NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Sarah Millar spent her first years out of college doing stock market research for a New York City financial firm. In her spare time, she taught English as a second language and fostered homeless dogs. “I was getting a lot more fulfillment from those things,” she says, “than from work.”

Hoping to change that, Millar headed off to the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, drawn by its “Social Impact Initiative.” Along with the usual grounding in finance and business strategies, she could focus on ways to make a difference in society.

Today Millar works in social-impact investing at City Light Capital, a venture capital firm in New York that invests in startups aimed at doing good. Examples: ShotSpotter, whose technology helps police and the military pinpoint the location of gunfire, and Arcadia Power, a platform that facilitates the purchasing of renewable energy across utilities in all 50 states.

“I would do it again for twice the cost,” says Millar, 27, who paid for her $200,000 education with loans.