What to study, if you want to be a billionaire

You say you want to be a billionaire?

Well, the mad scientists at Gocompare.com have compiled some information that you might want to know, if becoming a billionaire is your goal in life.

They have named this list the Billionaires League.

The list contains information about league members’ ages, countries of origin, courses of study, levels of education and choices of school, if any.

They have compiled this data by poring over the last 20 issues of the Forbes 100.

One factor the list examines is choice of school for higher education among billionaires. Standout schools included Harvard University, with 20 billionaires, Moscow State Institute, with 11, Pennsylvania University, with six, and The London School of Economics, with two. Clearly, the school you choose for your higher education is an important factor in becoming rich.

The next thing to consider after you have chosen your school is which course of study to pursue. Which majors offer you a better chance of becoming a billionaire? According to the list, the following are the number of billionaires for each academic major:

  1. Engineering - 48
  2. Business - 38
  3. Economics - 36
  4. Law - 15
  5. Physics and Chemistry - 8
  6. History - 7
  7. Computer Engineering and Science - 6
  8. Commerce - 5
  9. Mathematics - 5
  10. Philosophy - 4

From this data, engineering, business, and economics are the best courses of study to major in, if you plan on making billions.

Another factor to consider is what level of education is “required” to become rich. The following are percentages of billionaires according to level of higher education:

  1. Bachelor’s Degree - 47%
  2. Dropped out of College - 25%
  3. Master’s Degree - 23%
  4. Doctorate - 6%

The Bachelor’s degree is the most common form of higher education for the world’s billionaires, with nearly half. What might be surprising is the high percentage of billionaires with no college degree at all. It is often thought that higher education is a requirement to be successful in life, but this data shows that among billionaires this is not necessarily true.

The data also shows that a Doctorate degree is generally a waste of time and money if your goal is to be super rich.

Using the data provided by the Gocompare team, you now know what to do to greatly increase your chances of becoming a billionaire. ‘Simply’ attend Harvard, achieve a Bachelor’s degree and major in Engineering.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Amit Puri - Managing Consultant, Sandbox Advisors

Amit is an experienced career, business and HR professional. Previously, he has worked with organisations such as Bain & Company, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Amit has advanced degrees/qualifications in Career Counselling, Organisational Psychology & HR, Occupational Psychometrics, Career/Life Coaching & Business.

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