<p>If you plan to attend graduate school, make sure you attend at least a well known undergraduate school ( like those ranked by USNEWS) to be a good candidate for Ivy Leagues.</p>
<p>Yes, and what a notable exception! Wow, that information was very eye-opening.</p>
<p>Georgetown, certainly. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, traditional bastions of the old boy power structure.</p>
<p>Also, lol @ Clinton. G-town AND a Rhodes Scholar, AND a graduate of YLS. What a balla.</p>
<p>GWU, Georgetown, Harvard, Syracuse, and Yale.</p>
<p>I think it would be interesting to see which schools educate future senators/representatives. One may not have to attend HYP to become a congressman.</p>
<p>Picking randomly from a list of senators on Wikipedia:
Bob Corker (TN) - University of Tennessee
Maria Cantwell (WA) - Miami of Ohio
Mike Enzi (WY) - GW, then U of Denver
Tim Johnson (SD) - University of South Dakota, Michigan State University
Kent Conrad (ND) - Exeter, Stanford, GW
Robert Byrd (WV) - Beckley College, Concord College, Morris Harvey College, and Marshall College then American University’s Washington College of Law
Chris Dodd (CT) - Georgetown, University of Louisville Law
Richard Lugar (IN) - Denison, then Oxford as a Rhodes</p>
<p>Then notables from the Cabinet:
Defense: William and Mary, then Georgetown
State: Wellesley, then Yale Law
Treasury: Dartmouth, then Peking University, then Beijing Normal University, then Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies
Energy: Rochester then Berkeley for a PhD.
Justice: Columbia and Columbia Law</p>
<p>So politics does not necessarily require a fancy degree, but it sure seems to help.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>LOL, this sounds like me :)</p>
<p>It seems that there’s a big jump between what it takes to get elected by your state, and that which you need for high office. Interestingly enough, one of my Senators attended, but didn’t graduate from, our local state university. (3rd Tier, U-Master’s West USNWR)</p>
<p>Well local people want to vote for people like them typically (remember the whole friend thing with George Bush v. Gore), so it makes sense that people who can connect to people get elected and then they get smart people to make and fiat policies.</p>
<p>Wow, Reagan didn’t even go to a well known college. THAT is eye opening, he was one of the best god damned presidents we’ve had!</p>
<p>I think the idea that politics revolves around Washington DC and that therefore the way to break into politics is to go to school in DC badly disserves thousands of gullible political wannabes annually. It just ain’t true. As the late, great Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill once said, “All politics is local.” Local politics in DC is nothing special and insofar as the District doesn’t even have representation in Congress and is so lopsidedly in favor of one party (the Democrats), it’s possibly the worst place in the country to learn your political chops. If you really want to learn how to DO politics, go someplace where local politics is a hardball sport, like Chicago or Boston. Or go to an important swing state with swing gubernatorial and U.S. Senate seat, a lot of swing Congressional districts, and a lot of swing districts in the legislature. The way to make a mark on politics is not by hanging around in the shadows of the major power centers, but by identifying and seizing opportunities in places where your smarts, your savvy, and your effort will really make a difference. And by and large, that means places far away from Washington, DC where you could spend your whole life being a nobody.</p>
<p>Look at the people calling the shots in the Obama administration. How many of them cut their political teeth in Washington? Approximately none. </p>
<p>Position-holder: (undergrad school) first entree to politics
Chief of staff Rahm Emmanuel: (Sarah Lawrence) Chicago
Senior Adviser David Axelrod: (U of Chicago) Chicago
Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett: (Stanford) Chicago
Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: (NC State) Alabama & North Carolina
Campaign manager David Plouffe: (U Delaware) Iowa<br>
Vice President Joe Biden: (U Delaware) Delaware & Pennsylvania. </p>
<p>We could go through the backgrounds of Obama’s Cabinet members, or leading Members of Congress, or key figures in the Bush Administration, and the story would be pretty much the same. DC schools give you a perch to watch politics being played out. But by and large the payers are not products of DC. They rise through local backgrounds, attend schools across this far-fling country, get involved in local political fights where they learn their craft and, if they’re good and lucky, rise above the local players and emerge onto the national stage. There are no shortcuts. If you want to do politics, you’ve got to get your hands dirty at the local level. And if you want to rise to be a player on the national stage, one of the worst places in the country to be “from,” politically speaking, is the District of Columbia.</p>
<p>By and large, Harvard seems to have the most number of influential people in national politics. There’s a reason for the “H Bomb” lol</p>
<p>Any of the top schools will give you a leg up because they have the most prominent alumni. OTher schools that come to mind are Yale, Columbia, Georgetown. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/753723-top-schools-training-ground-leaders.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/753723-top-schools-training-ground-leaders.html</a></p>
<p>Also, here’s an older post. Not to seem like a hater, but some people mentioned Stanford, which is obviously one of the best schools. I am curious what alumni on the national stage have come from there? I suspect Cal Berkeley would have more prominent politician alumni where one can network. </p>
<p>People should support their comments with facts, and not just going with the strength of a college’s name when making up a list…</p>
<p>Here’s an old post…</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/647915-school-strongest-political-circle.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/647915-school-strongest-political-circle.html</a></p>
<p>Georgetown has five current US Senators (Alaska, Wyoming, Illinois, Virginia and Vermont), three current Governors (Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire) and about fifteen or so Congressmen. They hold leadership positions with the Senate Majority Whip, House Majority Leader, and Senate Judiciary Chairman being among the above group. The Republican National Committee Chairman is also an alum.</p>
<p>It might depend on what part of the country you’re in. Here in the Midwest, your best bet would seem to be to go a a public university in your home state. Except in Minnesota where we seem to prefer a “balanced ticket” of Ivy Leaguers, one from Harvard and one from Yale.</p>
<p>Undergraduate alma maters of Midwestern Senators:</p>
<p>Illinois: Georgetown, Southern Illinois
Indiana: Denison, Indiana U
Iowa: Iowa State, Northern Iowa
Kansas: Kansas State, Kansas State
Michigan: Swarthmore, Michigan State
Minnesota: Yale, Harvard
Nebraska: U Nebraska-Lincoln, St. Mary’s U
North Dakota: U North Dakota, Stanford
Ohio: Ohio University, Yale<br>
South Dakota: U South Dakota, Biola
Wisconsin: Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin-Madison</p>
<p>Jesuit schools-Georgetown, Holy Cross.</p>
<p>An anecdote:</p>
<p>For the 4th of July weekend this year I visited my friend who is currently living in Washington DC. One of the days I was there we went to this community barbecue. That day I happened to wear my Bowdoin College shirt (my school) and, honest to god, on the way there, there, and walking to the place we were going to after, i must have run into 15 alums of this small liberal arts college. </p>
<p>Bowdoin is extremely well regarded for its government program and it really showed. In only a few hours, I ran into 15 alums from this college of 1700 students, all of whom were working for the federal government. </p>
<p>At one point I had just finished talking to one Bowdoin grad and I immediately ran into another, who, at the time, was going to meet his friend, a third Bowdoin grad, for lunch. </p>
<p>DC is full of Bowdoin grads. Its a good network to be part of if you want to work there.</p>
<p>William & Mary</p>
<p>Sec Defense- Gates
Chair Econ Advisors- Rohmer</p>
<p>My stickler for detail has to correct one item… Eisenhower was West Point, not Navy.</p>
<p>The OP was asking about “a political career” and “political networking.” Many of the responses have been about which schools produce the most influential people in Washington. Those are different things. Most politics in this country takes place outside of Washington—in the state capitals, in county seats, in cities and towns. It’s out of the ranks of that kind of non-DC-centric politics that most elected officials come, including the vast majority of elected officials who end up in Washington as Members of Congress, Senators, Presidents, and Vice-Presidents. That, to my mind, is what “a political career” is all about. In most cases you don’t get there by starting out in DC, and it’s your connections at the state and local level, not your connections in DC, that will move you up through the elected ranks.</p>
<p>A lot of the “most influential people in Washington” got there by virtue of public policy expertise, not through a “political career.” Concededly, there can be some overlap—Congressional staffs and high-ranking administration officials are political appointees and need to combine policy expertise with political savvy to get appointed and to survive and advance. But that’s a very different career path. If by “political career” the OP means elected office, then DC is almost certainly NOT the place to be, except perhaps for a brief stint as an intern or Congressional staffer to gain some insight into the legislative process, some public policy issues, and how the legislative and policy side interacts with the political calculus to determine where elected officials come out on issues. Don’t stay in DC too long, though, or you’ll be left in the dust by smart and hungry political rivals back in your home district who will be busy building their own political networks while you’re stuck in DC, and you may be tagged with the “carpetbagger” label when you finally do move back home. For that kind of career, it’s your connections in your own state and hometown that matter most, and the State U is just as good a place as Harvard or Georgetown—probably better— to burnish those credentials and build your own political network. </p>
<p>If instead by a “political career” the OP means policy wonk and Washington insider, then by all means head for Washington, picking up some shiny academic credentials from a top-tier school along the way. </p>
<p>For the record, here’s where Obama Cabinet and Cabinet/rank officials schooled and cut their teeth:</p>
<p>Office/ Undergrad / Grad-professional degree/ Political base-network</p>
<p>Secretary of State / Wellesley / Yale Law / Arkansas, DC & New York*
Treasury Secretary / Dartmouth / Johns Hopkins / DC & New York
Defense Secretary / William & Mary / Indiana & Georgetown / DC
Attorney General / Columbia / Columbia Law / DC
Interior Secretary / Colorado College / Michigan Law / Colorado*
Ag Secretary / Hamilton / Albany Law / Iowa*
Commerce Secretary / Yale / BU Law / Washington State*
Labor Secretary / Cal Poly Pomona / Southern Cal / California*
HHS Secretary / Trinity Washington / U Kansas / Kansas*
HUD Secretary / Harvard / Harvard / DC & New York
Transportation Secretary / Bradley / none / Illinois*
Energy Secretary / U Rochester / UC Berkeley / academia
Education Secretary / Harvard / none / Illinois
VA Secretary / West Point / Duke, National War College/ military
Homeland Security Secretary / Santa Clara / UVA Law / Arizona*
Council of Econ. Advisers Chair / William & Mary / MIT / academia
EPA Administrator / Tulane / Princeton / New Jersey
OMB Director / Princeton / LSE / DC
US Trade Representative / Austin College / UT-Austin Law/ Texas*
UN Ambassador / Stanford / Oxford / DC
Chief of Staff / Sarah Lawrence / Northwestern / DC & Illinois*
- indicates former elected official</p>
<p>Looks like two tracks, one for Washington insiders like Gates & Holder, the other for elected officials and/or state-local level administrators. For the DC insider track, going to an elite college seems to be de rigeur. For the up-through-politics track, educational backgrounds are all over the map, though interestingly many have law degrees from top-tier (not necessarily Ivy) law schools. A few people like Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel straddle both worlds.</p>
<p>Let me add a few to that list ^</p>
<p>US Ambassador to Iraq / Bowdoin College / Naval War College / diplomatic corp.
US Envoy to the Middle East / Bowdoin College / Georgetown / Maine*
Administrator of the Small Business Administration / Bowdoin College / Harvard / Academia</p>