Congratulations, the high school class of 2025 (rah-rah-rah!) is ready to matriculate! Your freshly sprouted scholar spent the last four years growing their GPA, acing their APs and crushing their SATs in preparation for brain-bending curriculum. But are they ready for the most advantageous aspect of life at a top college: socializing with stardom?\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Mathematics 101. Half of Hollywood canoodling x 20 years = a crop of celebrity scions who are now ruling the campuses of New England\u2019s oldest institutions, as well as the increasingly competitive so-called \u201cnew Ivies\u201d<\/a> (schools like Notre Dame, New York University, Duke, Emory, Rice, Vanderbilt, Northwestern and Washington University).<\/p>\n Moses Martin (right), the youngest son of Chris Martin (left) and Gwyneth Paltrow, is now a sophomore at Brown. BrosNYC \/ BACKGRID<\/p>\n Currently one of the biggest names on campus is Violet Affleck. Now a Yalie, she jerked tears out of her A-lister parents, Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, when she headed for New Haven last fall. \u201cTell me you have a graduate without telling me you have a graduate,\u201d Garner said in an emoji-laden post on Instagram. \u201cBless our hearts.\u201d But Violet isn\u2019t resting on her parents\u2019 laurels; in May, she published an academic research paper in Yale\u2019s Global Health Review<\/a> as part of her ongoing studies titled \u201cA Chronically Ill Earth: COVID Organizing as a Model Climate Response in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s not the only bright and boldface name at Yale. Conan O\u2019Brien\u2019s son, Beckett, is said to have arrived on campus last fall \u2014 joining his sister, Neve, who is studying history as part of the class of 2026. Fellow late-night comedian Stephen Colbert and wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert\u2019s son John is also at Yale \u2014 as is Jeff Bezos\u2019 son George and Gwyneth Paltrow\u2019s stepson, Brody Falchuk.<\/p>\n FROM LEFT: Carys Zeta Douglas \u2014 daughter of Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones \u2014 graduated from Brown last May. WireImage<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Paltrow\u2019s youngest college-age progeny with Chris Martin, Moses, opted for Providence, R.I., and is now a sophomore at Brown. Paltrow told the Hollywood Reporter that having her youngest in higher ed is \u201ckind of giving me a nervous breakdown.\u201d The empty nester\u2019s <\/a>daughter, Apple, is a rising junior at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn.<\/p>\n Brown\u2019s campus is no stranger to famous names. \u201cHarry Potter\u201d star Emma Watson graduated back in 2014. Leaving campus with degrees this May were Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas\u2019 daughter, Carys Zeta Douglas, and Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick\u2019s son, James.<\/p>\n James Broderick (left), son of Matthew Broderick (right) and Sarah Jessica Parker, is also a recent Brown grad. Getty Images<\/p>\n FROM LEFT: \u201cBlack-ish\u201d actress Yara Shahidi earned her degree from Harvard in 2022. Jaya Harper is hitting the books at at NYU \u2014 with encouragement from her mom, Laura Dern. \u201cEuphoria\u201d star Storm Reid is a 2025 USC grad. Getty Images; Variety, Shutterstock<\/p>\n Over at \u201ca school near Boston,\u201d \u201cFresh Off the Boat\u201d star Ian Chen is imitating art by joining Harvard College\u2019s class of 2028 (just like his character on the show). Harvard has, of course, always had plenty of star students, from Natalie Portman and Matt Damon to Barack and Michelle Obama (who both earned law degrees there). The Obamas\u2019 daughter Malia followed in her parents\u2019 Crimson wake, graduating in 2021 (daughter Sasha graduated from the University of Southern California with a sociology degree in 2023). And \u201cBlack-ish\u201d actress Yara Shahidi, who reportedly studied interdisciplinary sociology and Black American studies, graduated with a Harvard B.A. in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jodie Foster is clearly bonded with her son, Kit, a 2024 Princeton chemistry grad. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n