The universities that produce the most billionaires

If you’ve ever wondered what universities have the most billionaire alumni, you’re in luck. Wealthx has released a report titled the Billionaire Census which lists the top 20 billionaire-producing universities in the world.
The bad news for graduates of Canadian schools with dreams of joining the elite billionaire ranks? None of these schools are in Canada. Out of the 20, 16 are in the United States, the other four are in India, The UK, Russia, and Switzerland. Not exactly a wide swath, but there you go.
“OK, sure,” said a friend, “But how do you know it has anything to do with the school, and that they don’t just come from wealthy families?”
Good question.
While we don’t actually know what each of the billionaires started off with, and therefore cannot assume a level playing field, the report does say how they were “made.”
Of the world’s 2,039 male billionaires, 60% are self-made, 26.9% are a combination of inheritance and self-made, and 13.1% inherited their money. Of the comparatively small group of 236 female billionaires, 65.4% inherited their money, 17.5% are a combination of inheritance and self-made, and 17.1% are purely self-made.
Thirty-five percent did not graduate university, and of the 65% who did, the majority, 42%, have just a Bachelor’s degree. Twenty-six percent have a Master’s, 21% and MBA and 11% a PhD.
While our universities don’t make the billionaire-producing list, Canada does rank No. 13 on the list of the top 40 Billionaire countries. We have 38 billionaires, while the U.S.A. has the most, with 571.
Would you care to guess the top billionaire producing school before I reveal it?
You said Harvard, didn’t you?
It’s actually the University of Pennsylvania, which has 25 billionaire alumni. Harvard comes in second with 22, followed by Yale, with 20. The University of Southern California and Princeton round out the top five with 16 and 14 billionaire alumni, respectively.
If you’re not aiming quite that high, last year, a separate report was released listing the top 100 schools for producing millionaires. Harvard does top that list, followed by the Harvard Business School, Stanford, University of California, and Columbia University, reported Times Higher Education.
The Canadian schools that make that list are The University of Toronto (No. 37), McGill University (No. 40), University of British Columbia (No. 55) Queens University (No. 60), and The University of Western Ontario (No. 78).
Back to the other list, here are the top 20 schools with the most billionaire alumni, according to WealthX. Are you ready to enroll?
(You can get the full report here)
1. UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 25
2. HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 22
3. YALE UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 20
4. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 16
5. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 14
6. CORNELL UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 14
7. STANFORD UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 14
8. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 12
9. UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI
Country: India
No. of Billionaires: 12
10. LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Country: United Kingdom
No. of Billionaires: 11
11. LOMONOSOV MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY
Country: Russia
No. of Billionaires: 11
12. UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 10
13. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 10
14. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 10
15. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 9
16. DUKE UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 9
17. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 9
18. BROWN UNIVERSITY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 8
19. MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Country: United States
No. of Billionaires: 7
20. ETH ZURICH
Country: Switzerland
No. of Billionaires: 6