Tesla CEO Elon Musk founded his first company during that time; Stephen King published a short story that would later become a movie; and Sheryl Sandberg learned she wanted to pursue a career in business instead of law.
But while these people enjoyed success from the moment they left campus, others initially experienced frustration.
For instance, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's first post-grad job ended in failure when he was cut from a Canadian Football League team, and Albert Einstein spent his first two years without any job at all.
As an example of the many shapes the road to success can take, we chose to highlight what Oprah Winfrey, Carlos Slim, and 15 other fascinating and successful people did the first year after they left college.