Where Did the World’s Youngest Billionaires Study?
/granite-web-prod/e1/b3/e1b34d626459416382153ccf6cc88916.jpeg)
Only about 2,700 people in the entire world have reached billionaire status. Of these, the youngest group is millennials — though Gen Z could very soon have their own 10-figure-making representative in this highly exclusive club.
Millennial billionaires differ from their older counterparts in important ways. They are more likely to have made their fortune in tech and less likely to be married. This is also the generation with the lowest percentage of advanced degrees. But don't take this to mean most of these absurdly wealthy individuals didn't study. Zuckerberg is the exception, not the rule.
These are the universities with the most millennial billionaire alumni.
1. Stanford University
/granite-web-prod/4a/0c/4a0c41565db048ce8aa633385f8de241.jpeg)
Location: Stanford, California
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 15
Acceptance rate: 5 percent
For the first time since the 1920s, Harvard isn't the top pick for young billionaires. In the hearts of fabulously wealthy millennials, Stanford is the place to be. This is probably because the university is in the middle of Silicon Valley, the hub of the startup industry that has padded the pockets of many.
Despite being involved in the Varsity Blues scandal in which rich families were bribing their way into admissions, Stanford continues to be widely respected.
2. Harvard University
/granite-web-prod/ee/06/ee06add77a584fedb5a1c450d01ac8bd.jpeg)
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 10
Acceptance rate: 5 percent
The top two universities have been warring for the first spot for decades. Harvard has the highest number of billionaires across generations with 188 alumni earning over 10 figures. Unlike older generations, it seems like millennials are steering from Harvard to go to another prestigious university.
Ironically, the richest and most famous millennial billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, attended Harvard but dropped out before receiving his diploma (as did fellow billionaire and later co-founder of Asana, Dustin Aaron Moskovitz).
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
/granite-web-prod/43/1c/431c1aa4cde0405dbf575f00966c36a4.jpeg)
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 4
Rate of acceptance: 7 percent
Better known as MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology gathers some of the most brilliant minds on the planet. Of course, the university's focus on technology has brought it to the forefront of the digital revolution for the past 50-plus years. One of its most well-known millennial billionaire alumni is Drew Houston, the co-founder of Dropbox.
4. Yale University (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/0a/be/0abef98d9d0b44869eb84a11b3421cb7.jpeg)
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
No. of millennial billionaire alumnus: 3
Acceptance rate: 6.5 percent
One of the most respected higher education institutions in the world, Yale is a preferred university for the elite and wealthy. Given its renowned status as an Ivy League school, it's no surprise that heirs of billionaires choose this as their alma mater. At least three of the world's youngest billionaires have attended Yale.
4. Oxford University (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/e6/ad/e6adbfc6612c4ee2ae5c267b6fd2adf2.jpeg)
Location: Oxford, England
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 3
Acceptance rate: 17 percent
Oxford needs no introduction. Founded in 1096, its impressive list of notable alumni includes T.S. Eliot, Stephen Hawking and Indira Gandhi. But its younger alumni haven't fared too badly either. Three millennials who attended this university are now billionaires. We're sure the connections they made at this prestigious institution didn't hurt their chances.
4. Stockholm School of Economics (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/97/d2/97d2153076ca49a1b636631733eab720.jpeg)
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 3
Acceptance rate: 24 percent
Sweden has produced 35 unicorns, or startup companies valued at over 1 billion. But it's not only its startups that are bringing in the zeros. One of its biggest unicorns, Klarna, was founded by three alumni of the Stockholm School of Economics. The fintech company is valued at $45.6 billion, and two of its founders are now billionaires (the third one got out earlier than he should have.) The university's third billionaire alumnus is Katarina Martinson, businesswoman and heiress to one of the country's biggest investment companies.
7. Rhode Island School of Design (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/db/70/db70d850be534798818b4220928a68e1.jpeg)
Location: Providence, Rhode Island
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 2
Acceptance rate: 27 percent
According to a billionaire report by BusinessFinancing.co.uk, only 10.9 percent of millennial billionaires have an arts degree. The two most notorious ones may be Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky, both graduates of Rhode Island School of Design. Even if you don't recognize their names, you've probably used their product, a little platform called Airbnb.
7. Peking University (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/81/98/8198a5c6ec954c95a24e92d7d1a5ee31.jpeg)
Location: Beijing, China
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 2
Acceptance rate: 1 percent (for Chinese nationals), 15 percent (foreigners)
The highly competitive Peking University has an acceptance rate for Chinese nationals that is lower than 1 percent. As one of the most coveted institutions in the country, it is highly respected for its humanities program, often being compared to Harvard.
While several Chinese universities have their own billionaire alumni (TikTok's Zhang Yiming, for example, went to Nankai University), Peking is the only one to boast two.
7. University of Waterloo (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/15/aa/15aa77df06bb441d9891672fcce60a3e.jpeg)
Location: Ontario, Canada
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 2
Acceptance rate: 53 percent
The University of Waterloo isn't as well known as other institutions on this list. With a 53 percent acceptance rate, it's also the least competitive school making this rank. And yet, two millennial billionaires are proud alumni. The institution boasts rigorous academics and counts Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Donna Strickland among its staff.
7. Vologda State Technical University (Tie)
/granite-web-prod/d2/66/d266df4b34f44ad4b95b5a6f793f762b.jpeg)
Location: Vologda, Russia
No. of millennial billionaire alumni: 2
Acceptance rate: 18 percent
A little over six hours by car from Moscow, Vologda is not a city well known outside of Russia. And yet, it is here, rather than in the capital or Saint Petersburg, that the highest number of millennial billionaires have studied. The Vologda State Technical University has strong departments covering both the humanities and natural sciences. With an 18 percent acceptance rate, it is one of the hardest universities to get into in Russia.
The Most Popular Colleges for Millennial Billionaires
/granite-web-prod/c5/b2/c5b225c32e604001ae9077ed5f15300f.png)