Public Ivy
Public Ivy is a term coined by Richard Moll in his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities to refer to universities which "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price."[1] Public Ivies are considered, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, to be capable of "successfully competing with the Ivy League schools in academic rigor... attracting superstar faculty and in competing for the best and brightest students of all races."[2]
Origins of the term
Moll, who earned his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University in 1959,[3] was an admissions officer at Yale, and the director of admissions at Bowdoin College, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Vassar College.[3][4][5] He traveled the nation examining higher education and in particular, identified eight public institutions (the same as the number of Ivy League members) which he thought had the look and feel of an Ivy League university. In addition to academic excellence, other factors considered by Moll included those that were visually like an Ivy League, aged as an Ivy League, had traditions like an Ivy League, and so forth.
The original eight Public Ivies
The original eight Public Ivies list by Moll (1985):[2]
- College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
- Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
- University of California (campuses as of 1985)[6]
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Texas A&M University at College Station
- University of Vermont (Burlington)
- University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
Moll also offered in the same book "a list of worthy runners-up" and brief summaries of them[7]:
- University of Colorado at Boulder
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- New College of the University of South Florida (Now New College of Florida)
- Pennsylvania State University at University Park
- University of Pittsburgh
- State University of New York at Binghamton
- University of Washington at Seattle
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
Greenes' Guides
The more recent and expansive Greene's list (including a list of approximately 30 schools) had one focus alone: public schools with academic quality comparable to an Ivy League institution.
The Public Ivies according to Greene's Guides
A later book titled The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities (2001) by Howard and Matthew Greene of Greene's Guides expanded upon the first list (italicized below) to include 30 colleges and universities.[8]
Institutional comparisons
Academic comparisons and rankings
Moll and Greenes did not address the issue of prestige associated with the various schools reviewed. No direct comparison was made between a Public Ivy and any other school.
Many of the institutions categorized as "Public Ivies" have a large number of faculty, or alumni, who have been awarded prizes for their achievements in their respective field including the Nobel Prize (See Nobel Prize laureates by university affiliation), Fields Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize.[citation needed]
Several schools considered as "Public Ivies" are consistently ranked among the top schools in the multitude of surveys on American colleges and universities undertaken by U.S. News & World Report. For instance, U.S. News and World Report ranks University of California-Berkeley third and University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign fourth overall in undergraduate and graduate engineering, the University of Washington medical school has been consistently ranked as the top program for Primary Care and medicine,[9] and the law schools of the University of Michigan and University of Virginia are always ranked in the top ten.
In general undergraduate rankings, U.S. News and World Report consistently ranks Ivy League institutions above the Public Ivies.
Athletic comparisons
One sharp distinction between the Ivy League and most "Public Ivies" is their participation in intercollegiate athletics. One of the Ivy League's distinguishing characteristics is its prohibition on the awarding of athletic scholarships (athletes may only receive the same financial aid to which they would be entitled even if they did not play a sport). In contrast, many of the "Public Ivies" participate in major athletic conferences such as the Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, SEC, or Pac-10; award athletic scholarships; and rely on profits, if any, from large-scale football and men's basketball programs to support the athletic department as a whole.
See also
- Colonial colleges
- Ivy League
- Black Ivy League
- Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence
- Little Ivies
- Seven Sisters
- Southern Ivies
- Flagship university
References and other resources
Citations
- ^ Richard Moll in his book Public Ivys: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities (1985)
- ^ a b "Comparing Black Enrollments at the Public Ivies". Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 2005. Retrieved 2006-09-03.
{{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ a b Branch, Mark Alden (2000). "Deciphering the Admissions Map". Yale Alumni Magazine. 109 (11). Retrieved 2008-02-09.
¶16: But Richard Moll '59MDiv, a former Yale admissions officer who later oversaw admissions at Bowdoin and Vassar, thinks Yale still is not as visible as it should be. "Yale has not had the presence at grassroots admissions and counseling conferences that Harvard and Stanford have," says Moll, author of Playing the Selective College Admissions Game.
{{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help); Unknown parameter|month=ignored (help) - ^ Pierce, Kenneth M. (24 November 1980). "Dr. Fix-It Goes to Santa Cruz". Time. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
Trouble in paradise as "the touchy-feely school" sings the blues -- Richard Moll, 45, a tweedy graduate of Yale's Divinity School, has become a Dr. Fix-It for colleges that complain of sagging enrollment.
{{cite journal}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Paul Marthers, Dean of Admission. "Admissions Messages vs. Admissions Realities". Office of Admissions. Reed College. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
- ^ In Moll's book, he refers to the entire UC system
- ^ Moll, Richard (1985). The Public Ivys: A Guide to America's Best Undergraduate Colleges and Universities. Viking Penguin Inc. p. xxvi. 0-670-58205-0
- ^ Greenes' Guides: The Public Ivies (accessed on May 16, 2007); see also [1].
- ^ U.S. News and World Report (2006 Pharmacy program rankings), accessed 21 October 2006.
Books
- Greene, Howard (2001). The Public Ivies: America's Flagship Public Universities. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 006093459X.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Greene, Howard (2000). Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 0060953624.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - Moll, Richard (1985). The Public Ivies: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities. New York: Penguin (Viking). ISBN 0140093842.
- Robert Franek ... (2006). The Best 361 Colleges, 2007 Edition. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Review. ISBN 0375765581.