Who wants to be a millionaire? Send your kids to these colleges

Published Thursday, November 07, 2013

By Shuchita Kapur

How do I make millions? Everyone wants to become rich and we all endeavour to save as much as we can. Some believe in the traditional habit of saving tons of money whereas others believe in making more than cutting down on expenditure.

Whatever the means are, the actual goal is just being rich. Becoming rich is a combination of luck, skill and patience and of course blessings of the almighty. But if you’ve received good quality education, the route to the ultimate goal (being rich) just gets easier and simpler.

A new report by Spears’ magazine and wealth consultancy company WealthInsight reveals that going to certain colleges in the world will brighten your chances of becoming rich. And if you’re already past the ‘education’ stage (even though there is no age for education or higher education), try sending your children to these coveted schools.

Their report is based on the sheer number of rich people that these colleges and universities have produced so far. The findings of the report state that universities in the USA produce the highest number of millionaires in the world followed by educational institutions in the UK.

The US takes the top five slots in the ranking. Harvard University (USA) comes top on the list, followed by premier US institutes like Harvard Business School, Stanford University, University of California and Columbia University.

University of Oxford (UK) comes at sixth place and University of Cambridge at ninth place (UK) but once again US colleges take the limelight in the top 10 - Massachusetts Institute of Technology (7th), New York University (8th) and University of Pennsylvania (10th).

The research shows that a degree in engineering produces more millionaires than any other programme, while other ‘vocational’ subjects like law and accounting also breed millionaires, though not necessarily in their fields.

“You would expect to see a high number of scientific or financial degrees in the top 10, like engineering, commerce and accounting. Numerical degrees are a notable advantage when it comes to amassing a personal fortune,” says Oliver Williams of WealthInsight.

“But, interestingly, few of these degrees turn out to be outright vocational; most engineering graduates, for example, are not engineers but entrepreneurs. The same goes for most law and politics graduates, who owe their fortunes not to practicing their professions but climbing the ranks of the financial services sector,” he adds.

Computer science makes an interesting addition to the list. “This shows the rise of the tech industry. In future years, as more and more tech entrepreneurs make it big, we should expect it to move further up the list,” says Williams.

The top 15 global universities for producing millionaires

1. Harvard University (USA)

2. Harvard Business School (USA)

3. Stanford University (USA)

4. University of California (USA)

5. Columbia University (USA)

6. University of Oxford (UK)

7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)

8. New York University (USA)

9. University of Cambridge (UK)

10. University of Pennsylvania (USA)

11. Cornell University (USA)