Students who want to become millionaires should attend Harvard University or major in engineering, according to a recent study performed by WealthInsight for Spear’s magazine. The ivy league giant topped the list of the 500 schools that produce the most millionaires, followed by the Harvard Business School, Stanford University, the University of California, and Columbia University. U.S.-based universities dominated the list, with the UK schools coming in second. Oxford and Cambridge ranked in the top 10, with the London School of Economics, University of London, London Business School, and Imperial College making the top 100.
Engineering was found to be the top major of future millionaires, followed by an MBA, economics, and law. Notably, however, millionaires who studied the latter three subjects were most likely to have made their millions in fields removed from their majors, and most engineering graduates made their millions from entrepreneurship as opposed to working for others.
“Entrepreneurs [that] ultimately end up being the wealthiest in the world are innovators, and the top subjects are those [that] encourage new and smart thinking, whether technical or financial,” noted Josh Spero, editor of Spear’s magazine. “But it’s also no surprise to find that the brightest people, who go to the best universities, often leave their degrees behind and go into high finance to seek their fortune.”
Computer science also made the list of top majors, coming in ninth overall. “This shows the rise of the tech industry,” said Oliver Williams of WealthInsight. “In future years, as more and more tech entrepreneurs make it big, we should expect it to move further up the list.”
While having a higher education clearly helps increase earning potential, those who never attended college are not doomed to a lifetime of serfdom. The study found that approximately one percent of the world's millionaires either dropped out of college or eschewed it completely, including techies Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group ceased his academic pursuits at age 16. Thereafter, the savvy entrepreneur began showing the world a thing or two about his creative genius.
