Are mom and dad disappointed that you dropped out of school? Follow the lead of these great business minds and you just might get to carve that Thanksgiving turkey.

I’m going to skip Bill Gates and Paul Allen who made their fortunes with Microsoft. Steve Jobs made his fortune with Apple and the iPod, iPhone, and all the other “iProducts”. I’m going to skip him too. All three of these guys are college dropouts, but unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past twenty years, you already know about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Microsoft, Apple, and if you haven’t heard of Paul Allen, he made his fortune with Microsoft too.

Here are some college dropouts that actually made something other than software:

1: Michael Dell

You might recognize that last name from Dell computers. Yep. That’s the guy. A University of Texas at Austin dropout, Michael Dell founded the Dell computer company. He now has a net worth of over $15.8 billion.

2: Jack Taylor

Jack Taylor dropped out of Washington University to become a Navy fighter pilot in WWII and went on to found Enterprise Rent-A-Car. A $13.9 billion dollar net worth isn’t so bad, huh?

3: Roman Abramovich

A Russian born business mogul and dropout of Moscow ATI, Roman Abramovich started off making big oil deals. Using that as a stepping stone, he made his next fortune buying and selling interests. He’s now the Governor of the province of Chukotka and builds hospitals and other public services for his people. This businessman went from orphan to $18.7 billion and it keeps growing.

4: Larry Ellison

A University of Illinois dropout and now head of Oracle systems is currently worth $21.5 billion. Ok, I cheated a little. He is a computer guy…but not with Microsoft or Apple. That counts.

5: Donald Newhouse

Donald Newhouse is a Syracuse University dropout that along with his brother took over their father’s media conglomerate, Advance Publications. He now owns parts of The Learning Channel, The Discovery Channel, and owns publications like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and others. He’s now worth $7.3 billion.

6: Stanley Ho

Stanley Ho made his $7 billion dollar fortune in casinos. No, not a professional gambler…this University of Hong Kong dropout made his fortune building and owning casinos.

7: Sheldon Adelson

The son of a Boston cabdriver, Sheldon Adelson started at 12 years old selling newspapers. He has now gone on to make a fortune in trade shows and even further with upscale Vegas casinos. This City College of NY dropout is now worth $26.5 billion.

8: David Geffen

Currently he is the owner of the LA Times, but he made his fortune in Hollywood. He founded Asylum Records and Geffen Records and struck it rich. Later, he founded DreamWorks with Steven Spielberg which recently sold for $1.5 billion. Not bad for a University of Texas at Austin dropout worth $4.7 billion.

9: YC Wang

This is my personal favorite. YC Wang with an elementary school education founded Formosa Plastics and became one of Asia’s largest petrochemical producers. He is no longer at the head of the company, but still has a pretty sizable bank account at $5.1 billion.

Don’t ever let someone tell you that it can’t be done.

- John