What all international students should know about the Ivy League

International Students
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<p>The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. </p>

<p>The first formal league involving Ivy League teams was formed in 1902, when Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, Yale and Princeton formed the Eastern Intercollegiate Basketball League. </p>

<p>They were later joined by Penn, Dartmouth and Brown.</p>

<p>The term became official, especially in sports terminology, after the formation of the NCAA Division I athletic conference in 1954.</p>

<p>The conference name is now commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group. The eight institutions are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. The term Ivy League also has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism.</p>

<p>All of the Ivy League's institutions place within the top 15 of the U.S. News & World Report college and university rankings; with five placing in the top six.[6] Seven of the eight schools were founded during the United States colonial period; the exception is Cornell, which was founded in 1865. Ivy League institutions, therefore, account for seven of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The Ivies are all in the Northeast geographic region of the United States. All eight schools receive millions of dollars in research grants and other subsidies from federal and state government.
Undergraduate enrollments among the Ivy League schools range from about 4,000 to 14,000,[7] making them larger than those of a typical private liberal arts college and smaller than a typical public state university. Overall enrollments range from approximately 5,900 in the case of Dartmouth to over 20,000 in the case of Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, and Penn. </p>

<p>The inclusion of non-Ivy League schools under the term Ivy Leagues is commonplace for some schools and extremely rare for others. Among these other schools, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University are almost always included. The University of Chicago, Berkeley, Georgetown University and Duke University are often included as well.
These schools are also characterized by academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism.</p>

<p>The main differences being location and for some the competitiveness of their athletic programs. In descending order the schools that emphasize athletic competitiveness are:</p>

<p>Stanford (pacific athletic conference 12) Stanford excels in all sports Tiger woods went here
Duke (atlantic coast conference) - Elite Basketball and Lacrosse, Good football
Berkeley/ Northwestern (pacific athletic conference 12/ big 10 respectively) - Big time football
Georgetown (big east conference, for now) - Elite basketball, lacrosse, and track.
The Ivies - Elite lacrosse, rowing, soccer. Good football and basketball.
Johns Hopkins- Elite lacrosse
MIT/Chicago - terrible sports teams</p>

<p>These schools save MIT are also different from the Ivy's in that they are not located in the northeast.</p>

<p>Finally, for those interested in a smaller school but still want academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism, check out the lacs such as:</p>

<p>Williams, Amherst, Middlebury, etc.</p>

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<p>Why do you think that international students care about the history of an athletic conference, or about the competitive sports at other elite private universities?</p>

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<p>I second b@r!um</p>

<p>Ridiculous thread.Probably a ■■■■■.</p>

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<p>I think a lot of students care about ivy league. It is probably the only conference that international students care about. If you are going to apply to an ivy league school then you should be informed. For better or worse. Athletics play a huge part in American college life. There would be no ivy league without sports. For many, college in the US is not just about going to class and studying - especially at most of the top 25 schools. For example, the Harvard Yale football game is a huge event every year. Harvard Cornell Ice Hockey games are also popular. Princeton and Cornell consistently compete for the national championship in lacrosse.</p>

<p>Check out Harvard Athletics’ Mission statement.</p>

<p>The Harvard Department of Athletics is committed to providing “Education through Sport” and “Building Community and Pride in Harvard.” With an operating philosophy that a university should provide “Athletics for All Students,” competitive and recreational athletics are an integral part of the educational process and experience. Students should have opportunities to participate and compete as appropriate to their interest and skills.</p>

<p>Harvard values the lessons that have long been taught by athletic participation: the pursuit of excellence through personal development and teamwork; ethical and responsible behavior on the field and off; adherence to the spirit of rules as well as to their letter; leadership and strength of character; and sportsmanship – including respect for one’s opponents, acceptance of victory with humility, acknowledgment of defeat with grace, and respect for the value of cross-cultural understanding and acceptance. In teaching these lessons to its students, Harvard instills habits that will lead students to better and healthier lives. While winning is not an end in itself, we believe that the efforts by our intercollegiate teams to be their best will lead them to succeed.</p>

<p>Athletic participation is a way for students to grow and learn and enjoy themselves and to use and develop their personal, physical and intellectual skills. The entire Department, including coaches, medical and training staff, facilities and equipment personnel, and administrators, works to achieve these goals, honors the values of the College, and supports the principles of the Ivy League and the NCAA.</p>

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<p>It is absolutely ridiculous to think that students apply to Ivy League for sports. And some of the assertions the poster (1789) makes are outright false.</p>

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<p>This is the most ludicrous (and blatantly false) statement I’ve seen on the CC board.</p>

<p>And the list of “the schools that emphasize athletic competitiveness” - oh boy! And 1789 contradicts himself/herself by adding “MIT/Chicago - terrible sports teams” at the end of this list of “the schools that emphasize athletic competitiveness”.</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>Agreed, It is ridiculous to think that students apply to Ivy League for sports. </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t think it is ludicrous or blatantly false to say non-Ivies such Stanford and MIT are often grouped with other Ivies especially HYP. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, and MIT are arguably the top 5 schools in the US.</p></li>
<li><p>Please don’t misquote. The quotes was actually “the schools that emphasize athletic competitiveness in descending order.”</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>

I agree, the most selective universities are often grouped together (hence why the acronym HYPSM on CC), but not under the term “Ivy League” as you had claimed earlier.</p>

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You really think that the MAIN difference between Stanford, MIT, Harvard and Dartmouth besides location are their athletic programs? Oh boy…</p>

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<p>@ b@r!um Good point. In this case I think that Harvard and Dartmouth are VERY different and interstingly they are both Ivies. And I think that was part of my original point - Ivy League schools are characterized by academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism and linked by the athletic conference. As stand alone schools they are some very real differences.</p>

<p>However, what do you think about Harvard and Stanford? Would it be fair to say that location and emphasis on athletics are two obvious differentiating factors between these two schools? I also think that MIT has more in common with H and S, than it does with Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Dartmouth appears to be an outlier among this HSM bunch, not only because of selectivity, but also academic offering, size and location. In fact, I am tempted to say that Dartmouth has a lot more in common with highly selective LACs such as Williams, Amherst, and Middlebury than it does with MIT, Stanford, and Harvard.</p>

<p>This all begs the question Which Top 25 non-Ivy LAC/Univesities is most similar to which Ivy? What do you think? Amherst, Williams, Duke, Hopkins Stanford, Chicago, and MIT are most similar to which Ivies?</p>

<p>Brown
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Harvard
Penn
Princeton
Yale
N/A</p>