Locust Street on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania

This School Has The Most Billionaire Alumni

The University of Pennsylvania has the most billionaire alumni in the country.

The Forbes 400 of 2022 ranked the 11 most popular colleges among America’s richest. This year’s ranking includes a number of Ivy League schools as well as a few west coast institutions.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA HOLDS THE TITLE

Penn, which is home to the famous Wharton School, is the alma mater of 17 billionaire grads—up from 14 a year ago.

Jon Gray, president and COO of private equity firm Blackstone, says the liberal arts education at Penn built a foundation for a career in business.

“Both liberal arts and finance allowed me to meet all these incredible people and really created the springboard for the rest of my life,” Gray says.

Other Penn alumni include Elon Musk, the richest person in America, and Laurene Powell Jobs, an investor and widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs.

HARVARD AND YALE TIE FOR NUMBER TWO

Harvard, which held the top spot last year, fell to number two this year. With 11 billionaire grads, Harvard shares the number two rank with Yale University.

Some billionaire alumni at Harvard include the Los Angeles Clippers owner and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and the founder and CEO of Citadel, Ken Griffin.

At Yale, nearly all billionaire alumni come from two families: The Marses, of pet food and candy giant Mars Inc., and the oil-rich Bass family.

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RANKS FOURTH

The University of Southern California boasts 10 billionaire grads. Perhaps the most famous is George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. He earned a bachelor of fine arts. Lucas has since become a major donor to USC—at one time donating $175 million to USC’s cinema school.

Sources: Forbes, Forbes

Next Page: Why admissions rejects good candidates.