Most
presidents of the United States
received a
college education
, even most of the earliest. Of the first seven presidents, five were college graduates. College degrees have set the presidents apart from the general population, and presidents have held degrees even though it was quite rare and unnecessary for practicing most occupations, including
law
. Of the 45 individuals to have been the president, 25 of them graduated from a private undergraduate college, nine graduated from a public undergraduate college, and 12 held no degree. Every president since 1953 has had a
bachelor's degree
, reflecting the increasing importance of
higher education in the United States
.
List by university attended
[
edit
]
Did not graduate from college
[
edit
]
Undergraduate
[
edit
]
School
|
Location
|
President(s)
|
Allegheny College
|
Meadville, Pennsylvania
|
|
Amherst College
|
Amherst, Massachusetts
|
|
Bowdoin College
|
Brunswick, Maine
|
|
Capital
Business College
|
Salem, Oregon
|
|
College of William & Mary
|
Williamsburg, Virginia
|
|
Columbia University
|
New York, New York
|
|
Davidson College
|
Davidson, North Carolina
|
|
Dickinson College
|
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
|
|
Eureka College
|
Eureka, Illinois
|
|
Fordham University
|
New York
,
New York
|
|
Georgetown University
|
Washington, D.C.
|
|
Georgia Institute of Technology
|
Atlanta, Georgia
|
|
Georgia Southwestern State University
|
Americus, Georgia
|
|
Hampden?Sydney College
|
Hampden Sydney, Virginia
|
|
Harvard University
|
Cambridge, Massachusetts
|
|
Hiram College
|
Hiram, Ohio
|
|
Kenyon College
|
Gambier, Ohio
|
|
London School of Economics
A
|
London
,
United Kingdom
|
|
Miami University
|
Oxford, Ohio
|
|
Mount Union College
|
Alliance, Ohio
|
|
Occidental College
|
Los Angeles, California
|
|
Ohio Central College
|
Iberia, Ohio
|
|
Princeton University
|
Princeton, New Jersey
|
|
Texas State University
|
San Marcos, Texas
|
|
Spalding's
Commercial College
|
Kansas City, Missouri
|
|
Stanford University
|
Stanford, California
|
|
Leiden University
|
Leiden
,
Netherlands
|
|
Union College
|
Schenectady, New York
|
|
University of Delaware
|
Newark, Delaware
|
|
University of Michigan
|
Ann Arbor, Michigan
|
|
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
|
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
|
|
University of Oxford
|
Oxford, United Kingdom
|
|
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
|
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
|
|
United States Military Academy
|
West Point, New York
|
|
United States Naval Academy
|
Annapolis, Maryland
|
|
Whittier College
|
Whittier, California
|
|
Williams College
|
Williamstown, Massachusetts
|
|
Yale University
|
New Haven, Connecticut
|
|
- A.
^
Kennedy enrolled, but did not attend
Additional undergraduate information
[
edit
]
Some presidents attended more than one institution. George Washington never attended college, though
The College of William & Mary
did issue him a surveyor's certificate.
[5]
Two presidents have attended a foreign college at the undergraduate level: John Quincy Adams at
Leiden University
and Bill Clinton at the
University of Oxford
(
John F. Kennedy
intended to study at the
London School of Economics
, but failed to attend as he fell ill before classes began.)
Three presidents have attended the
United States Service academies
:
Ulysses S. Grant
and
Dwight D. Eisenhower
graduated from the
United States Military Academy
at
West Point
, while
Jimmy Carter
graduated from the
United States Naval Academy
at
Annapolis, Maryland
. No presidents have graduated from the
United States Coast Guard Academy
or the much newer
U.S. Air Force Academy
. Eisenhower also graduated from the Army Command and General Staff College, Army Industrial College and Army War College. These were not degree granting institutions when Eisenhower attended, but were part of his professional education as a career soldier.
Graduate school
[
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]
A total of 20 presidents attended some form of graduate school (including professional schools). Among them, eleven presidents received a graduate degree during their lifetimes; two more received graduate degrees posthumously.
Business school
[
edit
]
Graduate school
[
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]
Medical school
[
edit
]
Law school
[
edit
]
School
|
Location
|
President(s)
|
Albany Law School
|
Albany, New York
|
|
Columbia Law School
|
New York, New York
|
|
Duke University School of Law
|
Durham, North Carolina
|
|
Georgetown University Law Center
|
Washington, D.C.
|
|
Harvard Law School
|
Cambridge, Massachusetts
|
|
Kansas City Law School
(now
University of Missouri?Kansas City School of Law
)
|
Kansas City, Missouri
|
|
University of Michigan Law School
|
Ann Arbor, Michigan
|
|
Northampton Law School
|
Northampton, Massachusetts
|
|
State and National Law School
|
Ballston Spa, New York
|
|
Syracuse University College of Law
|
Syracuse, New York
|
|
University of Cincinnati College of Law
|
Cincinnati, Ohio
|
|
University of Virginia School of Law
|
Charlottesville, Virginia
|
|
Yale Law School
|
New Haven, Connecticut
|
|
Several presidents who were lawyers did not attend law school, but became lawyers after
independent study
under the tutelage of established attorneys.
[6]
Some had attended college before beginning their legal studies, and several studied law without first having attended college. Presidents who were lawyers but did not attend law school include:
John Adams
;
Thomas Jefferson
;
James Madison
;
James Monroe
;
John Quincy Adams
;
Andrew Jackson
;
Martin Van Buren
;
John Tyler
;
James K. Polk
;
Millard Fillmore
;
James Buchanan
;
Abraham Lincoln
;
James A. Garfield
;
Grover Cleveland
;
Benjamin Harrison
; and
Calvin Coolidge
.
Presidents who were admitted to the bar after a combination of law school and independent study include;
Franklin Pierce
;
Chester A. Arthur
;
William McKinley
; and
Woodrow Wilson
.
List by graduate degree earned
[
edit
]
Ph.D. (research doctorate)
[
edit
]
M.B.A. (Master of Business Administration)
[
edit
]
M.A. (Master of Arts)
[
edit
]
Note:
John Adams
and
John Quincy Adams
, along with
George W. Bush
are the only presidents to date to attain master's degrees.
J.D. or LL.B. (law degree)
[
edit
]
Note: Hayes, Taft, Nixon and Ford were awarded
LL.B.
degrees.
[8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
When most U.S. law schools began to award the
J.D.
as the professional law degree in the 1960s, previous graduates had the choice of converting their LL.B. degrees to a J.D.
[12]
[13]
Duke University Law School made the change in 1968,
[14]
and Yale Law School in 1971.
[15]
List by president
[
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]
Other academic associations
[
edit
]
Faculty member
[
edit
]
School rector or president
[
edit
]
School trustee or governor
[
edit
]
See also
[
edit
]
- Other countries
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"George Washington's Mount Vernon - Facts & Falsehoods about George Washington"
. Archived from
the original
on 2008-11-01
. Retrieved
2008-11-11
.
- ^
Freehling, William (October 4, 2016). "William Henry Harrison: Impact and Legacy". Charlottesville, Virginia: Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia.
- ^
"William Harrison: Life Before the Presidency | Miller Center"
.
millercenter.org
. 4 October 2016
. Retrieved
August 13,
2021
.
- ^
Owens, Robert M. (2007).
Mr. Jefferson's Hammer: William Henry Harrison and the Origins of American Indian Policy
. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
ISBN
978-0-8061-3842-8
.
- ^
"George Washington's Professional Surveys"
. U.S. National Archives. 2019
. Retrieved
July 11,
2019
.
- ^
"Lincoln Legal Career Timeline"
.
Abraham Lincoln Online.org
. Abraham Lincoln Online
. Retrieved
April 16,
2021
.
- ^
Kelly, Erin St. John (September 25, 2008).
"Presidents Roosevelt Awarded Posthumous J.D.s"
.
Columbia Law School News
. New York, NY: Columbia Law School.
- ^
Hoogenboom, Ari (1995).
Rutherford Hayes: Warrior and President
. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. pp. 52?53.
ISBN
978-0-7006-0641-2
.
- ^
"William Howard Taft"
.
Laws.com
. Retrieved
February 18,
2020
.
- ^
Gellman, Irwin F. (2017).
The Contender: Richard Nixon, the Congress Years, 1946?1952
. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 7.
ISBN
978-0-300-22020-9
.
- ^
"Gerald R. Ford Biography"
.
Fordlibrarymuseum.gov/
. Grand rapids, MI: Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library & Museum
. Retrieved
November 28,
2017
.
- ^
Bear, John (2001).
Bear's Guide to Earning Degrees by Distance Learning
. Berkeley, California: Ten Speed Press. p. 257.
ISBN
978-1-58008-202-0
.
- ^
Hylton, J. Gordon (January 11, 2012).
"Why the Law Degree is Called a J.D. and not an LL.B."
Marquette University Law School Faculty Blog
. Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University.
- ^
Bolich, W. Bryan (1968).
Duke Law School 1868?1968: A Sketch
(PDF)
. Durham, NC: Duke University Law School. p. xxiv.
- ^
Mwenda, Kenneth Kaoma (2007).
Comparing American and British Legal Education Systems
. Youngstown, NY: Cambria Press. p. 14.
ISBN
978-1-934-043-51-6
.
- ^
Ryerson, Richard (5 October 2016).
"John Adams at Harvard"
.
Harvard Magazine
. Retrieved
11 January
2022
.
- ^
"Obama joins list of seven presidents with Harvard degrees"
.
Harvard Gazette
. 6 November 2008
. Retrieved
11 January
2022
.
- ^
Johnston, J. Stoddard (1913).
"Sketch of Theodore O'Hara"
.
The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
. Frankfort, KY: State Journal Company. p. 67.
- ^
Joseph Nathan Kane,
Facts About the Presidents
(New York: Simon & Schuster [Pocket Books], 1968 [5th printing]), 194.
- ^
Leitch, Alexander (1978).
"Biography, Grover Cleveland"
.
A Princeton Companion
. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press
. Retrieved
July 29,
2018
.
- ^
UC.edu
Archived
2006-04-28 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"BU School of Law Timeline"
. Boston University
. Retrieved
16 January
2014
.
- ^
a
b
Biography of Wilson on Princeton Web.
- ^
Robert H. Ferrell,
Farewell to the Chief: Former Presidents in American Public Life
, 1991, page 52
- ^
U.S. Government Printing Office,
Congressional Record
, Volume 108, Part 4, 1962, page 5168.
- ^
Kaczynski, Andrew; Apper, Megan (February 2, 2015).
"Here's Bill Clinton's Personnel File From His Time As An Arkansas College Professor"
.
buzzfeednews.com/
. New York, NY: Buzzfeednews.com.
- ^
"Statement regarding Barack Obama"
. University of Chicago Law School. March 27, 2008. Archived from
the original
on June 8, 2008
. Retrieved
June 5,
2008
.
- ^
Carey, Kathleen E. (August 27, 2008).
"Widener students proud of Biden"
.
Daily Times
. Denver, CO: MediaNews Group, Inc.
- ^
Shelbourne, Talis (October 15, 2020).
"Fact Check: Was Joe Biden Ever a 'Professor in College'?"
.
Heavy.com
. New York, NY.
- ^
"History :: Washington and Lee University"
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-01-03
. Retrieved
2013-01-17
.
- ^
Reynolds, G.T. (1902). "Madison College". In Haskins, Charles Homer; Hull, William Isaac (eds.).
A History of Higher Education in Pennsylvania
. Government Printing Office. pp.
155
?7.
Madison College Pennsylvania.
- ^
University of Nashville Board of Trustees (1892).
The University of Nashville, 1785 to 1892
. Nashville, TN: Marshall & Bruce. p. 5.
Note: In 1791, Jackson was appointed to the board of trustees of
Davidson Academy
. Jackson continued on the board when the school was reorganized as Cumberland College in 1806. In 1826, Cumberland College was reincorporated as the
University of Nashville
, and Jackson remained a member of the board of trustees until his death.
Lists related to presidents and vice presidents of the United States
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Presidents
| Professional
career
| |
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Personal life
| |
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Depictions
and honors
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|
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Vice presidents
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Succession
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Elections
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Candidates
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