What are the differences between the Ivy Leagues?

tk21769
Sat, 03 Jul 2010 16:35:50 +0000

Among the 8 Ivies there are differences in academic structure. Cornell and Penn have relatively more pre-professional programs (finance and nursing at Penn; agriculture, architecture, and hotel management at Cornell). The others focused more exclusively on liberal arts, sciences, and engineering.

Columbia has a Core Curriculum (with specific general education requirements for all undergraduates). Brown has an Open Curriculum (with near total freedom to choose courses) and allows students to take any course on a pass/fail basis. Most of the others have conventional distribution requirements.

Princeton is the only Ivy without a medical school; it does not have law or business schools either. Brown has a med school but does not have business or law schools. Dartmouth has medical and business schools but does not have a law school. The other 5 Ivies all have medicine, business, and law schools. With these differences in mind, and the size differences among their divisions, it might be said that Princeton, Brown, and Dartmouth are relatively “undergraduate focused” (though all 8 schools offer small average class sizes and strong undergraduate arts and science programs.)

Yes, there are historical ties that predate the athletic conference (as I intimated above). However, in some important respects (such as the Core curriculum and urban location) Columbia has more in common with Chicago than with Dartmouth or Brown. Penn and Cornell, in their variety of pre-professional programs, are more similar to Northwestern than to Princeton. So I think the Ivy brand can create an impression that these schools are more alike than they really are, although it is a convenient shorthand for some of the best national universities in the Northeast