If you’re at school, there’s a lot of focus on one thing – what next? Continuing with your studies seems like the obvious route for many, and so every year, tonnes of young Scots head onto further and higher education. While this is a great route for some people, it isn’t for everyone and if you sign up for a course that isn’t for you, there’s zero shame in admitting that. You never know, ditching one thing to try another might work in your favour – it certainly did for this famous bunch…
Una Foden
The Saturdays beauty had a few different career paths in mind before her pop career took off – and she tried a couple of different college courses along the way. “First was primary school teaching,” she told the Metro. “I wasn’t great at that but enjoyed the socialising. Then I did nursing and dropped out again. I couldn’t get wanting to do music out of my head. Both those jobs are great but they’re vocations, you can’t look at them as being back-ups for something else.” At 23, she started to pursue her music dreams, playing in pubs and clubs, before landing a spot in the Sats. The only way is Up after all!
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
After finding fame as a child actor, JGL went in search of a bit of normality. So he enrolled in prestigious New York university Columbia, where he studied history, literature and French poetry. Ooh la la. However, the lure of the bright lights of Hollywood proved all too much for the Batman star, when he packed it in to concentrate on acting once more. Good job he did – with movies like The Dark Knight Rises, directorial debut Don Jon and his own production company Hit Record to his name, he’s done pretty well.
Zooey Deschanel
Joe’s 500 Days of Summer co-star Zooey also dabbled in the world of further education, when she enrolled at Northwestern University in the US state of Illionois. Desperate for a bit more structure after attending an artsy California high school, the girl with the best fringe in the business struggled to fit into her new surroundings. “I was like, ‘It’d be cool to have a traditional college experience,’” she told Allure magazine. “Then I was like, ‘Oh, but none of these people understand what’s cool about me.’” Zooey took her quirkiness to the acting world – we New Girl fans couldn’t be happier.
Ellie Goulding
After school, the Goodness Gracious singer signed up to study drama, politics and English at the University of Kent. However, after two years, she dropped out to chase her music dreams when a talent scout spotted her at a uni showcase. She told the BBC: “People on the university’s drama board were very supportive, telling me they couldn’t stop a student who wanted to perform.” One BRIT award, two number one albums and global success later, those uni types are probably feeling quite clever right now.
Chace Crawford
Gossip Girl star Chace is more than just a pretty face – he went to university too. After high school, the handsome actor left his native Texas and headed to California, but not to chase acting ambitions – he was studying broadcast journalism and marketing at Pepperdine University. He dropped out after a few semesters in 2005 when he landed a movie job. “I really just did a few communications classes,” he told the Metro. “I know all the theories of layers of personalities and communication skills.” That’ll come in handy in the acting world. Er, maybe.
