<p>what is the first college of the nation????
i thought it was harvard....and then princeton rivew says upenn is the first univerty of the nation....whats going on???????</p>
<p>california kid is just wondering.......;;;;</p>
<p>i think both of the answers are right depending on how you define "nation", harvard college is the first college established in this land when it's still a British colony. Penn is the the first college established after the American revolution, so technically Penn is the first college in this nation since the nation didnt exist when harvard college was built.</p>
<p>oh...ok...thank you for reply...</p>
<p>Harvard - 1636
William & Mary - 1697
Yale - 1701
Penn - 1740
Princeton - 1746
Columbia - 1754
Brown - 1764
Rutgers - 1766
Dartmouth - 1769</p>
<p>All founded before the American revolution. Penn is fourth; however, it may have been called university right away, while the three before it were still being college into the 20th century with W&M still called college today.</p>
<p>yeah...it began in 1775...</p>
<p>then what the heck is princeton review saying in the 361best college book......./??</p>
<p>ok, i just looked up wikipedia, it says that Penn was the first institution of higher education in the country that included "University" in its name. There Penn was the first "University"</p>
<p>oh.......ok........</p>
<p>like.......university of something???????</p>
<p>Or Something University.</p>
<p>William and Mary was the first school to become a university. The school just retained the name The College of William and Mary. It is, in fact a university.........................</p>
<p>William & Mary is the oldest US university and the second oldest college. However, W&M would have preceded Harvard if it weren't for an Indian attack in 1617. But that's another story...</p>
<p>I think everyone's a little obsessed with William and Mary today. Like every thread on this forum is about this college! Whats up?!</p>
<p>"Untangling the Ivy League 2006" says that Penn is the oldest "university" because even though it wasn't created before Harvard it was chartered in 1786. Harvard didn't become a chartered university until 1790. (whatever chartered means)</p>
<p>lol I've been quoting this book in a couple of posts now.</p>
<p>The reason why it says that Penn is the first University is that it was the first to establish a graduate school (med school), making it the first college in the nation to rise to university status. Harvard College is the oldest college in the U.S.</p>
<p>Penn had the first MEDICAL school. It is not the oldest US university. That distinction belongs to William & Mary. Sorry.</p>
<p>Washington and Lee was founded in 1749 as augusta academy, making it older than a few ivies.</p>
<p>W&L is a great school. So is UVa.</p>
<p>coming from a penn student...</p>
<p>Harvard is the oldest college founded in 1636 with W&M being second oldest in 1697. However, the distinction between a college and a university is as follows: " The usual practice in the United States today is to call an institution made up of several faculties and granting a range of higher degrees a university while a smaller institution only granting bachelor's or associate's degrees is called a college." Thus Penn is the first "university" as it was the first academic institutions to follow a multidisciplinary model concentrating on several "faculties" (this happened when the Med School started) under one institution thus technically making it the first "university."</p>
<p>Penn has two claims to being the First university in the United States: founding the first medical school in America in 1765, makes it the first university de facto, while, by virtue of the 1779 charter, "no other American institution of higher learning was named "University" before Penn."</p>
<p>"Penn had the first MEDICAL school. It is not the oldest US university. That distinction belongs to William & Mary. Sorry".</p>
<p>-Penn became a university in 1765 while William and Mary did not until 1779. Sorry.</p>
<p>Actually, Penn was not officially proclaimed "University of Pennsylvania" until 1791. This is 12 years after William & Mary began graduate level instruction. Also, "medical schools" did not exist in the 1700s in the sense we know them today. There was "medical instruction" and it was not considered graduate level. See:</p>