The world is run by C students

So you’re struggling to complete your coursework and cursing the grades your tutors are giving you. Well, you’re not the first student to find college a challenge. And if you do half as well as some of the other C grade students out there, you may be doing rather well indeed.

Take Bill Gates. The billionaire founder of Microsoft dropped out of Harvard in his junior year to start his own software company. The rest, as they say, is history.

Mark Zuckerberg found his Harvard studies were getting in the way of this little social networking site he and his friends had set up. Today Facebook has more than 300 million users and Zuckerberg, who dropped out of college to expand the site, is a billionaire.

Another billionaire who didn’t bother with a conventional college education is Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson. At 16, the Englishman quit studies to move to London and start a magazine. Fast-forward four decades and he’s the brains behind Virgin Records, Virgin Atlantic Airways and now a space tourism company.

Oil billionaire Roman Abramovich became the richest man in Russia despite dropping out of college to go into business, though he did later return to academic when he completed a correspondence degree from Moscow State Law Academy.

The arts are also filled with those who either flunked college or decided they’d rather go for practical experience over academic theory. Oscar-winning director and producer Steven Spielberg was actually turned down three times by the University of Southern California School of Theater, Film and Television before going on to start college elsewhere – then dropping out to become a director before completing his studies. His lack of formal qualifications didn’t stop Spielberg becoming one of the most successful directors in Hollywood history.

James Cameron, another Oscar-winning director, producer and screenwriter, was 20 when he dropped out of college. His first Tinseltown job was building models for legendary director Roger Corman.

And if studying is getting in the way of you singing and dancing, consider the college careers of two pop legends – Madonna was studying dance at the University of Michigan when she decided to move to New York to become a singer. And Lady Gaga was plain Stefani Germanotta and just 19 years old when she walked out of NYU to pursue her musical career.

Maybe you’d rather be writing a novel than writing an essay. JK Rowling, creator of the Harry Potter series, didn’t even go to college but her novels about the boy wizard have made her a billionaire.

Paolo Coelho had given up on his dream of being a writer to study law but quit his studies after only a year. Today the Brazilian novelist and lyricist has written almost 30 books and his 1988 novel The Alchemist has sold more than 65million copies worldwide.

All of the C grade students who have gone on to achieve great things were driven by their talent and ability – and sometimes you don’t need to open a textbook to know how to get on.