Little Ivy Early Decision 2022: Amherst / Williams / Swarthmore

[Anonymous]

They called Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan the Little 3 due to a football rivalry over 100 years ago (a contrast to the big 3 HYP football powerhouses of the time).
In the last 30 or so years, people sometimes refer to Amherst, Swarthmore, and Williams together in that way due to college rankings. They are the only 3 SLACs to be ranked #1 multiple times by UNSWR (Williams has also never been ranked below #3 and Swarthmore and Amherst have never been ranked below #4).
"Little Ivy" is just something people write to get clicks or sell magazines!

[Anonymous]

I think most have seen the historical USNWR ranking sheets: https://andyreiter.com/datasets/. They can be slightly more helpful when thinking about tiers and groupings over time rather than a one- or few-year snapshot (and not just for the very top with schools like these 3 where there is more stability).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They called Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan the Little 3 due to a football rivalry over 100 years ago (a contrast to the big 3 HYP football powerhouses of the time).
In the last 30 or so years, people sometimes refer to Amherst, Swarthmore, and Williams together in that way due to college rankings. They are the only 3 SLACs to be ranked #1 multiple times by UNSWR (Williams has also never been ranked below #3 and Swarthmore and Amherst have never been ranked below #4).
"Little Ivy" is just something people write to get clicks or sell magazines!

It's a marketing ploy by the college prep industry. "HYP", "Ivy plus", "little ivy", etc., are the brands they peddle. Don't let their marketing and business profits determine your worldview and your children's education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They called Amherst, Williams, and Wesleyan the Little 3 due to a football rivalry over 100 years ago (a contrast to the big 3 HYP football powerhouses of the time).
In the last 30 or so years, people sometimes refer to Amherst, Swarthmore, and Williams together in that way due to college rankings. They are the only 3 SLACs to be ranked #1 multiple times by UNSWR (Williams has also never been ranked below #3 and Swarthmore and Amherst have never been ranked below #4).
"Little Ivy" is just something people write to get clicks or sell magazines!

It's a marketing ploy by the college prep industry. "HYP", "Ivy plus", "little ivy", etc., are the brands they peddle. Don't let their marketing and business profits determine your worldview and your children's education.

+1
Most mentions of the Ivy League in general don't make a lot of sense from a normal student or employer perspective. Yes, they are a sports conference of strong universities but schools like Dartmouth, Harvard, and Cornell are so different. On the west coast, many people dream of a few schools in the Pac 12 (Stanford, Cal, UCLA) but no one refers to the conference! Ivy League grads also almost never mention the Ivy League outside of football or the time leading up to the NCAA tourney; they refer to the few schools they are actually referencing by name). I've never heard a Little 3 alum use that term beyond the sports context either (it is clearly a thing in athletics though Amherst and Williams care more about their head-to-head rivalry now).

[Anonymous]

186 acceptances out of 734 ED apps (25%) at Amherst College:

"Some statistics from our Early Decision (ED) round:

734 students applied for ED admission (down slightly from 2021)

We expect the ED admits will represent 39% of the Class of 2027

42% of ED admits (and 44% of ED applicants) submitted standardized test scores for consideration"

[Anonymous]

Little Ivies
From Wikipedia

The Little Ivies are an unofficial group of small, academically competitive private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] 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.[9]

The term is generally and most associated with the colleges of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), with select schools from the Liberty League, Patriot League and the Centennial Conference. The term, however, was in active circulation to depict the original "Little Ivy" schools as schools and not merely athletic rivals at least as early as 1955. The New York Times quotes the President of Swarthmore College saying at the time, "We not only have the Ivy League, and the pretty clearly understood though seldom mentioned gradations within the Ivy League, but we have the Little Ivy League, and the jockeying for position within that."[10]

Among the Little Ivies are the "Little Three", a term used by Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College, and "Maine Big Three", a term used by Colby College, Bates College and Bowdoin College. The term is inspired by the "Big Three" Ivy League athletic rivalry between Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.[11][12]

Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College joined Bowdoin College to found the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in 1971 along with Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Tufts University, and Trinity College. Connecticut College joined in 1977.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Little Ivies
From Wikipedia

The Little Ivies are an unofficial group of small, academically competitive private liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] 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.[9]

The term is generally and most associated with the colleges of the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC), with select schools from the Liberty League, Patriot League and the Centennial Conference. The term, however, was in active circulation to depict the original "Little Ivy" schools as schools and not merely athletic rivals at least as early as 1955. The New York Times quotes the President of Swarthmore College saying at the time, "We not only have the Ivy League, and the pretty clearly understood though seldom mentioned gradations within the Ivy League, but we have the Little Ivy League, and the jockeying for position within that."[10]

Among the Little Ivies are the "Little Three", a term used by Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College, and "Maine Big Three", a term used by Colby College, Bates College and Bowdoin College. The term is inspired by the "Big Three" Ivy League athletic rivalry between Harvard, Princeton, and Yale.[11][12]

Amherst College, Wesleyan University and Williams College joined Bowdoin College to found the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) in 1971 along with Bates College, Colby College, Hamilton College, Middlebury College, Tufts University, and Trinity College. Connecticut College joined in 1977.

Exactly what others have said, the term "Little Ivies" is just made up and isn't something the schools use or refer to themselves by (unlike the actual sports-based Little 3).

[Anonymous]

Outside of that 50s reference, I haven't seen a school use the term. Interesting to see the Swarthmore president call out the differences in the Ivy League!

[Anonymous]

Any news from Amherst or Williams?

[Anonymous]

https://williamsrecord.com/462690/news/college-admits-255-students-to-class-of-2027-through-early-decision-after-record-breaking-943-applications/

[Anonymous]

https://twitter.com/mattmcgann/status/1601326816173563905?s=61&t=jkT3HxmPDx1hw5taWZ4ByA

25% accepted at Amherst tonight

[Anonymous]

Swarthmore tweeted that they will release decisions on the 13th.