I must admit that having attended and worked at two different Ivies, I’ve always found the term “Ivy” and the shorthand “HYPS” ironic. While these universities all are highly competitive, their similarities end there. Harvard is vastly different from Princeton. In the broader Ivy League, there is little similarity in ethos, approach to education etc., between a Harvard or Columbia and a Dartmouth or Brown. Harvard and Columbia are vast, research-oriented universities; Princeton and Brown are overwhelming undergraduate (along with Dartmouth). This is reflected in their policies, approach to “pastoral” care, teaching styles etc.
When I visited schools, I was always stunned by how parents and students would talk about applying to five or six of the Ivy Group universities, almost thinking of them as interchangeable. To me that meant that they were basing their decision purely on rankings and prestige and hadn’t given much or any thought as to the individual universities. This was sad as we had many freshman who arrived and were unhappy. Had they done a bit more research, they probably would have made a better decision.