Where Did Your Favorite Celebrities Go to College?
Major stars like Reese Witherspoon and Adam Sandler had to start out their careers somewhere. Find out where these celebs went to college and what they had to say about it!
Tomas Kauer - Moderator 
Before they were award-winning entertainers, these stars were figuring out their lives just like the rest of Us. Actors ranging from Adam Sandler to Lisa Kudrow were at one time college students actually wondering whether entertainment was the path for them. See where your favorite celebrities did all of that deep thinking about their future!
1. Reese Witherspoon
College or University: Stanford University
What she studied: English Literature
What she said about it: “When I applied to Stanford, I was told by a [male] college counselor, ‘You’re never gonna get in, don’t bother. They don’t want you.’ I said, ‘I’m going to try.’ And I got in! But I wouldn’t be the woman I am if I hadn’t had that conflict to overcome.”
2. Jennifer Garner
College or University: Denison University in Granville, Ohio
What she studied: Drama/Theater
What she said about it: “I grew up knowing about it [Denison University] because my best childhood friend’s dad went to Denison. I didn’t take it seriously until I received the brochure, which was very pretty. I decided to apply right at the deadline; I definitely procrastinated (and I still do now). But I turned out to be lucky.”
3. John Legend
College or University: University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, PA
What he studied: English
What he said about it: “I get to college, everyone else is around 18, I’m 16. I was always less mature, less at ease, socially… I got into Harvard, Georgetown and Penn and decided to go to Penn.”
4. Brad Pitt
College or University: University of Missouri in Columbia, MO
What he studied: Journalism
What he said about it: “They have one of the best j-schools in the country. It just came to the time of graduation and everyone… all my friends were committing to jobs, and I just realized I was not ready for that yet. I packed up my car. I didn’t graduate. I had two weeks left and I moved out to L.A.”
5. Adam Sandler
College or University: New York University, Tisch School of the Arts
What he studied: Acting
What he said about it: “My brother said to me when I was applying for colleges, I said, ‘What should I study?’ He goes, ‘Why don’t you be an actor? You should be a comedian.’ I said, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ll do that.’
6. Lisa Kudrow
College or University: Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY
What she studied: Biology
What she said about it: “I had to work hard, because I am an idiot and probably had no business going to this school,” Kudrow joked. “But I had to study all the time… I never did anything, I had no idea there were other things you could do [clubs, activities].”
7. Natalie Portman
College or University: Harvard University in Cambridge, MA
What she studied: Psychology
What she said about it: “When I got to Harvard just after the release of Star Wars: Episode 1, I feared people would assume I had gotten in just for being famous, and not worthy of the intellectual rigor here,” Portman explained in a speech at her alma mater. “I wasn’t smart enough to be in this company, that every time I opened my mouth, I would have to prove that I wasn’t just a dumb actress.”
8. Meryl Streep
College or University: Vassar College
What she studied: Drama
What she said about it: “One value of a Vassar education is that it kind of dooms you to a life of awareness … The Vassar conscience rings a bell in your head; it’s a call to action in your heart.”
9. Jessica Chastain
College or University: The Julliard School in New York City
What she studied: Acting
What she said about it: “Every two years, [the Robin Williams scholarship] would be given to a student and it paid for all of my schooling, it paid for my housing… Every year, you know, I wrote a note to him to say, ‘thank you,’ and I never got to meet him.”
10. Mindy Kaling
College or University: Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH
What she studied: Playwriting
What she said about it: “At Dartmouth College… I wrote plays, I acted, I sang, I was the student newspaper cartoonist. I recommend going to college in the middle of nowhere. I got all the attention I could ever have wanted. If I had gone to NYU, right now I’d be the funniest paralegal in a law firm in Boston.”
11. John Krasinski
College or University: Brown University in Providence, RI
What he studied: English/Playwriting
What he said about it: “I remember immediately trying to find my place, to find a group, to find my people. There was a moment where I even thought I might try to play basketball here. Don’t laugh yet, don’t laugh yet.”
