When we think of success and wealth, it’s easy to assume that a university degree is a necessary stepping stone. Yet history and modern times alike show many of the world’s richest people didn’t finish—or even begin—their formal higher education. Below is a look at several prominent billionaires who dropped out of university (or left college early), why they did so, and what their stories suggest about education, risk, and entrepreneurship.
Notable Dropouts
Here are some well-known billionaires who left university:
| Name | Institution(s) Left / Did Not Attend | What They Did After Dropping Out |
|---|---|---|
| Bill Gates | Harvard University (left in 1975) Business Insider+2Investopedia+2 | Co‑founded Microsoft with Paul Allen; built one of the world’s leading tech companies. Business Insider+2Investopedia+2 |
| Mark Zuckerberg | Harvard University (left during undergraduate) Business Insider+2Salary.com+2 | Founded Facebook (Meta); became one of the youngest billionaires. Business Insider+2Salary.com+2 |
| Larry Ellison | University of Illinois & University of Chicago (dropped out) Business Insider+2Salary.com+2 | Founded Oracle; major figure in databases and enterprise software. Salary.com+2Business Insider+2 |
| Steve Jobs | Reed College (attended briefly, then dropped out) reed.edu+2Business Insider+2 | Co‑founded Apple; his aesthetic and product sense shaped consumer tech; famous for saying a Reed calligraphy class influenced the Mac interface. reed.edu+2Business Insider+2 |
| Michael Dell | University of Texas at Austin (dropped out as a student) Upstox - Online Stock and Share Trading+2KopyKitab+2 | Founded Dell Computers; built a major provider of PCs and enterprise solutions. LoveMoney+2KopyKitab+2 |
| Paul Allen | Washington State University (left after ~2 years) Encyclopedia Britannica | Co‑founded Microsoft with Bill Gates; invested in multiple ventures, also philanthropy. Encyclopedia Britannica+1 |
| Jack Dorsey | NYU (left before graduating) Business Insider+2KopyKitab+2 | Co‑founder of Twitter and Square; influential figure in social media and financial tech. Business Insider+1 |
| Evan Williams | University of Nebraska (left early) KopyKitab+2Upstox - Online Stock and Share Trading+2 | Co‑founded Twitter; involved in other internet publishing ventures (e.g. Blogger, Medium). Upstox - Online Stock and Share Trading+1 |
| Travis Kalanick | UCLA (left to try business) Business Insider+1 | Founded Uber (with others); helped radically transform ride‑hailing and transport services globally. Business Insider+1 |
| Dustin Moskovitz | Harvard University (dropped out) Wikipedia | Co‑founded Facebook (Meta) and later Asana; part of the early “founder generation” in social media. Wikipedia |
There are others, especially outside tech or outside the U.S., who left school early or never attended university, and still built vast fortunes. For example, Amancio Ortega, founder of Inditex (Zara and other brands), left formal schooling very early. Business Insider+1 Also François Pinault, Chinese business figures like Li Ka‑Shing, and others. Business Insider+1
Why Did They Drop Out?
Each of these individuals has a different story, but some common themes emerge:
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Entrepreneurial Opportunity — Many dropped out because they saw a business idea or opportunity they couldn’t ignore. Gates, Allen, Zuckerberg, Dell, and others left to dedicate full time to growing their companies. Salary.com+3Business Insider+3Encyclopedia Britannica+3
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Mismatch with Studies / Academic Disinterest — For some, the traditional university curriculum felt irrelevant. Steve Jobs, for instance, found standard required classes did not interest him. He audited classes he loved (like calligraphy), and later claimed they influenced his design philosophy. reed.edu+2Deseret News+2
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Financial Constraints — In certain cases, the cost of university was a factor. Jobs noted the financial burden of Reed was heavy. Other students may have left due to tuition, family support difficulties, or preferring to allocate limited resources toward business or other opportunities. reed.edu+1
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Risk Taking / Belief in Self — Dropping out is a risk: no degree, uncertain path, often less structure and fewer safety nets. But these people believed enough in their ability, vision, or network to make that leap. It required both confidence and resilience.
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Support Systems / Timing — Many had some support: mentors, peers, early access to technology/resources, or early successes. For example, Bill Gates and Paul Allen had early exposure to computers; Zuckerberg had the Harvard network; Jobs connected with people at Reed and others after leaving. Timing also matters: many dropped out during the early growth of personal computing / internet, when first‑mover advantage was possible.
What These Stories Suggest
While the dropout route is by no means the norm, these stories illuminate a few lessons and caveats:
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Education is Valuable but Not Sufficient: A degree confers knowledge, structure, credentials, and often network access. But in these cases, knowledge alone did not guarantee success; action, experimentation, and adaptation played larger roles.
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Non‑Linear Paths Are Possible: Traditional paths (school, degree, job) aren’t the only way. Some of the biggest innovations came from people who went off the beaten track.
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Luck, Timing, and Ecosystem Matter: Many who dropped out had access to unique conditions: early computer labs, growing tech scenes, mentors, capital or family support. Without that, dropping out could just mean floundering.
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Risk Is Costly: Dropping out is risky. There are countless who tried and failed or never regained footing. These stories are often amplified because of success; there is survivor bias.
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Passion and Focus: In many cases, leaving school allowed them to focus full time on what they cared about, without being constrained by courses or obligations misaligned with their goals.
Counterpoints & Warnings
It's important to balance the inspirational angle with realistic caution:
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Education Offers More Than Credentials: Beyond later career, university often stands as a place to explore broadly, meet people, develop discipline, critical thinking, etc. Dropping out means one gives up some of those structures.
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Success Stories Are a Minority: For every Gates, Jobs, Ellison, many more dropouts don’t become billionaires. Hard work, luck, and resources still matter enormously.
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Shifting Contexts: The technology ecosystem in the 1970s‑2000s (especially in Silicon Valley) was more forgiving / more opportunity‑laden for scrappy startups. It is not always clear that dropping out today, especially in different regions, gives one similar opportunity.
Examples in Detail
Here are a couple of particularly illustrative cases:
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Steve Jobs: Enrolled at Reed College in 1972, but dropped out after roughly one semester because it was too expensive and because he disliked required classes he felt weren’t contributing to his interests. He, however, continued auditing classes he liked (notably a calligraphy course), which later had unexpected influence on the typography and design in Apple’s Macintosh. reed.edu+3reed.edu+3reed.edu+3
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Paul Allen: Studied at Washington State University, left after two years to take work as a programmer, which eventually led to his collaboration with Bill Gates and the launching of Microsoft. Encyclopedia Britannica+1
Conclusion
The list of billionaires who dropped out of university is long enough to show that a degree, while helpful and often encouraged, is not always the defining factor in achieving massive financial success. What appears more important in many of these cases is a combination of vision, risk‑taking, timing, and persistence.
Still, dropping out is not a prescription—it’s a choice with trade‑offs. For every successful startup run by a dropout, there are many more ventures that falter. University provides structure, knowledge, credentialing, and opportunities that should not be taken lightly.
Ultimately, the stories of these billionaires remind us that schooling is a tool, not a guarantee. The opportunity to learn, experiment, and make bold choices exists inside and outside formal education.
Ahmad Nor,
https://moneyripples.com/wealth-accelerator-academy-affiliates/?aff=Mokhzani75
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