Saya baru saja memutuskan mengkopas isi situs tersebut di atas dalam posting kali ini. Mengapa? Karena The College Dropouts Hall of Fame sudah diblok--menurut Google situs tersebut membahayakan komputer. Posting pendek pun jadi posting terpanjang deh, hehe (saking panjangnya sampai-sampai aku harus membaginya dalam 2 bagian). Jika tertarik simak saja hasil copy-paste saya sebagai berikut ini:
Famous,
Rich, and Successful People
Who Were High School or College Dropouts
I'm a firm believer that most college
students would be better off dropping out of school and investing the money
they now spend on college. Then take the four years they would have spent on
college and travel, work, play, and spend time with smart people talking about
important things. It would be your choice on what's important, not a professor,
not a dean, not a faculty committee.You don't have to go to college to be a success. Even if you go for awhile, you don't have to graduate to be a success. Here are just a few of the people who have become famous and/or successful without graduating from college and/or high school.
A survey conducted by Bloomberg in 2010 show that the school of hard knocks was the number one source (tied with the University of California) for CEOs of S&P 500 companies. Harvard was the #3 source (along with the universities of Texas, Missouri, and Wisconsin). The school of hard knocks features CEOs who never graduated from college.
S. Daniel Abraham, billionaire founder of Slim-Fast. Joined the Army at the age of 18 and fought in Europe during World War II. Did not attend college.
Roman Abramovich, richest man in Russia, billionaire. Dropped out of college. He studied at the Moscow State Auto Transport Institute before taking a leave of absence from academics to go into business. He later earned a correspondence degree from the Moscow State Law Academy.
Abigail Adams, U.S. first lady. Home schooled.
Ansel Adams, photographer. Dropped out of high school.
Bryan Adams, singer, songwriter. High school dropout.
Calpernia Adams, showgirl, transsexual. Never attended college. As she noted, “My parents thought that college leads you away from God, so they hadn't saved any money.”
Gautam Adani, commodities billionaire from India. Dropped out of college.
Sheldon Adelson, billionaire casino owner. Dropped out of City College of New York to become a court reporter. He made his first fortune doing trade shows.
Mortimer Adler, author, educator, editor. Left high school at the age of 15 to work. Later received his high school equivalency degree and attended Columbia University.
Ferran Adria, chef. Has been called the world's greatest chef. Did not finish high school.
Miguel Adrover, fashion designer. High school dropout.
Ben Affleck, actor, screenwriter. Left the University of Vermont after one semester; then dropped out of Occidental College to pursue acting.
Andre Agassi, tennis player, winner of 8 Grand Slam titles. Quit school in the ninth grade and turned tennis pro at the age of 16. His father would drive the kids to school but, instead, actually took them to local tennis courts to practice.
Dianna Agron, singer, dancer, actress. "I didn't take the typical path and go to college after high school. Instead, I saved up money from teaching dance classes and moved to L.A."
Christina Aguilera, singer, songwriter. Never finished high school.
Danny Aiello, actor. Dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to join the army. Later received a high school equivalency degree.
Troy Aikman, Superbowl-winning football quarterback, TV sports commentator. In 2009, he finally graduated from UCLA, 20 years after leaving college to play in the National Football League. Aikman had promised his mother, when he left school just two courses shy of a degree, that he would return and finish. In 2009, at the age of 42, he finally fulfilled that commitment, earning A's in his last two courses, thus earning a bachelor's degree in sociology.
Malin Akerman, model, actress. Enrolled in York University (Toronto) but left after about a year to see what else was out there. She moved to Los Angeles to become an actress.
Dennis Albaugh, billionaire founder of pesticide company Albaugh Inc. Earned a 2-year agriculture business degree from Des Moines Community College. Did not continue on to a 4-year degree.
Edward Albee, playwright. Dropped out of Trinity College after three semesters.
Jack Albertson, Oscar-winning actor. High school dropout.
Chuck Allen, banker, co-founder of the National Scholastic Surfing Association, and founder of the U.S. Amateur Snowboard Association. At the age of 19, he moved from Oklahoma to California and began working odd jobs until he was established enough to move on to a banking career.
Paul Allen, billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, founder of Xiant software, owner of Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers. Dropped out of the University of Washington to work for Honeywell. A year later he convinced Bill Gates to drop out of Harvard and move to Albuquerque, New Mexico to start up Microsoft.
Peter Allen, singer, songwriter, composer. High school dropout.
Rick Allen, rock star member of Def Leppard. High school dropout.
Woody Allen, screenwriter, actor, director, and producer. Was thrown out of New York University after one semester for poor grades. Also dropped out of City College of New York. As he admitted, “I was thrown out of college for cheating on the metaphysics final. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.”
Steven-Elliot Altman, author. Left school at the beginning of the 10th grade and ran away from home. Entered college at the age of 16 and earned a degree at 19.
Dhirubhai Ambani, billionaire Indian businessman. High school dropout.
Wally “Famous” Amos, multimillionaire cookie entrepreneur, author, talent agent. Dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to join the U.S. Air Force.
Hans Christian Andersen, short story author, fairy tales. Left home at the age of 14 to find work. Later attended Copenhagen Univesity.
George "Sparky" Anderson, baseball player and manager. Did not attend college.
Paul Thomas Anderson, director of such movies as “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia.” He attended film school at New York University but quit after two days because one professor dissed “Terminator 2” and another gave him a C for a writing assignment.
Tom Anderson, co-founder of MySpace. A high school dropout.
Walter Anderson, publisher, editor. High school dropout who later earned an equivalency degree.
André 3000, see André Benjamin.
Mario Andretti, race-car driver, author. High school dropout who later earned an equivalency degree.
Anthony Andrews, actor. High school dropout.
Julie Andrews, Oscar-winning actress, singer, author. Dropped out of high school.
Jennifer Aniston, actress. Never attended college.
“Jennifer Aniston says getting a nose job was the best thing she ever did. But keep in mind, she didn't go to college, her marriage failed, her mom hates her, and she was in that Kevin Costner movie.” — Danielle Fishel, The Dish
Shiri Appleby, actress. Went to the University of Southern California for a year and a half before acting in Roswell TV show. In 2010, she is working on her associate degree via the University of Phoenix and then intends to transfer to UCLA.
Christina Applegate, actress. High school dropout.
Edwin Apps, British artist. High school dropout.
Joan Armatrading, singer, songwriter. High school dropout.
Billie Joe Armstrong, front man for Green Day punk rock band. High school dropout. As he noted, “I finally realized that high school didn't make any sense for me then. So I quit.”
Louis Armstrong, jazz musician, singer. Dropped out of high school.
Peter Arnell, advertising executive. Never attended college. Talked his way into the advertising business after graduating from high school.
Eddy Arnold, country music singer and member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was 11 when his father died, so he turned to singing at church picnics and other venues to support his family. By the age of 17, he was singing in nearby honky-tonks and made his first radio appearance. He debuted at the Grand Ole Opry in 1943. Between 1945 and 1983, 145 of his songs made the country charts, with 28 of them at #1. He sold more than 85 million records.
Cliff Arquette, aka Charlie Weaver. Comedian, entertainer. High school dropout.
Mathangi Arulpragasam, aka M.I.A., rapper. Did not attend college.
Danni Ahse, multimillionaire businesswoman, adult entertainment website operator, model, producer, dancer. High school dropout who later earned an equivalency degree.
Julian Assange, Wikileaks founder, software programmer. Studied mathematics at the University of Melbourne but dropped out because other students were doing research for the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Brooke Astor, wealthy socialite, author, philanthropist. Dropped out of high school.
John Jacob Astor, multimillionaire businessman. America's first multimillionaire. High school dropout.
Chet Atkins, country singer, author. High school dropout.
Jane Austen, novelist. She and her sister attended schools in Oxford, Southampton, and Reading until the age of 11. After that time, their father taught them at home. Did not attend college.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin, wrestler, actor. Dropped out of the University of North Texas a few credits shy of a physical education degree.
Gene Autry, singing cowboy, actor, songwriter, producer, businessman, author, baseball team owner. High school dropout.
Richard Avedon, photographer. High school dropout.
Willy Aybar, baseball player. High school dropout.
Dan Aykroyd, actor, comedian. Dropped out of Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
Dropouts with last names starting with B
Jimmy Santiago Baca, poet, activist, and filmmaker. At a young age, he ran away from the orphanage and lived on the streets, spending some time in juvenile detention centers. Before he was imprisoned for seven years for a narcotics conviction (a charge he's denied), he was functionally illiterate. During his time in prison, he taught himself to read and write, eventually earning a GED. Baca has written ten books of poetry, a memoir, a book of essays, a book of short stories, a play, and a screenplay for the 1993 film Bound by Honor.Kevin Bacon, actor, singer, songwriter. High school dropout. At the age of 17, he moved to New York City to pursue a career as an actor. As he noted in an interview in Elle magazine, dating older women "was the closest thing I had to a college education. I will always be grateful."
Pearl Bailey, singer, actress. Dropped out of high school.
Josephine Baker, singer, actress, dancer. High school dropout.
Lucille Ball, actress, comedienne, producer. Co-founder of Desilu Studios. Late bought out her husband's share to become the first woman to own and run a production studio. Dropped out of high school.
Steve Ballmer, billionaire chief of Microsoft. Graduated fromcollege, but dropped out of the Stanford MBA program to join Microsoft.
Hubert Howe Bancroft, historian, bookseller. High school dropout.
Tallulah Bankhead, actress. At the age of 15, she won a magazine beauty contest and eventually persuaded her father to let her go to New York City to pursue an acting career. Never attended college.
Tyra Banks, supermodel, actress, TV host, and TV producer. Was all set to attend Loyola Marymount University but deferred college when she received an offer to be a model in Paris, France.
Brigitte Bardot, actress, model, author, animal rights activist. High school dropout.
Etta Moten Barnett, singer, actress. Dropped out of high school to get married, but six years later attended and graduated from the University of Kansas.
Ronald Baron, billionaire money manager, founder of Baron Capital. Dropped out of George Washington University law school to pursue a career on Wall Street.
Roseanne Barr, actress, comedienne, producer, director. High school dropout.
Fantasia Barrino, singer, actress, American Idol winner. Dropped out of high school.
Drew Barrymore, actress, producer, and director. High school dropout. Never attended college.
John Bartlett, author and publisher, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations. Did not attend college, but ended up owning the University Bookstore at Harvard University.
Donald Barthelme, bestselling short story author, college professor, museum director, newspaper reporter. “After experimenting with college, journalism, and marriage in Houston, he got sick of the provinces and lit out for New York City at 31.” (Time magazine). Although he continued to take classes at the University of Houston after serving in the army, he never received a degree.
Bill Bartman, billionaire businessman, author. High school dropout.
Count Basie, bandleader, pianist. Dropped out of high school.
Shirley Bassey, singer, author. High school dropout.
Eike Batista, billionaire mining executive. Studied metallurgy at the University of Aachen, Germany. Dropped out of college. Now one of the top 10 richest men in the world.
Meredith Baxter, actress. Never attended college.
Billy Beane, baseball player, general manager, and statistician. Turned down a scholarship to Stanford to play as a professional baseball player.
Warren Beatty, Oscar-winning director, actor, producer, and screenwriter. Dropped out of Northwestern University after his freshman year to attend Stella Adler's Conservatory of Acting. Beatty is one of the few people ever to receive Oscar nominations in the Best Picture, Actor, Directing and Writing categories from a single film (he did it twice for Heaven Can Wait and Reds).
T. Bubba Bechtol, comedian and radio show host. Transferred to the University of Southern Mississippi his junior year but left soon thereafter. As he notes, “There was one course I was looking for that wasn't in the curriculum catalog: How to Make Money. So I left.” Nonetheless, he was inducted into the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Hall of Fame in 2005.
Beck, see Beck Hansen.
Glenn Beck, radio and TV political commentator, bestselling book author. Enrolled at Yale University for one class but quickly dropped out because he "spent more time trying to find a parking space" than in class.
I am not anti-college.... There is such a thing as getting an education other than through the gates of a university that are charging our children $100,000 to $150,000 to $250,000 just to be able to have a certificate that doesn’t necessarily mean anything to them.... I’m not anti‑education. I am anti‑massive debt. I am anti‑giving our children’s souls over to these universities.
Boris Becker, tennis player. Did not complete high school or attend college.
Kate Beckinsale, actress. Dropped out of Oxford University after three years to pursue her acting career. Starred in Nothing But the Truth, Much Ado About Nothing, Snow Angels, Winged Creatures, Van Helsing, Whiteout, and the Underworld series.
Natasha Bedingfield, singer. Dropped out of college after her freshman year to pursue a music career. Her Unwritten album debuted at #1 in England.
Anne Beiler, multimillionaire co-founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzels restaurants. High school dropout.
Art Bell, radio talk-show host, author. Dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to join the U.S. Air Force.
Jean-Paul Belmondo, actor. Did not do well in school. High school dropout.
André Benjamin, aka André 3000, rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, member of OutKast. Dropped out of high school but later earned a high school equivalency degree.
Jack Benny, actor, comedian, violinist. Dropped out of high school.
Robert Bergman, portrait photographer. Dropped out of the University of Minnesota.
Irving Berlin, Oscar-winning songwriter, composer. When his father died when he was 8 years old, he had to work to survive. Wrote such long-lasting hits as God Bless America, White Christmas, There's No Business Like Show Business, etc.
Carl Bernstein, Watergate reporter, Washington Post. Never finished college. Started as a copy boy at the Washington Star at the age of 16.
Yogi Berra, baseball player, coach, and manager. Quit school in the eighth grade.
Claude Berri, Oscar-winning French director, actor, screenwriter, and producer. High school dropout.
Chuck Berry, rock singer. High school dropout, left in the 11th grade. Received high school equivalency degree at the age of 37. Attended cosmetology school for awhile when yournger.
Halle Berry, Oscar-winning actress. After high school, she moved to Chicago to pursue a career in modeling. Did not attend college.
Luc Besson, French director, screenwriter, and producer. Dropped out of high school. Never attended college.
Jessica Biel, actress. Did not graduate from college. In an interview in Glamour magazine, she said that leaving college was one the toughest choices she ever made: "I do still have a desire, a pang in my heart, when I think about it and the fact that I didn't spend my four years with my friends."
Joey Bishop, actor, comedian. Never finished high school.
William Bishop, actor. Enrolled at West Virginia University but got involved in summer theater and left college to tour with a Tobacco Road theater production. Later went to Hollywood and signed an MGM contract.
Elliott Bisnow, cofounder of Summit Series. Left the University of Wisconsin to co-found a newsletter company with his father.
Robert Bisson, founder, EarthWater Global. Had about four years of college spread over seven universities, but he never earned an undergraduate degree.
Clint Black, Grammy-winning country singer, songwriter, record producer, actor. Dropped out of Stratford High School in Houston, Texas to play in his brother's band.
Karen Black, actress, screenwriter, producer, singer, songwriter. Left high school to get married. Soon divorced and entered Northwestern University at the age of 16. Left college at 17 to pursue an acting career in New York City.
Norman Blake, guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Did not finish high school.
William Blake, poet, artist. Never attended school, educated at home by his mother.
Mary J. Blige, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade.
Timonthy Blixseth, billionaire founder of Yellowstone Club. Skipped college, failed as a professional songwriter. Made his first fortune as a timberland investor. At the age of 15, he bought 3 donkeys for $75 and resold them a week later as pack mules.
Orlando Bloom, actor, Left high school at the age of 16 to study acting. Later won a scholarship to the British American Dramatic Academy.
Humphrey Bogart, Oscar-winning actor. Flunked out of prep school at Andover.
Peter Bogdanovich, director, screenwriter, actor, author. High school dropout. Began studying acting with Stella Adler when he was only 16.
Michael Bolton, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter. High school dropout.
William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, aka Henry McCarty, outlaw legend. Orphaned as a teenager, he never finished high school.
Cher Bono, see Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere (under L).
Sonny Bono, singer, actor, songwriter, U.S. congressman. Dropped out of high school.
Daniel Boone, explorer, frontier leader. Home schooled.
Bjorn Borg, tennis player. Joined the professional tennis circuit when he was 14. Never finished high school or attended college.
Clara Bow, actress. Dropped out of college to become an actress.
David Bowie, singer, songwriter, actor, record producer. Sold 136 million records. May not have graduated from high school. Did not attend college.
Boy George, see George Alan O'Dowd.
Ray Bradbury, science fiction author. Never went to college. “I never went to college. I went to the library.”
Stan Brakhage, experimental filmmaker. Dropped out of Dartmouth College after a few months to make films.
Russell Brand, comedian and actor. After high school, he attended two drama schools in London but got kicked out of both of them.
Marlon Brando Jr., Oscar-winning actor. Expelled from Libertyville High School for riding his motorcycle through the school. Later attended Shattuck Military Academy but was also expelled from there. Was invited to come back, but he decided not to finish school.
Richard Branson, billionaire founder of Virgin Music, Virgin Atlantic Airways, and other Virgin enterprises, balloonist. Left high school when he was 16.
Ralph Braun, founder of BraunAbility, inventor of battery-powered scooters and wheelchair lifts. Attended college at Indiana State for a year, but dropped out.
Jacques Brel, Belgium singer, songwriter, actor, and director. Did not finish high school. Never attended college.
Sergey Brin, billionaire co-founder of Google. Dropped out of Stanford Ph.D. program in computer science to start Google in 1998 working out of a friend's garage. He did earn a masters degree.
Christie Brinkley, aka Christie Lee Hudson, model, actress, political activist. After graduating from high school in Los Angeles, she moved to the Left Bank of Paris, France.
Joseph Brodsky, Nobel prize-winning Russian poet and essayist, Poet Laureate of the U.S. from 1991 to 1992. Left school at the age of 15 and tried to enter the School of Submariners, but was not accepted.
Edgar Bronfman Jr., billionaire heir to the Seagram liquor fortune. Skipped college to pursue a career as a songwriter and movie producer, but soon began running the Seagram corporation.
Charles Bronson, actor. He was 10 when his father died, and he went to work in the coal mines to help support the family.
Gary Brooker, singer, songwriter, founder of Procol Harum rock band. Did not finish high school.
Louise Brooks, actress, dancer, model, showgirl. Began dancing at the age of 16. Never finished high school.
Pierce Brosnan, actor. He left school in England at the age of 15 to draw and paint. He also did odd jobs like washing dishes, cleaning houses, and driving a cab. But, as he noted, “Once I found the world of theater, I was off to the races!”
Herbert Brown, Nobel Prize-winning chemist. Dropped out of high school to support his family. Later return to school and graduated from high school and college.
James Joseph Brown, mining engineer, husband of Unsinkable Molly Brown. Self-educated.
Margaret “Molly” Brown, socialite, philanthropist, social activist, survivor of the Titanic. High school dropout.
V. V. Brown, singer. After attending a top-line prep school, she left England at the age of 18 to got to Los Angeles to make an album. Later returned to England but never went to college.
Carla Bruni, folk singer, songwriter, model, and first lady of France. After graduating from high school, she went to Paris to study art and architecture, but left school at the age of 19 to pursue modeling.
Joy Bryant, model, singer, surfer, snowboarder. Dropped out of Yale University to become a Victoria's Secret model and, later, the face of CoverGirl.
Peter Buffett, musician, author, son of Warren Buffett. Dropped out of Stanford University to make music. "When I turned 19, I received my inheritance. ... My inheritance came to me around the time I was finally committing to the pursuit of a career in music. ... I decided to leave Stanford and use my inheritance to buy the time it would take to figure out if I could make a go of it in music."
Warren Buffett, billionaire chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Dropped out of the University of Pennsylvania after two years. But later he did get his bachelor's degree and MBA.
Stuart Burguiere, radio talk show host, producer. He slacked his way through high school and did not attend college. Here's what he has to say about college:
We’re damning our children to hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Before they work a day in their life - and they spend over half the time there in recreation. It’s insanity.
Gisele Caroline Bündchen, Brazilian multimillionaire supermodel. High school dropout. Left home at the age of 14 to begin her modeling career. Moved to New York City at the age of 16 to continue her career as a model. "Reading things is so important to me—things that can open up your mind. You need to feed your mind."
Solomon Burke, singer, the King of Rock and Roll, preacher, actor, entrepreneur. Never attended college.
Ronald Burkle, billionaire supermarket owner and investor, Yucaipa. Dropped out of California State Polytechnic University and returned home to work in a Stater Brothers grocery store. Had started early stocking shelves; joined union local as a box boy at age 13.
Abner Burnett, singer, guitarist. High school dropout who later earned an equivalency diploma.
George Burns, Oscar-winning actor, comedian. Elementary school dropout.
Pete Burns, singer, songwriter, member of Dead or Alive rock band, reality TV star. Elementary school dropout.
Ellen Burnstyn, Oscar-winning actress. Dropped out of high school.
Raymond Burr, actor. Dropped out of high school.
Terry Butters, singer, pianist. High school dropout.
Robert Byrd, U.S. senator. Graduated from high school but could not afford to attend college.
David Byrne, singer and songwriter, member of Talking Heads rock band. Dropped out of the Rhode Island School of Design after one year to form the Talking Heads. He also attend the Maryland Institute College of Art for one year only.
Rose Byrne, actress. Started taking acting classes at the age of 8. Got her first big acting break at the age of 18. Has not yet attended college.
James Francis Byrnes, U.S. representative, U.S. senator, Supreme Court justice, U.S. secretary of state, South Carolina governor. At the age of 14, he left St. Patrick's Catholic school to apprentice in a law office. Never attended college or law school.
Dropouts with last names starting with C
James Cagney, actor, song-and-dance man. Worked from the age of 14 as an office boy, janitor, package wrapper, and finally vaudeville dancer.Sammy Cahn, Oscar-winning songwriter. Dropped out of high school.
Michael Caine, Oscar-winning actor. Dropped out of high school.
James Cameron, Oscar-winning director, producer, and screenwriter. Dropped out of California State University, Fullerton. Then took up street racing while working as a truck driver and a high school janitor, eventually getting a job building models for Roger Corman's New World Pictures.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell, U.S. representative and senator. Dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to join the U.S. Air Force, where he earned his GED. Later attended and graduated from San Jose State College.
Glen Campbell, singer, songwriter, actor. Dropped out of high school.
Jack Cardiff, cinematographer. His formal education was spotty because his family moved every week or so. He started in the movie business as a gofer and later graduated to camera work.
George Carlin, comedian, author 4-time Grammy winner. Never finished high school. As he noted, “The fact that I didn't finish school left me with a lifelong need to prove that I'm smart.” He also noted, “When you're a dropout and the culture accepts you and begins to quote you and teach your stuff in class and textbooks, this is my honorary baccalaureate.”
Kitty Carlisle, actress, panelist on To Tell the Truth. “I went to boarding schools in Lausanne. And then I went to school in Neuilly. I stopped school when I was about 16. I went to Rome to come out. I never got any degrees or anything, but I am better educated than people who went to college.”
John Carmack, founder of Armadillo Aerospace, cofounder of Id Software (sold 10 million copies of Dome and Quake games). At the age of 14, he was sent to a juvenile home after breaking into a school to steal an Apple II computer. Quit college early to become a game programmer.
Andrew Carnegie, industrialist and philanthropist. Elementary school dropout. Started work at the age of 13 as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. One of the first mega-billionaires in the U.S.
Scott Carpenter, astronaut. He twice flunked out of the University of Colorado.
Jim Carrey, actor, comedian. Dropped out of high school.
Adam Carolla, comedian, radio/TV personality, podcast superstar. “He was a wrong-side-of-the-tracks North Hollywood high-school graduate who could barely read and who worked a series of menial jobs before breaking into radio and then TV” (Fast Company). Did not attend college.
Julia Carson, U.S. congress representative, did not graduate from college. She was the first woman and first African American to represent Indianapolis.
Amon G. Carter, multimillionaire oilman, civic promoter, newspaper publisher, Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Never finished eighth grade.
Maverick Carter, CEO of LRMR. Didn't finish his sports management degree at Western Michigan University. Instead, he apprenticed for a year and a half under a basketball senior director.
Tom Carvel, inventor of the soft-serve ice cream machine, founder of Carvel ice cream stores. Did not attend college. Before he began selling ice cream, he was an auto mechanic, Dixieland band drummer, and test driver for Studebaker.
Pete Cashmore, founder of Mashable.com. Founded the blog website when he was 19. Retired from active blogging three years later.
John Catsimatidis, billionaire oilman and real estate magnate. Studied engineering at NYU but dropped out to help a friend save his family's supermarket business. Owned 10 stores of his own by the age of 24 with $25 million per year in income. During college, he “did not study much. Would not tell my kids that.”
Bruce Catton, historian, editor of American Heritage, author. World War I interrupted his studies at Oberlin College. He tried twice after the war to finish college but kept getting pulled away by real jobs at a succession of newspapers.
Jackie Chan, actor and philanthropist. A grade school dropout. He attended the China Drama Academy, became an accomplished student of martial arts and acrobatics, and began work in films at the age of 8.
John Chancellor, TV journalist and anchorman. Dropped out of high school.
Kyle Martin Chandler, actor. Seven credits shy of graduating, he dropped out of the University of George and flew to Hollywood (after being signed by the ABC network in an actor development deal).
Coco Chanel (Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel) fashion designer. Left the orphanage at the age of 18 to pursue a career as a cabaret singer.
Charles Chaplin, Oscar-winning actor, screenwriter, producer, director. Dropped out of elementary school.
Ray Charles, singer, pianist. Dropped out of high school.
Dov Charney, founder of American Apparel. Started the company when he was a high school senior. Never attended college.
Gurbaksh Chahal, multimillionaire founder of online ad networks Click Again and BlueLithium. Dropped out of school at the age of 16 to found Click Again.
Justin Chatwin, actor. Dropped out of business school at the University of British Columbia to move to Los Angeles and become an actor.
Cher, see Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere (under L).
Maurice Chevalier, Oscar-winning actor, singer. Dropped out of high school.
Chingy, aka Howard Bailey Jr., rapper. Began writing lyrics at the age of 9 and recording raps when he was 10. Never attended college.
Winston Churchill, British prime minister, historian, artist. Rebellious by nature, he generally did poorly in school. Flunked sixth grade. After he left Harrow, he applied to the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, but it took him three times before he passed the entrance exam. He graduated 8th out of a class of 150 a year and a half later. He never attended college.
Madonna Ciccone, multimillionaire pop singer and actress. Dropped out of the University of Michigan, where she was studying dance, to move to New York to pursue a singing career.
Joe Cirulli, founder of GHFC, a multimillion dollar fitness club company. After two years at Corning Community College, he decided to take a year off and travel around the country. Ended up following his girlfriend to Gainesville, Florida, where he started his live in health and fitness.
James H. Clark, billionaire founder of Silicon Graphics and co-founder of Netscape. Dropped out of high school at the age of 17 and entered the Navy. Later took night classes and attended the University of New Orleans, where he earned a Master's degree in physics. He eventually earned a PhD in computer science from the University of Utah.
Kelly Clarkson, pop singer. Got several college music scholarships but passed on them to move to Los Angeles to pursue a singing career.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens. See Mark Twain.
Grover Cleveland, U.S. president (22nd and 24th). Dropped out of school to help his family. Studied law while clerking at a law firm. Of the 43 people who served as president of the United States, 8 never went to college.
Eleanor Clift, reporter, Newsweek. No college degree. Went to night school for several years while working as a secretary.
Lee Clow, global director of media arts, TBWA\Worldwide. A college dropout.
Hank Cochran, country singer and songwriter. Worked in the oil fields of New Mexico while still a teenager. Then moved to California to sing before moving to Nashville and building a career as a songwriter of such hits as "I Fall to Pieces," "Make the World Go Away," and "She's Got You." Never graduated from high school.
Paulo Coelho, songwriter, bestselling novelist. Was institutionalized from age 17 to 20. He later enrolled in law school but dropped out after one year, became a hippie, traveled the world, and later worked as a songwriter before writing his first novel. His novel The Alchemist has sold more than 60 million copies.
Bram Cohen, software programmer, developer of BitTorrent. He attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for one year and then left. As he noted, "Were I to have to redo high school, I would just drop out immediately."
Taylor Cole, actress and model. Started modeling after graduating from high school.
Toni Collette, actress. Quit high school at the age of 16 to study musical theater at Australia's National Institute for Dramatic Art, but then left school there after she got her first paying gigs.
Phil Collins, actor, singer, songwriter, drummer, keyboardist. Never attended college. Solo singer as well as lead singer for Genesis.
Patrick Collison, software wizard. Dropped out of MIT during his freshman year to help two friends develop and eventually sell Auctomatic for millions of dollars.
Christopher Columbus, explorer, discover of America. Little formal education. Home schooled.
Christine Comaford-Lynch, founder of Artemis Ventures (venture capital firm) and Mighty Ventures. Dropped out of high school. Later also dropped out of the University of California at San Diego and UCLA. Dabbled as a model, trained as a geisha, spent years as a Buddhist monk, dated Bill Gates and Larry Ellison. She is the author of Rules of Renegades.
Sean John Combs, rapper, producer, fashion designer, entertainer, actor, and entrepreneur. Did not finish college. As he said in an interview in Time magazine, “I'm just not that type of person. As soon as I got out of the womb, I was ready to do this. Then there's other times—I'm not really high-tech computer savvy, and there's some things that I do have weaknesses with. I don't know if school would have made that better for me. I'm cool the way I've turned out.”
Sean Connery, Oscar-winning actor. Dropped out of high school.
Harry Connick, Jr., Grammy-winning pianist, singer, actor. Has sold over 25 million albums. At the age of 18, he left New Orleans to move to New York City. Did study at Loyola University, Hunter College, and the Manhattan School of Music, but apparently did not graduate.
Kevin Connolly, actor. Skipped college, moved to Los Angeles to live with a bunch of unemployed actors, and finally had success as an actor in Entourage.
Lauren Conrad, reality show actress, bestselling novelist, fashion designer. Moved to Los Angeles fresh out of high school to pursue acting. Never attended college.
Jackie Coogan, actor. Flunked out of Santa Clara University and transferred to the University of Southern California, but never graduated.
Jack Kent Cooke, billionaire media mogul, owner of Washington Redskins football team. Dropped out of high school.
James Fenimore Cooper, novelist. Was kicked out of college for a prank.
Rick Corman, founder of R J Corman Railroad Group. Founded the company in 1973 when he was 18 years old. Did not attend college.
Noel Coward, Oscar-winning actor, playwright, director, producer, composer. Dropped out of elementary school.
Simon Cowell, TV producer, music judge, American Idol, Britain's Got Talent, and The X Factor. A member of Forbes 2008 Celebrity 100, he made $72 million in 2007. He dropped out of school at the age of 16.
James M. Cox, newspaper publisher, 3-term governor of Ohio, presidential nominee in 1920, founded Cox Enterprises. A high school dropout.
Gerard Craft, restaurateur. Dropped out of culinary school, saying “I never did well in the classroom—I got bored.” Then worked at a car wash and pool hall.
Cindy Crawford, actress, model, entrepreneur. Graduated high school as the valedictorian. Then studied chemical engineering at Northwestern University for half a year before dropping out to model.
Joan Crawford, Oscar-winning actress, dancer. Dropped out of high school.
Davy Crockett, frontiersman, U.S. congressman. Less than six months of formal education. Home schooled.
Tom Cruise, actor, producer. Never attended college.
Roy Cullen, oilman billionaire. Dropped out of fifth grade.
Robert Culp, actor. Bounced around 4 colleges before dropping out and moving to New York to study acting and pursue an acting career.
Charles Culpeper, multimillionaire owner and CEO of Coca Cola. Dropped out of high school.
Elisha Cuthbert, actress. Took offer for Los Angeles right after high school to develop her acting career. She gave herself six months to succeed. During the last week of those six months, she got a key role in the 24 TV series. Has not yet attended college.
Dropouts with last names starting with D
John Daly, professional golfer. Dropped out of the University of Arkansas to launch his career as a professional golfer.Claire Danes, actress. Left Yale after two years to return to acting, but did say that “College was just so essential for my sense of self and my development.”
Sharon Daniels, author, The World of Truth. “Eventually I came to conclude that I could not find real knowledge in academic life, only hierarchies of knowledge that led, ultimately, to more hierarchies, not to more knowledge. I began to see university learning as limited, human, and relative. What was seen as absolutely up-to-date did not consider the infinite and timeless.”
Fred N. Davis III, political advertising copywriter and director. Attended drama school in college but never graduated. Left school to take over his family's PR business in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Sammy Davis, Jr., singer, actor, comedian. Never finished high school.
Rosario Dawson, actress and political activist. Did not graduate from college, but she did take precalculus and calculus at the Cooper Union and a civil-engineering course at Columbia. She is a firm believer in the value of education.
Dorothy Day, journalist, socialist, political activist, pacifist, anarchist, suffragist. Co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a scholarship, but dropped out after two years to move to New York City to become a social activist.
James Dean, actor. Attended Santa Monica College but transferred to UCLA where he dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue a career as an actor.
Jimmy Dean, singer, songwriter, actor, multimillionaire founder of Jimmy Dean Foods. Dropped out of high school to join the Merchant Marines at the age of 16. Later joined the Air Force at the age of 18.
Paula Deen, restaurant owner, TV chef, bestselling cookbook author. Did not attend college. After high school, she married at the age of 18 and soon learned how to cook great meals.
Ellen DeGeneres, comedienne, actress, talk show host. Dropped out of the University of New Orleans. As she noted in an interview with Us Magazine, "I didn't go to no college."
John Paul DeJoria, billionaire co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems hair care products and founder of Patron Spirits tequilla. Joined the U.S. Navy right out of high school. After the Navy, he spent time doing many odd jobs, sometimes living out of a car, before finding an entry-level marketing job with Time magazine.
Michael Dell, founder of Dell Computers, billionaire, among top ten wealthiest Americans. Founded his company out of his college dorm room. Dropped out of the University of Texas to run the company.
Dom DeLuise, comedian, actor. Graduated from high school, but never attended college. Instead, he began acting at the Cleveland Play House.
Patrick Demarchelier, fashion photographer. His stepfather gave him a Kodak camera when he was 17. He started working at a photography store right away and never attended college.
Patrick Dempsey, actor, Dr. McDreamy, juggler, race car driver. Left Maine when he was 17 for a stage-acting career.
Robert De Niro, Oscar-winning actor, producer. Dropped out of high school.
Felix Dennis, multimillionaire magazine publisher, Maxim, Blender, and others. Left home before his sixteenth birthday and dropped out of art college.
The bottom line is that if I did it, you can do it. I got rich without the benefit of a college education or a penny of capital but making many errors along the way. I went from being a pauper, a hippie dropout on the dole, living in a crummy room without the proverbial pot to piss in, without even the money to pay the rent, without a clue as to what to do next... to being rich. — Felix Dennis, magazine publisher, How to Get Rich
Gerard Depardieu, actor. Dropped out of elementary school.
Johnny Depp, actor. Never finished high school.
Richard Desmond, billionaire publisher. Dropped out of high school.
Richard DeVos, billionaire co-founder of Amway (now Alticor), owner of Orlando Magic basketball team. Served in the Army after high school. Founded Amway along with his best friend Jay Van Andel.
Maria Diaz, CEO and founder of Pursuit of Excellence. Dropped out of college as a recent widow to work three jobs and care for her son. Later worked for Jenny Craig. Then set up a coaching practice that led to founding Pursuit of Excellence.
Leonardo DiCaprio, actor. At the age of 14, he signed with an agent and began doing commercial work as well as acting. He complete high school with a tutor, but put off college. As he has noted, "Life is my college now."
Charles Dickens, bestselling novelist. Elementary school dropout.
Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates), rock & roll singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Never attended college.
Barry Diller, billionaire, Hollywood mogul, Internet maven, chairman of IAC/InterActive Corp (owner of Ask.com, Ticketmaster, CitySearch, Evite, LendingTree.com, etc.). The son of a wealthy real estate developer, he attended Beverly Hills High School but dropped out of UCLA to work in the mail room of William Morris.
Joe DiMaggio, baseball player, husband of Marilyn Monroe. High school dropout.
Walt Disney, producer, director, screenwriter, animator, developer of Disneyland. Winner of 26 Oscars and 7 Emmy awards. While attending McKinley High School, he also took night classes at the Chicago Art Institute. He dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to join the army. Rejected because he was underaged, he joined the Red Cross and was sent to war in Europe. Upon his return from war, he began his artistic career.
Snoop Dogg, rapper and actor. Never attended college. “A lot of people like to fool you and say that you're not smart if you never went to college, but common sense rules over everything. That's what I learned from selling crack.”
Thomas Dolby, musician, composer, music producer. Dropped out of high school.
Eliza Doolittle, aka Eliza Caird, singer and songwriter. Landed a songwriting publishing deal when she was 16. Has not attended college.
Jack Dorsey, founding CEO of Twitter, co-founder and CEO of Square. Dropped out of New York University and bounced betweens jobs before landing at Odeo, the forerunner of Twitter.
Robert Downey, Jr., actor. Dropped out of Santa Monica High School during his sophomore year.
Betsy Drake, actress, novelist. Dropped out of high school to model and act. Much later in life, she enrolled at Harvard where she earned a master's degree of education in psychology.
Francis Drake, British admiral and explorer. Home schooled.
Dominique Dunne, actress. Went to the University of Colorado to study acting, leaving after one year to pursue her career as an actress.
Eliza Dushku, actress. Moved from Boston to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to act.
Tom Dwan, millionaire online poker player. Dropped out of Boston University. He started with a $50 investment and built it into millions playing poker online.
Dropouts with last names starting with E
Johnny Earle, founder of Johnny Cupcakes. Dropped out of music school to sell limited-edition T-shirts out of the trunk of his '89 Camry.Steve Earle, singer, songwriter, actor, playwright. At 16, he dropped out of college to become a songwriter.
George Eastman, multimillionaire inventor and founder of Kodak. High school dropout.
Clint Eastwood, Oscar-winning actor, director, and producer. Attended at least half a dozen schools and excelled at none of them. Enrolled at Los Angeles City College, but never graduated. Among other jobs, he bagged groceries, delivered papers, fought forest fires, and dug swimming pools. Also worked as a steelworker and logger.
Mark Ecko, founder urbanwear company Mark Ecko Enterprises. Left Rutgers University during his third year to start his company with his sister, Marci, who also left college to work on the business.
Thomas Edison, multimillionaire inventor of the phonograph, light bulb, and many other inventions. He quit formal schooling after his teacher called him addled. Was home-schooled by his mother.
Joined the railroad at the age of 12.
Don Edwards, cowboy singer. Never finished high school.
Zac Efron, actor, singer. Has not attended college, but also has not ruled out more study.
William Eggleston, photographic artist. A major retrospective of his work opened in November, 2008, at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He attended Vanderbilt and the University of Mississippi without graduating. At Ole Miss, he did study painting which eventually led to his interest in artistic photography.
Albert Einstein, Nobel prize-winning physicist, discoverer of the General and Special Theories of Relativity. At the age of 15, he dropped out of prep school because of its militaristic bent. Then attended Zurich Polytechnic. At the age of 16, he conducted a thought experiment that led to his theory of relativity.
Duke Ellington, bandleader, composer. Dropped out of high school.
Larry Ellison, billionaire co-founder of Oracle software company. Dropped out of the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois.
Queen Elizabeth II, queen of England. Tutored at the palace. Did not attend school.
Philip Emeagwali, supercomputer scientist. High school dropout: left school in native Nigeria due to war but later earned an equivalency degree. Won a scholarship to Oregon College of Education but transferred after one year to Oregon State University.
Eminem, rapper. Has a limited formal education, but "by the time I was 18 I had probably read the dictionary front to back like 10 times."
Israel Englander, billionaire hedge fund manager, Millennium Partners. Dropped out of NYU's MBA program to work as a floor manager at the American Stock Exchange.
Tom Epperson, novelist and screenwriter. After taking some classes at Henderson State University in Arkansas, he dropped out and headed for New York City to become a novelist. Four years later, he headed to Los Angeles to write screenplays.
Chris Evans, actor. Took a year off after high school to move to New York and then Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor. Has not yet attended college.
Dropouts with last names starting with F
Shawn Fanning, developer of Napster. Dropped out of Northeastern University when 19 to move to Silicon Valley to further develop Napster. He made the cover of Time and Fortune at the age of 19 - months before he dropped out of school!William Faulkner, Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winning novelist. Dropped out of high school after his second year. Also later attended but dropped out of the University of Mississippi.
Perry Farrell (Peretz Bernstein), musician, Jane's Addiction, Porno for Pyros, and Satellite Party. Also producer and founder of the Lollapalooza music tour. Never attended college.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty, see Rihanna.
Arash Ferdowsi, cofounder, DropBox.com. Dropped out of MIT to start up DropBox.com.
Craig Ferguson, late night talk show host. As he noted recently, "Economists are saying that a college degree may not be necessary to succeed in life. Look at me, I didn’t go to college and here I am. Seriously kids, go to college."
Patrick Leigh Fermor, travel writer. He left school at the age of 18 to walk across Europe (which he then wrote about in two books).
Enzo Ferrari, founder of the Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix motor racing team and later the Ferrari car manufacturer. Grew up with little formal education.
Mel Ferrer, actor, director, producer, husband of Audrey Hepburn. Dropped out of Princeton to get into acting.
Sally Field, Oscar-winning and Emmy-winning actress. Never attended college.
Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies. Founded the company when she was a 21-year-old mother with no business experience. Did not graduate from college.
50 Cent, rapper. Did not attend college. As he noted, "If I had a choice, I would’ve been a college kid. I would’ve majored in business."
Laurent Fignon, professional bicyclist, two-time winner of the Tour de France. Left the University of Villetaneuse to join the army. Did not complete college.
Millard Fillmore, U.S. president. Six months of formal schooling. Studied law while a legal clerk for a judge and law firm. Of the 43 people who served as president of the United States, 8 never went to college.
David Filo, billionaire co-founder of Yahoo! Dropped out of Stanford University PhD program to create Yahoo!
Carly Fiorina, CEO, Hewlett-Packard. Disappointed her parents by dropping out of law school after one semester.
Bobby Fischer, Grandmaster chess player. A high school dropout.
Eddie Fisher, singer and actor. Never attended college. Began his singing career while still in high school.
Ella Fitzgerald, singer. Dropped out of high school.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist. Dropped out of Princeton University.
Sean Flynn, actor, photojournalist. Son of Errol Flynn, Sean left Duke University after his freshman year to star in The Son of Captain Blood. He later became a famous photojournalist covering the Vietnam War where he apparently died (MIA and still unaccounted for).
Caleb Followill, rock musician, Kings of Leon. Homeschooled. Has not yet attended college.
Nathan Followill, rock musician, Kings of Leon. Homeschooled. Has not yet attended college.
Harrison Ford, actor. Dropped out of Ripon College. He worked as a carpenter for almost ten years before finding success as an actor in Star Wars and other movies.
Henry Ford, billionaire founder of Ford Motor Company. Received only a modest rural education. Left his home on the farm to work as an apprentice machinist in Detroit, Michigan. Later ran a sawmill and became a chief engineer for Edison Illuminating Company before starting the Ford Motor Company.
Henry Ford II, CEO, Ford Motor Company. Dropped out of Yale University.
George Foreman, heavyweight champion boxer, author, designer of the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machine. Quit school in the ninth grade, but did get his GED. Never attended college.
Claire Forlani, actress. Briefly attending London's Arts Educational School. At the age of 19, she headed to Los Angeles to become an actress.
Charles Forman, founder of iminlikewithyou social networking website. Left home when he was 18 to work in Korea and Japan as a programmer.
John Forsythe, actor. He won an athletic scholarship to the University of North Carolina but he left after three years to pursue a career in show business. He started out as an announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers and then, noting that he liked to eat in the winter, left to pursue acting.
Sutton Foster, Tony award-winning actress, singer, and dancer. Attended Carnegie Mellon University for one year and then left to pursue a theatrical career full-time.
Andrew Fox, Internet entrepreneur, multi-millionaire. A high school dropout.
Megan Fox, actress. Tested out of high school via correspondence and moved to Los Angeles. Landed a role in a movie after only two months. Never attended college.
Michael J. Fox, actor. Dropped out of high school. Got his GED when he was in his 30s. Co-starred in a Canadian television series at the age of 15. Left Canada at the age of 18 to go to Hollywood to pursue an acting career.
Dick Francis, novelist, jockey. Dropped out of school at the age of 15 because his father, as noted by the London Times, felt "that a day's hunting or show jumping was more valuable" than formal schooling.
James Franco, actor, book author. Dropped out of UCLA after his freshman year to pursue acting. Nine years later he reenrolled at UCLA and later completed his degree. Now pursuing graduate programs in film (New York University), fiction writing (Columbia University), and digital media (Rhodes Island School of Design.
Justin Frankel, multimillionaire software programmer, developer of WinAmp and Gnutella, founder of Cockos Inc. Attended the University of Utah for two quarters, but then dropped out. A few months later, he released the first version of WinAmp, a free MP3 player.
Aretha Franklin, singer. Dropped out of high school.
Benjamin Franklin, inventor, scientist, inventor, diplomat, author, printer, publisher, politician, patriot, signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Dropped out of Boston Latin. Home schooled with less than two years of formal education.
Joe Frazier, heavyweight boxing champion. Never finished high school. Left home at the age of 15 to go to New York City.
Markus Frind, software programmer, multimillionaire founder of Plenty of Fish dating website. Graduated from technical school with a two-year degree in computer programming. Did not attend any further higher education.
Robert Frost, poet. Dropped out of Dartmouth College.
R. Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome, visionary, philosopher, poet, architect, futurist. He never finished college, after being expelled from Harvard twice (one involving some chorus girls).
J. B. Fuqua, industrialist, philanthropist. Never attended college, but learned about business by checking out books from the Duke University library through the mail. Later donated $36 million to support a business school at Duke.
Lanjut ke: The College Dropouts Hall of Fame part 2
