Vivek Ganapathy Ramaswamy was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Indian immigrant parents.

Ramaswamy attended public schools through eighth grade.

He attended Cincinnati's St. Xavier High School, a Catholic school affiliated with the Jesuit order, and graduated as valedictorian in 2003.

Ramaswamy earned a Bachelor of Arts in biology from Harvard University, graduating summa cum laude in 2007. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and served as president of the Harvard Political Union.

After Harvard, Ramaswamy worked as an investment partner at QVT Financial and later at a hedge fund, making significant financial gains.

He earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 2013, where he befriended JD Vance and was part of the campus Jewish intellectual discussion society Shabtai.