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 Read the rest of this entry »

Sarah Palin has more experience applying to colleges than she does as governor (serving Alaska for 22 months).

We previously shared Sarah’s alma mater. It appears that the VP candidate did in fact attend six universities in six years, finally snagging a journalism degree from the University of Idaho in 1987. There is no evidence she worked for the school’s media, but she did work briefly for Anchorage’s KTUU as a sports reporter. Only two other Presidents have had previous careers as journalists- Benjamin Harrison and JFK.

This detailed story at WikiAnswers talks more about Palin’s college-hopping days and her lack of extracurricular participation at each.