While Harvard University might be one of the most prestigious colleges in the world, the institution has a staggering drop-out net worth of $307,850,000,000.
After studying the educational histories of the world’s billionaire’s list, EduBirdie has analyzed the 10 richest college drop-outs in history, with Harvard ranking first place for its combined drop-out net worth.
|
Rank |
University |
Combined drop-out net worth |
|
1 |
Harvard University |
$307,850,000,000 |
|
2 |
University of Michigan |
$117,000,000,000 |
|
3 |
University of Illinois |
$101,000,000,000 |
|
4 |
University of Texas |
$61,100,000,000 |
|
5 |
Missouri University of Science and Technology |
$13,700,000,000 |
|
6 |
San Jose University |
$13,200,000,000 |
|
7 |
University of Miami |
$11,100,000,000 |
|
8 |
City University of New York |
$7,730,000,000 |
|
9 |
Cal State Long Beach |
$7,730,000,000 |
|
10 |
Cliff View House School |
$6,810,000,000 |
|
11 |
Chicago State University |
$6,600,000,000 |
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Dustin Moskovitz all dropped out of Harvard University giving the university the highest overall combined dropout net worth of nearly $308 billion after combining the dropout fees for each billionaire.
Despite only having one dropout in the top 20 richest drop-outs, the University of Michigan makes the list — because the man who dropped out went on to found Google. Larry Page’s personal net worth of just under $120 billion propels Michigan into second place in the rankings.
The University of Illinois has the third-highest total net worth of dropouts, over $100 billion — though like Michigan, it is all provided by one man, Larry Ellison. These two men who are next to each other in the rankings also dropped out of colleges in neighboring states.
|
Rank |
Drop-Out |
Estimated Net Worth |
University |
|
1 |
Bill Gates |
$149 billion |
Harvard University |
|
2 |
Mark Zuckerberg |
$129 billion |
Harvard University |
|
3 |
Larry Page |
$117 billion |
University of Michigan |
|
4 |
Larry Ellison |
$101 billion |
Illinois University |
|
5 |
Amancio Ortega |
$74.7 billion |
School |
|
6 |
Michael Dell |
$49 billion |
Texas University |
|
7 |
Li Ka Shing |
$34 billion |
School |
|
8 |
Dustin Moskovitz |
$20.9 billion |
Harvard University |
|
9 |
Jack Dorsey |
$13.7 billion |
Missouri University of Science and Technology |
|
10 |
Jan Koum |
$13.2 billion |
San Jose University |
Both Amancio Ortega and Li Ka Shing both dropped out of school rather than university, yet still made the top 10 richest drop-outs in the world.
Ortega left school at 14 and thirteen years later opened his first Zara store. Since then the fashion company has grown — and in doing so made Ortega the richest man in Spain.
Likewise, the 30th richest person in the world is also the seventh-highest ranking drop-out in terms of wealth. Hong Kong businessman Shing was forced to leave school early at 15 following his father’s death; since then he has not looked back and is now one of the richest drop-outs in the world.
See EduBirdie’s research in full here.
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