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Birchbox, a monthly subscription service of beauty samples, was founded by two female Harvard Business School grads in 2010. Birchbox Facebook

Two former RISD roommates started Airbnb (now valued at $25 billion) with an air mattress in the living room to help make San Francisco's steep rent affordable. Princeton alum Jeff Bezos once pedaled books online on a website called "Amazon." You may not realize it, but a surprising amount of landmark companies – and favorite emerging startups – were founded by grads from top US schools.

The opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds in a society – and make connections with other ambitious, brilliant entrepreneurs – is one reason the abysmal admissions rate is worth attempting and the high cost of US tuition can be worth footing.

Below are 26 companies that were born from the top schools in the US, from Ivy League alma maters to prestigious equivalents like MIT and Stanford: