After Hampshire-born Craig Fletcher sold his family-run computer game firm for £20m, the Daily Echo takes a look at 10 other university drop-outs to have gone on to bigger and better things.
We’ve found actors, musicians and technology magnates who all chose to skip higher education in the end – and never looked back.
Here is the Daily Echo’s top 10:
Mark Zuckerberg
We start with arguably the most famous thanks to recent Hollywood film The Social Network.
Mark Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook while still studying at Harvard, but chose to leave during his second year in 2004. He is now worth around $33billion and became a billionaire at the age of 23.
Bill Gates
Before he co-founded Microsoft and went on to become one of the richest men in the world with a fortune of more than $80billion, Bill Gates also attended Harvard but dropped out in 1975.
He returned to the Massachusetts-based university in 2007 to receive an honorary degree.
Steve Jobs
Rounding off the trilogy of computer whizzes to drop-out and make a fortune, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs left Reed College in Portland after just one semester.
Four years later he founded Apple, and at the time of his death in 2011 was worth around $8billion.
Charles Darwin
The revolutionary thinker and father of evolution initially pursued a medical career at Edinburgh University but was “repulsed” by his studies, according to the university’s website.
He left Scotland and took up theology at Cambridge, and the rest is history.
Woody Allen
He’s known for his unique comedy style and his prowess both in front of and behind the camera, but the Annie Hall/Manhattan director ended up leaving two institutions.
First he was thrown out of New York University for poor grades and then he dropped out of City College of New York. He went on to win four Oscars for directing and writing among countless other awards.
George Clooney
The Oscar-winning actor is another double drop out, having left both Northern Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati.
His critics will argue he got by on his looks but after receiving his big break on ER he has gone on to become one of the highest regarded actors in Hollywood.
Ellie Goulding
She’s at number one in the charts right now with Love Me Like You Do, and perhaps Ellie knew she was headed for great success when she dropped out of a drama degree after two years at the University of Kent.
Now she has sold more than 4m albums and 15m singles worldwide.
Sting
The global superstar was once University of Warwick student Gordon Sumner but abandoned his studies after just one term to become a teacher.
That didn’t work out either but we doubt he minds too much after mega success as a solo artist and with The Police.
Ralph Lauren
Although plenty of students wear his clothes, the fashion designer actually dropped out of a business degree after two years at New York-based Baruch College.
After a stint in the US army he spent some time working for other companies before launching his own necktie business and expanding to become a giant in men’s fashion, worth $8billion.
Tom Hanks
Another celebrated actor and double Oscar winner, California State University, Sacramento calls Tom Hanks its most famous drop-out after he left to become a full-time intern at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland, Ohio, the foundation for his long career in film.
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