Hey Guys, I was talking with my friend today and we played a game where we ranked the Nescac like it was the ivy league example. Williams is the Harvard Amherst is the Yale Bowdoin is the Columbia, Middlebury is Dartmouth etc… Was wondering what anyone else thought and was wondering if they would give their answer.
Wesleyan and Brown are frequently compared, but, TBH, practically all the NESCACs, to one degree or another, are smaller versions of Dartmouth.
This is interesting. Being from the Midwest, I have a hard time understanding the differences between the different NESCAC schools. Williams and Amherst blend together for me, as do Midd and Bowdoin. Even when I read descriptions of them, it’s hard to understand each school’s reputation on the east coast. @circuitrider 's comment makes sense. I have heard that Dartmouth is the most LAC-like of the Ivies.
Tufts is the most different, as it is a little bigger, a little more urban, and more university like than the other Nescacs. Also has a completely separate campus for the art school, and has graduate programs as well.
In general, the NESCACs of today represent the scales and undergraduate emphases of the Ivy League colleges circa 1950. In this sense, the conferences have since diverged to the extent that true overlaps are uncommon. That said, a few Ivy League schools may approximate the purely undergraduate focuses common to most of the NESCACs.
If you like the US News rankings, Williams is the Princeton and Amherst is the Harvard 
This has been done before on CC. There seems to be little interest in pursuing it.
Yeah, the whole thing is pretty contrived. I’ve seen it done with the Big 10, the ACC, the NESCAC… It never really works.
Of course it’s contrived. OP says it’s a game and who are we to judge what people find amusing in passing the time?
But my D and I have a laugh every year about the rankings and being #2…and who is on the “other” list at #2 
How about we play NESCAC and the SEC? Which is most like Alabama?
Well, I see nothing wrong with actually comparing NESCAC and Ivy League experience, which is what I thought was the original intent of the subject line.
First of all, all NESCACs know all too well what it is like to have to educate friends and family about your school’s correct name, location and, or mission (“no, there isn’t a Communications major. Yes, I can go to business school afterward.”)
The above is the exact opposite of the Ivy League experience of actually having to hide the name of your undergraduate college for fear of appearing pretentious or having to live up to someone’s cartoon character notion of how an Ivy Leaguer behaves.
Since nearly all NESCACs are in small towns, the likelihood is that, at some time or another, outside of campus, you will bump into the man or woman who cleans your toilets.
It is almost impossible to graduate from a NESCAC without knowing a significant number of people graduating before or after you. Same thing when it comes to people who don’t live in your “house” or “college”. There’s more of a feeling that the footprint of the entire college belongs to you.
Most of the NESCAC tenured faculty were promoted through the ranks; they weren’t “raided” from another school. And as a result, the chances are immense that your favorite professor will still be teaching “Potions” when you come back many years later.
Even if you hate sports, chances are you will witness at least one football, basketball, field hockey, soccer, or lacrosse game during your four years at a NESCAC.
Your parents will wonder where all the students are when they visit.
No matter how many times you move, the development office will find you.