Big Three (colleges)
Encyclopedia
The Big Three is a historical term used in the United States to refer to Harvard
, Yale
, and Princeton
. The phrase Big Three originated in the 1880s, when these three colleges dominated college football. High schools' college admissions counselors and colleges' admissions guides sometimes use the initialism HYP to refer to these colleges. In the early 1900s, these schools formed a sports compact that predates the Ivy League
. The schools continue to refer to their intercollegiate competitions as "Big Three" or "Harvard-Yale-Princeton" meets.
; as E. Digby Baltzell
writes, "the three major upper-class institutions in America have been Harvard, Yale, and Princeton." Baltzell also goes on to write that "Throughout the thirties and well into the forties, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania
, were still staffed almost entirely by old-stock Protestants."
In any case, academic factors alone do not explain why they are usually named in the order "Harvard, Yale and Princeton."
Theodore Roosevelt
puts them into social context:
Of the three, Princeton University was traditionally the preferred choice of the Southern upper class.
Nathaniel Burt (1963) described the social prestige of the Big Three:
Burt goes on to note "Every city sends or has sent its Socially Registered sons to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, in some preferred order, and to one local institution. This order varies. New York sets the pattern with Yale first, Harvard second, Princeton third, then Columbia. St. Louis and Baltimore are Princeton towns. Most other cities (Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati) are Yale towns. Only Boston, and occasionally Washington, are Harvard towns."
The connection between certain colleges and social ranking is old; Jerome Karabel, in a note citing Kenneth Davis, says that "in the mid-eighteenth century, the [president of Harvard] personally listed students when they enrolled, according to ... 'to the Dignity of the Familie whereto the student severally belong'—a list that was printed in the college catalogue and that determined precedence in such matters as table seating, position in academic processionals, even recitations in class." Ronald Story, however, says that it was during “the four decades from 1815 to 1855” that “parents, in Henry Adams′ words, began sending their children to Harvard College for the sake of its social advantages.”
A further intensification of the importance of the Big Three occurred during the 1920s; According to E. Digby Baltzell, “in a … managerial society, the proper college degree became the main criterion for potential elite status… it was during the [1920s] that certain institutions of high prestige, such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton (and Stanford on the West Coast) became all-important as upper-class-ascribing institutions.” Not coincidentally, this was also the era when the Big Three became concerned by “the Jewish problem” and began instituting interviews, essays, and judgements of “character” into the admissions process. From the 1930s on, Big Three admissions became progressively more meritocratic, but still included non-academic factors such as “lineage.”
Harvard, Yale and Princeton have in the past been regarded as the goals for many children in WASP
circles. Some educators have attempted to discourage this fixation. Jay Mathews, author of Harvard Schmarvard, addresses seniors obsessed with HYP, and similar prestigious institutions, with the analysis: “It does not matter where you go to school, it matters what you do when you get there and what you do after you graduate.”
ranked Harvard, Yale, and Princeton as the top three institutions in the National Colleges and Universities category. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges.
roots. Notwithstanding, a certain lack in economic diversity persists at the three colleges. As Jerome Karabel, a Harvard graduate and the author of The Chosen
detailing the history of the admissions process at HYP, noted:
More recently, Yale, Princeton and Harvard instituted no-loan financial aid policies which provide students with need-based aid from private funds held by the universities. This enables greater attendance from the poorer classes than Pell Grant statistics would indicate, since many recipients of university grants do not receive Pell Grants.
s.
Harvard also has the largest student body, with Yale second, and Princeton third with its small graduate school. As well, in terms of endowment sizes, Harvard has the largest, Yale the second largest, and Princeton having the smallest of the three; however, Princeton has the largest endowment per capita of any school in the world.
, Yale University
, and Princeton University
. The athletic agreements among the three universities were first formalized in 1906, although their football
teams had been engaging in three-way competitions, which newspapers had been referring to as "HYP", since at least the 1880s. The Big Three made further formal agreements in 1916 and 1923, and although in part they have now been superseded by the Ivy League
, formed in 1945, the three universities still sponsor events that involve only themselves.
The first Big Three agreement in 1906 was the result of a conference on football called by President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt
in October 1905 as a result of deteriorating relations, particularly the exclusion of Princeton by Harvard and Yale, and increasing violence of play. The agreement of June 1916, the Triple Agreement, was originally proposed by President Woodrow Wilson
in December 1909 out of a desire to reduce injuries, and took several years to come to fruition, resulting in common eligibility requirements. The Three Presidents' Agreement agreement of January 1923 covered financial arrangements, scouting, and scholarships, amongst other things. In 1926 there was a disagreement between Harvard and Princeton, that caused a hiatus in the Big Three that lasted for 8 years.
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Yale
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and Princeton
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. The phrase Big Three originated in the 1880s, when these three colleges dominated college football. High schools' college admissions counselors and colleges' admissions guides sometimes use the initialism HYP to refer to these colleges. In the early 1900s, these schools formed a sports compact that predates the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
. The schools continue to refer to their intercollegiate competitions as "Big Three" or "Harvard-Yale-Princeton" meets.
Historic Status of the Big Three
These colleges have, in the past, been set apart from others by a special historic connection with the WASP establishmentWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
; as E. Digby Baltzell
E. Digby Baltzell
Edward Digby Baltzell was an American sociologist, academic and author.-Life and career:Baltzell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a wealthy Episcopalian family. "Digby" attended St. Paul's School, an Episcopal boarding school in New Hampshire. He attended the University of Pennsylvania,...
writes, "the three major upper-class institutions in America have been Harvard, Yale, and Princeton." Baltzell also goes on to write that "Throughout the thirties and well into the forties, Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
, were still staffed almost entirely by old-stock Protestants."
In any case, academic factors alone do not explain why they are usually named in the order "Harvard, Yale and Princeton."
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
puts them into social context:
Of the three, Princeton University was traditionally the preferred choice of the Southern upper class.
Nathaniel Burt (1963) described the social prestige of the Big Three:
Burt goes on to note "Every city sends or has sent its Socially Registered sons to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, in some preferred order, and to one local institution. This order varies. New York sets the pattern with Yale first, Harvard second, Princeton third, then Columbia. St. Louis and Baltimore are Princeton towns. Most other cities (Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati) are Yale towns. Only Boston, and occasionally Washington, are Harvard towns."
The connection between certain colleges and social ranking is old; Jerome Karabel, in a note citing Kenneth Davis, says that "in the mid-eighteenth century, the [president of Harvard] personally listed students when they enrolled, according to ... 'to the Dignity of the Familie whereto the student severally belong'—a list that was printed in the college catalogue and that determined precedence in such matters as table seating, position in academic processionals, even recitations in class." Ronald Story, however, says that it was during “the four decades from 1815 to 1855” that “parents, in Henry Adams′ words, began sending their children to Harvard College for the sake of its social advantages.”
A further intensification of the importance of the Big Three occurred during the 1920s; According to E. Digby Baltzell, “in a … managerial society, the proper college degree became the main criterion for potential elite status… it was during the [1920s] that certain institutions of high prestige, such as Harvard, Yale and Princeton (and Stanford on the West Coast) became all-important as upper-class-ascribing institutions.” Not coincidentally, this was also the era when the Big Three became concerned by “the Jewish problem” and began instituting interviews, essays, and judgements of “character” into the admissions process. From the 1930s on, Big Three admissions became progressively more meritocratic, but still included non-academic factors such as “lineage.”
Harvard, Yale and Princeton have in the past been regarded as the goals for many children in WASP
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
circles. Some educators have attempted to discourage this fixation. Jay Mathews, author of Harvard Schmarvard, addresses seniors obsessed with HYP, and similar prestigious institutions, with the analysis: “It does not matter where you go to school, it matters what you do when you get there and what you do after you graduate.”
US News & World Report Rankings of the Big Three
The actual academic quality of these three colleges is often a subject of debate. Nonetheless, in August 2010, U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report
U.S. News & World Report is an American news magazine published from Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek it was for many years a leading news weekly, focusing more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
ranked Harvard, Yale, and Princeton as the top three institutions in the National Colleges and Universities category. http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges.
Economic diversity
Over the past half-century, the 'Big Three', and the rest of the Ivy League, have increasingly stressed both diversity and academic merit in their admissions process, and in part have freed themselves from some of their WASPWhite Anglo-Saxon Protestant
White Anglo-Saxon Protestant or WASP is an informal term, often derogatory or disparaging, for a closed group of high-status Americans mostly of British Protestant ancestry. The group supposedly wields disproportionate financial and social power. When it appears in writing, it is usually used to...
roots. Notwithstanding, a certain lack in economic diversity persists at the three colleges. As Jerome Karabel, a Harvard graduate and the author of The Chosen
The Chosen (Jerome Karabel)
The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton is a 2005 book by Jerome Karabel.-External links:*...
detailing the history of the admissions process at HYP, noted:
More recently, Yale, Princeton and Harvard instituted no-loan financial aid policies which provide students with need-based aid from private funds held by the universities. This enables greater attendance from the poorer classes than Pell Grant statistics would indicate, since many recipients of university grants do not receive Pell Grants.
Order of the names
The three colleges, when named together, are often named in the order Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. This happens to be the order in which they were founded—1636, 1701, and 1746, respectively. Founding date is an important point of institutional pride, since it governs the order in which the institutions march in academic processionAcademic procession
An academic procession is a traditional ceremony in which university dignitaries march together wearing traditional academic dress. An academic procession forms a usual part of college and university graduation exercises. At many U.S...
s.
Harvard also has the largest student body, with Yale second, and Princeton third with its small graduate school. As well, in terms of endowment sizes, Harvard has the largest, Yale the second largest, and Princeton having the smallest of the three; however, Princeton has the largest endowment per capita of any school in the world.
The Big Three as an athletic association
Harvard-Yale-Princeton (variously HYP or the Big Three) was an athletic association involving Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
. The athletic agreements among the three universities were first formalized in 1906, although their football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
teams had been engaging in three-way competitions, which newspapers had been referring to as "HYP", since at least the 1880s. The Big Three made further formal agreements in 1916 and 1923, and although in part they have now been superseded by the Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
, formed in 1945, the three universities still sponsor events that involve only themselves.
The first Big Three agreement in 1906 was the result of a conference on football called by President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
in October 1905 as a result of deteriorating relations, particularly the exclusion of Princeton by Harvard and Yale, and increasing violence of play. The agreement of June 1916, the Triple Agreement, was originally proposed by President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
in December 1909 out of a desire to reduce injuries, and took several years to come to fruition, resulting in common eligibility requirements. The Three Presidents' Agreement agreement of January 1923 covered financial arrangements, scouting, and scholarships, amongst other things. In 1926 there was a disagreement between Harvard and Princeton, that caused a hiatus in the Big Three that lasted for 8 years.
See also
- Little ThreeLittle ThreeThe "Little Three" is an unofficial athletic conference of three elite liberal arts colleges in New England, United States. The "Little Three" are:* Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts* Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut...
- Old FourOld FourThe Old Four is a soccer conference composed of four public institutions of higher education in Central Canada. The name is also an appellation for the four universities as a group, consisted of McGill University, Queen’s University, University of Toronto and University of Western Ontario. They are...
- Elite Three
- OxbridgeOxbridgeOxbridge is a portmanteau of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge in England, and the term is now used to refer to them collectively, often with implications of perceived superior social status...
- Ivy LeagueIvy LeagueThe Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
- Little IviesLittle IviesLittle Ivies is a colloquialism referring to a group of small, selective American liberal arts colleges; however, it does not denote any official organization....
- Seven SistersSeven Sisters (colleges)The Seven Sisters are seven liberal arts colleges in the Northeastern United States that are historically women's colleges. They are Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Mount Holyoke College, Radcliffe College, Smith College, Vassar College, and Wellesley College. All were founded between 1837 and...
- Boat Race
- Nerdy Nine
- G5 (Britain)G5 (education)The G5 is an informal grouping of five British universities first identified by Times Higher Education in 2004. According to Times Higher Education, the five members are the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford and University...
External links
(HYP) (HYP) (HYP) — a full history of the Harvard-Yale-Princeton agreements and of the Harvard-Princeton break from 1926 to 1934- (2010). "Best National Universities," Best Colleges 2011 Edition: US News and World Report; pg:84-93