The Ivy League is an association of eight colleges and universities on the United States’ Eastern Seaboard. Although the term originally referred to an athletic conference, it has come to mean much more because the members of the group compete both academically and athletically. These schools are known for having large endowments and being extremely selective, with acceptance rates often falling below 10%. The name is thought to be derived from the distinctive plant that grows on many campus buildings, and it first appeared in print in 1933.
Harvard University (1636), Yale University (1701), University of Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton University (1746), Columbia University (1754), Brown University (1764), Dartmouth College (1769), and Cornell University (1769) are the eight Ivy League schools (1865). Many of the colleges were founded under different names, such as Columbia University, which was first known as King’s College. Seven of the eight colleges were founded during the United States’ Colonial Era, and they make up seven of the nine colleges founded prior to the American Revolution. William and Mary and Rutgers are the other two pre-Revolutionary colleges.
The colleges consistently rank in the top 15 colleges in the United States and are known for their rigorous academics. The Ivy League has produced a number of well-known political and social figures in the United States. Following WWII, the organization began to broaden the types of students admitted in order to improve the caliber of their sports teams. Traditionally, the schools’ primary focus has been on academics.
The Ivy League was founded in 1954 when the respective Ivies signed an agreement dictating academic, financial, and athletic standards for their football teams. With the first game played in 1956, this agreement was expanded to include other intercollegiate sports. The schools hold their athletes to high academic standards, refusing to compromise educational quality for athletic success.
The Ivy League schools are well-funded, with Harvard being the richest university in the world, Yale coming in second, and Princeton coming in fourth. Many critics claim that the schools exemplify traditional East Coast conservative values, with the majority of students being white and wealthy. Ivy League also refers to a particular style of clothing, such as synthetic fabrics, button-down shirts, and penny loafers. There are no official religious affiliations at the moment in any of the schools.
The schools compete fiercely, but the group collaborates on one of the world’s largest interlibrary loan programs, with over 88 million items available to students from seven schools in four days. Harvard is the only library that does not participate in interlibrary loan.