Little Ivies Totally Explained

Everything about Little Ivies totally explained

Little Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American colleges and universities; however, it doesn't denote any official organization.
The term "Little Ivies" was created by marketing groups, journalists, and some educators to promote other colleges as "Ivies" (for example, Public Ivies; Southern Ivies; and Canadian Ivies). These uses of "ivy" are intended to promote the other schools by comparing them to the Ivy League, but unlike the "Ivy League" label, they've no canonical definition.
Institutions identified as Little Ivies are usually old, small, exclusive, of WASP (Yankee) origin, and academically competitive liberal arts colleges located in the northeastern United States. The colloquialism is meant to imply that Little Ivies share similarities with the universities of the Ivy League.

It is sometimes synonymous with the "Little Three," Amherst, Wesleyan, and Williams. (The term "Little Three" is well-defined as a former athletic league, and has often been used to identify these schools as a socially and academically elite trio.
It can refer to the schools of the modern-day New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), which includes the "Little Three" together with Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut, Middlebury, Tufts, Hamilton, and Trinity.
Greene and Greene's guide, uses it to refer to "Amherst, Bowdoin, Colby, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, and Williams," schools which it says have "scaled the heights of prestige and selectivity and also turn away thousands of our best and brightest young men and women."

Some schools that are often called "Little Ivies" include:

Institution	Location	Little Three	Greene's Guides	NESCAC	Notes
Amherst College	Amherst, Massachusetts
Bates College	Lewiston, Maine
Bowdoin College	Brunswick, Maine
Colby College	Waterville, Maine
Connecticut College	New London, Connecticut
Hamilton College	Clinton, New York
Haverford College	Haverford, Pennsylvania				(External Link) (External Link) (External Link) (External Link)
Middlebury College	Middlebury, Vermont
Swarthmore College	Swarthmore, Pennsylvania				(External Link) (External Link) (External Link) (External Link)
Trinity College	Hartford, Connecticut
Tufts University	Medford, Massachusetts				No longer a small liberal arts college; university with over 9,000 students.
Wesleyan University	Middletown, Connecticut
Williams College	Williamstown, Massachusetts

History

Founding of the institutions

Institution	Founded	Founding religious affiliation
Amherst College	1821	Congregationalist
Bates College	1855 as Maine State Seminary	Free Will Baptist
Bowdoin College	1794	Congregationalist
Colby College	1813 as Maine Literary and Theological Institution	Northern Baptist
Connecticut College	1911	Methodist
Hamilton College	1812	Presbyterian
Haverford College	1833	Quaker
Middlebury College	1800	Congregationalist
Swarthmore College	1864	Quaker
Trinity College	1823	Episcopalian
Tufts University	1852	Universalist Church
Wesleyan University	1831	Methodist
Williams College	1793	Congregationalist

Related colleges

The schools of the Seven Sisters, historically women's colleges, could be considered a counterpart of the Little Ivies. Schools in this group are occasionally described as "little Ivies" themselves; for example, the Business Times of Singapore mentions "Amherst, Williams, Smith, Wellesley and Swarthmore" as examples.

Examples of use

The New York Times, February 10, 1955, p. 33 quotes the President of Swarthmore, describing and decrying social snobbery: "We not only have the Ivy League, and the pretty clearly understood though seldom mentioned gradations within the Ivy League, but we've the Little Ivy League, and the jockeying for position within that."

Harvard Magazine

Associate Justice Kennedy

Episcopal High School of Houston

Midwest Elite Hockey League

The Williams Club

The Atlantic Monthly: "Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams"

Tamalpais Union High School District

: "Amherst, Bowdoin, Hamilton, Haverford, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams."

Boston Globe, September 20, 1985, p. 36 refers to "The New England Small College Athletic Conference (alias NESCAC or the 'Little Ivies')".

"'Little Ivies' big lure for black scholars"

, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 29, 2006: mentions Amherst, Middlebury, Holy Cross, Bowdoin, Hampshire as "colleges [that] are sometimes known as 'little Ivies,' because they've the image of exclusivity typical of Ivy League schools."

The Observer of Case Western Reserve University equates the "Little Ivy League" with the NESCAC ("Mentoring program links faculty and student athletes"

, Matt Cannan September 22, 2006).Further Information

Get more info on 'Little Ivies'.

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