The Big Three, also known as HYP (Harvard, Yale, Princeton), is a historical term used in the United States to refer to Harvard University, Yale University, and Princeton University. The phrase Big Three originated in the 1880s, when these three colleges dominated college football.[1] In 1906, these schools formed a sports compact that formalized a three-way football competition which began in 1878, predating the Ivy League. The rivalry remains intense today, though the three schools are no longer national football powerhouses, and schools continue to refer to their intercollegiate competitions as "Big Three" or "Harvard-Yale-Princeton" meets.
In 1908, Scotsman Robert Knox Risk wrote the following about the state of American universities during the early 20th century.
Princeton, like [Harvard and Yale], confers some social distinction upon its graduates. In this respect Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are the Western Counterparts of Oxford and Cambridge, and are maintained largely for the sons of rich men. Members of the American aristocracy would send their boys to one or other of these three universities if there were any aristocracy in the United States.[2]
Edward Digby Baltzell wrote: "The three major upper-class institutions in America have been Harvard, Yale, and Princeton." These colleges have, in the past, been set apart from others by a special historic connection with the White-Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) establishment. Of the three, Princeton University was traditionally the preferred choice of the Southern upper class.[3] While describing the recruiting process for the Rough Riders, Theodore Roosevelt, mentioned the Ivy League schools including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton as target schools.
We drew recruits from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and many another college; from clubs like the Somerset, of Boston, and Knickerbocker, of New York; and from among the men who belonged neither to club nor to college, but in whose veins the blood stirred with the same impulse which once sent the Vikings over sea.[4]
Harvard-Princeton Football Game, 1915
The Saturday Review found in 1963 that Harvard, Yale, and Princeton enrolled 45% of boys on the New York Social Register.[5] That year Nathaniel Burt described the social prestige of the Big Three:
It is, above all, the national social prestige of the Big Three which is competition with the purely local social prestige of the University [of Pennsylvania]. Upper-class boys from all over the country, including Philadelphia, go to Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Only from Philadelphia do upper-class boys go in any significant numbers to Penn. This is of course a universal national phenomenon. The pattern of upper-class male college preference, as deduced from a counting of noses in the various Social Registers, can be summed up as "The Big Three and a Local Favorite."[6]
Burt continued, "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."[7] 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.”[8]
A further intensification of the importance of the Big Three occurred during the 1920s; According to E. Digby Baltzell,[9] “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.[10] From the 1930s on, Big Three admissions became progressively more meritocratic, but still included non-academic factors such as “lineage.”
Ivy League schools including 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 Ivy League schools 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.”
The "Big Three" schools: Harvard, Yale, and Princeton are often rated among the top three institutions in the National Universities category along with Stanford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[11] Over the past eighteen years ending with the 2018 rankings, U.S. News has named as the best national university Princeton eleven times, Harvard twice and the two schools tied for first five times.[12]
Economic diversity
As Jerome Karabel, a Harvard graduate and the author of The Chosen detailing the history of the admissions process at HYP, noted:
The Big Three are notoriously lacking one of [diversity's] most critical dimensions: class diversity. In a study of the percentage of low-income students in 2000 (as measured by the proportion of federal Pell Grants - need-based awards that do not have to be repaid and make up the bulk of many poorer students' aid) at the nation's leading universities, the Big Three were found to be among the nation's least economically diverse schools. Of the 40 universities studied, Harvard and Princeton ranked 39th and 38th respectively, with Yale at 25th. While the three top universities in economic diversity were all public institutions (the University of California at Los Angeles, UC-Berkeley, and UC-San Diego), the next two—the University of Southern California and New York University—were private. And one university in the top 10, California Institute of Technology, is among the most selective private institutions in the nation.[13]
More recently, Harvard,[14] Yale,[15] and Princeton[16][17] 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.
As an athletic association
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 "HPY," since 1878. (Princeton and Yale first played in 1873, Harvard and Yale in 1875, with Harvard and Princeton first meeting in 1877.) The Big Three teams had an outsized hold on popular culture as they dominated college football during its early formative years, when there were few competing spectator sports besides fledgling professional baseball teams. In 25 seasons spanning 1869 through the 1894 title for the University of Pennsylvania, the consensus national champion was either Princeton (16 titles), Yale (13) or Harvard (2).[18] Football between Harvard and Yale was suspended for two years after the 1894 game in Springfield, Massachusetts was so violent that it was referred to as "The Springfield Massacre." Other sports including baseball and crew were suspended as well. 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 for football in 1945 and for other sports in 1954, 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 and Harvard alumnus Theodore Roosevelt in October 1905 as a result of deteriorating relations, caused once again by increasing violence of play, more recently between Harvard and Princeton. The agreement of June 1916, the Triple Agreement, was originally proposed by President and Princeton alumnus 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 addendum of January 1923 covered financial arrangements, scouting and scholarships, among other things. In 1926, tensions arose once more after Princeton had shut out Harvard for three consecutive games by a cumulative score of 82-0. This led to a hiatus in games between Harvard and Princeton which caused Big Three competition to be suspended for eight years, although Yale continued to play both opponents during that period.
Big four
Before the American Civil War, Union College was one of a "big four" along with Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Student attrition due to the Civil War and a scandal over college finances led to a decline at Union that caused it to lose ground and drop from the group.[19]
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference of eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I, and in football, in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The term Ivy League is used more broadly to refer to the eight schools that belong to the league, which are globally-renowned as elite colleges associated with academic excellence, highly selective admissions, and social elitism. The term was used as early as 1933, and it became official in 1954 following the formation of the Ivy League athletic conference.
Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, when its schools were confederated and the institution was renamed Yale University. It is ranked as one of the top colleges in the United States.
In the United States, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants or Wealthy Anglo-Saxon Protestants (WASP) is a sociological term which is often used to describe white Protestant Americans of British descent, who are generally part of the white dominant culture or upper-class and historically often the Mainline Protestant elite. Historically or most consistently, WASPs are of British descent, though the definition of WASP varies in this respect. It was seen to be in exclusionary contrast to Catholics, Jews, Irish, immigrants, southern or eastern Europeans, and the non-White. WASPs have dominated American society, culture, and politics for most of the history of the United States. Critics have disparaged them as "The Establishment". Although the social influence of wealthy WASPs has declined since the 1960s, the group continues to play a central role in American finance, politics, and philanthropy.
Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that was founded in 1879. In 1999, it was fully incorporated into Harvard College. The college was named for the early Harvard benefactor Anne Mowlson and was one of the Seven Sisters colleges.
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard College is Harvard University's traditional undergraduate program, offering AB and SB degrees. It is highly selective, with fewer than four percent of applicants being offered admission as of 2022.
Kingman Brewster Jr. was an American educator, academic and diplomat. He served as the 17th president of Yale University and as United States ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Groton School is a private college-preparatory day and boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. It is affiliated with the Episcopal tradition.
St. Paul's School is a college-preparatory, coeducational boarding school in Concord, New Hampshire, affiliated with the Episcopal Church. The school's 2,000-acre (8.1 km2), or 3.125 square mile, campus serves 540 students, who come from 37 states and 28 countries.
Early decision (ED) or early acceptance is a type of early admission used in college admissions in the United States for admitting freshmen to undergraduate programs. It is used to indicate to the university or college that the candidate considers that institution to be their top choice through a binding commitment to enroll; in other words, if offered admission under an ED program, and the financial aid offered by the school is acceptable, the candidate must enroll at that institution and withdraw all applications to other institutions. Applying early decision brings a greater statistical chance of being accepted.
A Jewish quota was a discriminatory racial quota designed to limit or deny access for Jews to various institutions. Such quotas were widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries in developed countries and frequently present in higher education, often at prestigious universities.
Alfred Whitney Griswold was an American historian and educator. He served as 16th president of Yale University from 1951 to 1963, during which he built much of Yale's modern scientific research infrastructure, especially on Science Hill.
Saint Grottlesex refers to several American college-preparatory boarding schools in New England that historically educated the social and economic elite of the Northeastern United States. The schools are traditionally given as St. Mark's School, St. Paul's School, St. George's School, Groton School and Middlesex School, although some scholars also include Kent School.
Edward Digby Baltzell Jr. was an American sociologist, academic and author. He studied the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant establishment and is credited with popularizing the acronym WASP. He was also a best-selling author whose books were popular with both scholars and the general public.
The Yale Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. The school sponsors 35 varsity sports. The school has won two NCAA national championships in women's fencing, four in men's swimming and diving, 21 in men's golf, one in men's hockey, one in men's lacrosse, and 16 in sailing.
Princeton University was founded in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1746 as the College of New Jersey, shortly before moving into the newly built Nassau Hall in Princeton. In 1783, for about four months Nassau Hall hosted the United States Congress, and many of the students went on to become leaders of the young republic.
The Black Ivy League refers to a segment of the historically black colleges (HBCUs) in the United States that attract the majority of high-performing or affluent black students.
The Lawrenceville School is a private coeducational preparatory school for boarding and day students located in the unincorporated community of Lawrenceville within Lawrence Township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Lawrenceville is a member of the Eight Schools Association and the Ten Schools Admission Organization.
Jerome Bernard Karabel is an American sociologist, political and social commentator, and professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. He has written extensively on American institutions of higher education and on various aspects of social policy and history in the United States, often from a comparative perspective.
The Harvard–Princeton football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Harvard Crimson football team of Harvard University and the Princeton Tigers football team of Princeton University. Princeton leads the series 60–49–7.
Henry Chauncey was a founder and the first president of the Educational Testing Service (ETS). As a Harvard University administrator, he helped popularize the use of the Scholastic Aptitude Test in college admissions.
↑ Lieber, Francis; Wigglesworth, Edward; Bradford, Thomas Gamaliel (1833). Encyclopædia Americana: A Popular Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature, History, Politics. Carey, Lea and Carey. p.247. The College of New Jersey at Princeton has long and justly maintained a high reputation, and numbers among its alumni many of the most eminent men of the Union, especially in the Southern States.
↑ Burt, Nathaniel (1999) [1963]. The Perennial Philadelphians: The Anatomy of an American Aristocracy. University of Pennsylvania Press. p.86. ISBN0-8122-1693-8. …the Big Three and a Local Favorite…
↑ Baltzell, E. Digby (1964). The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy and Caste in America. Yale University Press. p.209. ISBN0-300-03818-6. …proper college degree became the main criterion…
↑ Karabel, op. cit, Part I, The Origins of Selective Admissions, 1900-1933
↑ Rimer, Sara; Finder, Alan (December 10, 2007). "Harvard Steps Up Financial Aid". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 2, 2016. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
"The history of HYP athletics"(PDF). Marcia G Synnott. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 7, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2005.— 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: U.S. News & World Report; pg:84-93
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