No, Elon University is not an IVY League School.
History
Elon University does not have the same qualifications as an Ivy League school. It is a mid-sized Private University situated in Elon, North Carolina, the United States which was founded in 1889 as Elon College.
The University has about 6,500 undergraduates and 1,700 graduate students. It is not found in a major city and offers many liberal arts courses to its student body.
Elon is a mixture of six different schools, which offers bachelor’s as well as master’s degree along with professional certificates. One of the largest six schools, the College of Arts and Sciences has the following majors:
- Art
- Biology
- Chemistry
- International Studies
- Music and Theatre Arts
Admission Criteria
Applicants applying to Elon require excellent grades to get admission into the University. The average GPA of the admitted first-year class was 3.99/4.0, showing that primarily A+ students are accepted. The acceptance rate in 2020 was around 71.7% of the students who applied. Elon University does not have the same history as an Ivy League school.
Preparatory Academy
Elon University Preparatory Academy is a two-year program for academically promising students who have not yet met the requirements for admission to a four-year degree program.
The curriculum had been designed to prepare students for success in college-level courses. Students in the preparatory academy may be enrolled in either one of three tracks: health sciences, business administration, and liberal arts. Students will be completing a core set of courses that focus on critical reading, writing, listening, speaking skills, mathematical reasoning, and problem-solving. In addition to these, students take introductory coursework specific to their study track. The two years spent in the preparatory academy are part of their Elon undergraduate degree program; upon completing their preliminary studies, students are admitted directly into one of Elon’s majors or minors.
Branches
In 2006, Elon University School of Law was founded and became the only independent law school in North Carolina. It is in Greensboro and offers three degrees: Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.), and Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.). The American Bar Association granted initial accreditation to the Elon Law in 2006, which allowed the first-ever graduating class to sit for the bar exam in 2009.
The faculty includes:
- Full-time professors.
- Adjunct professors from outside firms and organizations.
- Visiting scholars from other law schools.
- Judges from various courts around North Carolina.
- Unique positions such as a Senior Fellow for U.S. policymaking and a Senior Fellow for international law.
In August 2014, Dean George Johnson announced that he would be stepping down at the end of the 2014-15 academic year after serving as dean since 2007. In April 2015, Leo E. Strine Jr., former chief justice of Delaware’s Supreme Court, was named dean-elect, effective July 2015.
Ranking
Elon University is ranked eighty-eight among the most prestigious universities in the States. The average annual cost for studying is around $54,562 before aid, and $37,230 after support, including grants and scholarships, are given by the institution, state, and federal government.
Reasons
Elon University is not an Ivy League school for many reasons. To begin with, Elon University does not offer a law degree. All the Ivy League schools have a law program. Elon University does not have the same academic or athletic qualifications as an Ivy League school. For example, their average SAT scores are lower than most Ivy League schools. Lastly, Elon University does not have the same history as an Ivy League school. Stanford University is the only University that is even close to being in the same league as those eight universities. It falls short when comparing its acceptance rates to those of the other universities on this list. The name “Ivy League” comes from a group of schools that competed in collegiate sports in the 1950s. The term has since come to refer to a group of eight prestigious northeastern universities.
Ivy League Schools
Ivy League Schools include the following:
- Harvard University (Massachusetts)
- Yale University (Connecticut)
- Princeton University (New Jersey)
- Columbia University (New York)
- Brown University (Rhode Island)
- Dartmouth College (New Hampshire)
- University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania)
- Cornell University (New York)
These Universities use many resources to attract intelligent, diligent, and career-minded students. It is also no secret that these schools enormously help students in their professional careers. These schools are costly, with an average of $55,000 to $60,000 per year for tuition.
The admission process for elite schools is highly competitive. The overall admission rates in 2020 were less than 10% of the total students who applied.
People should remember that there are several thousands of higher education institutions in the U.S., and many are high up in the rankings but have lower tuition fees. Education is not a popularity contest, and everyone should get the education that best suits their future goals.
