Juicy

It is now less than two weeks until graduation and as I await the go-ahead from my internship, I sit around stressing about a career and picture myself decorating my cardboard box with pictures of my favorite celebrities to make it feel like home.

I'm sure I'm not the only senior who is worried about not finding a job or having to live at home, but then I remind myself of all the options that are out there.

There is a long list of Hollywood favorites that, before they graced silver screens and small screens, graduated from college with a degree in anything but acting, singing and dodging paparazzi.

Just because you study one thing doesn't mean you're tied down to it - the best option is to do what you love, as demonstrated by this long list of celebrities that ditched their degrees.

Ashley Judd, a two-time Golden Globe nominee best known for hits like "Double Jeopardy" and "Kiss The Girls," graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1990 with a degree in French.

Judd was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and minored in anthropology, art history, theatre and women's studies and spent a semester studying in France.

Speaking of dark-haired, intelligent actresses, "The Wonder Years" star Danika McKellar is making a name for herself, not for a revival of Winnie Cooper after 20 years, but for trying to make math cool.

McKellar graduated summa cum laude from UCLA in 1998 with a degree in math.

"I was going to be a film major but then took a calculus class, finished the top of my class, and was hooked," she told U.S. News and World Report in 2006. "For a while I thought about doing a double major but then realized that I could always go back and study filmmaking, and that now was the time to really focus and experience mathematics."

She is now making bank off of her education with a best selling book, "Math Doesn't Suck."

Rounding out the list of degree-holding actresses is Julia Stiles, who graduated from Columbia University in 2005 with an English degree, and Brooke Shields, who graduated from Princeton in 1987 with a bachelor's in French literature.

I can bet her thesis on "Lacombe Lucien" isn't helping her much on the set of her latest project, "Lipstick Jungle."

A college education certainly paid off for talk-show host and media mogul entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey, who graduated with a speech and performing arts degree from Tennessee State University more than 30 years ago.

Winfrey was awarded a full scholarship by winning an oratory contest, and has turned her speaking talents into an empire worth more than $1 billion.

Fellow talk show host Jon Stewart may make a living off poking fun at the country, but in the 1980s he was preparing to influence America through therapy couches instead of a Comedy Central desk.

Stewart attended the College of William and Mary and graduated in 1984 with a psychology degree.

He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and played on the men's soccer team.

Of all the late-night comedians, most people may be shocked to know that Conan O'Brien, more famous for his perfectly groomed hairdo than what comes out of his mouth, graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1985 with a degree in U.S. history.

The most interesting college background belongs to music superstar Garth Brooks, who graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1984 with a degree in journalism.

His non-academic activities included membership on the school's track and field team - the cowboy hat-clad, tight jean-wearing Brooks received an athletic scholarship as a javelin thrower.

So to my fellow seniors, or fellow students who still aren't sure about the near future, things seem to always fall into place one way or another.

Contact Sara Grant at

Sara.Grant@UConn.edu.