Ivy League & NESCAC

<p>Everyone always refers to the NESCAC (New England Small College Athletic Conference) schools as the “Little Ivies”. So I was wondering, Which are the corresponding schools? For example, which is the “Harvard of NESCAC”? Obviously this is all opinion and just for fun, but I was curious to see what others thought. Ivy consists of Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, and Yale. NESCAC consists of 11 schools (Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams) but I’m only including the top 9, to make this easier (Sorry Trinity and Connecticut College). So below is my table. Give me your thoughts. </p>

<p>Harvard = Williams
Princeton = Amherst (both have the “old boy” network)
Yale = Middlebury (Midd was actually founded by a former Yale President)
University of Pennsylvania = Bowdoin (Great school that everyone always forgets) Columbia = Wesleyan (Most liberal of both conferences)
Dartmouth = Hamilton
Cornell = Bates (Great school nagged by its reputation as one of the easiest to get in within the conference)
Brown = Tufts or Colby (not entirely sure why, just feels right)</p>

<p>Again, no offense intended, Please don’t attack me for creating this fun game.</p>

<p>The Little Three (Amherst, Wes, Williams) also used to be called the “Potted Ivies.” (not a reference to illicit substances, but to size)</p>

<p>O.K. I’ll play.</p>

<p>Williams - Yale
Amherst - Harvard (the H/Y and Williams/Amherst rivalries seem comparable. It seems that Williams & Yale are more NY, with each having a club in NY and Harvard & to less of an extent Amherst are more Boston. In any event I see Williams vs Amherst as Harvard vs Yale).
Hamilton - Brown (I based this on each having open an curriculum).
Middlebury - Dartmouth (These two seem closer than any other pairing. Maybe it is a northern New England thing, but they seem like similar schools and I would think many common applicants.) I’ll also add Colby to this group as I see some similarities there, also.
Bowdoin - Princeton (They both just seem to have a pre-professional student type feel to them. I certainly mean this in a positive way).
Wesleyan - Columbia (I will stick with the OP’s thought process) I will also place Bates in this category.
Trinity- Penn (Inner city feel)
Cornell - Tufts (There is the largest undergraduate population in their respective conferences at these schools). I will also add Connecticut College to this group.</p>

<p>I know I broke the rules a bit by including all the NESCAC schools, but I did not like the idea of omitting two outstanding schools from the game.</p>

<p>I’ll play too. I’ve listed schools as per current USNWR rankings.
Williams = Harvard (obviously, both are top dogs in their respective categories)</p>

<p>Amherst = Princeton (I’ll agree with the OP here, because both are second banana to Williams and Harvard respectively)</p>

<p>Middlebury = Yale (the color blue, strong language and linguistic departments, a reputation for preppy and artsy students) and although it’s a little outdoorsy, I’ll definitely not pair it with Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Bowdoin = UPenn (pre-professional feel, competitive students)</p>

<p>Hamilton = Dartmouth (outdoorsy, preppy, fratty), Brown (open curriculum)</p>

<p>Colby = Dartmouth (same as above^, also add tall handsome guys w/ 6 packs ~ beer and abs) Colby doesn’t have frats but it’s still fratty because the whole school is one big frat. Lot of Prep school guys.</p>

<p>Wesleyan = Columbia (I just feel as if both are very active politically and have that experimental vibe, strong LGBTQ population)</p>

<p>Bates = Cornell (color red, reputed as easiest to get into), Brown (artsy students)</p>

<p>Tufts = No Idea. Most probably Brown (ugly campuses)</p>

<p>ConColl = Yale (preppy artsy students, both are in CT)</p>

<p>Trinity = UPenn (squash and pre-professionalism)</p>

<p>Haha. Tufts and Brown ~ ugly campuses LOL</p>

Based on recent results in the head-to-head football rivalry (sometimes referred to as “the Biggest Little Game in the America”), I’d have to say Amherst was Harvard and Williams was Yale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Biggest_Little_Game_in_America

Wesleyan=Brown. (Open curriculum, quirky group, and students who put the L in liberal).
Connecticut College= University of Pennsylvania. (I went to a top school for which I paid top dollar and people confuse my school with UConn/ Penn State!)
Hamilton= Dartmouth. (Frats)
Colby= Dartmouth. (Outdoorsy)
Trinity= U Penn (frats and pre-professional)
Amherst=Harvard (best known names in the bunch; used to be considered the clear front runners but now more even reputations)
Bowdoin= Princeton (preppy)
Williams= Yale (fanatically loyal alumni and kids love the housing systems-- entries at Williams and houses at Yale)
Middlebury= Columbia (international feel and great for writers with big conferences)
Bates and Tufts= Cornell (This kid got 2400 SATs. Could we be his safety? Nobody calls us a safety! Better reject him. Oh, wait-- he interviewed on campus and visited three times and wrote that we have been his dream school since he was nine? Okay, let him in!)

"Bates = Cornell (…easiest to get into),

Actually Trinity and Connecticut College not really in the same ranking as the rest of conference…not sure why you said Bates instead of those schools. Things are so rough at Trinity that Trinity University in Texas has better SAT scores (TU 45>TC)!

Swarthmore/Carleton/Pomona are more Nescac like than those two schools except geography

@DODIAT, you’ll notice that I explicitly excluded Trinity and Conn College, due to number differences in the conferences, and only included “the top 9.”

From a perspective of salaries and earning money, the Ivy League dominates the NESCAC, with the exception of Tufts.

If you are going to group colleges by conference/league, I would say that the UAA and the Patriot League would have higher average salaries, and are probably a bit more selective than the NESCAC. If you are looking for the conferences that are the closest overall to the Ivies, in terms of outcomes, these are the three: Patriot League, NESCAC, and UAA (University Athletic Association aka., egghead eight.)

Strangely, on cc: you hear a lot about the Ivies and NESCAC, but almost nothing about the UAA and the Patriot League. I am not sure why that is.

@Much2learn because everyone refers to these two as the top two conferences. There isn’t an LAC athletic conference more selective than the NESCAC. UAA has a couple top performers, but top to bottom nothing competes with the NESCAC.

Funny thread!

There’s no doubt Amherst and Williams are the Harvard and Yale of the NESCAC.

Nationally they’re the biggest names, most prestigious and most difficult to get into.

They’re also rivals in sports and otherwise (that leaves Princeton out of the mix).

Between the 2 I’d put Amherst with Harvard and Williams with Yale.

Amherst is a better location than Williams, in a city with several other significant colleges and universities.

The first year entry system at Williams bears some similarity to Yale’s residential college system.

You may be right about prestige but, statistically speaking, Bowdoin and Tufts were both more difficult to get into than Williams last year.

@PayingtheBills I think there may be some self-selection going on with Williams applications.

@PayingtheBills you can add Middlebury to the group of NESCAC schools that had a lower acceptance rate than Williams last year (not the first time for Midd or Bowdoin either). But it’s important to to confuse acceptance rate with selectivity. Yes, the two are certainly connected, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. This is why it’s important to recognize that the quality of the NESCACs is relatively even for at least the top 5 or 6 schools.

I don’t like the idea of ‘top’ all these schools are fantastic. Fertile environments for growth.