Alma Maters of U.S. Presidents

So where did the U.S. presidents attend college?  As you might expect, the big name schools have attracted many future Commander in Chiefs. Yale University alumni outnumber Harvard University alumni 7-6 (when counting both undergraduate and law school admission). However, if Barack Obama becomes president, the core will be even, as he graduated from Harvard School of Law.

As for public universities?  Only three presidents actually had undergraduate degrees from state universities — Gerald Ford from the University of Michigan, Lyndon Johnson from Texas State University – San Marcos, and James Polk from the University of North Carolina. Two presidents have degrees from the United States Military Academy (Ulysses Grant and Dwight Eisenhower) and one has a degree from the United States Naval Academy (Jimmy Carter — who will be joined by John McCain, if he wins the election).

As for advanced degrees, the presidents have had surprisingly few. Eight former presidents have law degrees — nine, if Obama is elected.  Only one president earned a PhD — Woodrow Wilson. Seven presidents did not go to college.

Here’s a list of the presidents and where they went to college.

1. George Washington — did not attend college but received a surveyor’s license from the College of William and Mary
2. John Adams — Harvard College (which later became a part of Harvard University)
3. Thomas Jefferson –  College of William and Mary
4. James Madison — College of New Jersey (which is now Princeton University)
5. James Monroe — Yale University
6. John Quincy Adams — Harvard College (which later became a part of Harvard University)
7. Andrew Jackson — did not attend college
8. Martin Van Buren — Kinderhook Academy (now defunct)
9. William Harrison — Hampden-Sydney College (did not graduate)
10. John Tyler — College of William and Mary
11. James Polk — University of North Carolina
12. Zachary Taylor — did not go to college
13. Millard Fillmore — did not go to college
14. Franklin Pierce — Bowdoin College
15. James Buchanan — Dickinson College
16. Abraham Lincoln — did not go to college
17. Andrew Johnson — did not go to college
18. Ulysses S. Grant — United States Military Academy
19. Rutherford B. Hayes — Kenyon College and Harvard School of Law
20. James Garfield — Williams College
21. Chester Arthur — Union College
22. Grover Cleveland — did not attend college
23. Benjamin Harrison — Miami University of Ohio
24. William McKinley — Allegheny College and Albany Law School
25. Theodore Roosevelt — Harvard University
26. William Taft — Yale University, University of Cincinnati School of Law
27. Woodrow Wilson — Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University (PhD)
28. Warren Harding — Ohio Central College (now defunct)
29. Calvin Coolidge — Amherst College
30. Herbert Hoover — Stanford University
31. Franklin Roosevelt — Harvard University, Columbia University School of Law
32. Harry Truman — University of Missouri – Kansas City School of Law (did not graduate)
33. Dwight Eisenhower — United States Military Academy
34. John F. Kennedy — Harvard University
35. Lyndon Johnson — Southwest Texas State Teacher’s College (part of Texas State University – San Marcos)
36. Richard Nixon — Whittier College, Duke University School of Law
37. Gerald Ford — University of Michigan, Yale School of Law
38. Jimmy Carter — United States Naval Academy
39. Ronald Reagan — Eureka College
40. George H. W. Bush — Yale University
41. Bill Clinton — Georgetown University, Yale School of Law
42. George W. Bush — Yale University

posted on November 1st, 2008
by Naomi,
Tags: alma mater, ivy league colleges, state colleges, u.s. presidents
Posted in Colleges, Politics | 3 Comments »