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Where Did the 50 Most Powerful Women Go to College?

As young women planning out our paths to career superstardom, it’s always important to look at how our role models got to where they are today. The amazing ladies of Fortune’s Most Powerful Women of 2015 list didn’t all get their power from the same school. They include influential women from all different diciplines — like Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook; Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm; and Marianne Lake, CFO of J.P. Morgan Chase —  and it may be surprising that only nine out of the 50 women graduated from Ivy League schools. But one entry on the list won’t surprise you at all — #51, Taylor Swift, became successful without even attaining a degree.


Thirty-two percent of these women went to public colleges, and 36 percent went to private schools. Six of the women even got their undergraduate degrees abroad, in countries such as India, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Thinking about more school after undergrad? Over half of the women have graduate degrees, but only one woman on the list, Irene Rosenfeld (#9), has a doctorate.


The full list of where this year’s Most Powerful Women went to college can be found here.

Pretty cool to see how these incredible women got to where they are. What does this data mean to you, collegiettes?

Rachel graduated from the Honors College at James Madison University in May 2017 and is pursuing a career in the media/PR industry. She majored in Media Arts & Design with a concentration in journalism and minored in Spanish and Creative Writing. She loves spending time with friends and family, traveling, and going to the beach.