history of ivies

[bewitched1081]

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http://www.grossweb.com/ivyhist.htm

will possibly give you a different perspective. which begs the question, "how and when did they obtain such a prestigious status in the academic world?" can sports do this for a school?

 

[Lux Aeterna]

I don't think it is the sports that confers the rep that these 8 schools have. Ivy League teams are usually the worst (oops-- i'm thinking of the big tv exposure sports like football and bball... I realize that some of the schools are strong in lacrosse and squash etc).

I think the rep for, at least, HYP, comes from the age and traditions of these institutions.

 

[bullhorn]

Um its pretty common knowledge (at least to those that have gone to Ivies), that the Ivy League, although it signifies academic prestige etc now, is and was merely an athletic conference essentially. Stanford isn't an Ivy simply because its in the PAC-10 lol. 😉

Oh and before I get potentially flamed by Ivy Leaguers, my degree on the wall is from Princeton. 😱

 

[Rendar5]

I'm pretty sure that as sports got worse and worse, the school's academic prestige improved. So logically, that makes Columbia better than all you guys 🙂.

 

[hypersting]

Yes, the Ivy League is SPORTS Conference. They exist as academic powerhouses for a variety of reasons. They are among the oldest schools (Harvard is the oldest at 1636, you got it... due to the Pilgrim settlers). As a result, usually those doing something the longest are the best at it. Plus they had the established tradition to attract students. However, in the 20th century, the explosion in prestige mongers, like people who peruse these boards (myself included) and fueled more recently by US News Rankings turned the Ivy League into a synonym for tough school. To the credit of the schools, they never offered athletic scholarships and have always kept academics their top priority. They were actually pretty good at athletics back then, 2 of the first 3 Heisman Trophy winners were Yalies. The first winner went to the University of Chicago which no longer even has a football team.
Historically speaking, people tended to matriculate locally to the best school they could go which would naturally be the most established, hence the dominance in Ivy League Schools in producing bright graduates. Some schools messed up in this regard, Rutgers (It was founded before Cornell and Dartmouth)didn't join the Ivy League as was their right, but instead tried to emulate Penn State. Now they are neither an academic nor an athletic powerhouse. Oops.

 

[ice_23]

I think here's where we should give it up for Stanford and Duke, who maintain great academics and great sports in tough conferences (Pac-10 & ACC respectively).

🙂

-Ice

 

[LP1CW]

The general public recongizes the phrase "Ivy League." All you have to do is say you attend an Ivy League school and people are impressed. However, my pest friend is at UPenn and many people aren't even aware of the fact that it's an IVy.

I'm a senior at Harvard and most of my friends here never think about Ivy this or that. In fact, when people are talking about colleges or schools, when I'm back in NYC, I usually tell them that I go to school in Boston. It's an odd thing, but the Harvard name carries too much, way too much weight. People make assumptions that aren't always true.

I have another good friend at Rutgers, not a bad school. He's extremely bright. It's not about the name. I think you can get a great education in the sciences at many, many collleges and universities.

My girlfriend, we've been together for a few months doesn't even attend college. At first, I was concerned because of the family differences. She's Italian American and when we met, she worked as a waitress. I'm a Jewish kid from the city. So, I was so worried, too worried.

She's now my best friend, lover. She's going to start college next fall, maybe Hunter College. However, it's going to depend upon where I go to medical school, NYC or Boston.

It's early, but I'm sure that we'll stay together. So, the Ivy League crap has no value in any of our lives. It's about integrity and quality of the person that matters to me. I've dated woman from money, great families, education and what I've found is that none of that is going to make you happy. It's about choosing to be with a person that truly loves you.

 

[Supadupafly]

Originally posted by hypersting
Yes, the Ivy League is SPORTS Conference. They exist as academic powerhouses for a variety of reasons. They are among the oldest schools (Harvard is the oldest at 1636, you got it... due to the Pilgrim settlers). As a result, usually those doing something the longest are the best at it. Plus they had the established tradition to attract students. However, in the 20th century, the explosion in prestige mongers, like people who peruse these boards (myself included) and fueled more recently by US News Rankings turned the Ivy League into a synonym for tough school. To the credit of the schools, they never offered athletic scholarships and have always kept academics their top priority. They were actually pretty good at athletics back then, 2 of the first 3 Heisman Trophy winners were Yalies. The first winner went to the University of Chicago which no longer even has a football team.
Historically speaking, people tended to matriculate locally to the best school they could go which would naturally be the most established, hence the dominance in Ivy League Schools in producing bright graduates. Some schools messed up in this regard, Rutgers (It was founded before Cornell and Dartmouth)didn't join the Ivy League as was their right, but instead tried to emulate Penn State. Now they are neither an academic nor an athletic powerhouse. Oops.

That is, the rich white legacy students matriculated at the best schools. The Ivies have come a long way and are all great schools now, but remember, they got their start by employing elitist racist and classist policies. I imagine this explains some of the lingering prestige. For instance, who wouldn't want to go to a school that, not so long ago, their grandparents couldn't have gone to with a 4.0 and 1500 SAT? No wonder that while the Ivies are still up there, public schools have come to dominate the ratings, in terms of objective criteria.

 

[Kashue]

Originally posted by Supadupafly
That is, the rich white legacy students matriculated at the best schools. The Ivies have come a long way and are all great schools now, but remember, they got their start by employing elitist racist and classist policies. I imagine this explains some of the lingering prestige. For instance, who wouldn't want to go to a school that, not so long ago, their grandparents couldn't have gone to with a 4.0 and 1500 SAT? No wonder that while the Ivies are still up there, public schools have come to dominate the ratings, in terms of objective criteria.

It's still true today....George Bush - didn't he get around 1200's on the SAT's and C's/D's at yale?

 

[ATPase]

But I thought Bush was really smart!

 

[ms. a]

Originally posted by Kashue
It's still true today....George Bush - didn't he get around 1200's on the SAT's and C's/D's at yale?

Actually, he graduated in the top 80% of his class. You can't get too many C's and D's and still do that.

 

[Rendar5]

top 80%? wow, that's so great!

edit: I looked it up and he had a 1.68 GPA from Yale. Granted this may have been a bit better back then than it is today.

 

[bullhorn]

Originally posted by ms. a
Actually, he graduated in the top 80% of his class. You can't get too many C's and D's and still do that.

It's pretty common knowledge that Bush was a C student and SLUSH (read Frat boy who partied all the time) at Yale! Besides, the top 80% means he was only performing better than 20% of his class. So, I reckon you can get plenty of Cs and Ds and still do that. 😛


Yes L1PCW, alot of people confused UPENN with Pennstate and therefore don't place into the Ivy league category. My sister went to Upenn and I swear she would cringe everytime someone said Penn State LOL. Of course when you go to Princeton, and are black, you can rest assured most people don't know that school either. I don't know how many times people asked me, "So, where is Princeton?" LMAO I agree with your philosophy...in the larger scheme of things, who cares?