Katy Perry is a name synonymous with pop music, with thirteen grammy nominations and over 18 million album sales globally under her belt. Surprisingly, this savvy and successful pop star dropped out of school at the age of 15, but where from?

Katy Perry’s upbringing was anything but normal. Coming from a highly religious family, she spent most of her early years traveling around the country whilst her parents set up churches. At age 14 she attended Los Pueblos High School for a year, before dropping out to pursue her music career after gaining her GED.

Katy’s education was outside the classroom, with a deep connection to music being apparent ever since she was a child.

Early Education

Katy Perry’s early education was as varied as the rest of her upbringing. As the family traveled often, she rarely stayed at the same school for long and was sometimes homeschooled. 

A lot of the elementary schools she attended were highly religious, such as the Paradise Valley Christian School in Arizona. She appeared not to have that much of a passion for this sort of education and once was suspended from a Christian school in Santa Barbara for ‘thrusting like Tom Cruise’.

This rebellion didn’t stop there, with Katy Perry sneaking pop music CDs into her house that were banned by her strict parents. As a child, she was only allowed to listen to gospel music, but still had an outlet for her creativity by singing in the church.  

For her thirteenth birthday, she was given a guitar. This helped her discover her own style and passion. She first recorded a gospel album at this age, going to Nashville with her mother for the production of it. 

Almost as if she was destined to be a pop star, she had singing and dance lessons growing up, developing the skills that would make her the person she is today. 

Dos Pueblos High School 

Most American kids go to high school at fourteen and leave at eighteen, but for Katy Perry, this wasn’t her dream. She enrolled in Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California before dropping out at the age of 15. 

The school itself is known to be one of the best in the districts, with a graduation rate of 96% and ranked number 268 in the whole of California. This means it is in the top 20% of schools in the state. 

After a year at the school, Katy Perry completed her GED and dropped out. Getting a GED at age 15 is impressive, but not as impressive as she was about to go on to do. 

After her short stint at Dos Pueblos High School, Katy Perry briefly had music lessons before pursuing her dream career; being a singer-songwriter. 

At first, she released music as a Christian artist then turned her talent to pop and became one of the biggest stars of the 21st century. 

She claims that hearing Queen at the age of 15 was her first insight into the world of pop and the way that things could be. 

Below is one of her earlier songs as a Christian artist, released under her birth name of Katy Hudson.