<p>It is somewhat counter CC culture.</p>
<p>The-Billionaire-Universities:</a> Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance</p>
<p>Does chance go up for someone who goes to S for UG and H for G?</p>
<p>I asked S and a chum if they thought any of their acquaintances would become billionaire or even millionaire and they could not even think of one, even among those with significant inherited money. They obviously move among the wrong circles.</p>
<p>While the article is interesting, becoming a billionaire is not an aspiration for my kids and their friends. I think that kind of money brings more trouble than pleasure. I am happy with my comfortable life and do not desire to be super-rich.</p>
<p>The examples given in the article aren't totally supportive of the thesis. A number of billionaires are Harvard drop-outs who had few friends while there (remember when it was not cool to be a nerd?) Grad school is probably a better predictor of true talent/resourcefulness, but it's not generally where you make your closest friends. Bloomberg is a Johns Hopkins grad, Icahn a Princeton grad, so the emphasis on Harvard and NYU as their alma maters is misplaced.</p>
<p>"Does chance go up for someone who goes to S for UG and H for G?"</p>
<p>Your dd hasn't even moved into S yet and you're already looking at H for grad school? Good lord!</p>
<p>Why no discussion?</p>
<p>Perhaps most people don't consider likelihood of graduates becoming billionaires to be a high priority in college decision-making.</p>
<p>Or, they realize that it's not the college that makes the person the billionaire, it's the person and his or her own creativity, daring, insight and risk-taking -- qualities that these people would have regardless of where they went. Oprah went to something like Middle Tennessee State, right? Wouldn't have mattered - she had what it took to become financially successful.</p>
<p>There's no magic formula for billionaire-hood - Stanford undergrad, Harvard grad. Guess what? The people who become billionaires don't just sit in classes and do well - they create things, they invent things, they take chances, they see things other people don't. That can't be taught. Even at Harvard.</p>
<p>"I asked S and a chum if they thought any of their acquaintances would become billionaire or even millionaire and they could not even think of one, even among those with significant inherited money. They obviously move among the wrong circles."</p>
<p>I definitely know millionaires IRL. For the ones I know, their degrees are from University of Pittsburgh, Tulane, University of Illinois, Purdue, and 2 have no degrees but are simply incredibly talented salespeople.</p>
<p>Our local billionaire just passed away. JR Simplot. 8th grade education, and I'm not kidding. Of course, that was the olden days.</p>
<p>
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They obviously move among the wrong circles.
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You had better get on him, Marite. Three times a day you should repeat the following to him: "It's just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl as a poor girl." Eventually it should sink in!</p>
<p>I went to a cocktail party recently sponsored by a Harvard billionaire from my class there, but I'm quite confident that no one I knew at Harvard became a billionaire. My sister-in-law did date one of the early Microsoft millionaires.</p>
<p>i would LOVE to be a millionaire someday. but the chances of school produces mega-millionaires are like 1%. Yes, if i look around my classes, i can name a few ppl who will be very well off. but, none of them will be millionaires unless they pick some sort of peculiar profession (like developing facebook) that will garner them that kind of money. many millionaires are overnight-cash-cows. In the late 1800's and early 1900's it was oil that got you that knd of money Now its internet moguls.</p>
<p>Being a millionaire is not all that rare these days, many students will attain that level of net worth, achieving a net worth in the billions is another matter. Having some money to begin with, a little luck (preparation & opportunity), and wanting to be one all helps.</p>
<p>I was going to say the same thing. I looked up statistics 7% (depending on source but bear with me here) of american households had assets of million or more. Possibly less by some sources this si 2006 data. Therefore to kno w amillionaire from your college is not totally unusual. More than two million drops to about 1.5% of population.</p>
<p>I went to Texas Tech, came from an extemely modest background. I have reached that status, so attending an elite school is not a pre-requisite. I dont want to brag, but simply let people know there are many avenues to success</p>
<p>DadII - my DD1 who will start H this fall wants to extend human life by a great deal and make enough money (so she claims) to buy me a house in Malibu (which I've never seen and have never expressed an interest in). I think the kids who get into S and H and their peers dream big, think big, work big. In that sense, they may very well earn big.</p>
<p>If you are old enough to have college-aged kids and have owned a house in Calif. since having conceived them you are probably a millionaire, not that it will do you much good. Anyway, my H was an UG at S and went to H for G, and we're a long, long, long, long way from being billionaires. Actually, that's probably not enough longs.</p>
<p>The only person I know who is actually truly rich is Madonna. While she did attend UMich, she did not graduate.</p>
<p>My friends with H, S, P etc. degrees got them as grad degrees. While one is CEO of Digitas, and many are quite wealthy ... none come close to being billionaires (as far as I know).</p>
<p>I'm from the Bay Area and I know more millionaires who came out of San Jose State than from Stanford.</p>
<p>And let's please not forget the kids who go into S & H (and all the other initials) as children of millionaires or billionaires. They've got a pretty good head start on the rest of us.</p>
<p>Want to be a millionaire? Be a Russian immigrant to the US! Check out the stats in "The Millionaire Next Door." :)</p>