The Ivy League Schools: Full List, Rankings and What Sets Each Apart

Last updated: November 5, 2026

The Ivy League is a group of eight private universities in the northeastern United States: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), Princeton and Yale. It started as an athletic conference, and the name now also stands for some of the most selective colleges in the world. Together, the eight admitted 23,260 of 416,142 first-year applicants for fall 2025, about 5.6%. Below you will find the full list, each school's official acceptance rate and test scores, what sets each one apart, and what the Ivies look for.

Eight schools, more than 400,000 applicants. The ones who stand out show what they do with their curiosity. See if you qualify for the STEM Research Program →

The list of Ivy League schools

Brown University: Providence, Rhode Island. Founded 1764.
Columbia University: New York, New York. Founded 1754.
Cornell University: Ithaca, New York. Founded 1865.
Dartmouth College: Hanover, New Hampshire. Founded 1769.
Harvard University: Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded 1636.
University of Pennsylvania (Penn): Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded 1740.
Princeton University: Princeton, New Jersey. Founded 1746.
Yale University: New Haven, Connecticut. Founded 1701.

All eight are private. Harvard is the oldest and Cornell is the youngest.

How many Ivy League schools are there?

Eight. The number has not changed since the league began. The Ivy League says the eight presidents signed the Ivy Group Agreement in 1945. It first covered only football. Its goal was to keep the game "in fitting proportion to the main purposes of academic life." In 1954 the presidents extended it to all sports, and the first league games followed two years later. Princeton's own history dates official competition to the 1956–57 season.

The agreement still shapes the league. Ivy schools give financial aid based on need and offer no athletic scholarships. The Ivy League sponsors 34 sports.

Is UPenn an Ivy? Yes. Penn signed the 1945 agreement with the other seven and has been a member from the start.

Is NYU, Duke, Stanford or MIT an Ivy? No. They are often compared with the Ivies, but they are not members. See the Stanford acceptance rate, the MIT acceptance rate, the Duke acceptance rate and the NYU acceptance rate.

Ivy League acceptance rates, ranked

Each school reports first-year applicants and admits in its Common Data Set (CDS), section C1. Fall 2025 (the Class of 2029) is the newest year with a CDS for all eight, so it is the fairest way to rank them. Rates are our calculations from each school's counts:

Harvard: about 4.2% (2,003 of 47,893). See the Harvard acceptance rate.
Princeton: about 4.4% (1,868 of 42,303)
Yale: about 4.7% (2,387 of 50,264)
Penn: about 4.9% (3,570 of 72,544). See the UPenn acceptance rate.
Columbia: about 4.9% (2,946 of 59,611)
Dartmouth: about 6.0% (1,699 of 28,230)
Brown: about 6.3% (2,710 of 42,774)
Cornell: about 8.4% (6,077 of 72,523)

What the numbers show:

Five Ivies admit fewer than 1 in 20 applicants. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Penn and Columbia all sat below 5%.
Penn and Cornell draw the most applicants. Each received more than 72,000. Cornell also admits the most students, 6,077, because it enrolls the largest first-year class (3,827).
Dartmouth is the smallest. It enrolled 1,205 first-year students and received the fewest applications.
Students who get in usually say yes. Princeton's yield (the share of admitted students who enroll) was about 75.4%. Dartmouth's was about 70.9% and Yale's about 68.4%.

So which Ivy is the hardest to get into? By the fall 2025 CDS, Harvard. But the gap from Harvard to Columbia is less than one percentage point. At this level, your application matters far more than the school's rate.

Five Ivies admit fewer than 1 in 20 applicants. Give your application something the other 19 do not have: research you carried from question to paper. See if you qualify for the STEM Research Program →

Early Decision and Early Action at the Ivies

Five Ivies offer binding Early Decision: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth and Penn. Harvard, Princeton and Yale offer a nonbinding early plan that limits where else you may apply early. Harvard calls its plan Restrictive Early Action. Princeton and Yale call theirs Single-Choice Early Action.

Two Ivies publish Early Decision counts in their fall 2025 CDS:

Columbia: 819 of 5,868 Early Decision applicants admitted, about 14.0%. The rest of the pool was admitted at about 4.0%.
Cornell: 1,889 of 10,057 Early Decision applicants admitted, about 18.8%.

Brown says it admitted 907 Early Decision applicants for the Class of 2029, out of 2,710 total admits.

The early pool is self-selected, so these rates do not tell you how much applying early helps any one student. Apply early when one school is your clear first choice and your application is ready. See early decision vs early action.

Ivy League test scores and testing rules

Middle 50% SAT scores of enrolled students, from each school's newest official report:

Columbia: 1510 to 1560 (fall 2025 CDS)
Princeton: 1490 to 1560 (fall 2025 CDS)
Yale: 1480 to 1560 (fall 2025 CDS)
Cornell: 1490 to 1550 (fall 2025 CDS)
Brown: 1470 to 1550 (fall 2025 CDS)
Dartmouth: 1440 to 1550 (fall 2025 CDS)
Penn: 1440 to 1550 (Class of 2030 profile)
Harvard: no total range reported. Sections were 720 to 770 in Reading and Writing and 730 to 790 in Math (fall 2025 CDS).

For students who apply in 2026–27 for fall 2027 entry, six Ivies require the SAT or ACT: Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn and Yale. Princeton and Columbia stay test-optional for one more cycle. Both say they will require testing for students who apply for fall 2028 entry.

None of the eight sets a minimum score. To see where you stand, read what is a good SAT score or use the SAT score calculator.

What sets each Ivy apart

Brown: the Open Curriculum. You build your own course of study, with no general distribution requirements. Brown also runs the eight-year Program in Liberal Medical Education (PLME), which links your undergraduate years to Brown's medical school, and a five-year dual degree with the Rhode Island School of Design.
Columbia: the Core Curriculum and New York City. Columbia College students share a common set of courses in literature, philosophy, art and music. Columbia Engineering offers a technical path in the same city.
Cornell: the largest and broadest Ivy. You apply to one of several undergraduate colleges and schools, each with its own focus and requirements.
Dartmouth: the smallest class, at 1,205 first-year students in fall 2025. You get close contact with faculty in a small college setting.
Harvard: the oldest university in the United States, founded in 1636, and the lowest acceptance rate in the league for fall 2025. See how to get into Harvard.
Penn: the most applicants of any Ivy in fall 2025, with four undergraduate schools that include Wharton and Penn Engineering. See the UPenn acceptance rate.
Princeton: no Early Decision. Its only early plan is Single-Choice Early Action, and about three of every four admitted students enrolled in fall 2025.
Yale: Yale says 90% of the students who entered in fall 2025 included ACT or SAT scores. Starting in 2026–27, it again requires the SAT or ACT from every applicant.

Brown's PLME, Penn Engineering, Cornell's colleges: every Ivy asks why you chose your path. Explore a field one-on-one with a PhD mentor before you have to answer. Learn how the program works →

What the Ivy League schools look for

The Ivies do not share one admissions process. Each one reads applications on its own. But their own words point the same way:

Context. Columbia says it considers "the unique combination of circumstances that shape each student's journey." Brown says it considers test scores "within the context from which they come."
Grades and rigor first. Brown calls "a student's high school performance and preparedness" its most important consideration. That includes "the depth and breadth of their academic learning both in and out of the classroom."
Curiosity. Columbia says it seeks to learn about "your intellectual curiosity and openness to new ideas."
Strong academic records. Brown reports that 95% of admitted students in the Class of 2029, from schools that rank, were in the top 10% of their class.

There is no official Ivy League average GPA. Each school reports its own grades and class rank in its CDS.

How research fits an Ivy League application

Research is not required at any Ivy. Many admitted students never do it. But it answers what the Ivies ask for:

It shows learning outside the classroom. Brown names this directly.
It shows curiosity you acted on. You chose a question and found the answer.
It gives you material. Your essays, your activities list and your recommenders all get something specific to describe. See how to present it in the Common App activities list.

What matters is depth and ownership, not a famous lab. For more, see whether research helps college admissions and how to get into MIT.

Columbia looks for "intellectual curiosity and openness to new ideas." Show yours with a research project in the STEM field you love, guided one-on-one by a PhD mentor. See if you qualify for the STEM Research Program →

Frequently asked questions

What are the Ivy League schools? Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton and Yale.

How many Ivy League schools are there? Eight.

Is UPenn an Ivy League school? Yes. Penn is one of the eight schools that signed the Ivy Group Agreement in 1945.

What is the hardest Ivy League school to get into? Harvard, by the fall 2025 Common Data Sets: about 4.2% (2,003 of 47,893). Princeton was next at about 4.4%.

What is the easiest Ivy League school to get into? Cornell had the highest rate in fall 2025, about 8.4%. That still means about 1 admitted student for every 12 applicants.

What is the Ivy League acceptance rate? The eight schools together admitted 23,260 of 416,142 applicants for fall 2025, about 5.6%. Each school's own rate ranged from about 4.2% to about 8.4%.

Are all Ivy League schools private? Yes. All eight are private universities.

Do Ivy League schools give athletic scholarships? No. Under the Ivy Group Agreement, the schools give financial aid based on need, not athletic ability.

Sources

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