Billionaire universities

If mammon is our goal, send the kids to the Ivies. This in from Forbes Magazine:

For every one opening at Harvard's undergraduate college, there were 14 hopeful high school applicants. Despite the daunting odds, there's good reason to try to win one of those coveted acceptance letters.

Harvard is consistently ranked as one of the top schools in the country. Its $35 billion endowment makes it the best-funded college in the United States.

Oh, and there's this: Harvard students are more likely to become billionaires than graduates of any other college.

Of the 469 Americans on Forbes' most recent list of the world's billionaires, 50 received at least one degree from Harvard. The school has produced 20 more current American billionaires than No. 2 on our list, Stanford University.

More from Forbes.com:

• In Pictures: The Billionaire Universities

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• In Pictures: The Top 10 Cities for Billionaires

Harvard's billionaire alumni are an accomplished group. They include Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and media tycoon Sumner Redstone.

Stanford University trails Harvard, but still boasts 30 billionaire alumni. These include Nike co-founder Philip Knight and discount brokerage mogul Charles Schwab.

Fittingly, the California university, which has produced so many ultra-wealthy businesspeople, was founded by one. The grieving railroad tycoon Leland Stanford decided to found a university after his only son died of typhoid fever. With considerable land and money donations from the Californian, the school opened its doors in 1891.

Following Stanford is the University of Pennsylvania, with 27 graduates. Notable members of the group include real estate king Donald Trump and SAC Capital founder Steven Cohen.

Rounding out the top five are Yale, with 19 billionaire graduates, and Columbia University, with 15. The top school from the Midwest is the University of Chicago, ranked seventh, with 10 grads. No. 1 from the south is Duke, with eight.