Where Celebrities Went to College: Brad Pitt, Mindy Kaling, Meryl Streep,

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.”