1. Sean Connery
Connery grew up poor and had to drop out of high school to work
various jobs and briefly join the army. When he was discharged on
medical grounds, he began working backstage at the King’s Theatre in
1951. Since then, he’s won an Oscar, been knighted by Queen Elizabeth
II, and been dubbed the “greatest living Scot.”
Image by Matthew Lloyd / Getty Images
2. John D. Rockefeller
Dropping out of high-school just two months before graduation,
Rockefeller began working as an assistant bookkeeper and ultimately went
on to found Standard Oil. Considered one of (if not
the) richest American in history, his net worth at his death in 1937 was $1.5 billion.
3. Richard Branson
At just 16 years old, Branson founded
The Student, a
magazine he distributed to his fellows at Stowe School in England. He
barely graduated and chose not to attend college, instead opting to sell
popular records out of the church in which he ran the magazine. And
thus, the start of Virgin Records.
Image by Ben Rose / Getty Images
4. Abraham Lincoln
Although Lincoln later said he regretted not receiving a formal
education, he also estimated that he attended school for less than a
year in total and had to teach himself grammar when he was 23.
5. Rachael Ray
Despite evidence to the contrary, Rachael Ray had little to no
formal cooking training. Instead of heading off to college after high
school, she spent most of her twenties working various food service jobs
in NYC and Albany. Ultimately she settled there and began teaching
classes about how to cook full meals in less than 30 minutes, shortly
thereafter a local TV station asked her to do a segment—and that was
that.
Image by J. Countess / Getty Images
6. Bill Gates, et. al.
We’re using Bill Gates as the prime example here, but this list
would have to be its own post to do it any kind of justice. From the
earliest pioneers of Silicon Valley to its contemporary counterparts
like Mark Zuckerberg, these guys all went to top schools and then
dropped out to revolutionize the tech industry.
Image by Jason Kempin / Getty Images
7. Will Smith
Smith was admitted to a pre-engineering program at MIT, but turned
it down in order to pursue a career in music. Starting in the
mid-eighties as the MC of DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince (you can
guess which one he was), it quickly became clear that he had made the
right decision.
Image by AFP / Stringer / Getty Images
8. Henry Ford
Ford has one of the most outstanding stories on this list, as he
essentially figured out how to mass produce the basis of the modern car
on his own—and he started by dissembling a watch his father had given
him when he was 15.
9. Dave Thomas
Driven from a young age, Thomas started working at restaurants when
he was just a teen, quickly realizing that food was his passion. When
his family decided to move while he was in tenth grade, he instead chose
to stay and dropped out so he could work full-time. He eventually
befriended and worked closely with KFC founder Col. Sanders and used his
knowledge to open the first Wendy’s in 1969.
10. Pete Cashmore
On top of having a super sweet name, Cashmore is the CEO and
founder of Mashable, one of the most widely read blogs in the world.
Instead of continuing his studies in Scotland, he chose to found the
top-ten tech blog when he was just 19. Since then, he’s gone onto write
for CNN and in 2012
Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
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