Jimmy Fallon, 34, has finally received his college diploma from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY. He had attended school there from 1992 through 1995, but dropped out with only a semester left on his communications major in order to move to Los Angeles to be an actor. He not only graduated on Saturday with 1800 of his much younger classmates, but was also the keynote speaker.

He didn’t go back to the school for a semester, however. Instead, he showed the college a portfolio of his work in LA that demonstrated that through real-life experiences, he had gained the knowledge that another semester would have also given him.

It’s been 17 years in the making, but Jimmy Fallon finally received his bachelor’s degree in communications from the College of Saint Rose in Albany, N.Y., Saturday. The NBC Late Night host, 34, was one of 1,800 students who donned a cap and gown and marched to the Pomp and Circumstance at the university’s commencement ceremony at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

In addition to picking up his communications degree, the funnyman served as the keynote speaker and spoke to his fellow graduates.

“There’s always going to be someone out there like that movie critic, who doesn’t believe in you or who thinks your head is too big or you’re not smart enough,” Fallon told the graduates. “But those are the people you need to ignore, and those are the times you need to just keep doing what you love doing.”

The Saturday Night Live alum attended St. Rose from 1992 through 1995 but decided to drop out just one semester short of graduating to pursue a comedy career in Los Angeles.

In order to graduate, Fallon presented college officials a portfolio of his work on TV and film that illustrated he had learned and fulfilled the college’s core curriculum through his real-life experience, which satisfied remaining credits.

[from People]

Using his TV work to get credit at college could be seen as a cop-out, but you have to give him credit for making the effort to get the diploma. He’s a successful comedian, and whether or not you like his work, you have to admit that he’s made a name for himself without a degree. And it’s not as if he used TV work to get his degree in organic chemistry. He’s a communications major. With only one semester to go, it would have been easy for him to say, “Well, I almost graduated – that’s enough.” But instead he made it happen. Better late than never.

You’ll get to see Jimmy on the big screen soon in Drew Barrymore’s Whip It!, also starring Ellen Page.

Here’s Jimmy with his wife Nancy Juvonen at Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala on May 5th. Images thanks to WENN.com .