Quitting The Books: One-Third Of Billionaires Never Got A College Degree

For some billionaires, especially those who saw their fortunes grow at very young ages, college probably seemed like a waste of time.

A report released by market research firm Approved Index has revealed that just under a third of the world's billionaires do not have college degrees.

Some had a rich dad, like Ted Turner, while others, like Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and designer Ralph Lauren, were somehow able to get jobs in their desired fields despite having just two years of school under their belts, according to Cheat Sheet.

And don't be fooled -- a more technical degree will not necessarily get you the big bucks.

You might think the only truly self-made billionaires were tech prodigies such as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Michael Dell, who began designing his own computers at the University of Texas while the personal computer was just beginning to emerge, but this isn't always the case.

Approved Index's research also uncovered which degrees were the most popular among billionaires.

Engineering was the winner, with Mexican communications tycoon Carlos Slim holding one such degree.

But you might be surprised to see more billionaires hold arts degrees than those in math, science and finance combined.

Citations: A Third of All Billionaires are College Dropouts (Inc.), 8 Billionaires Who Never Bothered to Get a College Degree (Cheat Sheet)