Before they hit the red carpet or the silver screen, some of today’s biggest celebrities were high school and college students just like you. Take a look at where these famous names went to college and what they experienced while they were there. You may be surprised or inspired by what you learn!
Bradley Cooper – Georgetown University
Like many students, 12-time Oscar nominated actor Bradley Cooper didn’t get into his first-choice college - Georgetown. Undeterred, he attended Villanova University for one year and transferred to Georgetown as a sophomore. He later told Georgetown students, “College wasn't a blur to me… because I always felt so lucky to be here.”
As a student, Cooper majored in English, rowed for the Hoya’s crew team, sang in the Gospel Choir, and performed with the student-run theater group, Nomadic Theater. He also minored in French and became fluent after studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France.
After graduating with honors in 1999, Cooper considered becoming a diplomat, but instead he went to New York and enrolled in the master’s program at the Actor’s Studio Drama School and never looked back.
Millie Bobbie Brown – Purdue University Global
You might know her best as Eleven on the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, but Millie Bobby Brown is also a business owner, a UNICEF ambassador, and a college student studying human services at Purdue University Global. Through its online degree program, Brown studies marginalized communities and how to help the people within them. She’s especially interested in helping young people and partly chose this course of study because of her work with UNICEF. “I felt that my role with UNICEF was far too big for me to just take on the chin,” she told Parade Magazine. “I needed to know and learn more about what that role looks like for me so that I can fulfill [it] and do my part.”
John Legend – University of Pennsylvania
Did you know that the multi-talented, multi-award-winning, singer-songwriter John Legend was also an academic superstar as a child? He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania when he was only 16, after skipping two grades in grade school.
At Penn, John studied English with an emphasis on African American literature, but, as you might expect, he was also active in Penn’s music scene, serving as president and musical director of a jazz and pop a cappella group called the Counterparts. He also belonged to two of Penn’s renown senior societies: Sphynx and Onyx. He graduated magna cum laude in 1999.
Sean Evans – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Long before his show “Hot Ones” became a hit on YouTube — and he became famous for interviewing celebrities while they ate progressively hotter chicken wings — Sean Evans knew he wanted to be on television. This desire led him to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and its broadcast journalism program, where he honed his on-air personality doing news, weather and live interviews for UIUC’s student-run TV station. One professor noticed his relaxed and natural presence on camera and encouraged him to become a TV weatherman, a path he pursued briefly after graduation without success.
Evans credits UIUC and his relationships with professors for providing the skills and guidance that helped him pivot to the unusual career he has today. “The things that I learned [at UIUC] and the things I experienced all had a major impact on what I’m doing now.”
Kourtney Kardashian – University of Arizona
The reality star and eldest daughter of famous attorney and businessman, Robert Kardashian, started her college journey at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. After two years at SMU, she transferred to the University of Arizona, where she majored in theatre arts and minored in Spanish. She also participated in Greek life, as a member of the Alpha Phi sorority. While her career has placed her constantly in the limelight, Kardashian has said that in college she hated public speaking and failed two classes because she was “too nervous to give speeches.” After graduating, she applied to law school but decided not to attend. Her younger sister Kim is still pursuing a law degree in California through a 4-year apprenticeship program.
Noah Schnapp – University of Pennsylvania
Starring as Will Byers in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things wasn’t the only extracurricular Noah Schnapp could list on his college application. While still in high school, he also co-founded a snack food company that sells a vegan, sustainably-sourced alternative to Nutella. Given that entrepreneurial feat, it makes sense that Schnapp’s college choice would be the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, which he began attending in 2022.
While living in the dorms and trying his best to have a “normal” college experience, Schnapp continues to brainstorm business ideas. So far, he has created an online delivery restaurant and entered a partnership with DoorDash to provide free coffee to Penn freshmen during Welcome Week. At the beginning of his freshman year, Schnapp told Teen Vogue, “I’m really passionate about entrepreneurship and business as a whole. And I can’t wait to learn more here.”
Rami Malek — University of Evansville
When you watch Rami Malek’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Queen’s Freddie Mercury in the film Bohemian Rhapsody, it’s not surprising to learn that he studied theater in college. Although he grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by top performing arts schools, he chose to attend the University of Evansville in Evansville, Indiana. "The level of talent at the University of Evansville was formidable from faculty to fellow actors,” he told the Evansville Courier Press. “There's a commitment and dedication that the theater program required that unearthed a work ethic I didn't know I had."
In addition to his theater classes, he studied abroad in England for a semester and later landed an internship at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center where he met the playwright August Wilson. He graduated in 2003 with a BFA.
Greta Gerwig – Barnard College
College was always a goal for Greta Gerwig who wrote and directed Barbie, Little Women, and the academy-award-nominated film, Lady Bird. Gerwig’s first dream was to study musical theater at New York University or The Julliard School, but while touring colleges in New York, her father suggested she take a look at Columbia University and Barnard College – and when she did, her college plans changed.
“When I went to Barnard, I wanted to be all the women I met there,” Gerwig told Barnard Magazine. “I was instantly drawn to the place and the women. They all seemed like superheroes to me.” At Barnard, she appeared in The Varsity Show, was on Columbia’s parliamentary debate team and co-founded a comedy improv troupe, all while studying English with a concentration in theater. “I really explored a lot of different classes [at Barnard]. I wish I could have done it for eight years. I think I really found who I was and what I wanted to do there.”
Timothee Chalamet – Columbia and New York University
Timothee Chalamet, known for his roles in the films Call Me By Your Name, Dune, and Willy Wonka, started out as a college freshman at Columbia University. Before the year was over, however, he had appeared in two films – Men, Women and Children, and Interstellar, and his star began to rise. Soon, balancing Columbia’s challenging Core Curriculum with his burgeoning acting career became too difficult and he transferred to New York University’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study, which offered more flexibility. He left NYU after one or two semesters, however, to pursue the multiple film roles and super stardom that were coming his way.
Natalie Portman – Harvard College
Academy Award-winning actress Natalie Portman attended Harvard College, completing two of the Star Wars prequels while she was an undergrad. At Harvard, she majored in psychology and worked as a research assistant for Professor Alan Dershowitz. She continued her education with graduate courses at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and has also studied French, Japanese, German and Arabic. When asked by the press why she chose to pursue college instead of acting full time, Portman told the press, “I don’t care if [college] ruins my career. I’d rather be smart than a movie star.”
Megan Thee Stallion — Texas Southern University
Many years before she became the successful recording artist she is today, Megan Thee Stallion was a college student by day and a rapper by night. She began college in Houston, Texas at Prairie View A&M, and then transferred to a community college, where she continued her education with the goal of becoming a hospital administrator. When her career as a rapper took off, she put college aside, but only temporarily.
Even while recording hit songs with Cardi B, Beyonce, and Nikki Minaj, Megan never forgot about her education. In 2020, she enrolled at Texas Southern University to finish what she started and make her late mother and late grandmother (a school teacher) proud. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Health Administration in 2021. “School has kept me grounded,” she told People in August 2021. “I might have an amazing night but knowing I have to finish a paper, project or my homework to graduate keeps my head on straight.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson — University of Miami
Before hitting it big in the world of wrestling and Hollywood films, Dwayne (the “Rock”) Johnson attended the University of Miami on a football scholarship. He played defensive tackle all four years for UM’s Miami Hurricanes and was on the team in 1991 when it won the national championship. During college, he was a frequent speaker to youth in the Miami community, sharing his own struggles in high school and encouraging students to remain in school and avoid drugs. He graduated in 1995 with a bachelor’s degree in general studies, focusing on criminology and physiology.
Emma Watson – Brown University
Emma Watson may be just as brainy as Hermione Granger, the character she portrayed in the Harry Potter films. Raised in England, Watson figured she’d attend Oxford or Cambridge, but headed for the Ivy League instead and enrolled at Brown University. She was attracted to Brown’s open and flexible curriculum – and the flexibility of higher education in the U.S.
Emma once told Interview Magazine, “…in America, you’re encouraged to be broad and choose many different subjects. For someone who has missed as much school as I have, I want[ed] to go back and discover what else there is. I always loved school—I was a proper, proper nerd.”
Studying theater wasn’t a high priority for her either. In addition to studying history and English, Watson said she also wanted to study French, politics, and art. In her junior year, she studied abroad at Worcester College, Oxford. She graduated in 2014 with a degree in English Literature.
While it can be fun to learn where celebrities went to college, their stories are also a reminder that there are many paths to success – and many ways to experience a college education. You can change majors, transfer schools, or even take time off from college, and still achieve your dreams.