By virtue of its small enrollment, the number of alumni that Deep Springs has produced in its entire history (about 1,000) is surpassed by many other colleges or universities in a single year. Most continue their studies at other universities (most commonly, Harvard, the University of Chicago, Yale, and Brown; and frequently Columbia, Oxford, UC Berkeley, Cornell, and Stanford).[5] Two-thirds go on to earn a graduate degree, and over half eventually earn a doctorate.
Deep Springs alumni have been awarded Rhodes and Truman Scholarships, two MacArthur “genius grants”, two Pulitzer Prizes, one Emmy award, one E. O. Lawrence award, among other honors.
Prominent alumni include:
Robert B. Aird, neurologist
Nathaniel Borenstein, computer scientist
Baird Bryant, filmmaker
Albert Bush-Brown, architectural historian and former President of RISD
Barney Childs, composer
Charles Collingwood, journalist
Edwin Cronk, diplomat
John D’Agata, essayist
Norton Dodge, economist
Thomas E. Fairchild, politician and federal judge
Glen Fukushima, businessman and public servant
Philip Hanawalt, biologist
David Hitz, computer engineer and co-founder of NetApp
Park Honan, biographer
Raymond B. Huey, biologist
Raymond Jeanloz, geophysicist and MacArthur fellow
Philip Kennicott, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Benjamin Kunkel, novelist, founder of n+1 magazine
Zachary Mider, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.[6]
Erik Mueggler, sinologist and MacArthur fellow
Jim Olin, U.S. Congressman
John W. Olmsted, historian and Professor Emeritus at UC Riverside[7]
Vern Penner, diplomat
Michael Putney, Emmy Award-winning television reporter
Herbert Reich, electrical engineer and inventor
Peter Rock, novelist
Gus Simmons, mathematician and cryptographer, E. O. Lawrence award winner
G. William Skinner, anthropologist
Robert Sproull, physicist and educator
Julian Steward, anthropologist
Oscar Tuazon, artist
William vanden Heuvel, diplomat
William T. Vollmann, novelist
Silas Warner, computer programmer
Graeme Wood, journalist