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25 Celebs Who Graduated From Ivy League Schools

Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling

Attended: Dartmouth College
Year Graduated: 2001
Degree Acquired: BA, playwriting

Fun Fact: Before she made it big in Hollywood, writing and starring in The Office and The Mindy Project, Mindy wrote for Dartmouth publications The Dartmouth and Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern. There, she created a comic strip called "Badly Drawn Girl," which went viral on the internet. 

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Conan O'Brien

Conan O'Brien

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 1985
Degree Acquired: BA, American history

Fun Fact: Conan isn't the only one in his family with an impressive education. His mother was a lawyer, and his father practiced medicine and taught at Harvard Medical School. 

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Emma Watson

Emma Watson

Attended: Brown University
Year Graduated: 2014
Degree Acquired: BA, English literature

Fun Fact: It took Emma five years instead of the typical four to graduate. This is still an impressive amount of time, however, considering she filmed a total of seven movies (the final two Harry Potter films, Perks of Being a Wallflower, and The Bling Ring, just to name a few) during her time at Brown.

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John Legend

John Legend

Attended: University of Pennsylvania
Year Graduated: 1999
Degree Acquired: BA, English

Fun Fact: The "All of Me" singer (not to mention husband of model/goddess Chrissy Teigen) was offered scholarships to Morehouse, Georgetown, and Harvard, before deciding on UPenn.

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Meryl Streep

Meryl Streep

Attended: Yale School of Drama
Year Graduated: 1975
Degree Acquired: MFA, acting

Fun Fact: Meryl, not quite surprisingly, has a couple other degrees as well. She received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College in 1971, and she received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1981.

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Rashida Jones

Rashida Jones

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 1997
Degree Acquired: BA, religion and philosophy

Fun Fact: When the Parks and Recreation star first attended Harvard, she had every intention of becoming a lawyer. The famous O.J. Simpson trial changed her mind, however, and she decided to take up acting (good choice, obviously).

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John Krasinski

John Krasinski

Attended: Brown University
Year Graduated: 2001
Degree Acquired: BA, playwriting

Fun Fact: The Office alum originally wanted to join Brown's basketball team, but according to an interview with The Herald, he saw the team practice and decided he would make a much better actor.

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Lupita Nyong'o

Lupita Nyong'o

Attended: Yale School of Drama
Year Graduated: 2012
Degree Acquired: MFA, acting

Fun Fact: The Oscar-winning actress (12 Years a Slave) credits Ralph Fiennes as the reason she deciced to attend Yale School of Drama, after he told her she should only go into acting if she couldn't live without it.

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Brooke Shields

Brooke Shields

Attended: Princeton University
Year Graduated: 1987
Degree Acquired: BA, French literature

Fun Fact: Brooke met Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman) while they both attended Princeton. The two became college sweethearts, and she goes into detail about their relationship in her 2014 memoir, There Was a Little Girl.

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Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper

Attended: Yale University
Year Graduated: 1989
Degree Acquired: BS, political science

Fun Fact: The silver fox of CNN graduated from high school a semester early and decided to travel to Africa for a few months. Before he came back and started at Yale, he contracted malaria and was hospitalized in Kenya.

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Ellie Kemper

Ellie Kemper

Attended: Princeton University
Year Graduated: 2002
Degree Acquired: BA, English

Fun Fact: Before she became the star of her own show, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, before she joined the cast of The Office, before she even stepped through the doors of Princeton, Ellie was just a normal high school student at John Burroughs School in Missouri - oh yeah, except that her teacher was none other than Jon Hamm.

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Jordana Brewster

Jordana Brewster

Attended: Yale University
Year Graduated: 2003
Degree Acquired: BA, English

Fun Fact: Jordana joined the cast of a little movie called Fast and Furious during a summer break at Yale. And oh yeah, her grandfather just so happened to be the President of Yale.

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Dean Norris

Dean Norris

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 1985
Degree Acquired: BA, social studies

Fun Fact: The Breaking Bad star was the first person in his family to go to college, and he actually considered going into investment banking before deciding to become an actor.

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Sigourney Weaver

Sigourney Weaver

Attended: Yale School of Drama
Year Graduated: 1974
Degree Acquired: MFA, Acting

Fun Fact: Sigourney appeared in several plays during her time at Yale School of Drama, once acting alongside fellow classmate Meryl Streep.

Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Tatyana Ali

Tatyana Ali

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 2002
Degree Acquired: BA, African American studies and government

Fun Fact: After Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended, Tatyana studied at Harvard and joined several organizations - but she's particularly proud of being an '02 Harvard Stepper.

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Jodie Foster

Jodie Foster

Attended: Yale University
Year Graduated: 1985
Degree Acquired: BA, literature

Fun Fact: Warning: This is a not-so-fun fact. During her time at Yale, Jodie was stalked by two men - one of whom attempted to assassinate President Raegan to impress her.

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James Franco

James Franco

Attended: Columbia University
Year Graduated: 2010
Degree Acquired: MFA, writing

Fun Fact: James has attended several universities, including NYU, which was sued by a former professor who claimed he was fired for giving Franco a D. He also claimed Franco only showed up to two out of 14 classes. 

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Sara Gilbert

Sara Gilbert

Attended: Yale University
Year Graduated: 1997
Degree Acquired: BA, art

Fun Fact: The Talk co-host enrolled at Yale while she was still filming Roseanne, and graduated the same year the 90s hit show ended.

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Julia Stiles

Julia Stiles

Attended: Columbia University
Year Graduated: 2005
Degree Acquired: BA, English literature

Fun Fact: Like Emma Watson (although before Emma Watson, to be fair), Julia took five years to complete college because she was filming back-to-back hits like Save the Last Dance, The Prince and Me, and The Bourne series. 

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Tommy Lee Jones

Tommy Lee Jones

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 1969
Degree Acquired: BA, English (with distinction)

Fun Fact: Tommy roomed with none other than Al Gore during his time at Harvard.

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Maggie Gyllenhaal

Maggie Gyllenhaal

Attended: Columbia University
Year Graduated: 1995
Degree Acquired: BA, English literature

Fun Fact: While Maggie graduated from Columbia in 1995, lil bro Jake Gyllenhaal ended up dropping out of the prestigious school.

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Natalie Portman

Natalie Portman

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 2003
Degree Acquired: BS, psychology

Fun Fact: In her 2015 Harvard Commencement speech, Natalie discussed her struggles during her time at Harvard. She confessed that she attended Harvard to prove she lived up to the high standards set by her academic family, but by the time she graduated, she discovered that all she wanted to do was get back to acting.

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Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd

Attended: Harvard University
Year Graduated: 2010
Degree Acquired: MFA, Public Administration

Fun Fact: According to the New York Times, Ashley "didn't go to Harvard Kennedy School to be approved of by anyone, but to immerse myself in some very serious, earnest, practical learning with people who have literally dedicated all they have to public service."

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Julie Bowen

Julie Bowen

Attended: Brown University
Year Graduated: 1991
Degree Acquired: BA, Italian Renaissance studies

Fun Fact: The Modern Family star spent her junior year in Florence, Italy.

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Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Attended: University of Pennsylvania
Year Graduated: 1968
Degree Acquired: BS, economics

Fun Fact: Donald's daughter, Ivanka, also graduated from UPenn with a BS in economics in 2004.

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