The Ivy League is often used as shorthand to describe the very best colleges and universities. While they were founded as an athletic association, their academic reputations are well earned, and they are frequently regarded as some of the top schools in the country. These are often lumped in with a number of other top private schools to form the “Ivy+” designation.
Of course, this term then got applied to many other groups of schools which wanted to showcase their academic prowess. So now we have the “Little Ivies” for liberal arts schools, the “Southern Ivies” for schools across the South, and the “Public Ivies” for excellent public colleges. In this article, we’re going to look at how this group of public colleges compares to the Ivy League, and whether or not you should consider adding them to your college list.
What are the Public Ivies?
Unlike the actual Ivy League, the Public Ivies are not a solidly defined term. There is no formal membership or association; instead the term was created in 1985 in a book listing what the author believed to be the top public schools. As this is not a set list or association, the schools known as public ivies have varied over time, as different schools or programs rose or faded in prominence.
These schools tend to be large flagship state schools, with impressive academic pedigrees. Many of these schools are well regarded, and there are not any particular surprises on the list. Here is the revised list of schools, as published in 2001:
- Pennsylvania State University (University Park)
- Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey)
- State University of New York at Binghamton
- University of Connecticut (Storrs)
- College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
- University of Delaware (Newark)
- University of Maryland, College Park
- University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
- University of Arizona (Tucson)
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, Irvine
- University of California, Los Angeles
- University of California, San Diego
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- University of Colorado Boulder
- University of Washington (Seattle)
- Indiana University Bloomington
- Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
- Michigan State University (East Lansing)
- Ohio State University (Columbus)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- University of Iowa (Iowa City)
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- University of Florida (Gainesville)
- University of Georgia (Athens)
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- University of Texas at Austin
There are not many surprises on this list; these schools are generally quite well regarded, both by students and the general academic community. The question then is how they measure up to the Ivy League schools they are being compared with. To determine this, we’re first going to look at general comparisons, and then do a few direct comparisons.
Comparing the Public Ivies to the Ivy League
The biggest difference between these schools and the Ivy League is right there in the name. These are all public colleges, as opposed to the private schools which make up the Ivy League. There are significant structural differences between public and private schools, in terms of funding, applications, and the very size of the schools themselves.
Notably, these schools are all beholden in some way to the state they are based in, which provides a significant degree of their funding, and has a say in their admissions standards, administration, and priorities as an institution. Private schools, in contrast, are only beholden to their boards, who tend not be quite as active.
Public schools are also significantly larger; the schools on this list have tens of thousands of students, while most of the Ivy League is significantly smaller. A notable exception is Cornell; its 26,000 students are far more than anywhere else in the Ivy League, and in many ways it has more in common with the public colleges.
Most (but not all) of the public colleges have multiple separate internal colleges, which can have different admissions chances and make changing between them difficult. The Ivy League has more schools which follow a liberal arts model, where all undergraduates are part of a single college. This is not universal; Cornell and UPenn both have multiple subsidiary colleges within them, and Princeton and Columbia have separate schools for Engineering and Liberal Arts.
Private colleges tend to be more expensive, but also have more generous financial aid policies. Public schools are much cheaper for in-state students, but can end up costing more, as they do not have the same level of resources for distributing need-based aid. Conversely, these state schools are much more likely to distribute merit aid, which the Ivy League does not offer at all.
A final notable difference is acceptance rates. While it is quite hard to get into many of the public schools (especially for out of state students), their acceptance rates are still notably higher than their private counterparts. There is also significant variety between the public schools; UCLA’s acceptance rate is noticeably lower than that of Ohio State.
Now that we’ve compared the general traits of Ivy League schools to their public counterparts, we’re going to do a few direct comparisons, to see how some of these schools measure up head to head.
UT Austin vs Harvard
These are two of the most popular schools we help students apply to; UT Austin as we are a company primarily based in Texas, and Harvard because, well, it’s Harvard. While you can get a great education at both schools, let’s see how they compare directly:
| UT Austin | Harvard | |
| Undergrad Population | 41,000 | 6,500 |
| Acceptance Rate | 29.1% | 3.5% |
| Tuition | $34,470/$67,392 | $82,866 |
| Number of Majors | 77 | 50 |
| Location | Austin, Texas | Cambridge, MA |
| Average Class Size | 30 | 12 |
So what does this collection of numbers tell us? That Harvard is smaller, more expensive, and more competitive than UT Austin. Of course, colleges are more than just their acceptance and graduation rates; colleges are communities of people living and working together, and the overall atmosphere they have can vary greatly; so let’s examine that. This is harder to sum up on a table, so we’ll make some broader comparisons.
Harvard is a small school; while you will not know everyone there, you will know everyone in your dorm, and likely everyone in your major. All students live on campus for their first year, and a significant number stay on campus all four years.
UT Austin is large; you will not know everyone in the school, you may not even meet everyone in your major, depending on what you are studying. While most students live on campus their first year, not all do; housing is limited. Most students live off-campus after their first year.
The student population at Harvard tends to come from well-off backgrounds; there are approximately equivalent numbers of students from the top .1% of earners and the bottom 20%. This is not inherently bad, but it does shape the vibe at the school; students are used to seeing things from a certain perspective. UT Austin is less extreme, but has a similar trend; approximately equal numbers of students come from the top 1% and bottom 20% at the school.
Yale vs UC Berkeley
Harvard and Yale are a classic pairing, one of the oldest college rivalries in the US, both for sports and everything else. UC Berkeley does not share the same kind of rivalry with UT Austin, but is another premier public school in a large state, so makes for a good benchmark to compare.
| UC Berkeley | Yale | |
| Undergrad Population | 31,000 | 6,000 |
| Acceptance Rate | 11.7% | 4.5% |
| Tuition | $42,144/$76,344 | $90,975 |
| Number of Majors | 150 | 80 |
| Location | Berkeley, CA | New Haven, CT |
| Average Class Size | 25 | 18 |
UC Berkeley is larger, less expensive, and slightly easier to get into than Yale, though not by as much as you might expect. It offers more majors, but that too is unsurprising; it has more resources and more need for professors, so can cover more fields of study overall.
Outside of the numbers, these are very different schools; they sit on opposite coasts, with very different climates and surrounding areas. They attract different populations, with Berkeley serving almost entirely Californians, whereas Yale serves students from all corners of the globe.
Yale is small enough that you will know a significant number of your fellow students, though still too large to expect to know everyone. UC Berkeley, in contrast, is large enough that you may not even know everyone in your major, and there will be large swathes of your classmates you will never interact with.
A Note on Honors Colleges
The biggest differences between the so-called Public Ivies and their Ivy League counterparts come from the inevitable differences of scale that exist between large public universities and small private ones. More students means larger classes, more competition for the attention of professors, and more work on your part to form a community which shares your interests.
In many ways, honors colleges bridge this exact gap. They exist to form a smaller and more tightly knit community within a large school, one which mimics the feeling of a small liberal arts college. While you can still take advantage of the extended resources of a large public university, you also gain many of the benefits of a smaller school, including increased access to professors and research and networking opportunities.
While not every college in the public ivies has an associated honors college, they are still an option worth exploring. If you are looking for more information about how honors colleges work, see our article here. These honors programs also often have extensive aid, just like the smaller colleges they are emulating, another perk for students who are considering them.
Final Thoughts
The term Ivy League has grown to be associated with excellence in education, leading many to associate colleges which are not actually in the league with them. This is unsurprising; sorting things into groups to better understand them is a long human tradition, and colleges are no exception. We hope this article has helped understand what the public ivies offer, and how they compare to their private counterparts.
Choosing the right college is always a challenge; one we often work with students on to determine what offerings best suit their needs. If you are uncertain whether the public ivies or Ivy League is right for you, or have any other concerns about finding a best fit college, schedule a free consultation with us today. We have a long experience helping students find and get into the best colleges for them, and are always happy to hear from you.
