Surprisingly, for some, Time Magazine found out that Ivy League graduates do not dominate the top fifty Fortune 500 Companies. When measuring CEO undergraduate education, the University of Texas system has just as much representation as Harvard: a total of 3 CEOs.
What does this mean for students?
Do your research! You probably have never heard of some of the best schools in the US. Applying to schools only because you have heard of them or because they are at the top of some list is a low probability strategy. There are many more schools where your application will be more successful and future success will remain unlimited!
| COMPANY | CEO | COLLEGE |
| Exxon Mobil | Rex Tillerson | University of Texas at Austin |
| Wal-Mart Stores | H. Lee Scott | Pittsburg State University in Kansas |
| General Motors | Rick Wagoner | Duke University |
| Chevron | David O'Reilly | University College, Dublin |
| Ford Motor | William Ford, Jr. | Princeton University |
| ConocoPhillips | James Mulva | University of Texas |
| General Electric | Jeff Immelt | Dartmouth College |
| Citigroup | Charles Prince | University of Southern California |
| American Intl. Group (AIG) | Martin J. Sullivan | N/A |
| Intl. Business Machines | Samuel J. Palmisano | Johns Hopkins University |
| Hewlett-Packard | Mark V. Hurd | Baylor University |
| Bank of America Corp. | Ken Lewis | Georgia State University |
| Berkshire Hathaway | Warren Buffett | University of Nebraska |
| Home Depot | Robert Nardelli | Western Illinois University |
| Valero Energy | Bill Klesse | University of Dayton |
| McKesson | John Hammergren | University of Minnesota |
| J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. | Jamie Dimon | Tufts University |
| Verizon Communications | Ivan Seidenberg | City University of New York |
| Cardinal Health | Robert D. Walter | Ohio University |
| Altria Group | Louis Camilleri | University of Lausanne (Switzerland) |
| Kroger | David Dillon | University of Kansas |
| State Farm Insurance Cos. | Edward B. Rust, Jr. | Illinois Wesleyan University |
| Marathon Oil | Clarence Cazalot, Jr. | Louisiana State University |
| Procter & Gamble | Alan G. Lafley | Hamilton College |
| Dell | Kevin Rollins | Brigham Young University |
| Boeing | W. James McNerney, Jr. | Yale University |
| AmerisourceBergen | R. David Yost | U.S. Air Force Academy |
| Costco Wholesale | James Sinegal | San Diego State University |
| Target | Robert Ulrich | University of Minnesota |
| Morgan Stanley | John J. Mack | Duke University |
| Pfizer | Henry A. McKinnell | University of British Columbia |
| Johnson & Johnson | William Weldon | Quinnipiac College |
| Sears Holdings | Alan J. Lacy | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Merrill Lynch | Stan O'Neal | Kettering University |
| MetLife | Rob Henrikson | University of Pennsylvania |
| Dow Chemical | Andrew N. Liveris | University of Queensland |
| UnitedHealth Group | William W. McGuire | University of Texas at Austin |
| Wellpoint | Larry C. Glasscock | Cleveland State University |
| AT&T | Edward Whitacre, Jr. | Texas Tech University |
| Time Warner | Richard D. Parsons | University of Hawaii |
| Goldman Sachs Group | Lloyd Blankfein | Harvard University |
| Lowe's | Robert Niblock | University of North Carolina |
| United Technologies | George David | Harvard University |
| United Parcel Service | Michael L. Eskew | Purdue University |
| Walgreen | David Bernauer | North Dakota State University |
| Wells Fargo | Richard Kovacevich | Stanford University |
| Albertson's | Larry Johnston | Stetson University |
| Microsoft | Steve Ballmer | Harvard University |
| Intel | Paul Otellini | University of San Francisco |
| Safeway | Steven Burd | Carroll College |
