The Darden school at UVA touts the fact that UVA is considered a public ivy, so apparently UVA doesn’t find that term condescending.
“Public Ivy” is a (supposedly) well known term used for the past thirty years. I doubt any of them would object to the claim they have a world class education at a fraction of the price.
^lLike the generic version of a drug or a fake Chanel bag. Just as good but cheaper and who’s value requires comparison to better known “brand” names in order to be understood.
UVA people I know are WAHOOS and that is all it takes. Justifiably proud of who they are not by association.
Any opinions on South Carolina honors college ?
I know a couple of kids at the University of South Carolina who are in the honors college there; they have good things to say about it (via their parents). Also, if your son is interested in international business, USC has the #1-ranked program in that field.
And it’s much easier to get into USC than either UNC-CH or UVA; and the merit scholarship money there is pretty good as well.
@Nocreativity1 google the term “public ivy”. The term is well known and not an insult at all. While an individual might find the term nonsense, it is still a thing.
Public Ivies article & Informatiion:
http://brandcollegeconsulting.com/what-are-the-public-ivies/
The original Public Ivies as they were:
College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
University of California
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Texas at Austin
University of Vermont (Burlington)
University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
All great schools academically but inconsistent with the basic tenets of the Ivy monicker. For example University Vermont acceptance rate 70% or U Michigan with 30,000 undergraduates.
Just because someone writes a book and titles it to sell to the masses doesn’t make it a thing. All great schools but very little in common with the eight Ivies besides great academic institutions.
“Real” Ivy schools are relatively small, northeastern, old, share and intertwined athletic and academic historiy and are elite in terms of admissions. The public universities mentioned share some of these attributes but don’t share the commonalities required to suggest the title of Ivy like in my opinion.
@gandalf78 "Further, UVA is, like UNC-CH, one of the “public Ivies,”
Can we please put a stop to this nonsense about “public ivies”. Let the public universities merits stand on their own, they have very little in common with say a Harvard or Princeton in acceptance rate, yield, test scores, GPA, endowment, class size, graduation rates, prestige, etc. Calling these public universities a “public ivy” just seems like desperation and false equivalency IMO.
^ No, it isn’t; for people who are unfamiliar with a particular school due to geography or otherwise, it is a way to signify the high level of academics of the school – which is how most people, except for a myopic few, understand the usage. Since the OP appears to be from Massachusetts, I used the phrase as a way to signify to him/her the high quality of the academic of UVA; which s/he may not have known about, unlike those of us who live closer to UVA would be more familiar with.
If you’ve got a problem with the phrase “public Ivy”, take it up with the original author as well as the schools that use it to describe themselves – such as UVA.
@gandalf78 “^ No, it isn’t; for people who are unfamiliar with a particular school due to geography or otherwise, it is a way to signify the high level of academics of the school – which is how most people, except for a myopic few, understand the usage.”
Sorry I’m just not buying it. I have a lot of friends who went to excellent public universities such as UC Berkeley and UCLA and not one of them refers to these institutions as “public ivies”. If they are great academic colleges then just say it, not a single reason to compare themselves to say a Princeton.
Please name several factors that make UNCH or UV on the same level as say the Ivy’s? I see way more differences than similarities.
The people in these institutions don’t usually use the term, but it’s been around 30 years, like it or not.
“The people in these institutions don’t usually use the term, but it’s been around 30 years, like it or not”
That’s my point, if we stop using it because it frankly doesn’t mean anything, the phrase will eventually go away. The most egregious I have seen was when a young softball recruit was courted by Loyola Marymount University (LMU - Los Angeles) and the coach called their school the “Ivy of the West”!
It’s also not meant for the people at these schools. It’s meant to convey to the public that “these schools that you might not have heard of are just as good as these school you probably have heard of and since they’re public not only do you have a better chance of getting in but also are more likely to be able to afford it.”
Applied to UNC, first choice. Duke,Penn. G-town. Thankfully family sits on one board, not UNC first choce always the way!
@VOLVO1 UNC is such a wonderful school and glad your son liked it. We are in state and my son is a senior there studying Computer Science. I will say OOS is extremely hard to get in. What I can say UNC is very holistic when it comes to admitting students. My son had a 29 ACT and did not submit SAT, top in his class. With that said he was very well rounded. So I would just make sure your son puts all his activities, volunteering and awards down as that seem to be what they are looking for. Good luck to your son!!
@VOLVO1: I hope that your son is applying not just to UNC-CH, Duke, Penn, and Georgetown, but to some safety/match schools as well. Putting all of your eggs in those four “reach” baskets, so to speak, is courting disaster.
Second what @gandalf78 said. DD had 35 ACT and 4.6W GPA and 4.0UW. Varsity letters, musical, tutor to underprivileged kids etc…
Rejected at Princeton, Brown, UNC, and UVA. Wait listed at Vandy. Accepted to honors colleges with good merit money to her 2 safety schools Clemson and UDel. She is happily enrolled at Clemson but there were a lot of tears in January when she was rejected EA at UNC and UVA on back to back Fridays.
Thought only U of M is the one university that was called Public Ivy —of course UCal Berkeley could be considered in that category but nobody calls them that way.
Reason: these are the only two public schools with so many programs in the Top 10 - Eng, Business, etc. etc. and rest of all the Top 10 programs are usually Private schools.
Now I see so many institutions calling themselves pubic ivies…without any ranking to back that claim - in my opinion (public university grad) these school do NOT deserve to be put in that category!
Accepted to Georgetown today. UNC first choice and probably not getting in crazy.