@calidad2020 “I’ll try not to hijack thread too much, but can you name another US college sports league that is associated primarily with academic strength?”
Come on Calidad2020, this is cc: we are academic nerds, of course I can. I can think of three that are very strong academically.
- Patriot league
- UAA (University Athletic Association)
- NESCAC
@moscott “The members of the “Ivy League” include some of the oldest universities in the US (Cornell is the relative newcomer, dating from 1865), and most of them have enjoyed a reputation for academic excellence–and for educating the scions of the Northeastern elite–throughout most of their existence.”
Right. Except for Cornell, the Ivies are all older than the United States.
“However, these eight schools were influential and highly regarded long before they joined together in the “Ivy League,” which is–as @CaliDad2020 has rightly insisted–an athletics conference. Period.”
While it is an athletic conference, it is not “an athletics conference. Period.” It is more than that. These 8 schools coordinate on more than just sports, and those relationships among the schools existed long before “The Ivy League” was an athletic conference, which was a fairly recent development.
For example, in admissions, all announce on the same day, and none of them give merit scholarships, etc.
@mrsamford2014 “And I don’t think that they are all actually covered in “ivy.””
Well, I have visited 7 of them, and there is plenty of Ivy at all 7. I have not had a reason to visit Darthmouth, but maybe someday.