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August 28, 2006
Emory deemed member of "new" Ivy League

BY eric rangus

Only in education —or perhaps geology—could an entity with 170 years of history be considered “new.” So while the world at large may be a bit slow in coming around, a just-released publication has acknowledged something the Emory community has long known: we’re among the best universities in the country, if not the world.

Emory is one of 25 colleges and universities named a “New Ivy” by Kaplan/Newsweek’s 2007 How To Get Into College Guide, which hit newsstands Monday, Aug. 21; the full article in Newsweek as well as the complete listing is on the web at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14325172.

For more than a decade Emory has been ranked among the nation’s top 25 universities by another influential publication—U.S. News & World Report—but being mentioned in the same breath as the Ivy League carries with it a subtler, but no less important, badge of honor.

The “old” Ivy League has served for scores of years as a shorthand designation for elite colleges and universities in this country (although it would be impressive if even half the pundits and opinion-makers could name the eight institutions who make up that particular group). For the record, they are Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale. While they are unified as an athletic conference, the softer identification placed on them as elite and influential universities is something many schools have long sought to claim. When a national publication makes that claim for them, there are few things more satisfying.

“Many students are attracted to Emory because we focus on helping students find out what they’re good at, and we expect them to use their talents to make the world a better place,” said Bobby Paul, dean of Emory College. “Plus, we’re in the city of Atlanta with its tremendous cultural and professional opportunities.”

The “new” Ivies, which include a mix of public and private institutions from every corner of the country, are schools possessing first-rate academic programs that have seen increased interest from top students.

Schools were selected based on admissions statistics and interviews with administrators, faculty, students and alumni. Emory received more applications in 2005 than ever before—an increase of 18.5 percent from 2004—fueling the buzz about the University as a hot school.

The Newsweek article includes a brief description of each school as well as a list of each institution’s overlap schools. Emory’s overlap schools include Duke, Georgetown, Washington University in St. Louis and the universities of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.

In its paragraph about Emory, Newsweek notes its relationship with Oxford College and states—as Paul did—that many students are attracted to the University’s location in Atlanta.

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