15 Celebrities Who Prove You Don't Need Good Grades To Be Successful

During an exam, it can feel like it's taking over your entire life.

Your summer from age 15 to 18 seems to have been filled with revision and the existential fear of not getting into the college of your choice.

But many of the people we think of as very successful today actually didn't do very well in school.

Everyone knows the story of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg dropping out of college to become two of the richest men in the world.

But many other successful people never got there.

Scroll down to see how academia wasn't right for 15 highly successful people, and it doesn't matter.

Sir Richard Branson dropped out of school at age 16

Interested in school, dropped out at age 16 to start his first business – Student

magazine,The Daily Telegraph

, he achieved the latter and today Virgin Group owns more than 200 companies in 30 countries around the world.

Simon Cowell barely passed his exams

Few opinions in the music industry matter more than Simon Cowell's. But he wasn't always top dog.

Biography. com, Cowell began working in the mailroom at his father's company, EMI Music Publishing. There he was eventually promoted to talent scout and left the company in the early 80's and with his boss Ellis Rich he formed E&S Music.

After a short period of success with several companies, Cowell made a name for himself with his BMG Records, where in the UK and the US he sold over 150 million records and his 70 's top of the charts sold his singles.

Drew Barrymore left school after rehab

Drew Barrymore is now a successful actor, producer and businessman. However, when he was just three years old, he fell in love with acting and had a turbulent childhood.

According to The Guardian,she was in rehab by her 13th birthday and decided not to pursue her education when she came out. rice field.

Despite all of this, she turned her situation around and in 1995 she founded her production company Fower Films,Charlie's Angels. Donnie She was in charge of Darko

. She is also currently the United Nations World Food Program's hunger ambassador.

Claire Boulding She was forced to suspend for two years

Claire Boulding is one of the UK's most famous broadcasters. and hosts Wimbledon, Crafts and more. However, according to The Independent,The Independent

, in her youth she was once arrested for shoplifting. She took her two years off work and re-examined, during which time she practiced her interviewing techniques. This allowed her to enroll in Cambridge to study English.

Jon Snow got 1 A level

Jon Snow is one of Britain's most successful television journalists, but he did poorly in school. According to the BBC, he got his C in English, but his other subjects failed at his A level.

In one interview, he told his students to use their strengths to "do as much as possible of what they want to do", adding that "there is life after A Level."

After school, Snow went to college for more qualifications and enrolled at the University of Liverpool. However, he was naively treated for his participation in an anti-apartheid socialist student protest in 1970.

Sir Alan Sugar he has one his GCSE

Apprentice Star Also founder Sir Sugar of Amstrad has approximately £1.4 billion in assets. But he didn't get there by working hard in school.

Biography website thefamouspeople. According to.com, Lord Sugar started making money when he was 12 years old. He dropped out of school with just one of his GCSEs, but that didn't stop him from starting his own business, Amstrad, at the age of 21.

Carey Mulligan declined drama school

Carey Mulligan is now an Oscar-nominated actress, but as a teenager she was turned down by Radha, Central and Drama Center London.She said the Guardian

she's very good,' she said. "I went inside and performed Sarah Kane's monologue from4.48 Psychosis. Sarah Kane later committed suicide. I was 17 and this incredibly well A well-adjusted, happy person, nothing bad happened to me, and I was trying to relive all this pain and drama.

In 2005, she met screenwriter Julian Fellowes and put her in touch with a casting agent, and Mulligan went on to star in Pride & Prejudiceand become one of Britain's most promising young film stars. Started careers:

Cheryl was a terrible student

Cheryl - once Cheryl Tweedy and Cheryl Cole - was apop star She rose to stardom almost overnight when she appeared on The Rivals.136} The program spawned Girls Aloud, one of the most successful girl bands of all time.

Fame Before becoming Cheryl, she was a feisty teenager who got into trouble with her teachers because of her temper.The Evening Standard

"I was terrible. I was kicking them out of class," she said.

Benedict Cumberbatch Got Lazy After Her GCSE

Benedict Cumberbatch achieved great success as an actor. He went to his Harrow and admits he had a pretty good start in his life. However, his academic interest waned after GCSE.

"I blew his GCSE out of the water. I couldn't believe it, and neither did my teacher," he toldThe Metro. rice field.

"But then puberty slowed down, and I discovered girls, pots, and all kinds of other things, so I got a little lazy. Because of that, my growth stagnated a bit academically.

Since taking up acting, Mr. Cumberbatch has been nominated for Golden Globe and Oscar awards.

Russell Brand was a troublemaker at school

according to biography . com, Russell Brand was kicked out of boarding school for having a girl in his room. He was also branded a "waste of space" by one teacher.

At age 16, Mr. Bland studied at the Italia Conti Stage School in London. His teachers found him talented, but he began experimenting with drugs and was kicked out "for breaking things, crying, hurting himself, and crying all the time."

He battled addiction for most of his career, but managed to succeed. He is now one of Britain's most famous comedians, a successful radio and television host, and an actor as well.

Most memorable was when he and Jonathan Ross made a series of prank calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs in his 2008.

Sarah Millikan failed A Level

"Good luck to all of you who got A Level results today. But it's not the end of the world. I want to," Sarah Millikan tweeted. She said, "I got a D and an E."

Ms. Millikan is a very successful comedian in the UK, and she has appeared on many panels on her show, including QI. increase. She told her social media followers that she shouldn't despair if her exam didn't give her what she wanted. Her results never held her back.

Deborah Meaden graduated from school before reaching A Level

Deborah Meaden best served in role in Dragons' DenAs you know, a long career in business.She ran a multi-million family holiday business before leading a management buyout in 1999.

She told The Daily Telegraph that she began selling flowers at the age of seven and was a sales model for fashion houses early in her career.

However, she dropped out of school without completing her A-her level and instead went to college to study business. According to

The Metro, her fortune is now over £40 million and she holds three honorary degrees.

Steven Spielberg dropped out of film school

Steven Spielberg is arguably the most famous director in the world,E. T. , Jurassic Park,Indiana Jones,Gremlins