Successful people who DID go to Ivy Leagues/Top 20

College Confidential Community
1

<p>This thread is meant as a reminder that although many famous and successful people didn't go to "high-quality" institutions, a large fraction of them nonetheless did. The fact that some successful people never went to college is no reason to downplay the importance of a good education.</p>

<p>I'll start:</p>

<p>E.E. Cummings (Harvard), poet
Ralph Waldo Emerson (Harvard), poet
John F. Kennedy (Harvard), president of the US
Yo-Yo Ma (Harvard), famous cellist
Richard Feynman (MIT), physicist
David Nolan (MIT), founder of the Libertarian Party
Herbert Hoover (Stanford), president of the US
Bill Frist (Princeton), Senate Majority Leader
William Shockley (Caltech), inventor of the transistor
Carl Anderson (Caltech), proved existence of positrons
James Madison (Princeton), president of the US
Murray Gell-Mann (Yale), Nobel Laureate for Physics
Eli Whitney (Yale), inventor of the cotton gin
Samuel Morse (Yale), inventor of Morse Code
Noah Webster (Yale), wrote the first dictionary</p>

<p>Feel free to add more.</p>

2

<p>Don't forget George W. Bush (Yale)</p>

3

<p>actually markr, let's forget goerge bush, and where he went to uni, let's all forget. I don't want to know, (caus I'm applying there) so let's forget. The bl00dy men ruins my life even without even being it it.. Arrrrhhhhhhhhgh</p>

4

<p>come on.. do you think the institution made them successful? or would they had been successful elsewhere as well?
someone at the top of their class in high school is likely to go to a top school. but even if they chose another school, they are still brilliant enough to accomplish what they want to do.</p>