What are your thoughts and knowledge on the Little Ivies?

27 comments

1. Honestly… never heard of ’em.

2. I grew up in the NYC burbs in a hypercompetitive school district, and the little Ivies were well known and presitgious – not Ivy level, but you’d still slap that sticker on the back of your dad’s Saab. I now live in the middle of Missouri and I would guess that most people have no clue about the term or the NESCAC colleges generally.

3. I graduated from one of the Little Ivies. I went to a large high school so it was refreshing to go to a college which was smaller. The atmosphere and education were great, but afterwards it was harder to land a first job because they don’t have the same kind of name recognition outside of academia.

4. I’m a graduate of a “Little Ivy”. There’s a strong regional reputation, but not the national/ international reputation that actual Ivies or other large elite universities have.

   Honestly, I think the Ivy League thing is dumb. It’s just an athletic conference, like the Big 10 or the SEC. How has it become an academic prestige thing?

   FWIW, lots of personal connections with Ivy connections. Many family/friends are ivy grads or professors.

5. All I know is they’re colleges, and my thoughts on college are generally positive, i think post-secondary education is a good thing, both for the individual and the country.

6. I applied to a few of them I think. then I ended up graduating from a PUBLIC!!!!!!!!! ivy which clearly was the superior and best choice.

7. Not what people mean when they say ivy. I’ve never heard of most of them

8. I had to look up the list. I know them as “rich dumb kids schools”

9. I went to one!

   I did pretty well in life but a lot of my colleagues went on to really amazing success, as good or better than people I know who went to ivies.

10. I’ve heard of a couple of them, but they’re not widely known outside the Northeast. While I’m sure they’re probably good schools, they just aren’t large or well known enough to have the same level of relevance as a lot of top non ivy schools such as Duke, MIT, Georgetown, or the University of Michigan

11. I would personally put CalTech and CMU way above any of the little ivies listed on Wikipedia for any sort of STEM field.

    Truthfully when I think prestigious none of the little ivies come to mind.

12. I had to look them up. Some are well known in their own right; others I had never heard of. Honestly, “Little Ivy” status sounds like a Northeastern U.S. preoccupation – and so fairly removed from my experience.

13. Outside of academia I can’t imagine why anyone would care about this very much. They’re excellent universities, what’s there to discuss?

14. Recent grad? “Do not hire.”

15. I’ve never heard that term before. By reading other comments, I see that they are schools, and one school is the same as the next to me.

16. I love small liberal arts colleges so they’re my jam 😀

17. Do you mean like Cornell and Penn?

    jk (kind of)

18. I’ve never heard of this term

19. I went to one of those small private schools parents brag about. I would have gotten the same education and been more employable for 150k less at my local public school.

    When I worked in education I usually told kids not to go to private schools unless they had a reason.

20. I looked them up. I haven’t heard of half of them, Bucknell, Union? A college called Connecticut that is not the University of? I guess Vassar and Tufts are sort of known.

21. I looked at some of the less insanely selective NESCACs and considered Hamilton pretty seriously. Ended up at a similar tiny, prestigious-yet-obscure, stereotypically preppy liberal arts college (but in Tennessee). I had a tough freshman year, but turned it around. I received an excellent education, was able to find some success in my sport of choice, and met some wonderful people that I’m still close with.

    I would do it again without question, but I fully recognize the experience is not for everyone.

22. Union College has an amazing history, a gorgeous campus, and when I went gave you a very well rounded Education.

    I had to take laser optics as an engineering credit, even though I was a poly sci major.

23. Never heard of them.

24. I grew up in the northeast and went to a somewhat competitive high school where people were preoccupied with college, although I graduated just before the era of total insanity. I only applied to three colleges.

    We didn’t talk about “little ivies” exactly but everybody knew there is a category of schools that are not Ivy League but are “really good.” These schools were big targets for a lot of people, and indeed, tons of my friends from HS went to a “little ivy.”

25. I don’t think they are well-known outside of the Northeast, or even some in the NE itself. For “those who know”, they have social respectability. In elitist areas, parents at a cocktail party wouldn’t be ashamed to say where their kids went. But, other guests may pity the family for not getting Dinty into an Ivy.

26. I don’t have any real thoughts on them.

    The Ivy League and NESCAC (the Little Ivies) are just sports conferences. Ivy League schools have far more name recognition but Little Ivies are very good too. They’re regional colleges though. The closer you live to New England then the more familiar you’ll be with them.

27. I know more about the public Ivies because that’s where I went. Woo hoo.