What Are Ivy League Colleges?

Ivy League colleges represent some of the best education opportunities in the United States, and all of the Ivy universities regularly place near the top of most national ratings. Each of the eight Ivy schools in the U.S. receives great sums of money in the form of research grants as well as state and federal subsidies. An education from an Ivy League school is often a business card unto itself and acceptance, to one of these colleges is highly coveted.

Defined

The Ivy League colleges are a group of eight universities based in the northeastern United States. All eight are private institutions and all are considered among the country's elite schools for academics. The league includes Harvard, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Dartmouth and Cornell University. The term Ivy League also is used in general to express that which is of exceptional quality.

History

Seven of the eight Ivy League schools were first established prior to the American Revolution. Cornell is the exception, established in 1865. These seven schools are the oldest in the country, as are Rutgers University and The College of William and Mary, neither of which is officially considered a part of the Ivy League. The oldest college in the nation is Harvard University, founded under the name of New College in 1636. Yale is the second oldest, being founded in 1701.

Athletics

Ivy League, as a label, originally referred only to the athletic conference of which the eight universities are a part. In fact, the moniker was first used during the 1930s by sportswriters describing the conference's colleges as "Ivy League," meaning that which is overgrown with ivy, or old. Today, athletics still play a part in each of the college programs and rivalries--like that of crew teams from Harvard and Yale, or Princeton versus University of Pennsylvania in basketball--which have existed from the early formation of the league.

Admissions

Getting accepted into an Ivy League school is no easy task. Thousands of hopeful high school students apply to each of the colleges every year, but most find that acceptance is extraordinarily selective. The highest selection rate can be found at Cornell University, where on average just over 20 percent of applicants are admitted. Those seeking acceptance into Dartmouth have it a little worse, with only about 13 percent accepted, while those hoping to enter the Harvard have it toughest of all, with only about seven percent accepted. Roughly 95 percent of new students finish in the top 10 percent of their classes.

Perception

Another consideration that sets Ivy League colleges apart is their perception to the general public. Though having an Ivy League education listed on a resume invariably receives a favorable nod, there is a general understanding that these schools represent, in addition to high academic standards, a certain amount of elitism, even snobbery. Though generalizing is a contentious subject; nevertheless, ideas of the ostentatious and wealthy are almost always associated with these schools.