Ivy League Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising sports teams from eight private universities in the Northeastern United States. The term "Ivy League" is typically used to refer to those eight schools as a group of elite colleges beyond the sports context. The eight members are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University. "Ivy League" has connotations of academic excellence, selectivity in admissions, and social elitism. While the term was in use as early as 1933, it became official only after the formation of
Ivy League are need-based (financial aid). In addition, the Ivies have a rigid policy against redshirting, even for medical reasons; an athlete loses a year of eligibility for every year enrolled at an Ivy institution. Ivy League teams' non-league games are often against the members of the Patriot League, which have similar academic standards and athletic scholarship policies (although unlike the Ivies, the Patriot League allows redshirting). In the time before recruiting for college sports became dominated by those offering athletic scholarships and lowered academic standards for athletes, the Ivy League was successful in many sports relative to other universities in the