Colleges Producing Most "Noteworthy" People

College Search & Selection
1

<p>The website NNDB.com has a collection of over 32,000 profiles of people across the world (dead or alive) - celebrities, successful businessmen, inventors, Nobel laureates, powerful politicians, top journalists, authors, athletes, artists, socialites, etc., etc. It basically profiles people who are well-known or have accomplished something of distinction who will be remembered throughout history because of their role in society. It is basically a "who's who" site. It also lists (when the data is available) the educational institution attended by the individual. I decided to do some basic research looking at the top 50 national universities according to U.S. News & World Report to see which institutions produce the largest number of "noteworthy" people. Obviously, size should be taken into account if you would like to truly understand which schools have the strongest track record at producing people that "matter" (no offense) in America and around the world, and these rankings consider all programs offered by the university -- i.e. not just the undergraduate school. </p>

<p>In rank order:</p>

<p>1 Harvard
2 Yale
3 Columbia
4 Stanford
5 Princeton
6 NYU
7 UC Berkeley, U Chicago
9 UCLA
10 U Pennsylvania
11 U Michigan
12 USC
13 Cornell
14 Georgetown
15 Northwestern
16 MIT
17 U Virginia
18 Dartmouth
19 U Texas - Austin
20 Brown
21 Johns Hopkins
22 U Washington
23 Duke</p>

2

<p>cooooooooool</p>

3

<p>adjust this for % of the graduating class and you've got something interesting.</p>

4

<p>Adjust this to include the LACs, and I'll be interested.</p>

5

<p>LACs (and U of Chicago) seem like they would be high (if included, and higher up, respectively) if adjusted for size.</p>

6

<p>Does George W. Bush count as someone noteworthy from Harvard and Yale?</p>

7

<p>does this list include Graduate schools, or only undergrads?</p>

8

<p>Kind of surprised Maryland's not on the list. In additional to nobel prize winners and members of academia, it produced the creators of Google, Under Armour and Sirius, Jim Henson and Larry David, Carl Bernstein and countless journalists, Connie Chung and countless TV personalities, Carl Fiorina and many CEOs.</p>

<p>Really light on national politicians though, but that's heavily influenced by family heritage.</p>

9

<p>I would be interested in seeing just the undergrad data. There are a lot of LAC people that are showing up on the list under Yale law or Berkely PhD. Kind of misleading for a high school student/family b/c grad school isnt really relevant to them right now. And that is who is on this site the most.</p>

10

<p>Ahem...Vanderbilt....inventor of the internet....come on!</p>

11

<p>Ahem ahem, Richard Nixon, does he count as negative point?</p>

12

<p>Is the list also adjusted to account for length of time the school has been granting degrees? Harvard certainly has a big advantage there.</p>

13

<p>Oh, forgot to mention a more fundamental point: schools do not produce these people... they are produced by their mother and father.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
Oh, forgot to mention a more fundamental point: schools do not produce these people... they are produced by their mother and father.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Guess nobody told you about some of Stanford's skunkworks projects ;)</p>

<p></p>

15

<p>It is definitely important to consider the size of the school and the amount of time it has been granting degrees. Larger and older schools would have probably produced a greater number of noteworthy people.</p>

16

<p>Yale should get -50 points for George W. Bush.</p>

17

<p>Random Bush bashing has gone the way of the Che Guevara T-shirt, a cheap way to appear clever and savvy. </p>

<p>He's the president of the United States. It doesn't get any more "noteworthy" than that. Performance in office does not change that fact.</p>

18

<p>Umm, are you kidding me?</p>

<p>U.S. Naval Academy:</p>

<p>Jimmy Carter
Alan Shephard
David Robinson
Roger Staubach
Montel Williams
John McCain
Chester Nimitz
James Stockdale
H. Ross Perot
Albert Michelson
Wendy Lawrence</p>

<p>1 President of the United States
2 Cabinet Members
6 Ambassadors
21 Members of Congress
5 State Governors
5 Secretaries of the Navy
1 Secretary of the Air Force
4 Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
4 Vice Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
26 Chiefs of Naval Operations
9 Commandants of the Marine Corps
2 Nobel Prize Awardees
73 Medal of Honor Awardees
52 Astronauts
44 Rhodes Scholars
16 Marshall Scholars
93 Olmsted Scholars
25 Fitzgerald Scholars
830 Burke Scholars </p>

<p>Pretty impressive if you ask me...There's no way you're telling me that USC, UVA and some of the other schools have anything on this list. USNA easily has a top 10 most impressive alumni if you ask me. West Point's list is pretty good, too. </p>

<p>It amazes me how USNA and USMA are left out of almost every discussion like this but it's hard to deny who both of these storied institutions have produced.</p>

19

<p>This is definitely going to affect my college choice significantly...........</p>

20

<p>I am pretty sure the Google boys are Stanford alums.</p>