The Little Ivies (singularly Little Ivy) are a group of elite, highly academically competitive private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States.
The term Little Ivy derives from these schools' small student bodies, standards of academic excellence, associated historic social prestige, and highly selective admissions comparable to the Ivy League. According to Bloomberg, the Little Ivies are also known for their large financial endowments, both absolutely and relative to their size. The term is generally associated with the colleges of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) and select schools from the Liberty League, Patriot League and the Centennial Conference.
Video Little Ivies
Relationship to NESCAC
Among the Little Ivies are the Little Three, a term for the historic relationship in sports among Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College, and a play upon the much earlier established rivalry among the Big Three of the Northeast's renowned Ivy League: Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. In 1955 the Little Three joined in competition with Bowdoin College, which in time led to the formal establishment of the larger and enduring New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in 1971. It added Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Tufts University, Trinity College and Union College. Union withdrew in 1977 and was replaced by Connecticut College in 1982.
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Contemporary use
A 2016 article by Bloomberg Businessweek lists the members of the Little Ivies as:
The Little Ivies are also sub-grouped by the following consortia:
- The New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) current and former members: Amherst, Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Union, Wesleyan and Williams.
- The colleges of the "Little Three": Amherst, Wesleyan, and Williams. This athletic league was founded as the "Triangular League" in 1899 in New England The term has also been used to compare the three institutions with the Big Three of the Ivy League: Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.
- The colleges of the Colby-Bates-Bowdoin Consortium (CBB), an athletic conference among three academically selective colleges colloquially known as the "Maine Big Three": Bates College, Bowdoin College, and Colby College.
See also
- Quaker Consortium
- Black Ivy League -- informal list of colleges that attracted top African American students prior to the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s
- Jesuit Ivy -- Use of "Ivy" to characterize Boston College
- Public Ivies -- Group of public U.S. universities thought to "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price"
- Seven Sisters -- Historically, these were women's colleges each of which had a close tie to an Ivy League (then, men-only) school.
- Southern Ivies -- Use of "Ivy" to characterize excellent universities in the U. S. South
- Golden Triangle (English universities) -- a group of leading English universities
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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