Happy International Day of Education! These are the stars who swapped showbiz for college!
January 24 is International Day of Education, which seeks to celebrate the role of education in bringing global peace and sustainable development.
After making it big as a child, burgeoning stars often turn their backs on higher education.
Happy International Day of Education!
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January 24 is International Day of Education, which seeks to celebrate the role of education in bringing global peace and sustainable development. After making it big as a child, burgeoning stars often turn their backs on higher education. But these are the stars who actually turned their backs on fame and fortune for the sake of going to college.
Dylan and Cole Sprouse
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The Sprouse twins became household names when they landed their own sitcom 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody', which aired on Disney Channel from 2005 until 2008. After completing work on its spin-off 'The Suite Life on Deck' in 2011, the boys decided to step back from the spotlight to enrol at New York University, where Dylan obtained a four-year degree in video game design, while Cole studied photography. Dylan later said: "The one thing I knew for sure about myself is I didn't want to study acting. It was something we had done and something that we don't really need to train all that much more."
Emma Watson
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The 'Beauty and the Beast' star shot to fame as a ten-year-old actress when she was cast as the studious Hermione Granger in the 'Harry Potter' movies. After completing her time at the magical school in 2011, Emma decided to attend Brown University in Rhode Island to study English literature. Despite earning around $70 million from the Warner Bros franchise, Emma explained: "Let's be honest: I have enough money never to have to work again, but I would never want that. Learning keeps me motivated!"
Sofia Carson
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The 'Descendants' star was known throughout her teenage years for her appearances on Disney Channel but she decided to attend the University of California, Los Angeles in 2016, where she majored in communications with a minor in French. She did take time out when her career enjoyed a resurgence but Sofia still intends to go back to complete her final year. She said: "I guess I’m still technically enrolled, I have nine classes left to graduate, which is one full year."
Noah Schnapp
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The 'Stranger Things' star has been in showbusiness since he was 10 but despite achieving worldwide fame through his role as Will Byrers in the Netflix hit, he still attends the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, majoring in entrepreneurship and innovation. On his decision to go to college, Noah said: "I wanted the real experience. I always knew from a young age I was going to finish high school, [and] I was going to go to college. It was never really a question for me, and becoming an actor didn't really change that."
Miranda Cosgrove
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Miranda Cosgrove has been on the Hollywood scene since she was a child, first landing a role in 'School of Rock' before playing Megan Parker in hit sitcom 'Drake and Josh' alongside Drake Bell and Josh Peck. In the years between her own Nickelodeon sitcom 'iCarly' ending in 2012 and returning as a Paramount reboot in 2021, Miranda went back to education and initially studied film at the University of Southern California before switching her major to psychology. She said: "I keep switching it! My dad did psychology at USC too, but now he owns a dry-cleaning business. He still says he uses it all the time though."
Megan Thee Stallion
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The 'Sweetest Pie' hitmaker found worldwide fame when she released her first single in 2016 - but in 2021, Megan graduated with a Bachelor's degree in health administration from Texas Southern University, later noting that she wanted to study in order to make her late mom Holly - who died of cancer aged 46 in 2019 - proud. She said: "I want to get my degree because I really want my mom to be proud. She saw me going to school before she passed."
Freddie Highmore
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Freddie was a child actor who took on a starring role in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and also appeared in 'Nanny McPhee'. But before returning to screens in the ABC medical drama, Freddie earned a double-first degree in Spanish and Arabic from Cambridge University's Emmanuel College, even managing to do it around shooting various TV dramas. At the time, his publicist said: "Freddie Highmore has successfully managed to balance his four-year studies at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, with a starring role as Norman Bates opposite Vera Farmiga in two seasons of the Bates Motel."
Emily Osment
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Emily Osment became known for starring as Lilly Truscott in the hit Disney Channel sitcom 'Hannah Montana' alongside Miley Cyrus from 2006 until 2011. But while her co-star went on to even further success, with hits like 'Wrecking Ball' and 'We Can't Stop', Emily decided to study theatre at the Occidental College in LA, even if she found some of her classmates to be "a little weird." She said: "I went to a little college and I knew everyone there. There were some people who were a little weird ... and things got kinda weird."
Nolan Gould
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Nolan is best known for his role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC sitcom 'Modern Family'. However, he is also a member of high-IQ society Mensa and he even graduated high school at the age of 13, before deciding to apply for Cinematic Arts at UCLA. He said: "I got accepted for Cinematic Arts."
Jodie Foster
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Jodie Foster was a child star, appearing in 'Freaky Friday' and 'Candleshoe', before winning Academy Awards for her roles in 'The Accused' and 'The Silence of the Lambs'. Despite this success, she also managed to graduate from Yale University with a degree in African-American literature in 1985. She later said: "I wasn’t smart enough, deep enough, or preppy enough to belong but in this imposter’s case, it became a motivating factor."
Originally published on celebretainment.com, part of the TownNews Content Exchange.
