Under the title "These Ten Universities Have the Richest Dropouts in the World," the Arabic website reported that while some see a college degree as the beginning of a long and successful career, the story differs for billionaires like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. These former students of Harvard University are among the most famous dropouts in the world, but they are certainly not the only ones who left school to establish massive businesses. For instance, Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, left the University of Texas at the age of nineteen, while Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle, withdrew from the University of Illinois. In fact, the list of non-Harvard dropouts is surprisingly extensive: many of the world's wealthy did not attend prominent schools. Below is a list of ten universities that included some of the most successful people in the world before they dropped out to establish large enterprises.
1. **Harvard University**
Harvard University has indeed hosted both Bill Gates and Facebook founders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz for a time. Zuckerberg and Moskovitz, who lived together on campus, dropped out while launching Facebook, while Moskovitz later founded the work management app Asana in 2008. These three men alone amassed a fortune exceeding $300 billion.
2. **University of Michigan**
The University of Michigan made this list based on the success of one man: Larry Page, who co-founded Google with Sergey Brin. Page returned to Michigan and graduated from there—but withdrew again later, from the doctoral program at the university.
3. **University of Illinois**
Oracle founder and software billionaire Larry Ellison is consistently ranked among the richest people in the world alongside Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others. He also left the University of Illinois.
4. **University of Texas**
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Technologies, launched his company in the 1980s after leaving the University of Texas at age 19. His current net worth is $51 billion, according to Forbes, placing him among the richest dropouts in the world. Entrepreneur David Geffen, perhaps best known for co-founding DreamWorks Pictures in 1994, also withdrew from the University of Texas at Austin.
5. **Missouri University of Science and Technology**
Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey left the university just shy of graduating in 1999. Since founding Twitter fifteen years ago, he became a billionaire with a net worth estimated at $14.7 billion.
6. **University of Miami**
Many successful individuals graduated from the University of Miami, from Gloria Estefan to Dwayne Johnson "The Rock." However, some of the university's most famous former students never completed their degrees. Mickey Arison left college to work for his father’s company, Carnival Cruises. Today, he is the CEO of Carnival and owns the Miami Heat basketball team. Shoe designer and fashion mogul Steve Madden also left the University of Miami after his grades worsened and his father stopped paying tuition. One former student from the University of Miami had a significant impact after leaving school: in 1966, after dropping out, screenwriter and television producer Gene Roddenberry first brought the sci-fi series "Star Trek" to the small screen.
7. **San Jose State University**
After landing a job at Yahoo, Jan Koum left San Jose State University in 1997. Quickly, within 12 years, in 2009, the Ukrainian-born citizen launched WhatsApp, which he and co-founder Brian Acton sold to Facebook in 2014 for $19 billion. This move elevated his current net worth to an estimated $10.9 billion.
8. **City University of New York**
City University of New York boasts several notable dropouts such as Ralph Lauren, Chairman and CEO of Polo Ralph Lauren, and actress and singer Jennifer Lopez. Russell Simmons, CEO of the record label, also left City College to promote local musicians such as Run-D.M.C and continued to earn millions.
9. **Tennessee State University**
In 1975, a young student named Oprah Winfrey left Tennessee State University before graduating. Like others on this list, she eventually returned to complete her degree, but only after launching her successful talk show and receiving an Oscar nomination in 1986, becoming a national icon.
10. **Chicago State University**
This list wouldn't be complete without including the university that inspired "The College Dropout," Kanye West's debut album in 2004. West attended both Chicago State University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, but did not graduate from either. Since leaving school, West has won 22 Grammy Awards and launched the Adidas Yeezy clothing partnership.
**Leaving Before College**
There are several billionaires who never even attended college, such as Sir Richard Branson, who left Cliff View House School in Sussex, England, at age fifteen. He said in 2007, "I struggled with dyslexia... That was one of the reasons I left school when I was 15." Branson became the first billionaire to reach space last month. Spanish entrepreneur Amancio Ortega, the highest-ranked non-American businessman among the richest dropouts according to EdBirdi, left school at just fourteen, and thirteen years later opened his first store. Li Ka-Shing ranks as the thirtieth richest person in the world and is also the seventh highest-ranked dropout by wealth. The Hong Kong businessman was forced to leave school at age 15 after his father's death.
