California-based Lucy Guo became Forbes' youngest self-made female billionaire in 2025. Her net worth surged following the acquisition of her first business Scale AI, and she's currently worth $1.5 billion (£1.1bn), according to Forbes.

Guo dropped out after two years of studying computer science and human-computer interactions at Carnegie Mellon University. Like others on this list, her decision was sparked when she was awarded the Thiel Fellowship, a programme that offers budding entrepreneurs $200,000 (£150k) to build their businesses.

Though her parents initially disapproved, it's clearly paid off and Guo is grateful for the time she did spend at university, saying: “My recommendation for people is that one to two years in college is actually just incredibly great, because you’re going to make the best friends in college, and you’re going to meet the smartest people in college”.

24 university dropouts who are billionaires today