The Ivy League Schools

The Ivy League Schools are eight colleges in the East Coast of the United States that are renowned all over the country and the world for their significant history and high academic standards. These schools were among the first academic institutions founded in the United States:

Brown University in 1764
Harvard University in 1636
Columbia University in 1754
University of Pennsylvania in 1740
Cornell University in 1865
Princeton University in 1746
Dartmouth College in 1769
Yale University in 1701

The term “Ivy League” actually refers to an annual athletic competition where sports teams from the eight colleges compete against each other. A sports writer for the New York Herald Tribune named Stanley Woodward was responsible for coining the term “Ivy League” and in 1945, the president of the eight universities established rules on the games, season, and budgets in order to balance academics and athletics. Despite its history in sports, the Ivy League schools do not award athletic scholarships and apply the same standards for athletes and non athletes.