBE: Film producer, environmentalist, educator, House of Lords.
David Sarnoff: Russian-American businessman, led RCA.
Dean Kamen: Inventor of the Segway, holder of over 1000 patents.
Dean Martin: Comedian, singer, actor, the “King of Cool”.
Debbi Fields: Of Mrs. Fields Cookies.
Demi Moore: Actress.
Derek Sanderson: Two time Stanley Cup champion.
DeWitt Wallace: Founder of Reader’s Digest.
Dhirubhai Ambani: Founder of multinational Reliance Industries conglomerate.
Diane Hendricks: Dropped out of high school at 17, now runs ABC Supply, largest wholesale roofing distributor in the US.
Djimon Hounsou: Beninese-born actor, played Cinqué in Amistad.
Dorothy Parker: American satirist, writer and poet.
Doug Ford: Premier of Ontario, Canada, three majority governments in a row.
Dov Charney: Clothing manufacturer, founder of American Apparel.
Drake: Canadian rapper and singer.
Drew Barrymore: American actor, winner of multiple awards including Golden Globe.
Duke Ellington: American jazz pianist, composer.
Dustin Moskovitz: A founder of Facebook. In 2011 the youngest self-made billionaire in the world.
Eddie Cantor: Comedian, dancer, songwriter, film producer, founder of the March of Dimes charity.
Eddie Murphy: Highly acclaimed actor and comedian, by 2015 had grossed over $6.7 billion.
Edgar Allan Poe: Kicked out of West Point.
Edith Piaf: The definitive French singer.
Edmond Safra: Lebanese-Brazilian billionaire banker and philanthropist.
Edward Land: American scientist and inventor, father of the Polaroid camera. Dropped out of Harvard after one year.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.: Of 77 Sunset Strip, The F.B.I., Maverick, Batman fame. Expelled twice from Harvard on account of low grades.
Eliud Kipchoge: minimal schooling in rural Kenya, just "began running", Olympic Gold 2016, 2020, first marathoner to break the two hour mark (unofficial).
Ella Fitzgerald: The Queen of Jazz.
Ellen Burnstyn: One of the few to win the “Triple Crown” of acting.
Ellen DeGeneres: Comedian, television host, actress, and writer.
Ellie Goulding: English singer and songwriter.
Elton John: One of the most influential musicians of the 21st century.
Elvis Costello: Often called one of the most gifted musicians of his generation.
Eminem: Marshall Bruce Mathers III, a prominent American rapper.
Emma Watson: “Hermione Grainger” first, a myriad of successes afterwards. Oxford dropout.
Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell): Dropped out of Eton to join the Indian Imperial Police in Burma.
Eric Clapton: One of the greatest guitarists of all time.
Eric Hoffer: Presidential Medal of Freedom (1983), often called the “longshoreman philosopher”.
Errol Flynn: Australian heart-throb actor, world famous during the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Evan Williams: Tech billionaire, co-founder of Twitter, venture capitalist.
Evita (Eva Perón): born to unmarried mother in rural poverty, left school at fifteen, became radio and film actress, fought for women's suffrage, social programs and labour rights in Argentina.
Ewan McGregor: Highly acclaimed Scottish actor.
Ezra Butler Eddy: E.B. Eddy, American-Canadian industrial giant and lumberman attended school sporadically as a young teen, left early to pursue business.
F. Scott Fitzgerald: Author of The Great Gatsby.
F. W. Woolworth: Left high school without graduating, founded a worldwide retail chain.
Felix Dennis: English magazine pioneer, publisher, poet, and philanthropist.
Fernando Valenzuela: Mexican professional baseball player.
Florence Nightingale: The founder of modern nursing.
Francis Drake: English explorer of the Elizabethan era, circumnavigated the globe 1577-1580.
François Pinault: French business magnate, net worth 2023 of $35 billion.
François Truffaut: French film industry icon.
Frank Lloyd Wright: American architect, writer, teacher.
Frank Sinatra: “Ol’ Blue Eyes”, one of America’s top entertainers of the 20th Century, expelled from high school.
Frank Stronach: Austrian-Canadian billionaire auto-parts manufacturer.
Frederick Henry Royce: Of Rolls-Royce fame.
Freddy Laker: British pioneer of the low-cost, no-frills airline.
Furuzan: Renowned Turkish writer.
Gabe Newell: Billionaire video game developer.
Gabriel García Márquez: Pre-eminent author in Spanish. After his first law school "closed indefinitely", he transferred to another, but left to pursue his writing.
Gautam Adani: Indian billionaire industrialist.
Gene Hackman: Dropped out of school at 16, this future actor lied about his age to join the Marines.
George Bernard Shaw: Irish playwright, critic, activist.
George Burns: Cigar smoking comedian, singer, writer, actor over a seventy-five year career.
George Carlin: Comedian, author, social critic, the king of irreverence.
George Eastman: Developer of commoditized film processing, founder of Eastman Kodak.
George Gershwin: Legendary American pianist and composer.
George Harrison: Of Beatles fame.
George Smith: Prominent Assyriologist and first translator of the Epic of Gilgamish, virtually no formal education.G
George Stephenson: the father of steam locomotion, son of a miner, began working in the mines as a child and taught himself to read and write.
George Washington: First president of the United States.
George Westinghouse: Inventor of nearly everything. After service in the Civil War, attended university but dropped out to invent things.
Gérard Depardieu: French actor, played in over 250 films in his career.
Gerry Boulet: Quebecois rock and roll legend.
Gisele Bündchen: One of the world’s highest paid models and actors. She was rejected 42 times before being cast professionally.
Glen Campbell: American singer.
Gordon Parks: Photographer, composer, author, poet, film director, and social activist.
Grandma Moses: American folk artist, briefly attended a one-room school, began working at the age of twelve.
Grant McConachie: Pioneering bush pilot and president of Canadian Pacific Airlines, dropped out of University of Alberta in his first year to get his pilot's license.
Greta Garbo: Legendary Swedish-American actress.
Groucho Marx: Considered by many to have been America’s greatest comedian.
Gurbaksh Chahal: At 16, founded his first advertising firm, at 18 sold it for $40 million.
Guy Laliberté: Canadian billionaire, founder of Cirque du Soleil.
Guy Ritchie: English producer and director.
Gwyneth Paltrow: American actress.
H.G. Wells: Author of more than fifty novels, including War of the Worlds.
H.L. Hunt: Texas oil baron.
H.L. Mencken:
H. Wayne Huizenga: Serial American business magnate and sports owner.
Haim Saban: Billionaire Israeli-American media owner, composer, producer.
Hamdi Ulukaya: Founder of the Chobani yogourt brand, Turkish-born Ulukaya emigrated to the US, pursued a few college programs, then entered business. Net worth over $13.5 Billion.
Hank Snow: The “Nova Scotia Cowboy”, an early country music recording legend.
Hank Williams: One of the most important singers and songwriters of the 20th century.
Harper Lee: American author of To Kill a Mockingbird fame.
Harrison Ford: dropped out of Ripon College to pursue acting.
Harry Edmund Martinson: Swedish writer and Nobel Prize winner.
Harry Houdini: Legendary escape artist.
Harry Truman: 33rd president of the United States.
Harvey Tallman: Founder of Canada's Princess Auto chain of stores. While no biography states whether he did or not complete school, they do note that he was making a living driving trucks long before he could legally get a license, which corresponds closely with legal school-leaving age. You do the math.
Heath Ledger: Australian actor.
Heather Desjardin: high school dropout, became a certified teacher, went on to found a groundbreaking tutoring program for kids.
Heinrich Schliemann: German entrepreneur and groundbreaking archeologist.
Henry Cavendish: Highly regarded British scientist, credited with the discovery of hydrogen.
Henry Ford: Founder of Ford Motors.
Henry George: American political commentator and journalist.
Henry J. Kaiser: Industrialist, builder of the Hoover Dam, the father of American healthcare.
Henry M. Stanley: Explorer, of “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” fame.
Henry Maudslay: English industrialist, the father of modern machine tool technology.
Henry Parkes: The father of Australian federation.
Herman Melville: Author, of Moby Dick fame.
Hilary Swank: American actress and film producer.
Hiroshi Yamauchi: Transformed Nintendo into a video game giant.
Hitomi Kanehara: A Japanese novelist with work published in more than a dozen languages.
Horace Greeley: American newspaper editor and publisher.
Humphrey Bogart: Perhaps the greatest male star in the history of American cinema.
Hyman Golden: Founder of Snapple Juice Corporation.
Ingvar Kamprad: Swedish marketing genius, founder of IKEA (hence the IK part of the name).
Irving Berlin: The "Great American Minstrel".
Isaac Merrit Singer: Of Singer Sewing Machine fame.
J.B. Hunt: J.B. Hunt Transport Services remains the largest publicly owned trucking business in the US.
J.R. Simplot: Producer of agricultural goods, when he died at 99 he was the oldest billionaire on the Forbes 400 list.
Jack Crawford Taylor: Founder of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Jack Benny: One of the leading entertainers of the 20th century.
Jack Dorsey: Co-developer of Twitter and of the Square financial services platform.
Jack Kent Cooke: Canadian-American newspaper and sports tycoon.
Jack Kerouac: Novelist and poet, one of the leading lights of the Beat Generation.
Jack London: left school at 14 to help support his family, he took one menial job after another. These hard experiences shaped the reality of his later writing.
Jack Ma: Not precisely a dropout, Ma tried and failed university entrance exams many times before giving up and then going on to start Alibaba.
Jack Paar: one of the earliest talk show hosts, an actor, author, and comedian.
Jackie Chan: Martial artist, actor and filmmaker, dropped out of college in Australia to become a construction worker.
Jackie Cochran: Pilot and executive, first female pilot to break the sound barrier.
Jackie Collins: English writer of romance fiction, published thirty-two New York Times best sellers.
Jackie Stewart: The “Flying Scot”, won three World Drivers’ Championships and was twice runner-up.
Jacques Brel: Belgian singer, song writer, author, actor.
James B. Eads: Internationally acclaimed American engineer, holder of over fifty patents.
James Cameron: Second-highest grossing film director of all time.
James Cook: British explorer and worldwide mapmaker.
James Dean: Dropped out of UCLA after one year to pursue acting.
James Hogg: Scottish poet, essayist, and novelist.
Jan Koum: Ukrainian-American tech billionaire and philanthropist, developer of WhatsApp.
Jane Austen: British author of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and others.
Janis Ian: American singer-songwriter of the 1960s and 1970s.
Janis Joplin: dropped out of University of Texas to hitchhike to California where her musical talent and non-conformist lifestyle turned her into a legend.
Jascha Heifetz: although he was taught by many excellent teachers, he never achieved a degree or certificate, given that he was performing professionally from age seven.
Jay Gould: American railroad magnate, one of the wealthiest men of the 19th century.
Jay Van Andel: American billionaire, co-founder of Amway.
Jay-Z: In 2023 named “the greatest rapper of all time” with a net worth of $2.5 billion.
Jean Harlow: The “bad girl” movie star of the 1930s.
Jean-Claude Killy: Triple Olympic ski champion, dropped out at fifteen with his father's permission.
Jean-Claude Van Damme: Belgian martial arts actor.
Jean-Michel Basquiat: High school dropout, one of the founders of neo-expressionist art.
Jennifer Lawrence: World’s highest-paid actress in 2015 and 2016.
Jerry Lewis: Enormously popular movie star from the ’40s through the ‘60s.
Jerry Lee Lewis: Rock’n’roll’s first great “wild man”.
Jerry Yang: Taiwanese-American billionaire tech giant, internet entrepreneur, and venture capitalist.
Jesse Jackson: American civil rights leader, dropped out of seminary three credits short of his Masters degree to pursue civil rights acitvism.
Jessica Chastain: American actress.
Jim Carrey: Canadian-American actor and comedian.
Jim Rohn: Author, entrepreneur, motivational speaker.
Jimi Hendrix: one of the greatest guitarists of all time, high school dropout.
Jimmy Breslin: American journalist and author. Left Long Island University without graduating.
Jimmy Durante: America’s comedic star from the 20s through the 70s.
Jimmy Lai: Incredibly successful “everything” entrepreneur. As at the time of writing, Jimmy is in solitary confinement for speaking out against the Communist regime in Hong Kong.
Jimmy Swaggart: Larger than life televangelist. First cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Micky Gilley, both also on this list.
Joan of Arc (Jeanne d'Arc): Born around 1412 to a poor peasant family in a small village, Joan almost certainly had no education.
Joe Cocker: British rocker.
Joe Lewis: Left school at 15 to help run his father's catering business, Tavistock Banqueting. Current net worth exceeds £5.096 Billion.
Joe Lewis: American martial artist and actor.
Joe DiMaggio: “Joltin’ Joe”, baseball Hall of Fame. His longest hitting streak record still stands.
Joe Pesci: American actor, somewhat typecast, always lovable.
Joel Osteen: One of America’s most successful televangelists. Estimated net worth in excess of $50 million.
Joey Bishop: American actor and comedian, member of the famous “Rat Pack”.
John Anderson: Dropped out of high school, ended his career as a university president.
John Boorman: British filmmaker of such titles as Point Blank, Deliverance, and Exorcist II.
John Clare: Major 18th century English poet.
John Collison: Left MIT to build Stripe with his brother Patrick.
John D. Rockefeller Sr.: Sometimes considered the wealthiest person of modern times.
John Harrison: Inventor of the marine chronometer.
John Huston: Screenwriter, actor, and director of multiple classic films.
John Jacob Astor: Business magnate, developer, billionaire.
John L. Lewis: President of the United Mine Workers from 1920 to 1960.
John Lee Hooker: Singer of blues, guitarist, songwriter.
John Lennon: Although he failed his college entrance exams, he was admitted to art school with the support of the headmaster and his aunt. Nevertheless, his bad behaviour got him kicked out.
John Mackey: Billionaire Founder of Whole Foods.
John Major: British Prime Minister.
John Meredith Rockingham: Australian-Canadian military commander, dropped out of university, became a jackaroo, emigrated to Canada, joined the army, rose through the ranks to become a major general.
John Palliser: Irish-Canadian explorer of the old North-West.
John Paul Jones: Revolutionary War naval captain: “I have not yet begun to fight!”.
John Philip Sousa: The father of American marching tunes.
John Steenhuisen: South African politician. Began but did not complete university.
John Travolta: American movie sensation of the late 20th century.
John Woo: Guru of the Hong Kong school of action movies.
Johnny Depp: At one time the world’s highest paid actor.
Jon Snow: English television personality and journalist.
Jonathan Rhys Meyers: Irish actor.
Jorge Paulo Lemann: Brazilian billionaire, dropped out of Harvard.
Joschka Fischer: Vice-chancellor of Germany 1998-2005.
José Feliciano: Puerto Rican musician, singer and composer.
Joseph-Armand Bombardier: Inventor of the snowmobile, founder of the Bombardier group of companies.
Joseph Brodsky: Russian-American poet and essayist, 1987 Nobel Prize winner.
Joseph Conrad: Polish-British author. Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, A Secret Sharer.
Joseph Howe: Publisher, publisher and politician, a hero of Nova Scotia.
Joseph Levine: American producer of almost 500 films.
Joseph Liemandt: dropped out of Stanford to found Trilogy Software.
Joseph Pulitzer: Hungarian-American politician and newspaper publisher, a profile in courage.
Juan Carlos Onetti: Uruguayan writer, recipient of the coveted Spanish-language literature Premio Cervantes.
Jude Law: Despite both his parents being teachers, Jude dropped out of school to pursue an acting career.
Julian Assange: Australian publisher and author, creator of Wikileaks.
Julie Andrews: Academy Award, BAFTA Award, two Emmy Awards, three Grammy Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards.
Julie Burchill: English journalist, beginning with the New Musical Express at age 17.
K.C. Irving: Canadian billionaire lumberman, oil refiner, media owner, and dynasty builder.
Kane Kramer: British inventor and businessman, probably the inventor of the digital audio player.
Kanye West: 160 million records sold, 24 Grammy Awards.
Karl Hess: Perhaps the most complicated American philosopher of the 20th century.
Kate Beckinsale: Utterly brilliant English actress.
Kate Moss: Top-earning, waifish English model.
Kate Winslet: Multiple award winning English actress.
Katy Perry: American singer, songwriter and television personality.
Keanu Reeves: Canadian actor, named one of the most influential people in the world, 2022.
Keith Richards: expelled from tech school, he went to Sidcup Art College before drifting out to focus on his music.
Kemmons Wilson: Founder of the Holiday Inn hotel chain.
Kenneth Hendricks: Founder of the ABC Supply roofing supply chain, net worth of over $2.6 billion.
Kerry Stokes: Australian construction equipment and media magnate, left school at 15.
Kevin Bacon: Prominent American actor.
Kevin Rose: Serial tech entrepreneur.
Kiefer Sutherland: Award winning Canadian actor.
Kirk Kerkorian: Armenian-American developer of the largest Las Vegas resorts.
Kirsty Dunphey: This Australian entrepreneur and speaker became a millionaire by 23 and multimillionaire by 25.
Kitty Wells: Top female vocalist for fourteen consecutive years.
Khalil Gibran: Of The Prophet fame, born into poverty, Gibran received little formal education beyond what local priests taught him informally.
Kjell Inge Røkke: Perhaps the wealthiest man in Norway, started as fisherman and school dropout.
Knowlton Nash: The face of Canadian evening news for decades.
Konosuke Matsushita: Leaving school at nine to support his family, Matsushita went on to found the Panasonic empire.
Kunal Shah: Indian commercial tech guru.
Kurt Cobain: Musician, of Nirvana fame.
Lady Gaga: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta is an American musician and performer, fashionista, and influencer.
Larry Ellison: Oracle Corporation. Net worth of approximately $130 billion.
Larry Page: Co-founder of Google.
Lata Mangeshkar: Most recorded artist to date in history, left school after her first day.
Lawrence Welk: Left school during Fourth Grade to work on the family farm.
Leon Jouhaux: French trade unionist, winner of Noble Peace Prize in 1951.
Leandro Rizzuto: Founder of the Conair corporation, net worth of approximately $3.5 billion.
Leon Uris: Author of Exodus, Trinity and more. High school dropout, failed English three times.
Leonardo DiCaprio: Titanic, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, Inception, Django Unchained, The Wolf of Wall Street…
Lee Byung-chul: Founder of the Samsung group.
Lee Marvin: The quintessential Hollywood “tough guy”.
Lee Trevino: First golfer in history to win the British, Canadian and U.S. Opens in the same year.
Lew Grade: British media owner and impresario.
Lex Wexner: Billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, Express, Inc., and Bath & Body Works. Among other claims to "fame".
Li Ka-shing: Hong Kong business magnate, 2023 net worth of $37.7 billion.
Lindsay Fox: Billionaire owner of Australia’s largest trucking and logistics firm.
Lindsay Lohan: Actress, singer, songwriter.
Lisa Larter: High school dropout to multi-millionaire entrepreneur, coach, business adviser.
Little Richard: The “Architect of Rock ’n’ Roll” with his crazy, high energy piano and vocals.
Liza Minnelli: Renowned actress and singer.
Lloyd Dennis: Transformative Canadian dropout and educational leader.
Loretta Lynn: Daughter of a coal miner, married at fifteen, self-made country music legend.
Louis Armstrong: The king of jazz for over five decades, dropped out at age eleven.
Louis B. Mayer: Grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick. Quit school at age twelve in order to support his family. The "M" in MGM Studios.
Louis L’Amour: American frontier novelist, pulled out of school by his parents at age fifteen.
Louis Riel: Métis founder of the Province of Manitoba, leader of the North-West Rebellion.
Louise Hay: Dropout and pregnant at fifteen, her book You Can Heal your Life has sold over fifty million copies.
Luc Besson: At seventeen he determined he want to be a film maker, so he quit school.
Lucille Ball: Two stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, the first woman to run her own television studio.
Luiza Helena Trajano: earned a law degree but never practiced, took over family's small appliance business and leveraged to multibillion dollar e-commerce business.
M.J. O'Brien: from fourteen year old water boy to multimillionaire serial entrepreneur.
Mae West: Actress and sex symbol, her career spanned seven decades.
Maksim Gorky: Nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ran away at age twelve.
Manny Pacquiao: born in extreme poverty in Philippines, dropped out at age 14 to work, started boxing on the street, ultimately 8-division world champion, basketball player, singer, Philippines senator.
Marc Rich: Once on FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, dropped out of university to become a commodities trader.
Marcus Loew: The effective founder of MGM Studios, young Loew quit school to support his family.
Margaux Hemingway: 1970s supermodel dropped out of high school before graduation.
Marilyn Monroe: The “blonde bombshell” of Hollywood dropped out of school to become a housewife. Said "We should all start to live before we get too old. Fear is stupid. So are regrets."
Mark Twain: Samuel Clemens quit school after Fifth Grade to work in a print shop.
Mark Wahlberg: Actor, dropped out at age 15, spent years as an unruly street punk.
Mark Zuckerberg: Harvard dropout, the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at age 23.
Marlon Brando: Expelled at age 15 for misbehavior. Went to New York to study acting.
Martin Sheen: (actually Ramón Gerard Antonio Estévez), proactive dropout deliberately failed the entrance examination for the University of Dayton so that he could pursue his acting career.
Mary Kay Ash: Founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics. Dropped out of university because she already had a successful career.
Mary Pickford: Canadian actress, screenwriter, producer, and one of the founders of United Artists.
Mathieu Kassovitz: French actor, director, and producer, dropped out of school at 17.
Matt Dillon: "Discovered” while playing truant, found himself in demand as an actor, quit school.
Matt Mullenweg: Dropped out of university to pursue a tech career. Developer of WordPress.
Maude Lewis: Nova Scotia's "Grandma Moses"
Max Aitken: Lord Beaverbrook, newspaper tycoon and Minister of Aircraft Production in WWII.
Maya Angelou: high school dropout.
Melina Mercouri: Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician.
Melanie Perkins: Left University of Melbourne to found Canva, one of the youngest self-made billionaires in the world.
Merle Haggard: Dropout, inmate at San Quentin Prison, country music star.
Mia Freedman: At twenty-four, the editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine (Australia).
Michael Caine: 160 films over eight decades.
Michael Dell: After earning $200,000 gross profit with a side business, he dropped out of university at age 19.
Michael Faraday: With very little formal education, Faraday became one of the most influential scientists of all time.
Michael J. Fox: Canadian actor, becoming a TV star at 16 without completing school.
Michael Rubin: Dropped out of college after one semester when he had “scored big” on buying and selling overstock from his dorm room.
Mick Jagger: Although successful enough at the London School of Economics, he dropped out to pursue a musical career with the Rolling Stones.
Micky Gilley: Country music star, cousin of Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart.
Micky Jagtiani: Dropped out of accounting school to start a business, in 2023 was worth $5 billion.
Mike Cannon-Brookes: Co-founder of software company Atlassian, having funded the startup with credit cards.
Mike Hudack: Software guru, founder of Avian Labs, high school dropout.
Mike Lazardis: Creator of the Blackberry, dropped out two months before university graduation.
Milton Hershey: Mr. Chocolate. No schooling past the Fourth Grade.
Miriam Makeba: South African musician, left school to support her family.
Mordecai Richler: Journalist and author of ten novels, dropped out of university to concentrate on his writing.
Muhammad Ali: High school dropout, three-time world heavyweight champion, Olympic gold medalist.
Natasha Bedingfield: British singer and songwriter, dropped out to concentrate on her music.
Neal Schon: with his parents' permission, dropped out at age fifteen to join the band Santana.
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger, legend, outlaw, at age twelve left as head of the family upon his father's death.
Neil Young: Iconic Canadian singer and songwriter, once expelled for riding a motorcycle through the school halls.
Nellie Bly: Dropped out of Normal School for lack of money, became a fearsome investigative journalist.
Neve Campbell: Canadian actress, “scream queen”.
Nick Frost: English actor, comedian and screenwriter. At fifteen, Nick dropped out of school to support the family.
Nicolas Cage: Dropped out at sixteen to pursue an acting career, because “that’s all he always wanted to do”.
Nicole Kidman: Australian-American actress, dropped out of high school to pursue her dreams.
Nikola Tesla: Groundbreaking electrical technology pioneer, dropped out of university.
Noel Coward: Elementary school dropout.
Normand Trinder Bowley: farm boy, Grade Four dropout, taught himself the building trades to become superintendant of construction on major wartime projects.
Olivia Newton-John: Four time Grammy winner, fifteen top-ten singles.
Orji Uzor Kalu: Nigerian business magnate and politician, was dismissed from university for political agitation.
Orlando Bloom: English actor of Lord of the Rings and Hobbit fame, left secondary school to study acting.
Orville Wright: Did not complete high school. Co-inventor of heavier-than-air flight.
Otis Redding: Dropped out of school at age fifteen to help support his family.
Ozzy Osbourne: Dropped out of school at fifteen, served time for burglary.
Pancho Villa: legendary Mexican rebel and political genius.
Patrick Collison: Exactly like his brother John, left MIT to found Stripe, which is currently worth about $70Billion.
Patrick Dempsey: Of Grey's Anatomy fame, at seventeen, literally ran away to join the circus.
Patrick Stewart: Of Star Trek fame, and much more. Left school at fifteen to begin a seven decade acting career.
Patty Duke: One Academy Award, two Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Paul Allen: A co-founder of Microsoft. Dropped out of university, persuaded Bill Gates to do the same.
Paul Hogan: Of Crocodile Dundee fame, Hogan dropped out of school at fifteen and worked as a rigger.
Paul McCartney: left school at 16.
Paul Revere: Highly regarded silversmith as well as being a revolutionary.
Paulo Coelho: Brazilian lyricist and novelist. To please his parents, started law school but dropped out after one year.
Pearl Bailey: First African-American to receive the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
Pelé: One of the greatest footballers of all time, dropped out of school at fifteen to play professionally.
Percy Shaw: English inventor, left school at thirteen to work as a laborer.
Perry Como: Singer, actor, TV personality over five decades, quit school at fifteen to help support the family.
Pete Cashmore: Nineteen year old university dropout created Mashable, which he sold for $50 million.
Pete Hamill: American journalist, novelist, essayist and editor. Dropped out at 15 to apprentice as a sheet metal worker.
Peter Allen: Australian singer, songwriter, and entertainer.
Peter Bogdanovich: Director, writer, actor, critic… and much more. Attended but did not complete acting school.
Peter Jackson: New Zealand film director and producer.
Peter Jennings: Canadian-American news anchor and commentator, dropped out of high school out of "sheer boredom", later attended university and dropped out "after about ten minutes".
Peter O’Toole: Tired of the bossy nuns at his school, O’Toole dropped out at fifteen.
Peter Ustinov: Dropped out of Westminster School before taking his final exams.
Phil Collins: English singer, drummer, songwriter, quit school at fourteen.
Philip Green: English billionaire, left school at fifteen to run the family business.
Philip Guston: Canadian-American artist, expelled from high school, dropped out of art school.
Philo Farnsworth: The father of the television, attended high school and university simultaneously, on the death of his father dropped out to support the family.
Pierce Brosnan: The fifth James Bond. Left school at sixteen.
Porfirio Díaz: Presicent of Mexico for more than thirty years.
Prince: Graduated high school, went on to study at a beauty school, but dropped out. Then came music.
Punch Dickins, OC: legendary pioneering Canadian bush pilot and aircraft designer.
Quentin Tarantino: Film director and screenwriter. Dropped out of high school at fifteen, became an encyclopedic expert on films while working at a video store.
R. Buckminster Fuller: Mr. “geodesic dome”. Expelled from Harvard in his first year.
Rachael Ray: Cook, television personality, businesswoman, and author.
Ralph Lauren: Multibillionaire fashion designer dropped out of college before graduation.
Ray Charles: Dropped out of the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind at fourteen.
Ray Kroc: High school dropout and struggling milkshake mixer salesman, teamed up with the McDonald brothers before buying them out in 1961.
Raymond Burr: Canadian actor and college dropout who will be forever remembered as “Perry Mason”.
Raymond Collishaw: Number Two Canadian fighter ace in WWI, 60 kills to his credit, left school at 14.
Red Skelton: Dropped out when he was thirteen or fourteen, started travelling with a medicine show.
Richard Branson: Billionaire, dropped out at 15.
Richard Desmond: Controversial British media mogul, dropped out of high school.
Richard DeVos: Of Amway fame, a college dropout.
Richard Leakey: Accidentally became a leading paleontologist, dropped out at sixteen to go into business.
Richard Maponya: born in poverty in apartheid South Africa, elementary school only, began as a store clerk, built food empire and shopping malls.
Richard Pryor: Kicked out of Grade Nine for punching his teacher, went on to be named the top stand-up comic in history.
Rick Mercer: Newfoundland raconteur, humorist, writer, journalist, social commentator, just drifted away from school.
Ringo Starr: Almost perpetually ill as a youngster, Ringo lost so much time in school that he ultimately just gave up.
Rita MacNeil: Country, pop, and folk singer from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Ritesh Agarwal: Impatient to get on with business, Agarwal walked away from college. Net worth of over $1 billion by age thirty.
Rob Kalin: Founder of Etsy.
Robert Alliston McMichael: known for founding the McMichael Canadian Art Collection.
Robert Campeau: Dropped out after Grade Eight to work as a laborer, soon became a construction magnate.
Robert F. Scott: Antarctic explorer, joined the Navy at age thirteen.
Robert De Niro: At sixteen, high school had no further utility for him, so he dropped out.
Robert Downey Jr.: Dropped out of high school at sixteen to pursue acting.
Robert John Pryse: Entirely self-taught, pre-eminent Welsh scholar of the 19th century.
Robert Maxwell: A wealthy, if controversial, British media magnate.
Robert Mitchum: A star of classic American cinema, dropped out to become a drifter at age fourteen.
Robert Stigwood: Australian-British music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario.
Robert Redford: was asked to leave the University of Colorado before completion due to his carousing lifestyle.
Robin Williams: Not a classic dropout— left acting school when his professors said he had learned all they could teach him.
Rod Laver: Australian tennis player, ranked number one in the world 1964 through 1969.
Rod McKuen: Over sixty million copies of his books were published, in addition to fifteen hundred songs and two hundred albums.
Roger Miller: Raised in abject poverty, Miller left school and joined the army at age seventeen.
Roger Moore: “James Bond” in seven films, Moore was a high school dropout.
Ron Popeil: “Salesman of the Century”, dropped out of university because he was already on his way to being a millionaire.
Ron Turcotte: Canadian jockey, best known for riding Secretariat to the Triple Crown in 1973.
Roseanne Barr: Dropped out of high school, lived at an artist colony before marrying and raising a family.
Rosa Parks: “Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”, Parks dropped out of teachers’ college to care for her ailing mother.
Ross Leitch: New Zealand software genius, dropped out at age 15 to begin his own company.
Roy Rogers: “The King of the Cowboys”, twice inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, four stars on the Walk of Fame.
Rush Limbaugh: Dropped out after first year university because he already knew what he wanted to do.
Russell Crowe: Left school at 16 to pursue an acting career.
Russell Simmons: Dropped out of college because he “just knew” that hip hop would be his career.
Rutger Hauer: Dutch star, ran away from home at fifteen to join the merchant navy.
Ryan Gosling: Canadian actor, producer, and musician, dropped out of high school at seventeen to focus on his acting career.
Ryan Holiday: Author, thinker, marketing wizard, and Stoic interpreter, dropped out of University of California at 19.
Sachin Tendulkar: Drifted away from school to become one of the world's greatest cricketers.
Sam Elliott: gravel-voiced hero of Westerns and truck commercials.
Sammy Davis Jr: Davis’ father took his son on the road when the boy was three years old.
Samuel Gompers: Helped form the American Federation of Labor, serving as president until his death in 1924.
Samuel Hearne: explorer, mapmaker, naturalist, first European to map the interior of Canada's north.
Scott Farquhar: Australian billionaire, co-founder and co-CEO of software company Atlassian.
Scott Fischer: Conqueror of six of the planet’s tallest peaks.
Sean Connery: dropped out of school at age 13 to support his family.
Sean John Combs: Known by his stage name Puff Daddy, in 2023 had a net worth of $90 million.
Seán O’Casey: Irish dramatist and memoirist, was forced to drop out at age fourteen.
Sean Parker: Of Napster fame, Parker was not exactly a dropout, but because by the end of high school he was already earning about $80,000 per year, his parents agreed to let him skip college and go straight into business. 2023 net worth of $2.8 billion.
Sergey Brin: Together with Larry Page, dropped out of the PhD program to found Google. 2023 net worth: $109 billion.
Seth Rogen: Dropped out of high school. “As soon as I realized you could be funny as a job, that was the job I wanted.”
Sheldon Adelson: Israeli-American businessman, investor, political donor, and philanthropist. College dropout.
Shirley Bassey: Left school at fourteen to work in the local steel mill. At sixteen she signed her first professional singing contract.
Silvio Santos: Brazilian entrepreneur, dropped out at 14 to support family, went from street vendor to TV, banking, and industrial magnate.
Simon Cowell: Of Britain’s Got Talent fame. Left school at sixteen.
Sinead O’Connor: The definitive female Irish voice of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Soichiro Honda: Working as a mechanic at age fifteen, Honda was intensely interested in engines and fast things.
Sophia Loren: Combining sex symbol with elegance to become one of the world’s most memorable leading ladies.
Stephen Alan Weinberg (Steve Wynn): dropped out of university to take over his father's bingo business, parlayed that into becoming one of the great developers of Las Vegas
Steve Ballmer: Of Microsoft fame, net worth of over $110 billion. Dropped out of Stanford’s MBA program.
Steve Case: a founder of AOL.
Steve Jobs: Of Apple fame. Dropped out of college after one semester.
Steve McQueen: Movie star, race car driver, American counterculture hero of the 60s and 70s.
Steve Wozniak: Co-founder of Apple. Kicked out of one university, later dropped out of Berkley.
Steven Spielberg: What can I say?
Sting: Dropped out of school twice.
Stompin' Tom Connors: raised in poverty, Connors "hit the road" to escape until he was "discovered" playing for beer in a North Ontario tavern.
Subash Chandra Goel: Born into poverty, dropped out of school at fifteen, net worth in 2023 of approximately $2.5 billion.
Susan Hampshire: Three-time Emmy winner, could barely read and write until she was twelve and was unable to pass her O Levels.
Sydney Poitier: Raised in abject poverty in the Bahamas, functionally illiterate when he moved to New York.
T.D. Jakes: Founder and lead pastor of the 30,000-member Potter’s House Church in Dallas, Texas. Dropout.
Tammy Wynette: The First Lady of Country Music, had dropped out of school to marry at eighteen.
Tecumseh: legendary Shawnee war leader, often cited as one of the most brilliant military stretegists of his time.
Ted Murphy: Founder of social media company Izea Entertainment. College dropout.
Ted Turner: Founder of Cable News Network, Turner was thrown out of university. Net worth approximately $2.5 billion.
Terry Gene Bollea (Hulk Hogan): Studied business at college but dropped out first to play base guitar in a rock band, then to become a "professional" wrestler and actor.
Theodore Waitt: Dropped out of college to begin Gateway Computers with a $10,000 loan from his grandmother.
Thomas Edison: At the time of his death he held a then world record of 1093 patents.
Thomas Haffa: German entrepreneur and media tycoon, dropped out of high school.
Thomas Paine: The writer of Common Sense is considered one of the fathers of the American Revolution.
Tiger Woods: Attended Stanford but left after two years to focus on golf.
Tobi Lütke: Dropped out of computer science apprenticeship in Germany, moved to Canada and founded Shopify.
Toby Rice: President of America's largest independent natural gas company, dropped out of Texas A&M to start his own energy business.
Tom Anderson: Founder of Myspace. Dropped out of high school.
Tom Cruise: Actor in Top Gun, The Color of Money, Rain Man, Born on the Fourth of July, and many others.
Tom Hanks: Dropped out of college and moved to New York City to seek a career in cinema.
Tom Jones: Singer. “It’s Not Unusual”, “What’s New Pussycat?”, “Green, Green Grass of Home”, “Delilah”, “She’s a Lady”.
Tom Stoppard: Fleeing Nazi occupation, dropped out of school and began to write. Knighted in 1997.
Tommy Chong: Dropped out of high school at sixteen, later reflecting that “they were going to throw me out, anyway.”
Tommy "TC" Douglas: dropped out of school to support his family, later went on to earn his high school credits and his theological credentials to become a Baptist minister, then later to become Premier of Saskatchewan, leader of the Canadian NDP, voted as "Most Influential Canadian Ever".
Tony Jacklin: British golf champion and high school dropout.
Tony Robbins: Life and business coach, inspirational speaker.
Travis Kalanick: Founder of Uber, dropped out of UCLA to work on his first start-up.
Truman Capote: In Cold Blood, Breakfast at Tiffany's, dropped out of high school at 17 to take a job as a copyboy.
Tucker Carlson: love him or hate him, you can't ignore him. Called an "abysmal student", he failed college, seems to have figured out his way in life.
Ty Warner: Toy manufacturer, net worth $6.4 Billion.
Uma Thurman: Dropped out of high school to pursue an acting career.
Vicente Guerrero: Mexico's second president
Vidal Sassoon: “The most famous hairdresser of the 1960s”, left school at fourteen to become a shampoo boy.
Vincent van Gogh: Left school at fifteen to support his financially struggling family.
W. Clement Stone: Dropout at age 16, opened his own insurance agency at age 20, had a thousand agents at age 28.
W.T. Grant: Built a chain of 1,000 "five and dime stores". As a child he was so busy selling that he failed in school and dropped out in the second year of high school.
Wally “Famous” Amos: With his cookies selling across the US, he went on to become a self-help speaker and author.
Walt Disney: Dropped out at sixteen, joined the Red Cross and drove an ambulance for a year.
Kitty Wells: The “Queen of Country” had dropped out of school and was married at eighteen.
Walter Cronkite: Dropped out of college at nineteen to concentrate on journalism.
Walter Nash: Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Wang Jianlin: Chinese billionaire with168 shopping plazas, 82 luxury hotels, 213 cinemas, and 99 department stores.
Wayne Gretzky: "The Great One", at age 16 left school to play hockey.
Whoopi Goldberg: American actress, dropped out of high school in the 9th grade.
Wilbur Wright: Injured in an ice hockey game, Wilbur became something of a recluse and dropped out of high school.
Will Rogers: Left school after tenth grade, later saying that he “quit the entire school business for life.”
William Barker, VC: Canadian WWI air ace, farm boy with basic rural education, his most famous dogfight being himself against 60 enemy aircraft.
William Bauchop Wilson: Began working in the coal mines at age nine, served as Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of Labor for eight years.
William Blake: Poet and author.Tyger Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night. Left school at age ten.
William Lyon Mackenzie: Leader of the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837, first mayor of Toronto.
Wm. Cornelius Van Horne: The driving force in the building of Canada’s first transcontinental railway.
William Faulkner: 1949 Nobel Prize for Literature.
William Saroyan: Pulitzer Prize winner, Saroyan dropped out of school at fifteen.
William Shakespeare: Likely dropped out at age fourteen or fifteen.
Willie Shoemaker: Four-time Kentucky Derby winner, Shoemaker quit school at age fifteen to muck out horse stalls.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: no formal education, only very limited homeschooling
Wolfgang Puck: Chef, restaurateur, and philanthropist, Puck quit school at age fourteen to become a cooking apprentice.
Woody Guthrie: By his mid-teens he was on the road, picking up food money by singing and doing odd jobs.
Y.C. Wang: Billionaire founder of Formosa Plastics Group, Wang barely finished sixth grade.
Yaphet Kotto: High school dropout at sixteen, quickly gravitated to acting, being a professional actor at nineteen.
Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over till it’s over!” Dropout in eighth grade, began to play professional baseball at eighteen.
Zachary Taylor: War hero and twelfth president of the United States.
Zhou Qunfei: In 2018 named the world’s wealthiest self-made woman. Had dropped out of school at sixteen.
Zig Ziglar: The king of sales trainers and motivational speakers. College dropout. Spent his life telling us, "It's not where you start, it's where you finish."

© 2026 Norman Bowley

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600 DROPOUTS WHO CHANGED THE WORLD

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