IVY LEAGUE; Columbia, Pennsylvanian, Brown & Princeton

Hello readers, in my last article, I gave a very short introduction regarding Ivy league and two universities residing within this league. Today I am going to make a short introduction regarding others as well. Please know one thing that this is only a short introduction with known information and nothing creative or unique information is required to write articles as such. Simply put, all I am doing is compiling information from many sources in one place. So, let’s dive into it-

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Columbia University is one of the most famous institutes in the whole world. The Engineering and applied science division of this University has gained much fame than any other universities in the USA as well as in the world. However, it has a very interesting historical background.

Columbia University was founded in 1754 as King’s College by royal charter of King George II of England. It is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth oldest in the United States. In July 1754, Samuel Johnson held the first classes in a new schoolhouse adjoining Trinity Church, located on what is now lower Broadway in Manhattan. There were eight students in the class. At King’s College, the future leaders of colonial society could receive an education designed to “enlarge the Mind, improve the Understanding, polish the whole Man, and qualify them to support the brightest Characters in all the elevated stations in life.” One early manifestation of the institution’s lofty goals was the establishment in 1767 of the first American medical school to grant the M.D. degree.

In 1897, the university moved from Forty-ninth Street and Madison Avenue, where it had stood for forty years, to its present location on Morningside Heights at 116th Street and Broadway. Seth Low, the president of the University at the time of the move, sought to create an academic village in a more spacious setting. Charles Follen McKim of the architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White modeled the new campus after the Athenian agora. The Columbia campus comprises the largest single collection of McKim, Mead & White buildings in existence. The architectural centerpiece of the campus is Low Memorial Library, named in honor of Seth Low’s father. Built in the Roman classical style, it appears in the New York City Register of Historic Places. The building today houses the University’s central administration offices and the visitors center. A broad flight of steps descends from Low Library to an expansive plaza, a popular place for students to gather, and from there to College Walk, a promenade that bisects the central campus. Beyond College Walk is the South Campus, where Butler Library, the university’s main library, stands. South Campus is also the site of many of Columbia College’s facilities, including student residences, Alfred Lerner Hall (the student center), and the College’s administrative offices and classroom buildings, along with the Graduate School of Journalism. To the north of Low Library stands Pupin Hall, which in 1966 was designated a national historic landmark in recognition of the atomic research undertaken there by Columbia’s scientists beginning in 1925. To the east is St. Paul’s Chapel, which is listed with the New York City Register of Historic Places.

Many newer buildings surround the original campus. Among the most impressive are the Sherman Fairchild Center for the Life Sciences and the Morris A. Schapiro Center for Engineering and Physical Science Research. Two miles to the north of Morningside Heights is the 20-acre campus of the Columbia University Medical Center in Manhattan’s Washington Heights, overlooking the Hudson River. Among the most prominent buildings on the site are the 20-story Julius and Armand Hammer Health Sciences Center, the William Black Medical Research Building, and the 17-story tower of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1989, The Presbyterian Hospital opened the Milstein Hospital Building, a 745-bed facility that incorporates the very latest advances in medical technology and patient care. To the west is the New York State Psychiatric Institute; east of Broadway is the Audubon Biomedical Science and Technology Park, which includes the Mary Woodard Lasker Biomedical Research Building, the Audubon Business Technology Center, Russ Berrie Medical Science Pavilion, and the Irving Cancer Research Center as well as other institutions of cutting-edge scientific and medical research.

In addition to its New York City campuses, Columbia has two facilities outside of Manhattan. Nevis Laboratories, established in 1947, is Columbia’s primary center for the study of high-energy experimental particle and nuclear physics. Located in Irvington, New York, Nevis is situated on a 60-acre estate originally owned by the son of Alexander Hamilton. The Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory was established in 1949 in Palisades, New York, and is a leading research institution focusing on global climate change, earthquakes, volcanoes, nonrenewable resources, and environmental hazards. It examines the planet from its core to its atmosphere, across every continent and every ocean.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

University of Pennsylvania happens to be another one of the most reputed Universities not only in USA but also in the whole world. Many famous people such as Elon Musk, Warren Buffet and even our favorite (?!?) president Doland Trump happen to be alumni of this great institute.

The University of Pennsylvania is a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is one of the nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence and the first institution of higher learning in the United States to refer to itself as a university. Benjamin Franklin, Penn’s founder and first president, advocated an educational program that trained leaders in commerce, government, and public service, similar to a modern liberal arts curriculum. The university has four undergraduate schools as well as twelve graduate and professional schools. Among the university’s professional and graduate schools are the first school of medicine in North America (Perelman School of Medicine, 1765), the first collegiate business school (Wharton School, 1881) and the first “student union” building and organization (Houston Hall, 1896). In 2018, the university had an endowment of $13.8 billion, the seventh largest endowment of all colleges in the United States, as well as an academic research budget of $966 million.

In 2019, Penn’s undergraduate acceptance rate was 7.44% for the class of 2023. The school is ranked as the 4th best university in the United States by the Wall Street Journal and the 6th best university by U.S. News and World Report.In athletics, the Quakers field varsity teams in 33 sports as a member of the NCAA Division I Ivy League conference and hold a total of 210 Ivy League championships as of 2017. As of 2018, distinguished alumni include 14 heads of state, 64 billionaire alumni; 3 United States Supreme Court justices; 33 United States Senators, 44 United States Governors and 159 members of the U.S. House of Representatives; 8 signers of the United States Declaration of Independence; 12 signers of the United States Constitution, 24 members of the Continental Congress, and the current president, Donald J. Trump. Other notable alumni include 27 Rhodes Scholars, 15 Marshall Scholarship recipients,16 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 48 Fulbright Scholars. As of October 2019, 36 Nobel laureates, 169 Guggenheim Fellows, 80 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and many Fortune 500 CEOs have been affiliated with the university.

BROWN UNIVERSITY

Brown University is another hot-spot for admission for international students all over the world. Famous people Like Ted Turner, Kennedy Jr and even Rokerfeller himself happen to be alumni over here.

Brown University is a private Ivy League research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, it is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. At its foundation, Brown was the first college in the U.S. to accept students regardless of their religious affiliation. Its engineering program was established in 1847. It was one of the early doctoral-granting U.S. institutions in the late 19th century, adding masters and doctoral studies in 1887. In 1969, Brown adopted a New Curriculum sometimes referred to as the Brown Curriculum after a period of student lobbying. The New Curriculum eliminated mandatory “general education” distribution requirements, made students “the architects of their own syllabus” and allowed them to take any course for a grade of satisfactory or unrecorded no-credit. In 1971, Brown’s coordinate women’s institution, Pembroke College, was fully merged into the university; Pembroke Campus now includes dormitories and classrooms used by all of Brown.

Undergraduate admissions is highly selective, with an acceptance rate of 6.6 percent for the class of 2023. The university comprises the College, the Graduate School, Alpert Medical School, the School of Engineering, the School of Public Health and the School of Professional Studies (which includes the IE Brown Executive MBA program). Brown’s international programs are organized through the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, and the university is academically affiliated with the Marine Biological Laboratory and the Rhode Island School of Design. The Brown/RISD Dual Degree Program, offered in conjunction with the Rhode Island School of Design, is a five-year course that awards degrees from both institutions. Brown’s main campus is located in the College Hill Historic District in the city of Providence, Rhode Island. The University’s neighborhood is a federally listed architectural district with a dense concentration of Colonial-era buildings. Benefit Street, on the western edge of the campus, contains “one of the finest cohesive collections of restored seventeenth- and eighteenth-century architecture in the United States”.

As of November 2019, 8 Nobel Prize winners have been affiliated with Brown University as alumni, faculty members or researchers. In addition, Brown’s faculty and alumni include 5 National Humanities Medalists and 10 National Medal of Science laureates. Other notable alumni include 8 billionaire graduates, a U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, 4 U.S. Secretaries of State and other Cabinet officials, 54 members of the United States Congress, 56 Rhodes Scholars, 52 Gates Cambridge Scholars 49 Marshall Scholars, 14 MacArthur Genius Fellows, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, various royals and nobles, as well as leaders and founders of Fortune 500 companies.

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY

Once upon a time, there was a rumor going on that “Only prince and princess go to Princeton”, which is half true, because modern tech royalties like Jeff Bezos happens to be an alumni of here.

Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The institution moved to Newark in 1747, then to the current site nine years later, and renamed itself Princeton University in 1896. Princeton provides undergraduate and graduate instruction in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering. It offers professional degrees through the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, the School of Architecture and the Bendheim Center for Finance. The university has ties with the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Theological Seminary and the Westminster Choir College of Rider University.[b] Princeton has the largest endowment per student in the United States. From 2001 to 2018, Princeton University was ranked either first or second among national universities by U.S. News & World Report, holding the top spot for 16 of those 18 years.

As of October 2019, 68 Nobel laureates, 15 Fields Medalists and 13 Turing Award laureates have been affiliated with Princeton University as alumni, faculty members or researchers. In addition, Princeton has been associated with 21 National Medal of Science winners, 5 Abel Prize winners, 5 National Humanities Medal recipients, 209 Rhodes Scholars, 139 Gates Cambridge Scholars and 126 Marshall Scholars. Two U.S. Presidents, twelve U.S. Supreme Court Justices (three of whom currently serve on the court) and numerous living billionaires and foreign heads of state are all counted among Princeton’s alumni body. Princeton has also graduated many prominent members of the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Cabinet, including eight Secretaries of State, three Secretaries of Defense, three of the past five Chairs of the Federal Reserve and the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The main campus sits on about 500 acres (2.0 km2) in Princeton. In 2011, the main campus was named by Travel+Leisure as one of the most beautiful in the United States. The James Forrestal Campus is split between nearby Plainsboro and South Brunswick. The University also owns some property in West Windsor Township.44 The campuses are situated about one hour from both New York City and Philadelphia. The first building on campus was Nassau Hall, completed in 1756 and situated on the northern edge of campus facing Nassau Street. The campus expanded steadily around Nassau Hall during the early and middle 19th century. The McCosh presidency (1868–88) saw the construction of a number of buildings in the High Victorian Gothic and Romanesque Revival styles; many of them are now gone, leaving the remaining few to appear out of place. At the end of the 19th century Princeton adopted the Collegiate Gothic style for which it is known today. Implemented initially by William Appleton Potter and later enforced by the University’s supervising architect, Ralph Adams Cram, the Collegiate Gothic style remained the standard for all new building on the Princeton campus through 1960. A flurry of construction in the 1960s produced a number of new buildings on the south side of the main campus, many of which have been poorly received. Several prominent architects have contributed some more recent additions, including Frank Gehry (Lewis Library), I. M. Pei (Spelman Halls),[56] Demetri Porphyrios (Whitman College, a Collegiate Gothic project), Robert Venturi (Frist Campus Center, among several others), and Rafael Viñoly (Carl Icahn Laboratory).