The University of Pennsylvania, also referred to as Penn University, cultivates achievement and fame in its students. The distinguished alumni of the University of Pennsylvania provide strong support for this. The institution has seen it everything, from its well-known founder, Benjamin Franklin, to the majority of the internationally renowned figures who serve as role models for today’s children. A little research on Penn University’s successful graduates is sure to provide you the motivation you need if you wish to enrol there. If you’re curious about what’s in store for you, have a look at the list of prominent graduates from Pennsylvania State University that we’ve compiled for you to make things easier.
About Penn University
One of the nine colonial universities established prior to the Declaration of Independence is Penn University. It was established in 1755 and is a private Ivy League research university. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the country and is situated in University City in Philadelphia. The University of Pennsylvania is ranked 24th globally, 15th in North America, and 15th in the United States by total alumni prominence. There have been 36 Nobel Prize winners from the University of Pennsylvania in the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, and economics.
5 University of Pennysylvania Notable Alumni
There are more than 18,000 faculty and staff members at Penn University. In addition, since Penn University’s founding, over 319,000 students have received degrees from it, including presidents, judges of the Supreme Court, and US senators. Additionally, the university has ties to a number of CEOs, Guggenheim Fellows, and Nobel laureates. The following list of prominent University of Pennsylvania graduates includes:
1. Elon musk
Elon Musk is among the richest men in the world, and we’ve all heard of him. He did indeed graduate from Penn University and is now counted among the esteemed list of outstanding Penn graduates.
Elon Reeve Musk was born and reared in Pretoria, South Africa, and obtained degrees in economics from the Wharton School and physics from the University of Pennsylvania College of Arts and Sciences before graduating. Tesla’s co-founder and CEO, Elon Musk, is routinely included among the world’s most powerful individuals in Forbes. He founded SpaceX, serves as its CEO and Chief Engineer, founded The Boring Company, co-founded Neuralink and OpenAI, and is also a first-stage entrepreneur.
2. Donald Trump
Businessman and television personality Donald John Trump served as the 45th President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump constantly reminded audiences that he attended Penn and graduated from the Wharton School in 1968. Former US President Donald Trump spent two years at Fordham University before switching to UPenn and earning his degree in 1968.
Did you realize? More billionaires have graduated from the Philadelphia Ivy than from any other university in the world, not to mention numerous CEOs, politicians, and actors.
3. Noam Chomsky
American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist Avram Noam Chomsky has a wide range of interests. Chomsky, frequently referred to as “the father of contemporary linguistics,” is a well-known figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science. He is one of the most well-known University of Pennsylvania alumni and has authored more than 150 books on a variety of topics, including language, conflict, politics, and the media.
4. John Legend
One of the most popular musicians in the business, John Legend recently won the 2015 Golden Globe for Best Original Song for the song “Glory” from the movie “Selma,” on which he worked with Common. John Legend is still up for awards despite winning nine Grammys for his excellent performances. His 2014 single “All of Me” has more than 4.6 million sales in the US. When he was 16 years old, he enrolled at Penn and graduated with a bachelor’s in English. While attending Penn, he participated in the Sphinx and Onyx senior societies as well as the a cappella group Counterparts.
5. Sundar Pichai
Google CEO and American computer scientist Pichai Sundararajan, also known as Pichai Sundararajan, is of Indian descent. Pichai was raised in a lowly family in Chennai, India. He completed his MS in Engineering and Materials Science and went on to earn his MBA from the Wharton School. He is now regarded as one of the most distinguished alumni of the University of Pennsylvania. After a brief spell with management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., Pichai joined Google as the Head of Product Management and Development in 2004. He was appointed Google CEO in 2015.
These individuals are just a small sample of prominent Penn alums. There are several other notable individuals who received degrees from the university, including:
- Shakira
- Warren Buffet
- Tiffany Trump
- Elizabeth Banks
- Beau Biden
- William Henry Harrison
- Bruce Dern
- Anil Ambani
- Sabrina Rubin Erdely
- Micheal Avenatti