12 Harvard Grads That Made it Big

President of the United States is a pretty impressive feat. Barack Obama joins the likes of fellow grads John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Rutherford Hayes, John F. Kennedy, Franklin Roosevelt, George W. Bush and Theodore Roosevelt who also spent their days studying in the libraries of Harvard University. 

Academy Award winning actress Natalie Portman earned a degree in psychology from Harvard in 2003. She was famously quoted in the New York Post for saying; "I'd rather be smart than a movie star."

You need to be smart to be funny. At least that's what Conan O'Brien would lead us to believe. Son of a Harvard professor, the comedian and talk show host enrolled in 1982 and later became the President of the school's newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.

Award-winning Canadian novelist and poet, Margaret Atwood, holds a degree from Harvard's Radcliffe College alongside other notable literary greats like Helen Keller and Gertrude Stein. 

Recently recruited by the L.A. Lakers, Jeremy Lin began his successful basketball career at Harvard. 

Former executive editor of The New York Times, Jill Abramson completed a history and literature degree at Radcliffe College in 1976.

If it wasn't for his time at Harvard, Mark Zuckerberg may have never created Facebook. Just imagine what a world without Facebook might have looked like!

Graduating in 1997, actress Rashida Jones was heavily involved in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals society during her time at Harvard. 

Even if you’re not a fan of classical music, you're likely a fan of Yo-Yo Ma. The famous cellist holds both a bachelor degree and honorary doctorate from Harvard. 

An honors student, Sheryl Sandberg earned a B.A. in economics and an M.B.A with distinction before being hired as the chief operating officer of Facebook.

With three Harvard degrees under his belt, it's no wonder Lloyd Blankfein earned himself the top job as CEO of and Chairman of Goldman Sachs.

Proving it's never too late to go back to school, actress Ashley Judd earned a mid-career master in public administration from Harvard in 2010.