Semi-OT: M among 10 U.S. colleges that have produced most billionaires

Submitted by rposly on

Sorry if already posted and I missed it.  Michigan is 10th on this list of U.S. colleges that have produced the most billionaires.  Pretty good company.

  1. Harvard
  2. Stanford
  3. Penn
  4. Columbia
  5. MIT
  6. Cornell
  7. Yale
  8. Chicago (t-8th)
  9. USC (t-8th)
  10. Michigan

http://www.businessinsider.com/where-billionaires-elon-musk-warren-buffett-google-founders-went-to-college-2018-5

SBayBlue

May 25th, 2018 at 1:57 PM ^

My Michigan degree in history is no more valuable than many other school's. (you will see I mention your major matters too). Hardly enough to justify $250K.

But I know a number of people that went to Michigan B School undergrad that are making less money than me, and I have a Carlson School (Minnesota) MBA. My friend who went to Ross makes less money than me. So does my friend who got his MBA at Wharton. And is money at the end of the day the ultimate measure of success? (I do other things as an elected official that has a bigger impact on my community than my paycheck)

I am a super Michigan fan, but when it comes down to it, how well you do financially has little to do with where you go to school. Unless you receive the connections from Stanford or Harvard for something like navigating the VC world, it really doesn't matter.

ak47

May 25th, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^

Well no my point is that a Michigan degrees value is specifically tied to it being recognized as prestigious and the connections with people you make. The education you got at Minnesota is the same but I gaurantee you the statistics will say the average Ross graduate makes more. Using your personal experience of making more money than your friends means nothing.  In fact I looked it up, an MBA from Ross in 2015 had an average starting salary of $118,274, for Carlson it was $102,322.

I also disagree that total salary is the pure definition of success.There are a million different reasons someone could choose a job that pays them less. They value doing that job more because it means more to them, they value a lack of travel or less work hours, they value a shorter commute or would prefer to live in a rural area of a top 10 metro area, etc. Almost every single person I work with in the non-profit world has turned down higher paying jobs, I know I have. At my previous job there were 4 Harvard grads, 3 yale law grads, etcs. They all could be making more money if they so chose.

The ranking of your school has a massive impact on your expected income. Ten years after college the top 10% of all college graduates earned $68,000. However if you limit that to the top 40 schools (where Michigan falls but for example UC Davis does not) the salary jumps $157,000, for the top 10 its $220,000 and for the #1 Harvard its $250,000. Jumps in rankings have massive impacts on salary despite little to no change in actual education received because prestige is what matters, not education received. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new…

 

Tokyo Blue

May 25th, 2018 at 1:03 PM ^

It said the many of the elite private colleges/universities have more students from the top 1% income families than the bottom 60% income families. Having trouble finding the article, plus it's paywalled. There's also research showing that many academically qualified students from lower income families who would get amazing financial aid from elite schools end up going to lower ranked schools closer to home. There are many reasons for this.

m1jjb00

May 25th, 2018 at 3:56 PM ^

then you have to control for starting position in order to judge that.  My guess---and it's only a guess--that when modellng fairly unusual events like becoming a billionaire, that the variation in things more diffuse like family income isn't going to have a lot of power to overturn the result.

potomacduc

May 25th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^

I upvoted and like the basic point. However, as far as median family income is concenrned Michigan is a bit of an outlier here. Yes, the median family income for incoming freshmen at Michigan is substantially higher than that of the state as a whole and likely compared to most other public universities. Nonetheless, I would guess it is well below those of the other 9 schools on the list. The average Michigan student is middle to upper middle class. At those other schools is upper middle class+.

Maybe it doesn't matter though. Maybe median freshmen family income isn't the measure, but rather just the actual total number of incoming freshmen from wealthy families. Michigan may only have 15% of incoming freshmen who are truly wealthy, but that may be a similar number of freshmen as Harvard.

In reply to by MichiganFan1984

leonidaswolverine

May 25th, 2018 at 11:10 AM ^

But you can't actually believe that growing up in a family that provides lots of opportunities isn't hugely important for success. Hard work and dedication are important, but acting like those are the only factors and genetics and environment are trivial is incredibly naive. 

Maizerage11

May 25th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^

Well both are important.  You have to work hard to be succesful.  You have to work less hard to be succesful, if your parents can pay 200k for college, or afford SAT prep, give you money for books in college, pay for a meal plan.   

It frees up a lot of time to learn and be succesful if you have money.

wolpherine2000

May 25th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^

...to making money is having the luxury of enough money or support to take the risks that are necessary to get large returns. People struggling to pay their rent or medical bills have less opportunity to start a business or deal that will not pay out immediately.

maquih

May 25th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^

Okay we get it bootstraps blah blah blah. Look there is plenty of science and research that documents how difficult it is on a statistical basis to move up in American society. Thats great if you defied the odds and you're a special person, congratulations. But at the end of the day when 350 million people try to achieve economic security, the only way to make rational policy decisions is to look at broad based statistics. The fact of the matter is that poor Americans are working harder than ever and getting less for it than our parents generation did. There's tons of data and research backing that statement up. And that's what it comes down to, are you okay with succeeding American generations being poorer and poorer? Yes, I hear you I worked my ass off in school my entire childhood and I went to UM and then grad school and now I make more than my parents ever did, but my single life story is simply absolutely meaningless to the question of income inequality in a nation of 350 million people.

Oscar

May 25th, 2018 at 2:43 PM ^

SMH... OP said "The key to making money is dedication and hard work." Then ak47 said "Is the person who works 2 jobs and 80 hours a week at minimum wage not working hard?" So my point was that the OP never mentioned anything about working 2 jobs and 80 hours a week. So I wasn't sure where ak47 was going with their post. I generally don't like to make assumptions, or else I end up looking like you...

ak47

May 25th, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^

When someone says the key to making money they don't mean to live a subsistence lifestyle where any sort of setback like medical or a car breaking down puts in you in a choice between paying your gas bill and rent. 

taistreetsmyhero

May 25th, 2018 at 1:55 PM ^

There are billions of dedicated, hard workers on this planet. There are a handful of stupidly rich people. So clearly hard work and dedication are not THE key, and probably account for very little of the variation in monetary success between all people.

DrMantisToboggan

May 25th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^

Few billionaires inherited their wealth compared to those that produced for it. Also, very few family fortunes survive multiple generations. Doesn't mean that it isn't easier to make it when you're born comfortable (not necessarily rich, but your needs/education are attainable) rather than poor, but the vast majority of rich people are not rich because they were born rich.

ak47

May 25th, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^

It depends how you define rich I guess but actually yes the vast majority of people who are rich are born rich. Economic mobility is severly limited in this country and the biggest predictor of your financial success is your parents. Your family doesn't have to be passing down large inheritances for their success to be the catalyst for your own financial success. Here is a great article that just came out today.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/06/the-birth-of-a-new…

 

micheal honcho

May 25th, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^

It’s all how you qualify “Rich” and what you consider “inherited”.

Look around even your own world. Even your extended family and look at the astounding results of even one generation of “pass thru” vs. a dead start at home plate.

I know and admit that I was born with probably a good lead off from 1st base but those who start out rounding 2nd or better make up the VAST majority of those with fuck you money if you really dig in to the financial support system in place when the key moments of their lives come. That’s what real inheritance is. Not some simple he got X dollars when his X died.