Where the 10 Richest Americans Went to College

College Search & Selection
1

<p>For those of you who want to know which college is going to "make" you rich:</p>

<p>1) Bill Gates - Harvard (dropout)
2) Warren Buffett - U. of Nebraska; Columbia
3) Larry Ellison - UChicago (dropout)
4) Charles Koch - MIT
5) David Koch - MIT
6) Christy Walton - no college
7) George Soros - London School of Economics
8) Sheldon Adelson - City College of New York (dropout)
9) Jim Walton - University of Arkansas
10) Alice Walton - Trinity University</p>

<p>On a side note, Carlos Slim of Mexico, the richest man in the world, went to Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.</p>

<p>Source: Forbes 400
The</a> Richest People in America - Forbes</p>

<p>Carlos</a> Slim Helu & family - Forbes</p>

2

<p>Two “Big State U” (for undergrad, at least). Three drop-outs, and one with no college. Counting Gates dropping out, 3 from the Ivy League. </p>

<p>Ivy League rejects, despair not thus!</p>

3

<p>But three of them have wealth that is due in large part to inheritance, right?</p>

<p>The one who built up the wealth that they inherited had a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Missouri.</p>

4

<p>3 from Ivy? I count only two. Five including just the top colleges</p>

<p>Edit: American Colleges.</p>

5

<p>David, if this thread were titled “Where the 11 Richest Americans Went to College”, you would have two more “Big State U” (Sergey Brin - Maryland and Larry Page - Michigan) represented! ;)</p>

6

<p>I don’t know if I would include all of the Waltons, since all of them got rich by… inheriting their money.</p>

7

<p>Charles and David Koch inherited their father’s company.
All of the Waltons also inherited their wealth.</p>

8

<p>If anything, this list shows that having a rich daddy is a more dependable route to big riches than is attending a high-end school.</p>

<p>So if for some reason dear old Dad isn’t pulling through for you on the fat wallet front, you better shoot for a high-end school as a back-up plan.</p>

9

<p>Looking just at undergrad, the University of Nebraska gets to claim Warren Buffet. He later got a master’s degree at Columbia. So that means just one of the top 10 had an Ivy League undergraduate background (Bill Gates at #1, Harvard), and he was a dropout.</p>

<p>Forbes #11-30 (undergrad only):</p>

<ol>
<li>S. Robson Walton, University of Arkansas</li>
<li>Michael Bloomberg, Johns Hopkins</li>
<li>Jeff Bezos, Princeton</li>
<li>Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard (dropout)</li>
<li>Sergey Brin, University of Maryland</li>
<li>Larry Page, University of Michigan</li>
<li>John Paulson, NYU</li>
<li>Michael Dell, University of Texas – Austin (dropout)</li>
<li>Steve Ballmer, Harvard</li>
<li>Forrest Mars, Jr., Yale</li>
<li>Jacqueline Mars, Bryn Mawr</li>
<li>John Mars, Yale</li>
<li>Paul Allen, Washington State (dropout)</li>
<li>Phil Knight, University of Oregon</li>
<li>Carl Icahn, NYU (dropout), Princeton</li>
<li>Donald Bren, University of Washington</li>
<li>Ann Cox Chambers, Finch College</li>
<li>Ronald Perelman, Penn</li>
<li>Abigail Johnson, Hobart and William Smith</li>
<li>James Simon, MIT</li>
</ol>

<p>A few more Ivies in this group but they include some more inherited wealth (e.g., Mars, Mars & Mars), suggesting inherited wealth may be as much a predictor of Ivy admission as an Ivy education is a predictor of earned wealth. Among those who earned it, public universities are well represented. Also, notice the Ivies here are mostly HYP; only Ronald Perelman at #28 (Penn) claims a non-HYP Ivy undergrad background.</p>

10

<p>“3) Larry Ellison - UChicago (dropout)”</p>

<p>He went to the University of Illinois before the University of Chicago.</p>

11

<p>^Woot!</p>

<p>;)</p>

<p>I really have no hopes of becoming rich in this lifetime, however.</p>

<p>Lists like these are fun, but always misleading. But it’s surely a nice thing to show Bob or Jane who’s feeling down about not attending an Ivy.</p>

12

<p>I’m not sure “dropout” is a fair description of Gates, Allen, Dell, and Zuckerberg, as “dropout” connotes poor performance or lack of direction. It might be more accurate to say that they each took a leave of absence from college to found some of the most successful and influential companies in history.</p>

<p>Icahn got a bachelor’s degree from Princeton.</p>

13

<p>I don’t think that these individuals’ successes are typical of the results one would expect from any college.</p>

14

<p>

</p>

<p>Um, no, they dropped out of college to do other stuff. They certainly weren’t the first people in history to drop out of college with the intention to found a business/pursue an acting career/become a musician/whatever. It’s just that things worked out for them.</p>

<p>To say that they took a leave of absence would be much more disingenuous than to say they dropped out; none of them is thinking of returning to college.</p>

15

<p>A college degree won’t make you the richest person alive, but it sure as hell means your less likely to be poor. So attending an ivy is still a big deal, unless you have the next ground breaking business up your sleeve, then it matters very little.</p>

16

<p>Is it really that interesting that the Walton family didn’t all go to Ivy+ schools?</p>

<p>Brin and Page each went to Stanford which is where they met each other and started Google. </p>

<p>Top schools do have a huge over representation. Here’s the list where the people who’s wealth is due to inheritance or nepotism are removed. Also added the last institution attended in addition to the one which was previously listed. </p>

<ol>
<li>Bill Gates - Harvard (dropout)</li>
<li>Warren Buffett - U. of Nebraska; Columbia</li>
<li>Larry Ellison - UChicago (dropout)</li>
<li>George Soros - London School of Economics</li>
<li>Sheldon Adelson - City College of New York (dropout)</li>
<li>Michael Bloomberg, Johns Hopkins; Harvard</li>
<li>Jeff Bezos, Princeton; </li>
<li>Mark Zuckerberg, Harvard (dropout)</li>
<li>Sergey Brin, University of Maryland; Stanford</li>
<li>Larry Page, University of Michigan; Stanford</li>
<li>John Paulson, NYU; Harvard</li>
<li>Michael Dell, University of Texas – Austin (dropout)</li>
<li>Steve Ballmer, Harvard; Stanford (dropout)</li>
<li>Paul Allen, Washington State (dropout)</li>
<li>Phil Knight, University of Oregon; Stanford</li>
<li>Carl Icahn, NYU (dropout), Princeton</li>
<li>Donald Bren, University of Washington</li>
<li>Ronald Perelman, Penn</li>
<li>James Simons, MIT; Berkeley</li>
</ol>

<p>Let’s look at Ivy+ schools, and let’s say the + are MIT, Stanford, UChicago, Oxbridge, and LSE, and LBS.</p>

<p>15 attended Ivy+ schools, 4 did not (City College of New York, University of Texas, Washington State, and University of Washington). Of those 4, only 1 actually graduated (University of Washington).</p>

<p>As for “dropout” vs. “leave of absence,” we all know what we’re talking about.</p>

17

<p>I looked up the name Christy Walton hoping to find an inspiring story of struggle and success despite a lack of education in a corporate world dominated by Ivy League, Ivy+, and top flagship Big State U graduates, but no, it turned out the be the Walmart heiress. Oh well. I can’t believe I didn’t realize that just from her last name.</p>

18

<p>IMO a shrewd business sense + hardworking> Harvard Degree any day. I know many successful people that want to no name colleges that have climbed the corporate ladder or started their own business. Granted these people will not make the Forbes list anytime soon, but they live a very comfortable and fulfilling life and earn a large multiple of the average ivy leaguer. It just goes to show that education is far from everything.</p>

19

<p>Trinity is where the Faculty and staff of Rice send their kids. (If they don’t get into rice)</p>

20

<p>Where’s Tim Cook? He went to AUBURN!!!</p>