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The 34 colleges that produced the most US presidents

President Barack Obama Rutgers commencement

It's a question that any American history buff or future White House hopeful is bound to ask. Which college has the distinction of producing the most US presidents?

That'd be Harvard University. It's an unsurprising win, considering Harvard is the oldest school in the country.

But a number of other schools also happened to help shape the minds of the 44 men who served as president of the US. Ivy League institutions, small Christian colleges, and state research universities all made the list.

Keep in mind, these presidents didn't necessarily graduate from all of the schools on this list. A number, like the ever-nomadic William McKinley, John F. Kennedy, and Jimmy Carter, bounced around between a number of institutions due to financial reasons, health difficulties, or changing preferences. But the people who went on to become US presidents did study at an undergraduate level at all of these institutions.

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But don't take any of this as an unabashed endorsement of collegiate-level study. Plenty of other presidents, including George Washington, never even attended college.

Here's a look at which undergraduate schools have produced the most US presidents:

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Donald Trump attended this Bronx-based Jesuit school before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

According to " The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate ," the president's sisterMaryanne said that Trump chose to attend the college because "That's where he got in."

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Before attending Columbia University, Barack Obama studied for two years at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

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Obama transferred to Columbia University as a junior. There, he studiedpolitical science with a specialty in international relations, as well as English literature.

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Bill Clinton received scholarships to attend Georgetown University, where he was class president in 1964 and 1965.

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Ronald Reagan attended this non-profit Christian college, which was originally founded by abolitionists in 1855.

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Wikipedia; Georgia Southwestern State University; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Jimmy Carter bounced around quite a bit before transferring to the US Naval Academy. He began his undergraduate journey at Georgia Southwestern College, before transferring to theGeorgia Institute of Technology.

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After leaving behindGeorgia Southwestern State University, Carter attended this public research university before transferring to the US Naval Academy.

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As a young man, Carter had always dreamed of attending the US Naval Academy. He achieved that goal in 1943.

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Gerald Ford attend the University of Michigan, where he was the star player of the school's Wolverines football team.

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Wikipedia; Whittier College; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Richard Nixon attended Whittier College. He had received a grant to attend Harvard, but he remained in his hometown of Whittier, California, in order to help his parents care for his tuberculosis-stricken older brother and run the family grocery store.

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Lyndon B. Johnson enrolled at theSouthwest Texas State Normal School now known as Texas State University. There, he became editor of the student newspaperand honed his debate skills.

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John F. Kennedy briefly studied at theLondon School of Economics before being forced to return to the States due to health reasons.

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Herbert Hoover entered Stanford University in 1891, the first year the school admitted any students. He later claimed to be the university's first student , by dint of being the first one to sleep in its dormitories.

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Calvin Coolidge sharpened his debating skills at Amherst College.

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Warren Harding attended Ohio Central College, where he founded a student newspaper: The Iberia Spectator.

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Woodrow Wilson's time at Davidson came to an end in 1874 after he became sick. He later moved on to study at Princeton.

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William McKinley attended this Pennsylvania liberal arts school before withdrawing. Not even his participation in theSigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity could make him stick around.

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McKinley briefly studied at the University of Mount Union then known as Mount Union College but was forced to withdraw for financial reasons.

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Wikipedia; Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

Benjamin Harrison graduated from Miami University in1852. There, hewas involved with Phi Delta Theta.

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Chester A. Arthur was president of the debate club at Union College, a private liberal arts college in Pennsylvania.

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James Garfield studied at Hiram College back when it was called the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute, where he worked as a janitor and an instructor and wooed his wife Lucretia.

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Garfield graduated from William College in 1856 and served as his class's salutatorian.

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Rutherford B. Hayes didn't just attend Kenyon College he graduated as the valedictorian of the class of 1824.

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James Buchanan nearly got kicked out of Dickinson during his freshman year. The college administrators who had to deal with his bad behavior might not have been shocked that the Pennsylvania native turned out to be one of the worst presidents of all time .

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Franklin Pierce attended the Maine school, where he was ranked last in his class after two years.

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James K. Polk matriculated to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1816. There, he roomed with William Dunn Moseley, the first US governor of Florida.

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William Henry Harrison attended Hampden-Sydney when he was just 14 years old. He studied there for three years but eventually left the school on orders from his father.

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Leiden University may be the oldest university in the Netherlands, but it also had an impact on US history as well. John Quincy Adams attended the storied school while accompanying his father on a diplomatic mission to France.

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Harrison had quite an opportunity on his hands at the University of Pennsylvania, which he began attending in 1790.

He was able to study medicine under Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was both a famed physician and a Founding Father who signed the Declaration of Independence.

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The only problem? Harrison realized he didn't want to be a physician. He told his biographer that he found himself "not liking the medical profession," so, after his father died and left his family in financial straits, he pursued a military career.

The first actual University of Pennsylvania graduate to ascend to the White House is therefore Trump. He transferred from Fordham University to the Wharton School. While in college, Trump worked for his father's business.

In speeches, Trump often uses his Wharton pedigree as evidence that he is "a very smart person."

"Good genes, very good genes, okay, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very smart," he told a South Carolina crowd in July 2015.

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Ulysses S. Grant didn't just get a military education from West Point. He got a new name there. The future president had been born Hiram Ulysses Grant, but his sponsor Representative Thomas Hamer accidentally wrote down the wrong name.

So the new cadet became known as "Sam" around campus, due to the fact that his new "U.S." initials also stood for "Uncle Sam." At the Academy, Grant developed a reputation as a phenomenal horseman .

Dwight Eisenhower entered West Point in 1911, where he played football and was a member of the class of 1915. This group of West Point alumni would become known as ' the class the stars fell on ,' given that 59 of its members became general officers.

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The College of William & Mary produced three presidents, although the last one graduated in 1807.

Thomas Jefferson enrolled at the school when he was 16. He wasn't a fan of Williamsburg, Virginia, however, which he labeled as " Devilsburg ."

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James Monroe, on the other hand, studied at the college, but was more focused on revolutionary activities than attending class. In 1776, he dropped out after a year and a half in order to fight in the American Revolution.

John Tyler was the final president to attend the school. He was following in the footsteps of his father, who knew Jefferson in college.

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A total of three presidents attended Princeton University which was originally known as the College of New Jersey. One transferred to a different Ivy League school, while another went on to become president of the college.

According to the book " James Madison: Philosopher, Founder, and Statesman ," Madison may have nearly had an emotional breakdown as a student, due to the intensity of his studies.

Meanwhile, Woodrow Wilson studied at Princeton and was active in a number of debate societies. Wilson eventually returned to Princeton as an academic in 1890, and became president of the school in 1902.

John F. Kennedy only studied at Princeton for a brief while, before transferring to Harvard.

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William Howard Taft was a big man on campus at Yale College, and graduated second in his class.

After him, the only two other Yale alumni to ascend to the White House were the father-and-son-duo of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.

All three presidents were members of the Skull and Bones secret society.

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Harvard University takes the top spot when it comes to producing the most presidents in US history.

John Adams, the first college-educated US president, attended the school. After returning from his travels in Europe, Adams' son John Quincy Adams also returned to his father's alma mater.

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Continuing the familial tradition, both Roosevelts matriculated to Harvard.

In addition to committing himself to his studies, Theodore Roosevelt also boxed and rowed. Meanwhile, Franklin D. Rooseveltwas editor of The Harvard Crimson and joined the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.

The last Harvard alumnus to become president was Kennedy.

In his application, he referenced the fact that his father also attended the school and wrote , "To be a 'Harvard man' is an enviable distinctionand one that I sincerely hope I shall attain."

See Also:

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SEE ALSO: Half the US presidents were born in 4 states. These are the 21 states that have produced the most presidents.

DON'T MISS: Here's what every president's signature looks like

SEE ALSO: The 17 weirdest jobs of US presidents

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