The Ivy League is an athletic conference of eight private universities in the Northeast: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale. All eight are highly selective (admitting about 4–9% of applicants), but they differ a lot in size, setting and how much structure their curriculum gives you. Those differences matter more for fit than the shared label.
The Ivy League is a sports league, not a ranking
The name comes from athletics: the eight schools formed the Ivy League as a conference in the 1950s, and they still compete against each other in sports. League rules bar athletic scholarships, and all eight give financial aid based on need. Beyond that, the label says little about what daily life is like at each school.
The eight at a glance
| School | Undergrads | Setting | Acceptance rate | SAT middle 50% | Tuition & fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown | 7,226 | Providence, RI (city) | 5.4% | 1510–1580 | $71,412 |
| Columbia | 8,973 | New York City | 4.0% | 1510–1580 | $71,845 |
| Cornell | 15,995 | Ithaca, NY (small city) | 8.8% | 1500–1570 | $69,314 |
| Dartmouth | 4,541 | Hanover, NH (small town) | 5.4% | 1500–1570 | $68,268 |
| Harvard | 7,601 | Cambridge, MA (city) | 3.7% | 1510–1580 | $61,676 |
| Penn | 10,650 | Philadelphia (city) | 5.4% | 1510–1570 | $68,686 |
| Princeton | 5,709 | Princeton, NJ (town) | 4.6% | 1510–1580 | $62,688 |
| Yale | 6,758 | New Haven, CT (city) | 3.9% | 1470–1570 | $67,250 |
Sources: IPEDS (undergraduate enrollment; admissions for the fall 2024 entering class); U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (published tuition and fees before aid, about the 2023–24 year). You may pay less if receiving grants or scholarships.
Five ways the Ivies really differ
1. Size: from about 4,500 to 16,000 undergraduates
Dartmouth has the fewest undergraduates (about 4,500); Cornell has the most (about 16,000), more than three times as many. Princeton and Yale sit around 6,000–7,000. A smaller school can mean you know more of your classmates; a larger one means more courses, clubs and people to find your niche among.
2. Setting: Manhattan to the New Hampshire woods
Columbia puts you in New York City. Penn is in Philadelphia and Harvard in Cambridge, next to Boston. At the other end, Dartmouth is in a small town in rural New Hampshire, where outdoor life is part of the culture, and Cornell is in Ithaca, a small city in upstate New York.
3. How much structure your classes give you
This is the biggest academic difference, and it's a real fit question:
- Brown has an Open Curriculum: no general course requirements. You design your own path.
- Columbia is the opposite: its Core Curriculum means every Columbia College student takes the same set of seminar courses in literature, philosophy, art and music.
- Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Dartmouth sit in between, with requirements spread across areas but plenty of choice.
If you do your best work with freedom, Brown's model may suit you; if you like a shared intellectual foundation with your classmates, Columbia's may.
4. Applying to the whole university or to one school
At Cornell and Penn, you apply to a specific undergraduate college or school (for example, Penn's Wharton School or Cornell's College of Engineering). At the others, you apply to the university and choose a major later.
5. Calendar and signature traditions
- Dartmouth runs on a quarter system called the D-Plan, with terms you can take on or off campus, including a summer term on campus.
- Princeton asks every student to complete independent work, including a senior thesis.
- Yale and Harvard organize student life around residential colleges or houses, small communities within the larger school.
What all eight share
- High selectivity and similar test-score ranges among enrolled students.
- Research universities, so undergraduates can find professors doing research in most fields.
- Mostly out-of-state students: between 68% (Cornell) and 98% (Dartmouth) of first-year students come from outside the school's home state.
Which Ivy might fit you?
Start with yourself, not the list. Ask:
- Do I want a city around me, or a campus that is the whole world for four years?
- Do I want to design my own education, or follow a shared path?
- Do I know what I want to study (which matters at Cornell and Penn), or do I want time to explore?
Lens helps you answer those questions with seven research-backed assessments, then shows you which kinds of colleges tend to fit people like you. Start with Lens →
FAQ
What are the 8 Ivy League schools? Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale.
Which Ivy League school is the smallest? Dartmouth, with about 4,500 undergraduates.
Which Ivy League school is the largest? Cornell, with about 16,000 undergraduates.
Do Ivy League schools give athletic scholarships? No. League rules bar athletic scholarships; financial aid is based on need.
Is the Ivy League a ranking? No. It's an athletic conference. Each school's fit for you depends on its size, setting and style of learning.
College pages in this group
- Brown University: the Open Curriculum
- Columbia University: the Core Curriculum, in New York City
- Cornell University: the largest Ivy, with separate undergraduate colleges
- Dartmouth College: the smallest Ivy, on the D-Plan
- Harvard University: the oldest U.S. college and its House system
- University of Pennsylvania: four undergraduate schools, including Wharton
- Princeton University: undergraduate focus and the senior thesis
- Yale University: 14 residential colleges
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- Does college selectivity matter? What the research says about fit
- Big 12 schools: the 16 universities and how they differ