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Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a private Ivy League research university. Founded in 1636, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and is devoted to the advancement of knowledge through research.
Harvard’s endowment is the largest of any academic institution in the world, standing at $37.6 billion as of 2019. The university has annual research expenditures exceeding $9 billion, making it one of the largest sources of funding for scientific research in the United States.
Harvard faculty and alumni have won more than 160 Nobel Prizes, including 48 laureate degrees in a range of disciplines ranging from economics, medicine, and chemistry to physics and literature. Harvard alumni have also gone on to occupy prominent positions in government, business, and academia.
The University is organized into 11 separate schools, each with its own faculty and resources. The primary undergraduate school is Harvard College, which enrolled about 6,700 students in the fall of 2019. Harvard’s graduate and professional schools include the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Business School, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, the Harvard Medical School, the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, the Harvard Divinity School, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.
Harvard offers a wide variety of varsity sports teams, and competes in the NCAA Division I Ivy League. The university is also home to a number of world-renowned museums and theaters, including the Harvard Art Museums, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and the American Repertory Theater.
Stanford University is a private research university located in Stanford, California. Founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, the university was opened on October 1, 1891 as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Stanford enrolls students from all 50 U.S. states and more than 90 countries. The university is one of the world’s leading research institutions, with more than $1 billion in annual research expenditures.
The university is organized into seven schools: Humanities and Sciences (which includes the Graduate School of Business), Engineering, Earth Sciences, Education, Law, Medicine, and Stanford University Libraries. Stanford also has land and facilities elsewhere, most notably the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (originally the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), a research center operated by the university for the United States Department of Energy.
Stanford faculty and alumni have founded many companies that produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue, making it one of the wealthiest universities in the world. The university is also one of the top fundraising institutions in the country, bringing in over $1 billion per year in private donations.
As of September 2019, Stanford University has an endowment of $28.7 billion, making it the seventh-largest university endowment in the United States and one of the largest in the world. The university also has thesis statement writing service and the fifth-largest academic library in the country.
Founded in 1701, Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university located in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is a member of the Association of American Universities.
Yale traces its history back to the 1640s, when colonial clergymen led an effort to establish a college in New Haven to preserve the tradition of European liberal education in the New World. The university’s first president, John Harvard, donated his personal library and half of his estate to the school, which was then renamed in his honor.
Yale has produced many notable alumni over the years, including five U.S. Presidents, 19 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, and numerous living billionaires. Yale’s sports teams compete in the Ivy League and are known as the Bulldogs.
Yale University is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
Founded in 1746, Princeton University is one of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution. The University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, is a private research university with an endowment of $25.9 billion and annual research expenditures exceeding $300 million. Princeton has 36 academic departments and programs, offering degrees in humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering.
Princeton is a residential university, with all students living on campus for their entire four years. First-year students are housed together in one of six freshman residential colleges, while upperclassmen live in one of the University’s 11 residential colleges or in off-campus housing. Undergraduate students must complete a year-long freshman seminar and two write my papers intensive courses, as well as general education requirements in natural sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Princeton also offers joint-degree programs with other universities, including the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania.
Princeton has produced Nobel laureates, Fields Medalists, Fulbright Scholars, and Rhodes Scholars. The University is also one of the eight members of the Ivy League, a group of elite institutions known for their academic excellence and selectivity in admissions. Princeton students have access to world-class facilities, including the new Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, and the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies. The University is also home to a number of renowned museums, including the Princeton University Art Museum and the Museum of Natural History.
Columbia University, founded in 1754, is a private Ivy League research university in Upper Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York and the fifth-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. It is one of nine colonial colleges founded prior to the Declaration of Independence, seven of which belong to the Ivy League.
Columbia is organized into twenty schools, including fourteen undergraduate colleges and six graduate schools. It has global research outposts in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Asunción and Nairobi. Columbia’s endowment is among the largest of any academic institution in the world, standing at $10.9 billion in 2018.
Columbia is consistently ranked as one of the top universities in the world by major education publications. For instance, it was ranked as the 4th best university in the world by U.S. News & World Report in their 2019 rankings. Additionally, it was ranked 8th worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 and 14th in their 2020 World Reputation Rankings. According to the Center for Measuring University Performance, Columbia is the 11th best university in the United States when measuring by research output, impact, and international outlook. In 2019, Columbia was ranked 3rd among U.S. colleges and universities by the Nature Index for producing the highest volume of natural sciences research.
As of 2018, 13 Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Columbia as students, faculty, or staff. In addition, 22 Heads of State and Government have been affiliated with Columbia as students, alumni, or faculty members. Columbia is one of the fourteen founding members of the Association of American Universities and was the first school in the United States to grant the M.D. degree. The university also has global research outposts in Amman, Beijing, Istanbul, Paris, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Asunción and Nairobi.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1861 in response to the increasing industrialization of the United States, MIT adopted a European polytechnic university model and stressed laboratory instruction in applied science and engineering. The institute is traditionally known for its research and education in the physical sciences and engineering, but more recently in biology, economics, linguistics, and management as well.
MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments. It is also home to two national laboratories overseen by the United States Department of Energy: the Plasma Science and Fusion Center and the Rowland Institute for Science.
In 2012–2013, MIT had the 5th largest international student population of any university in the United States. As of June 2017, 94 Nobel laureates, 26 Turing Award winners, and 8 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with MIT as alumni, faculty members, or researchers. In addition, 58 National Medal of Science recipients, 29 National Medals of Technology and Innovation recipients, 50 MacArthur Fellows, 73 Marshall Scholars, 45 Rhodes Scholars, and 38 Pulitzer Prize winners have been affiliated with MIT. The school has a strong entrepreneurial culture and the aggregated revenues of companies founded by MIT alumni ($362 billion) would rank as the eleventh-largest economy in the world. MIT is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU).
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