It's A-level results day today, and many 18 to 19-year-olds are making their final decision about whether to go to university or enter the world of work.
As a country we seem to value going to university more and more. Because of that we tend to overlook other options that are as good if not better - like going straight into work or learning a trade.
Wrongly, many people without degrees can feel like failures, even if they are happier and earn more for not having got a degree.
It's worth remembering that some of the world's most successful people don't have them.
With that in mind, here are six billionaires who made it big without going to uni.
1 . Henry Ford - £144billion
The US carmaker is world famous for pioneering the first affordable mass-market car, the Model T.
Ford was born on July 30 1863 and died on April 7 1947, and set up the Ford Motor Company in June 1903.
Ford was a visionary, who not only pioneered the factory assembly line system but also staff benefits like the five-day working week and high wages.
He never went to university, instead relying on apprenticeships and gaining work experience.
However, he was on the wrong side of history on one point - he was resolutely opposed to unions, which he felt did not mean better outcomes for workers.
He also had the courage to trust his instincts, which tended to be right.
He launched the Model T in October 1908, and one year later half the cars in America were Model Ts.
Part of the success of the car was its streamlined, no-frills manufacturing process, which did not offer customers much choice.
Ford famously told his management team in 1909 that: "Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black."
He is also known for another pithy saying that shows the value in offering customers what they really need, not what they think they want.
When asked what his customers would say they wanted, the carmaker replied: "faster horses".
2. Michael Dell - £36.37billion
Another American also made it big without a degree - the founder of Dell Technologies.
Dell is most famous for making PCs, but also makes servers, TVs, software and other IT infrastructure.
Michael Dell did technically start university, mostly because his parents wanted him to be a doctor.
But he dropped out of the University of Texas in 1988, after one year, to focus on business.
He set up a company called PCs Limited, which later became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc.
Dell decided the best approach was to cut PC manufacturing costs, speed up delivery time and give great customer service.
His brainwave paid off, and he is now ranked the 25th-richest person in the world by Bloomberg.
He has stepped down as chief executive of Dell, but remains its chairman.
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3. Steve Jobs - £7.36billion
Another man that needs no introduction is Steve Jobs, who founded Apple.
Jobs passed away in 2011, but was worth around $10.2billion when he died - £7.36billion.
Like Dell, Jobs was a college dropout.
He found traditional classrooms boring, and would frequently act up in school.
In 1972 he signed up to Reed College university, but dropped out after one term to start working in computing.
In 1976 he set up Apple Computer Company, now Apple Inc.
The company made its name making computers, but achieved icon status when they brought out the iPod in October 2001, which revolutionised music, and the iPhone in June 2007 - which did the same for mobile phones.
The products cemented Apple's position as incredible designers - though their products always came with a steep price tag.
Jobs's position as chief executive of Apple made his incredible fortune.
4. Sir Richard Branson - £7.9billion
The Virgin founder went to private school, but had dyslexia and felt academic study was not for him.
On his final day at school, Branson's headmaster told him he would either go to prison or become a millionaire.
At 16 he left school and started working, first setting up a magazine called Student in 1966 while he was squatting in London.
He also set up a mail-order business selling records, with his business model based on undercutting high street rivals.
Using that knowledge he set up a physical record shop, then founded Virgin Records in 1972.
That record chain was the first part of the Virgin empire that includes Virgin Trains, Virgin Mobile Virgin Wines and Virgin Atlantic, the airline.
Now Branson is a multi-billionaire - proving his old headmaster partly right.
5. Joe Lewis - £4.9billion
Lewis may not be a household name for many - but football fans will all know his name as he owns most of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.
The London-born entrepreneur left school at 15 to help his dad with his catering firm, Tavistock Banqueting.
He eventually took the business over, and expanded into selling luxury goods to US tourists.
In 1975 he set up the investment firm Tavistock Group, which as well as owning most of Tottenham Hotspur also has stakes in resorts, oil firms, insurers, restaurants and many other companies.
He first started making serious money when he sold his West End club, the Hanover Grand, in 1979.
Another big part of his fortune came from his currency trading in the 1980s and 1990s, where he made several savvy bets.
One was to predict 'Black Wednesday' - when the pound collapsed and forced the UK to leave the European Monetary System on September 16, 1992.
6. Lord Alan Sugar - £1.21billion
The East End-born billionaire is not shy of the spotlight. Brits will know Sugar best for being the face of the UK version of The Apprentice TV series, which he has hosted since it launched in 2005.
Born in London in 1947 and brought up in a council house, Sugar left school at 16.
After a short time as a civil service statistician, Sugar started working for himself, selling car aerials out of the back of a van.
In 1968 he founded electronics importer and exporter Amstrad - standing for 'Alan Michael Sugar Trading'.
Amstrad then moved into manufacturing in 1970, and became successful after using injection-moulding techniques to make hi-fi turntable covers, which were much cheaper than those made with vacuum-forming.
From there Amstrad began making amplifiers and tuners, and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1980.
Funnily enough, Sugar also owned Tottenham Hotspur at one point, after buying it with business partner and footballer Terry Venables in June 1991, before sacking Venables in May 1993.
