Most US presidents went to college, and a small group of schools shows up again and again in their biographies.
Harvard leads with eight presidents among its alumni: John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Harvard was founded in 1636, which makes it the oldest school on this list.
Yale follows with five: William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. Ford and Clinton attended Yale Law School. Taft later became the tenth chief justice of the Supreme Court, the only person to hold both offices.
The College of William and Mary educated three: Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, and John Tyler.
Princeton educated two: James Madison, known as the father of the Constitution, and Woodrow Wilson, who later served as Princeton’s president from 1902 to 1910.
West Point educated two: Ulysses S. Grant and Dwight D. Eisenhower, both generals before they were presidents.
Other schools educated one president each. Herbert Hoover attended Stanford. James K. Polk attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bill Clinton attended Georgetown for his undergraduate degree. Woodrow Wilson also spent time at the University of Virginia’s law school.
Some presidents never attended college at all, and a few attended but did not graduate. The list shows that many paths lead to the presidency, but a strong education has been the most common one. Students aiming for public service can start with student government leadership opportunities, explore public administration degrees, or read inspiring success stories of first-generation students.
