South Korean chaebol families are sending more of their heirs to study at elite U.S. universities. The shift is reshaping how future business leaders are trained, making the trend worth following.

Corporate research firm CEOScore traced 350 confirmed chaebol family members and found that New York University attracted 18, Cornell 16, Stanford 15, and both Harvard and George Washington University 14 each. These figures show that U.S. schools dominate the overseas education choices of the families.

The share of members educated abroad rises sharply with each generation. CEOScore reported that only 5.9% of founders studied abroad, compared with 67.9% of second‑generation, 78.7% of third‑generation, and 93.9% of fourth/fifth generations.

Munhwa Ilbo linked the pull of Columbia and NYU to New York’s status as a finance, commerce and culture hub, and to the Wall Street connections students can build there. Among the youngest generations, 71.7% of overseas‑educated members enrolled in foreign universities from the undergraduate level, indicating a move toward earlier overseas study.

While U.S. schools are increasingly popular, Korea University remains the most attended domestic institution with 54 family members, followed by Seoul National University (50) and Yonsei University (35). The pattern suggests that elite Korean families are reshaping their leadership pipeline by favoring top U.S. universities, especially those that offer finance‑related networks.