Good day everyone, In these article, we are about to put more light to these big question ‘Is Stanford Ivy League?’
Stanford University has cause many heat and arguments as to whether it’s among the Ivy League.
With lots of criteria, Stanford has been at top level and same standards with most of the popularly known Ivies.
These has cause the major confusion on if Stanford is among the Ivy League or not.
At the same time, some might be wondering what the ‘Ivy League‘ is all about but relax and read through as we break it down.
Brief History of Stanford University
Stanford University is one of the world’s leading private research and teaching institution with best of the best students.
Situated at California in the Northwestern part of America covering around 8,180 acres of land.
Officially, it is known as Leland Stanford Junior University and established November 11, 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford.
Leland and Jane founded Stanford in loving memory of their son, Leland Stanford Junior who died of typhoid fever at age 15 in 1884.
Stanford have been ranked by many as one of the best and largest University in the United States (USA).
With a strict admission process as their acceptance rate is 4% (they admit 4 out of every 100 applicant). Weird right?
Stanford has also been dubbed as ‘Ivy of the West‘ due to its top notch standard with the Ivy League members school.
That is because they keep their standard as one of the best university and only admit best of the best students to the school.
What is Ivy League?
The Ivy League is a group of sports teams of American collegiate playing against each other in a competitive sports league.
These collegiate officially consist of only 8 private research universities in the Northeastern part of America.
The term Ivy League was first used in 1933 and became official after the formation of Athletic conference in 1954.
Ivy League started as a sports contest among the top elite college in the Northeastern part of America.
With the first mention of Ivy in reference to a group of colleges is from sportswriter Stanley Woodward.
“A proportion of our eastern ivy colleges are meeting little fellows another Saturday before plunging into the strife and the turmoil.”
— Stanley Woodward, New York Tribune, October 14, 1933.
Also the first known instance of the Ivy League happened to be in 1935.
When most sportswriters used the term to describe older colleges in the northeast part of America.
The term Ivy League was used for them then due to the fact that they participated in the intercollegiate athletics.
With those college been the first school to participate in such activities.
However, none of those institutions as at then made any effort to form an athletic league.
Nowadays, the Ivy League is seen as a term more than just the earlier sports contest league.
The Ivy League is now seen as an elite group of institutions, highly selective, academic excellence and research prowess.
Is Stanford an Ivy League University?
With all been said and explained earlier, we may be convinced to say Stanford is an Ivy League University.
When we think of Ivy League University, we’ll probably picture them with some certain characteristics.
These characteristics includes academic prestige, groundbreaking scientific research, and high-powered, world-renowned alumni.
But to answer the question which is ‘Is Stanford an Ivy League University?’.
Technically, Stanford is not an Ivy League University. However, can be categorized or label an Ivies.
As it has all the characteristics and what it entails to be an Ivy League members.
While we said Ivy League started as an athletic conference, it is now much more of academic and research prowess.
And Stanford has everything it takes to be seen as an Ivy as it is unofficially tagged ‘Havard of the West‘.
Interestingly, it often ranked ahead of most Ivy League members institution by some national publications.
Why Stanford is confused as an Ivy League member?
Yes, many people confused and believed Stanford to be an Ivy League member for some genuine reasons.
When you think of Ivy League, you tagged the term with elite school, most selective, academic excellence and research prowess.
Not to forget, the initial purpose of the league as athletic conference. In which Stanford also fit in well.
Stanford is clearly one of the most respected universities in America and the universe.
With it’s high demand and low acceptance rate of 4% (lowest in the country).
It’s not bad people believe it must be an Ivy League member.
It has also come ahead most of the Ivy league members in some national publications ranking.
According to niche.com, a publication that review student and alumni of universities account. Stanford ranks in the following:
- #3 overall among universities in America
- #2 Best College for Student Athletes in America
- #3 College with the Best Academics in America
- #3 Best Value Colleges in America.
Times Higher Education(magazine) also rank Stanford #2 university in the world second to University of Oxford (United Kingdom).
While Washington Monthly award Stanford #1 in the country beating all the members of the Ivy league in the ranking.
Ivy League Members University
Ivy League was established in 1954 and officially consist of Eight (8) members only which we’ll list below:
| Institution | Location | Nickname |
|---|---|---|
| Brown University | Providence, Rhode Island | Bears |
| Columbia University | New York City, New York | Lions |
| Cornell University | Ithaca, New York | Big Red |
| Dartmouth College | Hanover, New Hampshire | Big Green |
| Harvard University | Cambridge, Massachusetts | Crimson |
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Quakers |
| Princeton University | Princeton, New Jersey | Tigers |
| Yale University | New Haven, Connecticut | Bulldogs |
Conclusion – Stanford is not an Ivy but ‘Ivy of the West’.
To summarize everything being said in these article, we have come to agree that Stanford is not an Ivy.
But in many ways, it might as well be an Ivy with some definite reasons to think of.
Stanford is seen by many scholars as the ‘Ivy of the West’ with it’s remarkable impact and innovative research.
Ranking ahead most of the Ivy members in many ranking criteria as it’s rare to see Stanford below top 10 of any ranking criteria.
When put together Stanford academic excellence, strong athletic, selective and the great modern research.
It’s clearly easy to see why people often think of Stanford as an Ivy or even greater than an Ivy.