List of Top Yale Alumni - Study Abroad 365

This institution was founded sometime in 1701, Yale University is one of the highly rated universities across the world.

Its famous reputation is made rich by popular and successful graduates who came out of this Ivy League school.

Thus we’ve compiled a list of some of the most famous Yale alumni from renowed War veteran Nathan Hale to popular Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o.

If you didn’t know, former President Bill Clinton came from Yale Law in 1973 with his then-girlfriend turned wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. He has gone back to Yale a number of time to talk to current students.

Hillary Rodham Clinton the wife of President Clinton graduated from Yale Law in 1973. Afterwards, she went on to serve as senator of New York and Secretary of State during the Obama presidency. Just like her husband, Hilary regularly connects with the university.

After he got his B.A. from Yale in 2003, Ben Silbermann went on to co-found Pinterest, a company which is now valued at $5 billion. Interestingly, Silbermann got into Yale thinking he would do a pre-med program.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper came out of Yale in 1989 with a B.A. in Political Science. While he was there, the petite news anchor reduced to 125 lbs in order to be the crew team’s coxswain. Classmates and professors fondly remember him for his energy and passion for political news.

As the brain behind the father of dots-and-dashes alphabet Morse code (and the telegraph used to “speak” it), Samuel F. B. Morse took up mathematics and philosophy at Yale in mid 1800s.

Indra Nooyi also graduated from the Yale School of Management in 1980 before going on to become the CEO and Chairperson of PepsiCo. She later went back to deliver a powerful keynote address at the annual Asian Pacific American Heritage Month dinner sometime in 2004.

The CEO of Blackstone Group Stephen A. Schwarzman graduated with a B.A. in 1969, and was part of Skull and Bones at the same time as George W. Bush. He later became an adjunct professor at the Yale School of Management.

The U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor graduated from Yale in 1979. The U.S.’s first Latina Supreme Court Justice was appointed managing editor of the International Law Journal during her academic years at Yale.

Nathan Hale, a U.S. War veteran and America’s first ever spy, got his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Yale in the 1770s shortly before he was arrested and killed at the hands of the British Army.

Popular Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman worked on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan presidency and is said to be one of the most forward thinking political opinion makers of our time. In 2010, the institution awarded Krugman one of its most coveted honors: the Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize.

Classmates of Janet Yellen remember her for her critical thinking ability and authoritative stance on campus. She earned a Ph.D in economics in 1971 and became the first female and 15th Chair of the Federal Reserve.

Popular American songwriter and composer Cole Porter attended Yale in the early 1900s. He was part of the Delta Kappa Epsilon, took part in the a capella group the Whiffenpoofs, and was part of the Scroll and Key society.

Right before she graduated from the School of Drama in 2012, Lupita Nyong’o got herself the role of a lifetime in the critically acclaimed movie “12 Years A Slave.” She would later earn Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for acting well.

President George H. W. Bush graduated with B.A. in 1948. The university has gone on to establish the George H. W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award to honor a select number of alumni athletes who have achieved significant success in their chosen fields.

President George W. Bush got into Yale in 1964 where he was the president of Delta Kappa Epsilon, was part of the Skull and Bones secret society, and a cheerleader. Afterwards, he went back to give Yale’s 300th commencement speech.

Sometime in 1975 Meryl Streep, got her MFA from the Yale School of Drama where she became an instant star, even leading as Helena in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Afterwards,she worked so hard and became one of the most successful actors of all time, got about 18 Academy Award nominations.

Eli Whitney, who invented the cotton gin, graduated from Yale Phi Beta Kappa in 1792. In his honor, the university established the Eli Whitney Students Program for non-traditional students; Interestingly, Whitney himself did not matriculate into Yale until he was aged 23.

Former President Gerald Ford rejected multiple offers to play in the NFL after he graduated from the University of Michigan.He rather took jobs coaching the Yale men’s football and boxing teams while he went on to attend the university’s law school in the early ’40s.

Allison Williams, was one of the cast of HBO’s “Girls,”and was really involved in theater while at Yale and even joined the improv group Just Add Water. Following advice from her parents, she waited a while before pursuing professional acting career after her graduation in 2010.

Journalist Bob Woodward, ’65, went back to his alma mater this spring to deliver an intensive journalism seminar to Yale students with an interest in journalism. Woodward, who currently works as an associate editor of the Washington Post, was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for breaking the Watergate Scandal.

Popular Hollywood legend and philanthropist Paul Newman did not complete Yale, he dropped out of the Yale School of Drama in 1952 before completing his MFA degree. However, he had close ties with the school and held the premiere of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” in the school’s Roger Sherman Theater.

CNN’s Fareed Zakaria came from Yale with a Bachelors of Arts in 1986. Zakaria was a very smart student, who served as president of the Political Union, editor-in-chief of the Yale Political Monthly, and a member of the Scroll and Key society.