What Schools Are Not Part of the Ivy League? Quiz

Answer:

Among the most famous universities in the world, the Ivy League's Harvard University is the oldest one in the United States, founded in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its applicant pool is around 57,000 per year, and its acceptance rate as of the Class of 2027 was a very competitive 3.2%, around the same as California Institute of Technology (CalTech). Only Minerva University has a lower acceptance rate among universities, at about 1%. Neither CalTech nor Minerva are in the Ivy League. Harvard has the largest endowment of any university globally, at over $53 billion.

Yale University is the next oldest Ivy League school, found in 1701, and located in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale is the third oldest university of all U.S. schools, as William & Mary being founded in 1693 and St. John's College in Annapolis found in 1696, are both older. While William & Mary is not in the Ivy League, Yale is and is home to the Skull and Bones secret society, whose membership has included many figures who went on to prominence in politics, business, and public life. Some sources will list St. John's College in Annapolis as the third oldest university in the U.S. but although it began its history in 1696, it was a preparatory school back then and did not become a college institution until 1784 when it received its collegiate charter.

University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) is the third oldest Ivy League school and the fourth oldest among all U.S. universities. It was founded by Founding Father (appropriately enough) Benjamin Franklin in 1740 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. UPenn, is home to the first U.S. medical school (1765) and business school (Wharton, 1881). Some sources list Washington College in Chesterton, Maryland as the fourth oldest in the United States, but they are basing that on its origin as Kent County Free School founded in 1723, before it actually became a college in 1782. The difference is that Kent County Free School was a charity school, providing basic education, that is, primary/secondary-level instruction, not higher education. It elevated to collegiate level in 1782 after the Revolutionary War, becoming the first college chartered in the newly independent U.S.

The Ivy League's Princeton University, established in 1746 in Princeton, New Jersey is the sixth oldest in the United States (fifth is The University of Delaware founded in 1743). Interestingly, Princeton does not have a law or medical school; it focuses primarily on its undergrad and PhD programs, in the liberal arts. It does however, offer The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, one of the nation's top public policy programs. Some sources list Moravian University as the sixth oldest but it did not actually become a degree-granting institution until 1807; its history started as Bethlehem Female Seminary, founded in 1742 as a primary/secondary-level school.

Washington & Lee (1749) is the seventh oldest university in the U.S. although is not an Ivy League school. Columbia University in the City of New York at eighth oldest, is an Ivy League school, founded in 1754. It was called King's College at first, and was renamed Columbia College in 1784 after the American Revolution. Columbia was the first school in the United States to grant the Doctor of Medicine Degree, but it is perhaps most notable for its prestigious Columbia School of Journalism. Annually, it administers and awards the Pulitzer Prize in journalism and arts. Its alumni, faculty, and staff have included seven of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America.

Brown University is the sixth oldest Ivy League School and the ninth oldest overall of U.S. universities. It was founded in 1764 in Providence, Rhode Island, by Baptist leaders. It has become known for its Open Curriculum, established in 1969, which eliminated mandatory general core course education requirements; students thusly had unparalleled freedom to pick their course and design their major studies. The school is ranked No. 1 in the nation for "Writing in the Disciplines", awarded by U.S. News & World Report for exceptional commitment to teaching writing and communication skills in all academic fields.

Dartmouth College, founded in 1769 in Hanover, New Hampshire, by Reverend Eleazar Wheelock, a Congregational minister. It is the smallest of the Ivy League schools, and the 11th oldest university in the nation (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey is the 10th oldest, founded in 1766). Dartmouth emphasizes the value of small class sizes, generating close student-professor relationships and highly personalized learning environments. Its undergraduate teaching is routinely ranked among the nation's best. They have strong professional schools such as the Tuck School of Business (the world's first graduate school of management), Thayer School of Engineering, and the Geisel School of Medicine.

The baby of all the Ivy League schools is Cornell University, having been founded in 1865, almost a century after the previously founded Ivy League school. It was co-founded by businessman and philanthropist Ezra Cornell, and educator and diplomat
Andrew Dickson White. Located in Ithaca, New York, Cornell was founded as a land-grant university, by private and public educational missions, with its Agriculture and Life Sciences programs receiving state funding. Cornell was the first Ivy League school to admit women, and first of all U.S. universities to offer degrees in veterinary medicine.

Among the non-Ivy League schools listed, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Stanford are not Ivies, but are they're equally elite, and belong to different athletic conferences.
While not an Ivy League institutions, these other universities are part of the "Ivy Plus" group-a collection of elite universities that rival the Ivies in reputation and quality:
Johns Hopkins University outperforms some Ivies in fields like medicine, public health, biomedical engineering, and international relations.
The University of Chicago is known for its economics department, and its influential Core Curriculum.
Caltech (California Institute of Technology) is small but an elite science and engineering school.
Duke University combines top-level academics with a strong athletic culture.
Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service (SFS) and Law Center are globally renowned, rivaling Ivy League programs.
Carnegie Mellon dominates in STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), ranking #1 globally for artificial intelligence, computer science, and robotics, outperforming many Ivies in tech and engineering.

Amongst the other answer choices:
Boston College is located near Harvard but is not an Ivy League school.
Colgate is often classified as a "Little Ivy" a group of small, elite liberal arts colleges known for academic excellence and selective admissions including also Amherst, Williams, Wesleyan, and Hamilton.
Penn State is often confused with UPenn, but it is a state school in Pennsylvania, and Cambridge University, not to be confused with Harvard University's Massachusetts location, is a globally renowned university located in England, not the U.S.