Princeton University (3)


2. Jeff Bezos, $77.1B, United States, technology, 1986, Amazon.
38. Carl Icahn, $19.6B, United States, diversified, 1957, Icahn Enterprises includes Tropicana casinos.
110. Eric Schmidt, $11.2B, United States, technology, 1957, Alphabet includes Google.


The richest man in the world and two of the youngest billionaires are famous for not graduating from college—but, believe it or not, the overwhelming majority of the world's billionaires did indeed graduate.

Most of those listed in the Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index of the top 500 richest people in the world hold undergraduate degrees, and many have advanced degrees. Only 32 of the top 500 from the U.S. are college dropouts or did not attend college, plus there are numerous foreign billionaires who have no or limited college.

As one might guess, technology and real estate dominate the ways the uber-wealthy amassed their fortunes. Among the top 500 are 171 from the United States, while the rest live in other countries.

Which U.S. undergraduate programs can lay claim to educating the most billionaires? Ivy League schools are among the schools that rank high in producing billionaires, but the majority of billionaire are from non-Ivy League schools.

Following are the 15 U.S. undergraduate schools that have bestowed the most bachelor's degrees to billionaires from the U.S. and abroad, in ascending order. Along with the list of graduates are their ranks on the Bloomberg index, their wealth in billions, the country they are from, the industry associated with each, the year they graduated and the company they are most associated with. The list is based on the Bloomberg billionaire index as it stood on April 4.

By the way, the richest person in the world, Bill Gates, and two of the world's younger billionaires, Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Muskovitz of Facebook fame, all dropped out of Harvard University.

 
 

Santa Clara University (3)

249. John Albert Sobrato, $6.08B, United States, real estate, 1960, Sobrato Organization includes Apple’s headquarters.
346. John Ramon Aboitiz, $4.86B, Philippines, industrial, 1970, Aboitiz Equity Ventures.
389. Pansy Catilina Ho, $4.47b, Hong Kong, entertainment, MGM China resorts and Jetstar airlines.

 

Michigan State University (3)

179. Eli Broad, $7.53B, United States, diversified, 1954, founder KB Homes.
272. Dan Gilbert, $5.62B, United States, real estate, 1984, Quicken Loans.
371. Reinhold Schmieding, $4.67B, United States, health care, 1977, founded Arthrex surgical device maker.

 

University of Missouri (3)

180. Richard Kinder, $7.52B, United States, diversified, 1966, Kinder Morgan natural gas and oil.
206. Stan Kroenke, $6.92B, United States, real estate, 1969, Kroenke Group and Kroenke Sports Entertainment.
444. Rodger Riney, $4B, United States, finance, 1969, Los Angeles Rams.

 

University of Arkansas (3)

16. Rob Walton, $35.9B, United States, retail, 1966, Walmart.
17. Jim Walton, $35.6B, United States, retail, 1971, Walmart.
470. Jerry Jones, $3.8B, United States, entertainment, 1965, Dallas Cowboys.

 

New York University (3)

339. Leonard Stern, $4.91B, United States, real estate, 1957, Hartz Mountain Industries.
457. John Catsimatidis, $3.91B, United States, diversified, 1970, Red Apple Group.
486. Izzy Englander, $3.68B, United States, real estate, 1970, Millennium Management hedge fund.

 

University of Texas (3)

133. Jeff Hildebrand, $9.77B, United States, energy, 1981, Hilcrop Energy.
216. Robert Rowling, $6.64, United States, energy, 1976, TRT Holdings.
333. Kelcy Warren, $4.97B, United States, energy, 1978, Energy Transfer Equity.

 

Stanford University (4)

72. Azim Premji, $13.9B, India, technology, 1967, Wipro.
168. Charles Schwab, $8B, United States, finance, 1959, Charles Schwab Corporation.
303. Brian Acton, $5.27B, United States, technology, 1994, WhatsApp.
342. Bobby Murphy, $4.9B, United States, technology, 2010, Snapchat.

 

University of Michigan (5)

11. Larry Page, $43.2B, United States, technology, 1995, Alphabet includes Google.
144. Stephen Ross, $8.93B, United States, real estate, 1962, Related Companies and Miami Dolphins.
322. Kenneth Dart, $5.06B, Cayman Islands, finance, 1976, Dart Enterprises.
364. Sam Zell, $4.72B, United States, real estate, 1963, Equity Group Investments.
387. Joan Tisch, $4.51B, United States, diversified, Loews Hotels and New York Giants.

 

Cornell University (5)

237. David Duffield, $6.26B, United States, technology, 1962, Workday employee-management software.
497. Helen Johnson-Leippold, $3.65B, United States, consumer, SC Johnson & Son.
498. Herbert Johnson III, $3.65B, United States, consumer, 1979, SC Johnson & Son.
499. Imogene Powers Johnson, $3.65B, United States, consumer, SC Johnson & Son.
500. Winnie Johnson, $3.65B, United States, consumer. SC Johnson & Son.

 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (5)

7. Charles Koch, $47.7B, United States, industrial, 1957, Koch Industries oil and other commodities.
8. David Koch, $47.7B, United States, industrial, Koch Industries oil and other commodities.
59. Jim Simons, $15.5B, United States, finance, 1958, Renaissance Technologies hedge fund.
413. Bill Koch, $4.22B, United States, 1962, diversified, Oxbow mining.
493. Samuel Lee, $3.66B, Hong Kong, real estate, 1962, Prudential Enterprise.

 

University of Southern California (6)

228. George Lucas, $6.45B, United States, entertainment, 1966, Lucasfilm.
367. Tamara Hughes Gustavson, $4.7B, United States, services, 1983, Public Storage.
396. B. Wayne Hughes, $4.36B, United States, services, 1957, American Homes 4 Rent and Public Storage.
431. Marc Benioff, $4.06B, United States, technology, 1986, Salesforce.com.
432. Edward Roski, $4.05B, United States, real estate, 1962, Majestic Realty.
483. Igor Olenicoff, $3.7B, United States, real estate, Olen Properties.

 

University of Pennsylvania (7)

44. Lauren Powell Jobs, $18B, United States, media and telecom, 1985, Apple and Walt Disney.
47. Ron Perelman, $17.6B, United States, diversified, 1964, MacAndrews and Forbes investment firm.
85. Elon R. Musk, $12.8B, United States, technology, 1995, Tesla.
100. Steve Cohen, $12.1B, United States, finance, 1977, Point72 Asset Management.
126. Leonard Laudder, $10.7B, United States, consumer, 1954, Estee Lauder cosmetics.
229. Charles Butt, $6.43B, United States, retail, H-E-B supermarkets.
254. John P. Grayken, $5.95B, Ireland, finance, Lone Star Funds private equity.

 

Yale University (8)

122. Steve Schwarzman, $10.8B, United States, finance, 1969, Blackstone Group.
155. John Mallone, $8.61B, United States, media and telecom, 1963. Liberty Global.
164. Valerie Mars, $8.11B, United States, food and beverage, Mars Inc.
166. Victoria Mars, $8.11B, United States, food and beverage, Mars Inc.
199. Joseph Tsai, $7.06B, Canada, technology, 1986, Alibaba Group.
310. Charles Johnson, $5.16B, United States, finance, 1954, Franklin Resources.
404. Whitney MacMillan, United States, commodities, 1951, Cargill.
469. Eddie Lampert, $3.81B, United States, finance, 1984, ESL Investments hedge fund.

 

Harvard University (10)

25. Jorge Paulo Lemann, $29B, Brazil, food and beverage, 1961, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
26. Steve Ballmar, $27.5B, United States, technology, 1977, Microsoft.
64. Alejandro Santo Domingo, $14.8B, Colombia, food and beverage, 1999, Quadrant Capital, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
104. Carlos Sicupira, $11.8B, Brazil, food and beverage, 1984, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
172. Eduardo Saverin, $7.73B, Brazil, technology, 2006, Facebook.
232. Hansjoerg Wyss, $6.36B, Switzerland, health care, 1965, Synthes medical devices.
264. Alexander Otto, $5.77B, Germany, real estate, 1990, ECE.
285. Ken Griffin, $5.47B, United States, finance, 1989, Citadel Advisors hedge fund.
311. Ned Johnson III, $5.14B, United States, finance, 1954, Fidelity Investments.
447. Sumner Redstone, $3.97B, United States, media and technology, 1944, Viacom and CBS.