successful people who failed school

10 Successful People Who Failed in School

4 mins read

Education is important, but how much does it affect as an indication of how successfully you will be in the future?

Seeing the success of these people makes many people think, what kind of education did they get during school? Or how well they did in school? Apparently, there are many successful people who managed to be successful even though they failed in school.

It doesn’t mean that you are now thinking of quitting college and switching professions. Of course other people’s life journey is not necessarily the same as ours. But it can be a rough idea that there are people who are successful even without graduating from university.

1. Paul Allen

When building Microsoft, Bill Gates did not build the company alone. Bill Gates contacted his friends to co-found Microsoft. The friend Bill Gates contacted was Paul Gardner Allen. Paul Allen is a business magnate, programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist.

 

Together with Bill Gates, they both founded Microsoft Corporation in 1975. Paul Allen was a student at the University of Washington but left in just 2 years. The reason Paul Allen left at that time was to become Honeywell’s programmer. Paul Allen died on October 15, 2018 from cancer-related septic shock.

2. Jack Dorsey

There were many social media that emerged in the 2000s. And we all know the famous social media, Twitter. Twitter was founded by Jack Patrick Dorsey.

By many, Jack Dorsey is an American internet entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and former CEO of Twitter. In 2021, Jack Dorsey completely quit Twitter and founded Block, Inc, a financial payments company. 

3. Mark Zuckerberg

successful people who failed schoolFacebook first appeared in 2004 and is still active until today. Facebook is one of the most favorite social media and has many users. The person behind the success of Facebook is none other than Mark Elliot Zuckerberg or commonly referred to by his short name, Mark Zuckerberg.

 

This man is an internet entrepreneur and philanthropist from the United States. While studied in Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg decided to drop out in 2005. Mark prefers to focus on developing Facebook. The choice was not wrong, he managed to succeed as it is now thanks to his choice to raise Facebook.

4. Michael Dell

Dell had become a company that occupies the first position in terms of computer sales worldwide. Of course this is not an easy thing to do if you don’t have a great leader. The person who played a major role in Dell’s success as well as being the founder of Dell, is Michael S. Dell.

Dell, headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, is engaged in developing, selling, repairing, and supporting all kinds of computer related things. Michael Dell, the founder of Dell Inc., attended the University of Texas at Austin. After the first year of college, Michael decided to leave and founded a computer company by the name of Dell.

5. Ted Turner

News is a very important thing that is needed by many people. Nowadays everyone needs the latest news all the time. And CNN is one of the news media that can provide this. Cable New Network is a broadcasting company headquartered in Atlanta, United States.

 

The person who founded CNN is Robert Edward Turner III or who can be called Ted Turner. It is known that Ted Turner had studied at Brown University. Unfortunately, he made a mistake that caused him to be kicked out of the university where he studied. He is known to sneak his female friends in the dormitory. This resulted in him being expelled. He then worked for his father in an advertising firm. Ted Turner developed it into CNN.

6. Bill Gates

successful people who failed schoolIt’s outrageous if there are people who don’t know Bill Gates. He is a business entrepreneur, software developer, investor, author, and philanthropist from the United States. Bill is very successful and his name has always been on the list of the richest people in the world for several years.

He is the person who founded the company Microsoft. His story is always talked about by many people because Bill Gates prefers to leave Harvard to create Microsoft. Not alone, Bill Gates invited his friend Paul Allen to jointly raise Microsoft. His net worth is currently estimated at 134.1 billion USD.

7. Gautam Adani

When you want to be a successful businessman, people will think you have to take college with the appropriate major. Dig as much knowledge, graduate, and start a business. But apparently, there are some successful people that are failed in school. For example, Gautam Adani, this Indian-blooded man is actually successful even though he did not graduate from college.

Gautam Adani is the founder of the Adani Group. Adani Group itself is a multinational conglomerate company engaged in many fields. Call it the port industry, aerospace, thermal energy, and also coal. Gautam Adani founded this company himself from 1988 and is now worth 88.5 billion USD.

 

8. Larry Ellison

The software world will never forget Larry Ellison. How not, he was the one who managed to find the Oracle software. He created the software with the company he founded called Oracle Corp. Larry Ellison founded the company in 1977. Its headquarters are in Austin, United States.

Being able to create software as good and useful as Oracle, we might think that Larry Ellison was very intelligent and graduated with high grades. Larry Ellison did study at the University of Chicago but did not finish. He was only able to finish one semester and then continued to create his own software firm which he named Oracle.

9. Richard Branson

successful people who failed schoolWhen you have a goal, work hard to achieve it. This lesson can be learned from the figure of Richard Branson. As a child, Richard Branson had dreams of becoming a successful businessman. He managed to do it with now he managed to become one of the world’s richest people with a fortune of 5.3 billion USD.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is a successful person from Britain. he is an entrepreneur and business magnet. In the 1970s, he founded a company called Virgin Group. The company controls more than 400 companies with various fields. Please note that Richard Branson suffers from dyslexia and he never graduated from college.

10. Steve Jobs

Even though he’s gone, we can’t forget Steve Jobs. When he appeared, Steve Jobs always wore a plain black t-shirt. But, who is this figure that he can be so known and respected? Steve Jobs is a man who played a big role in the world of technology by founding the company Apple Inc. and Pixar.

 

If you use a product from Apple, that is one of the ideas that came from Steve Jobs’ head. Steve Jobs was indeed a very genius, he chose Reed College in Portland to study. But he dropped out after one semester. Had studied Eastern spiritualism in India and finally returned to the United States and invited a friend named Steve Wozniak to establish a company.

Bottom Line

You’ve seen the list of successful people that were failed in school. A good grades doesn’t reflect how your future will be.

If you’re one of it, don’t give up yet. Stay hustle!

For more than 5 years, I’ve been a columnist for The Opinist, focusing on strategy and management while expanding my coverage to include emerging leaderships and businesses. My stories, which cover the globe, have appeared in, and have been cited by, dozens of publications and broadcasts.

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