From Steve Jobs to Jay Z: 6 Successful People Who Dropped Out of School (And Why)

The mythology of the wildly successful college dropout runs deep in modern business lore. Legendary entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have become the poster children for charting an unconventional path to game-changing innovation and mind-boggling wealth. Their stories seem to suggest that truly transformational ideas can‘t be contained by a classroom.

But for every Jobs or Zuckerberg, there are countless dropouts whose business ventures fizzle out unnoticed. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers with bachelor‘s degrees earn 67% more on average per week than those with only a high school diploma. The median annual earnings for college graduates is over $20,000 higher compared to high school graduates.

So what was it about legendary entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs that enabled them to reach the pinnacle of success without completing college? Let‘s take a closer look at the circumstances and motivations behind six famous dropouts‘ decisions to leave school:

1. Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs enrolled at Reed College in 1972 but dropped out after just six months. As he later recounted in his famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech, Jobs struggled to see the value in taking required classes that didn‘t interest him. He felt he was wasting his working-class parents‘ hard-earned savings.

After dropping out, Jobs audited creative courses like calligraphy that he found fascinating. He slept on his friends‘ dorm room floors, returned Coke bottles for food money, and ate free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. Jobs later said that auditing that calligraphy class helped inspire him to incorporate diverse fonts into the first Macintosh computer.

In 1974, Jobs started working as a technician at video game maker Atari. But his real passion project was tinkering on personal computer inventions with friend and fellow electronics buff Steve Wozniak in Jobs‘ parents‘ garage.

The rest, as they say, is history. Apple Computer was born in 1976, and the pioneering personal computer company would eventually grow into the most valuable technology company in the world.

2. Bill Gates

Like Jobs, Bill Gates was a precocious technology talent from a young age. As a teenager, he created a computerized car-traffic analysis system for the city of Seattle and founded a small company called Traf-O-Data.

Gates enrolled at Harvard University in 1973 intending to pursue a pre-law degree. But he spent more time in the computer lab than studying for the LSAT. When the MITS Altair 8800, one of the first personal computers, was released in 1975, Gates and his friend Paul Allen saw an opportunity. They developed a BASIC interpreter for the Altair and later made a deal with MITS to distribute their software with the machine.

Gates took a leave of absence from Harvard and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico to work more closely with MITS. Eventually realizing the potential to put a computer on every desk and in every home, Gates never looked back at Harvard. He and Allen founded Microsoft in April 1975.

With a current net worth of over $133 billion, the Harvard dropout is now the fourth wealthiest person in the world. He finally received an honorary doctorate from his almost-alma mater in 2007.

3. Mark Zuckerberg

Two decades after Bill Gates left Harvard in 1977, another promising programmer would drop out to focus on his burgeoning software startup: Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg had created communication tools like CourseMatch and FaceMash for fellow Harvard students when he started working on a campus-based social networking site called TheFacebook in his sophomore year dorm room.

The site immediately took off among students, reaching 1 million users by the end of 2004. Zuckerberg and some friends moved to Palo Alto, California that summer to work on the company full-time. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in his sophomore year to continue leading the growing business.

Today, Facebook has nearly 3 billion monthly active users. Zuckerberg‘s net worth is currently estimated at $113 billion. The 37-year-old CEO is now the 5th richest person in the world.

4. Oprah Winfrey

Media mogul Oprah Winfrey‘s story demonstrates that you don‘t need to be a tech prodigy to make it big as a dropout. Winfrey enrolled at Tennessee State University in 1971 and studied communications. But in her senior year, she was offered a job as a co-anchor for the local CBS television station.

Winfrey left school to accept the position, becoming Nashville‘s first African-American female co-anchor. Not long after, she moved to Baltimore to co-host the local talk show People Are Talking, which became a hit.

Winfrey‘s empathetic interview style eventually landed her a spot hosting her own talk show, the wildly popular Oprah Winfrey Show, which ran nationally for 25 years. She built a media empire spanning television, film, print, and digital.

While Winfrey did eventually go back to Tennessee State in 1987 to finish her degree, she had already been a millionaire for years by the time she earned her diploma. Her current net worth is estimated to be $2.6 billion.

5. Jay Z

Shawn "Jay Z" Carter grew up in a housing project in Brooklyn, New York and attended the nearby George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School. A talented student, he nonetheless struggled with the lures of street life and started dealing drugs as a teenager.

Carter never finished high school, but his real education came through soaking up knowledge about music production and the record industry. In 1989, at age 19, he made his first rap recording. Over the next decade, Carter began selling CDs out of his car and performing around the country.

He co-founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996 and released his debut album, which was an instant hit. Over the next two decades, Carter would become the most successful rapper-turned-businessman in history, amassing 14 number-one albums and 22 Grammy awards.

His current net worth is estimated at $1.4 billion, making him one of just a handful of entertainers to achieve billionaire status. Like fellow dropout billionaires, Carter had the strong drive, innate talent, and work ethic to make it to the top of his field without finishing high school.

6. Rachael Ray

Food Network star, bestselling author, and Oprah protégé Rachael Ray attended Pace University for two years before dropping out. As the daughter of restauranteurs, she had grown up working at her family‘s restaurants in New York and Massachusetts.

But Ray decided managing restaurants wasn‘t for her. Instead, she wanted to focus on the part of the industry she really loved: cooking and educating others about food. Ray started teaching cooking classes at a gourmet food market, which led to her first book deal and local television appearances.

Her approachable cooking style and bubbly personality eventually caught the eye of Food Network executives and Oprah Winfrey. Ray now has multiple Food Network shows, cookbooks, an Oprah-backed magazine, and many other product lines. Her estimated net worth is $100 million.

Should You Drop Out To Start Up?

While these dropout success stories are inspiring, they certainly aren‘t the norm. College dropouts aged 25 and older have an unemployment rate over 5%, more than double the rate for bachelor‘s degree holders.

Dropping out of college to become an entrepreneur is a highly personal decision that requires careful consideration of your circumstances, goals and backup plans. Here are some questions to ask yourself before making the leap:

• Do I have a truly compelling business idea that has been validated by potential customers and industry experts? What evidence is there of strong market demand?
• Is my business idea time-sensitive, or can I work on it while completing my degree? Many successful founders started their companies while still in school.
• Do I have a strong support system of mentors, advisors, potential investors and team members who can help bring my vision to life? It‘s very difficult to succeed as a solo founder.
• What are the specific skills, knowledge and connections I can gain from staying in school vs. learning on my own? Certain fields still place a high value on credentials.
• What are my financial obligations and backup plans if my business doesn‘t work out? Do I have a way to support myself and any debts I may be taking on?
• Have I thought through the potential social/emotional impacts of leaving school and the traditional career path behind? Am I mentally prepared for the risks of entrepreneurship?

For any aspiring entrepreneur, the surest path to success is constantly learning, whether inside or outside the classroom. As the legendary dropouts demonstrate, there is no singular educational background required to transform an industry. What matters is the hard work, grit and ingenuity you bring to solving big problems.