Colleges if you want to be rich?

College Search & Lists
21

According to the following website:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/18/upshot/some-colleges-have-more-students-from-the-top-1-percent-than-the-bottom-60.html?_r=0

Of the top 100 National Universities and top 100 National Liberal Arts Colleges, here are the ones with at least 10% of their alumni who go on to be among the top 1% and at least 25% of their alumni who go on to be among the top 5%.

It should be noted that in many instances, those universities have many students who come from very wealthy families to begin with. It should also be noted that some of those have very large, very prominent undergraduate business programs.

University of Pennsylvania 23%, 46%
Princeton University 23%, 45%
Stanford University 21%, 43%
Harvard University 21%, 42%
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 20%, 49%
Duke University 20%, 44%
Georgetown University 18%, 41%
Babson College 18%, 47%
Yale University 18%, 40%
Dartmouth College 18%, 39%
Columbia University 17%, 38%
Cornell University 14%, 39%
California Institute of Technology 14%, 38%
Carnegie Mellon University 13%, 37%
Northwestern University 14%, 35%
Amherst College 14%, 34%
Brown University 14%, 32%
Washington and Lee University 13%, 38%
University of Notre Dame 13%, 37%
Johns Hopkins University 13%, 34%
Colgate University 13%, 33%
Emory University 13%, 33%
Williams College 13%, 29%
Claremont McKenna College 12%, 33%
Vanderbilt University 12%, 33%
Harvey Mudd College 11%, 37%
Boston College 11%, 32%
Tufts University 11%, 32%
University of Chicago 11%, 29%
Middlebury College 11%, 28%
Pomona College 11%, 26%
Rice University 10%, 35%
Villanova University 10%, 34%
Wake Forest University 10%, 33%
Bucknell University 10%, 32%
Washington University-St Louis 10%, 31%
University of California-Berkeley 10%, 31%
University of Virginia 10%, 31%
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor 10%, 30%
Trinity College 10%, 29%

22

Even my alma mater is on the list, I really dislike this sort of ranking because of what Alexandre pointed out. According to some studies, US is among the worst in social mobility in the developed world. Also, any earnings ranking is going to be unfair to schools with a large fraction of students majoring in arts, music, education, theater, etc and advantageous to schools with larger proportion of students in, say, finance or engineering.

At Northwestern, fresh grads from its engineering school earn much more (twice) than those from music school and communication school. Yet, they are all NU grads.

23

Trump University? If you don’t get rich, you could make some money by suing for broken educational promises.

24

Being an extreme saver who lives VERY frugally is the surest way to wealth. This can be accomplished in almost any profession coming out of almost any school. I’m not exaggerating. You can retire young if you follow this advice. Most people who earn a lot spend it all. Most people who have a lot are not in obscenely high-paying professions. They are not flashy and you would never know. If you want a flashy life, you need to earn a lot. But then you probably won’t be saving much. Very few people both spend a lot and have a lot saved. But there are some zillionaires like that. You can always try to be one of them by earning a lot AND saving a lot. You will probably have to be exceptional at what you do. Good luck.

25

@MatzoBall true, but the person asking how to get rich is usually not the person inclined to live frugally.

Great name, btw

26

Many young people don’t understand the difference (and frequent mutual exclusivity) between high income and large assets. Regardless where one goes to college, the guy with 3 million in his portfolio is often in a modest neighborhood driving an 8 year old car. The guy in the country club with a BMW and a Rolex may be pulling in a good annual figure but blowing it all instead of investing. More than a few doctors do this, and of course this is well known among professional athletes.

27

Go to a cheap school that is not well known, on a full scholarship.

When you graduate from a well known elite school, you will get job offers, that may make you just comfortable enough to avoid taking risks. The super rich took big but smart risks. Had to live without comfort or leave comfort to make it big.

28

The wealthiest people I know run hedge funds. They tend to be brilliant in a very particular way and to have a high tolerance for risk, among other attributes.

Very rich parents is aldo a good route to wealth. Tell your parents to get to work!

29

@Alexandre Interesting list – but I don’t think it’s complete, given the stated criteria.

For example, Lehigh is a “Top 100 National University” according to USN&WR. And according to the NYTimes data, Lehigh has 10% of alumni in the top 1%, with 36% in the top 5%. So it would seem to meet the stated criteria, yet is not on the list.

Similarly, Richmond is a “Top 100 National Liberal Arts College” according to USN&WR. And according to the NYTimes data, Richmond has 11% of alumni in the top 1%, and 31% in the top 5%. So Richmond would also seem to meet the stated criteria, but is not on the list either.

I didn’t try to check all 100 top national universities or LACs, so I don’t know if there are any other omissions.

30

The Millionaire Next Door and Stop Acting Rich and Start Living Like a Real Millionaire are both great books. They’re both focused almost entirely on the spending side of the equation. There’s not much discussion of how people earned their wealth, besides noting there’s a high percentage of doctors, lawyers, upper level managers, and entrepreneurs.

31

Recommend going to a college suited for your abilities and one you can graduate with low to no debt. Go into sales if pre professional majors aren’t your calling. I know plenty of sales people with only bachelors degrees that make six figures. Also look into going into insurance industry. My niece did her bachelors in business at a state school went to work for an insurance company (non sales) immediately after graduating and has steadily moved up in pay and making six figures 10 years out. I have two nephews graduated from big ten university with biology and business degrees (2015 and 2016) and they both landed jobs in banking and business making 60k off the bat.
I know physicians who make decent money but it’s the school loans that kill them

32

This is exactly the kind of student that elite colleges don’t want to admit. Enjoy your high school years. And go to college because you want to learn. The money and success will come and honestly won’t make you happy. Do what you love, love what you do. That will bring happiness. Not to mention making relationships with friends and family. Picking a school to become rich just doesn’t exist. I didn’t choose my school to become rich. I chose it and my major because it’s what I love and I’m happy. I’ve made my best friends here and I’m challenged every day. Best of luck dude. Find your path in life.

33

@CALSmom, @Chardo

Selling what? Sorry, I’m not familiar with the sales profession. I know a kid for whom this might be a good path, so I’d like more info. Thx!

34

“I want to make a lot money and I am wondering what college is best for that. Thanks”

The best way to be very successful is to do what you want to do, do it the way that you want to do it, and be right.

The best way to be a total failure is to do what you want to do, do it the way that you want to do it, and be wrong.

What do you want to do? You need to answer this question before you can figure out which college is best. Once you know what you want to do, figure out which college (if any) will allow you to do this without taking on excessive debt.

I also might add that the phrase “a lot of money” is quite vague. If you hit retirement age at 65 and had the equivalent (in 2017 dollars) of $1,000,000 in retirement funds, would this be “a lot” or “not much”?

35

@nw2this Medical device or surgical supply, Pharmaceutical sales, Solar…these are in demand. I’ve met sales reps that are young guys 2-5 years out of college doing well in medical sales without a degree in science (one of them got his BA in history). As long as you have degree, can learn new things quickly, are willing to work hard, travel and have a good personality you can be successful and earn a lot of money.

36

@nw2this That’s the thing. You can get rich selling almost anything. With any company, no matter the industry, nothing happens until something is sold.

I know some extremely successful people selling pharmaceuticals, insurance, time clocks, A-V systems, real estate, airplanes, commercial equipment, office furniture, cargo services…