Visiting the Ivy Leagues Pt. 2 – 7/18/25

In my last blog post, I talked about how I went to New York and visited 3 of the 8 Ivy Leagues in the world. Well, now I have finished touring all the Ivies and here is the total truth about them. Before I begin, I will talk about: Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Yale University, Princeton University, and Columbia University.

Cornell University is a beautiful educational campus in Ithaca, New York. It’s surrounded by beautiful wilderness and it is amazing for outdoors-interested students. I would have to say it’s a huge campus, which I really liked so that it’s not so cramped in a rural place. Now I really loved the community they talked about there, like the different clubs, academic or not. The best part of it was how Cornell and Harvard have a bit of a beef, and they threw fish at them during their athletic competitions, which was really funny and shows the student community there. The buildings were really beautiful and I liked how they focused on engineering which is one of Cornell’s strongest points. All in all, this is a great university for their community, big campus, clubs, and engineering. One more point was their Uris Library, which is commonly referred to as the “Hogwarts Library”, and it was really pretty, making me feel like I was actually in Harry Potter.

Uris Library at Cornell University, the real Hogwarts Library

Next up is Yale University. Now I have been in love with Yale for a long time now because of its beautiful architecture and its amazing medical and law programs. I’ve also always wanted to live in Connecticut rather than in California suburbia, but that’s not the only point. Yale is New Haven, Connecticut and it’s great for their different academics, majors, and community. I really liked that you should be open to growth and taking advantage of Yale’s resources and academics. If you seem like you fit at Yale, then that is one of the most important parts of applying there. My favorite part of it was touching Theodore Dwight Woolsey’s statue’s foot for good luck for getting into Yale University. 

Inside of Yale University!

I will now talk about Princeton University. Princeton has such a beautiful campus in Princeton, New Jersey. My tour guide took us to Nassau Hall where there were the two iconic green tiger statues, where we got to sit down on them and take many pictures. My favorite part of the tour was the joke of him saying Princeton has the most ivy, making it the “iviest” Ivy. I really liked the emphasis of undergraduate programs there, as there are no graduate schools. This makes Princeton one of the best schools for undergrads. In summary, Princeton is the university for you if you really want to focus on your undergraduate life, like the East Coast, and love the campus and see yourself attending there. One more thing was the Einstein Hall which was in Room 302. This is a lecture hall Albert Einstein taught in and is open to the public, so I went in and it was gorgeous.

The Einstein Hall at Princeton University

Next is Columbia University in Broadway, New York. In my last blog I talked about Columbia and me seeing it for my sister’s research in the CS department, but now I actually toured it. We got to see the beautiful libraries, and the amazing campus in person since we were not allowed to go inside due to security issues. But it was great to see student life there, and also their initiative to help in world projects and research to really make a difference like for vaccines, CS coding, and free speech. I really liked to see how they make a difference, and that’s why it’s my sister’s top choice. If you see yourself being involved in the community or helping the world, then Columbia University is a great match for you.

Columbia University!

So far, this has been a long blog post, but we have to talk about Dartmouth College. Dartmouth is located in Hanover, New Hampshire and their campus is really focused on nature outdoors like Cornell University. I saw a lot of rowing, and different activities going on outside, and Hanover is a beautiful town focused on mostly Dartmouth and their gorgeous scenery. Dartmouth’s libraries were my favorite part since they were so beautiful. Something that was really interesting to me was that not only did they emphasize the outdoors, but also the small community they had. I remember our tour guide saying that they could actually name everyone in their class (graduating class eg. ‘28) since Dartmouth was focused on having a small community that you could know fully and make new friends in. This is definitely a college for you if you love nature, hiking, research, small communities, and New Hampshire.

The iconic Dartmouth College clock: Fun fact, it’s actually lavender, not white

I really enjoyed seeing all of these universities/colleges since it was interesting to see what was different in each of them, from Harvard being separated by the Charles into two, or Princeton being the “iviest” Ivy. So, I hoped this post might help you figure out what universities sparked your interest, and which you want to apply to. But of course, go ahead and tour them! I am not a certified tour guide for any of these universities/colleges. Thanks for reading my latest post about the Ivies, and if you didn’t read the last one, go ahead and do that now!