# Does Yale University have anyone famous like Harvard does? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 23, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808 "2016-11-23T14:48:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/1 "2016-11-23T14:48:04Z")
I know lots of famous people have gone to Harvard and it seems to be the path for any future political or business endeavor, but what about Yale University. It has had at least 300 years to produce someone famous. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/2 "2016-11-23T14:51:23Z")
> **[List of Yale University people | Alumni](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yale_University_people#Alumni)** > > For a list of notable alumni of Yale Law School, see List of Yale Law School alumni. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/3 "2016-11-23T14:55:05Z")
Yes thank you … I did find these people too anyone else? > [@](#): > > Yale University-educated Presidents since the end of the Vietnam War include Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush, and major-party nominees during this period include John Kerry, Joseph Lieberman, and Sargent Shriver. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/4 "2016-11-23T14:57:03Z")
Here’s a pretty good list: [http://www.cheatsheet.com/breaking-news/the-30-most-famous-yale-students-of-all-time.html/](http://www.cheatsheet.com/breaking-news/the-30-most-famous-yale-students-of-all-time.html/) ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/5 "2016-11-23T15:00:13Z")
Whoops! Here’s one I didn’t know: > [@](#): > > Sonia Sotomayor; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Incumbent. Assumed office August 8, 2009: … Yale University: Religion: Roman It’s just that so many people seem to look down on Yale grads and look up to Harvard ones. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/6 "2016-11-23T15:01:34Z")
Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were roommates at Yale. Gary Trudeau, of Doonesbury, started his cartoon in the Yale student paper. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/7 "2016-11-23T15:02:50Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > It’s just that so many people seem to look down on Yale grads and look up to Harvard ones. That’s because we Eli’s tend to be more modest. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/8 "2016-11-23T15:04:21Z")
You can add Samuel Alito to the list of current Supreme Court judges who graduated from Yale. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/9 "2016-11-23T15:06:38Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were roommates at Yale. Actually, they went to school in Massachusetts. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/10 "2016-11-23T15:10:42Z")
Jodie Foster is an alum. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/11 "2016-11-23T15:10:53Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > It’s just that so many people seem to look down on Yale grads and look up to Harvard ones. I have never heard of that. Although Harvard may be the most prestigious university in the country, Yale is probably second. The Ivy that probably gets the least respect is my own Alma Mater, Cornell. This may be because it is also a cow college. (I got my degree from the NY State College of Agriculture, which is part of Cornell, which makes me an Ivy League Aggie.) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/12 "2016-11-23T15:12:47Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Actually, they went to school in Massachusetts. oops, you’re right - sorry! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/13 "2016-11-23T15:15:03Z")
> [@Mr\_Quatro](#): > > Whoops! Here’s one I didn’t know: > > It’s just that so many people seem to look down on Yale grads and look up to Harvard ones. > [@Colibri](#): > > I have never heard of that. Although Harvard may be the most prestigious university in the country, Yale is probably second. > > The Ivy that probably gets the least respect is my own Alma Mater, Cornell. This may be because it is also a cow college. (I got my degree from the NY State College of Agriculture, which is part of Cornell, which makes me an Ivy League Aggie.) Well, Harvard is the Stanford of the east!. People at Harvard might look down on Yalies, but other than that, I don’t now what **MQ** is talking about either. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/14 "2016-11-23T15:16:30Z")
Ask their [Alumni Association](http://aya.yale.edu/content/contact-us) and they will be sure to supply more than you ever dreamed. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/15 "2016-11-23T15:17:30Z")
Justice Thomas is also a Yale grad, so that’s three of the current Supreme Court. The other five went to Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/16 "2016-11-23T15:20:10Z")
Ben Carson went to Yale. [And got pranked.](https://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/ben-carsons-yale-classmate-we-did-the-prank-test-that-carson) Then tried to spin that in his Presidential run. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/17 "2016-11-23T15:26:57Z")
Of the Presidents, William Howard Taft, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush all attended Yale College. Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton attended Yale Law. (And of course, of the near-misses, Hillary Clinton also attended Yale Law.) ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/18 "2016-11-23T15:32:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Justice Thomas is also a Yale grad, so that’s three of the current Supreme Court. The other five went to Harvard. See! The numbers never lie! Yale is **clearly** 62.5% inferior to Harvard. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/19 "2016-11-23T15:37:26Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Justice Thomas is also a Yale grad, so that’s three of the current Supreme Court. The other five went to Harvard. I didn’t know that … so they would not be prejudice then if a Clinton came up for a review of any pending election topics currently going on. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2016, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808/20 "2016-11-23T15:45:45Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Of the Presidents, William Howard Taft, George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush all attended Yale College. > > Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton attended Yale Law. > > (And of course, of the near-misses, Hillary Clinton also attended Yale Law.) And GWB went to Harvard Biz School. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-yale-university-have-anyone-famous-like-harvard-does/772808.md?page=2)