Kind of unrelated but my History teacher went to Columbia and my Tech teacher went to Iona and they have the same job with (I assume) the same pay. My tech teacher is a firm believer that it doesn’t matter what college you go to, which I think is more or less true.
Well I did meet him and speak to him.
Not best buds.
What is a “prestigious person”? Exclusive? Hard to get into? Lol Everyone knows? (then why “you know”?) if there’s such a thing as “prestigious person”, they are Nobel Prize winners, world leaders, Supreme Court judges…
Good friend for nearly half a century: PhD in Physics, University of Glasgow; PhD in Econometrics, University of British Columbia
Also, it’s erroneous to apply lay opinions to specific fields.
For example, Syracuse may not be highly ranked overall, but in journalism, communications, design, architecture, and yes, film, it is very well-known.
Likewise, IU merely has one of the top music schools in the entire country.
Smartest: RPI for undergrad. He is one of the physicists who found the Higgs Boson.
Richest: RIT, though the wealth is largely through marriage.
Prestige? That’s a hard thing for me to gauge. The Washington governor has been to my house and he’s a UW grad.
Trinity college in Dublin - followed by Cornell for graduate school. He went on to co-create a cancer drug that was FDA approved for multiple cancer types.
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Someone you know personally? This thread isn't "name famous people who didn't go to elite schools."
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PG, my dog peed on this guy’s lawn - does that count as “knowing” him? :))
Richest: UNC Pembroke - Started his own insurance business and a few night clubs.
Smartest: NC State. An executive at KPMG
you didn’t ask but i’ll add it anyway… hottest girl I know went to App St.
“my dog peed on this guy’s lawn - does that count as “knowing” him?”
No. But if he had a hold of the guy’s leg and was h**ping him, then that would count as knowing him.
I knew Liza Chasin, the Hollywood Producer, from 8th grade on through High school. She graduated from Brown.
I work with people who are rock stars in the art world. If I didn’t work here, I can assure you that I would have no clue who they are, but there are people who WOULD know who they are, and they would be impressed. 
People who are actually personal friends:
Bates: former bank Pres/CEO, public spirited individual who has served on state BOE, boards of well-known environmental orgs, his college, etc
Indiana University and Julliard: 30+ year member of noted string quartet
If counting a professor I was friendly with in college:
Rutgers BA, Stanford PhD: Poet, Scholar, translator, essayist, great techer and former US Poet Laureate
If we are counting professors, these were my 2 advisors in college:
Dale Mortensen. B.A. Willamette University, PhD Carnegie Mellon. Nobel Prize for Economics, 2010/2011
Robert Gordon. B.A. Harvard, then Oxford, PhD MIT. At age 75, still a leader in a certain field of economics.
Also had these folks as professors:
Joseph Epstein (essayist / author, sometimes quoted on CC): B.A. U of Chicago
Ed Paschke (famous artist), School of the Art Institute of Chicago
These are all people known in their fields, but not necessarily to the “common man.”
Smartest person I know is my wife, and she went to graduate school at Stanford. Next couple would be a guy who went to University of Kentucky and one who went to Ohio State.
I know now…It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.
Ok, had to look it up 
University of Denver for 1 year, then Aspen Music Festival and School
Well heck, if we are counting professors:
David Hull (essentially founded the field of philosophy of biology): Illinois Wesleyan for undergrad; IU for PhD.
Yea, so Alexander Hamilton went to Columbia (Kings College) and he has a boat load of Tonys.
The creator and star of the Alexander Hamilton play, Lin-Manuel Miranda is a graduate of Hunter College High School* and Wesleyan University.
- An academically elite quasi-public magnet HS run by Hunter College/CUNY and where entry by selective exam is only given to 6th graders who scored within the 95-99%ile range on the prior elementary school Citywide exams.