What do Michael Bloomberg, the Winklevoss twins, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, former U.S. commerce secretary Penny Pritzker, Patriots owner Robert Kraft and ex-Chilean President Sebastián Piñera have in common?
They’re all alumni of Harvard University. Oh, and they’re all billionaires.
It won’t surprise anyone that Harvard ranks No. 1 for the college graduating the most billionaires, but what is shocking is just how much the institution stands out, with over 100 billionaires holding Harvard degrees.
Kevin Young, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Ricardo Salas Díaz, a lecturer in the economics department at Dartmouth College, have put together an in-depth analysis of the degrees of the global elite. Their article — published in the journal Global Networks — features billionaires but extends beyond that to include others who may be considered part of the global elite. (Think corporate board members, government officials and leaders of international organizations.)
The list of billionaires only includes people who graduated, so while former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg is on it, the school’s richest ex-student, Mark Zuckerberg, is not.
The purpose of the research was to understand how credentials are associated with power. What they found was “evidence for a distinct pattern of hierarchy in the distribution of educational credentials,” Salas Díaz and Young write in the article. They describe “the super-prominent position of a small number of elite universities, which play an enormously central role in the education of global elites.”
The research shows that Harvard has granted the most degrees to global elites at a total of 662, which is 9% of the sample and blows away the other highest contenders: Stanford University (306 global elite grads), University of Pennsylvania (170), University of Oxford (165), Columbia University (154) and Yale University (130).
“Harvard, it’s not just standing out — it’s completely abnormal,” Young tells Money. “It’s totally incomparable to any other university.”
With degrees to over 300 elites and 69 billionaire alums, Stanford is the clear second, in part due to its ultra-wealthy alumni with tech fortunes including founders or cofounders of Palantir, DoorDash, Workday, Robinhood, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Yahoo, Instagram, Google, TSMC, Netflix, Zillow, LinkedIn and others.
In the billionaires data, the University of Pennsylvania is third with 38 alums. And, yes, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump are two of them.
Schools with the most billionaire alumni, ranked
Here is a list of the 21 universities that have the most billionaire alumni:
1. Harvard University: 104
2. Stanford University: 69
3. University of Pennsylvania: 38
4. Columbia University: 32
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: 28
6. Yale University: 24
7. Cornell University: 22
8. University of Mumbai (India): 22
9. Tsinghua University (China): 19
10. New York University: 18
11. University of Southern California: 17
12. University of California, Berkeley: 15 (tie)
12. University of Michigan: 15 (tie)
14. Peking University (China): 14
15. Moscow State University (Russia): 13 (tie)
15. Princeton University: 13 (tie)
17. University of California, Los Angeles: 12 (tie)
17. University of Chicago: 12 (tie)
17. Fudan University (China): 12 (tie)
17. Seoul National University (South Korea): 12 (tie)
17. Zhejiang University (China): 12 (tie)
Note: These figures are based on the Salas Díaz and Young dataset published in September 2024; however, source data dates back to March 2021.
The education of the elite
Whether you look at billionaires only or the global elite more broadly, many of the patterns are the same, Young says. For example, after Harvard, Stanford is also second for degrees to the heads of think tanks and nongovernmental organizations.
“Basically, the patterns we find for billionaires going to certain places are similar for corporate leaders, are similar for the heads of international organizations, are similar for think tanks, foundations, NGOs,” Young says.
Asked whether the research is meant to be an evaluation of the ability of universities to produce wealth or elites, Young says that’s not at all how they see it. He explains that they didn’t even differentiate between self-made billionaires and people who inherited their money. Advantages like legacy admissions and prep school background help the children of elites secure admission to a small number of prestigious institutions.
“We don’t see Yale as a production factory for billionaires, but a lot of billionaires have gone through there at some point in their life,” Young says.
A degree from a prestigious university can be a “loud signal” in professional settings, and it comes with key connections that help people get super rich.
“Maybe you learn some special tricks at Yale Law School. I have no doubt that there’s some content there that might be helpful. But the main thing you’re getting is you have Yale associated with you for the rest of your life,” Young says. “You connect to other people from Yale that are also in elite status, and this continues through alumni networks forever.”
According to a report from Money.com, Harvard University has the most billionaire alumni out of any college in the world. The list of notable billionaires who have graduated from Harvard includes Michael Bloomberg, the Winklevoss twins, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, former U.S. commerce secretary Penny Pritzker, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and ex-Chilean President Sebastián Piñera.
In fact, Harvard has over 100 billionaire alumni, which is a significant lead over other top universities like Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University. This information was gathered by economics professor Kevin Young from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and economics lecturer Ricardo Salas Díaz from Dartmouth College, who published their findings in the journal Global Networks.
Their research also looked at the educational backgrounds of other members of the global elite, including corporate board members, government officials, and leaders of international organizations. The study found that Harvard has granted the most degrees to global elites, with a total of 662, which is 9% of the sample.
Young and Salas Díaz describe Harvard’s position as “super-prominent” and “completely abnormal” compared to other universities. Stanford University comes in second with 306 global elite graduates, followed by University of Pennsylvania with 170, University of Oxford with 165, Columbia University with 154, and Yale University with 130.
In terms of billionaire alumni, Stanford University ranks second with 69, thanks to its tech industry alumni including founders or co-founders of companies like Palantir, DoorDash, Workday, Robinhood, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Yahoo, Instagram, Google, TSMC, Netflix, Zillow, and LinkedIn.
The University of Pennsylvania comes in third with 38 billionaire alumni, including Tesla CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump. Other universities with a significant number of billionaire alumni include Cornell University, University of Mumbai (India), Tsinghua University (China), New York University, and University of Southern California.
Overall, the research shows a clear hierarchy in the distribution of educational credentials among the global elite, with Harvard standing out as the top institution. This highlights the important role that prestigious universities play in shaping the education and success of the world’s most powerful individuals.
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