Remember those cold Monday mornings, when your mother kept pounding on your door and shouting for you to wake up, because if you didn’t get to high school on time you’d never get into a good college, and then your life would be ruined? If only you’d had this list then.

Then you could have told her: Mom, there are so many celebrities who dropped out of college. If you let me stay in bed, then I might grow up to start Facebook or Apple, or launch my own globally beloved talk show. I might be People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive.

Keep dreaming. In the meantime, enjoy our list…

#1 – Ellen DeGeneres

Here’s Ellen DeGeneres speaking at the 2009 graduation from Tulane University. She looks pretty good up there at the podium, doesn’t she? It’s a good place for a sitcom star, widely acclaimed stand-up comedian and host of her own syndicated talk show for the past decade.

That’s why our Ellen is an actor. She plays a good collegian, but in reality she dropped out of the University of New Orleans after only one semester. After that, she worked in a law firm, waited tables and painted houses before starting out in stand-up.