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<p>Too true. There is a reason you see Penn mentioned more in the Yale Daily News than the arguably comparable Duke and Northwestern Universities, and Dartmouth more than Williams and Amherst (and no I’m not referring to the Sports section).</p>
<p>While I will agree that the Ivy League started out as a simple college athletic conference, it has become much more than that–and I don’t mean in the “united in excellence” marketing BS–I am referring to the organic development of a group identity, of Ivy Leaguers (to wit: IvyGate, the Ivy Council, the very fact that CC has an “Ivy League” section here in the forums). Yes, the identity to one’s own college will always be stronger than that of the Ivy League writ large, but it’s still there.</p>
<p>Hawkette would be right to argue that this is neither fair nor is it rational. However, she would be wrong to argue that it does not exist, and wrong to argue that it does not give the “lower Ivies” (the poor things) a social advantage over schools that are otherwise comparable.</p>
<p>Hawkette of course would also be right to argue that outside of the CC pressure cooker, it really doesn’t matter. :)</p>