Hidden Ivies Information

Hidden Ivies: Thirty Colleges of Excellence is a college educational guide published in 2000. It focuses on college admissions in the United States. The authors define both the title of this book as well as their goals in writing it as: "to create greater awareness of the small, distinctive cluster of colleges and universities of excellence that are available to gifted college-bound students." In the introduction, the authors further explain their aim by referring specifically to "the group historically known as the Little Ivies (including Amherst, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Swarthmore, Wesleyan, and Williams)" which the authors say have "scaled the heights of prestige and selectivity and also turn away thousands of our best and brightest young men and women." The second edition includes the assessment of all the institutions considered "Little Ivies" except Connecticut College, which is referenced on three occasions in the book for its affiliation and student exchange program with other Little Ivies; the college is included in Appendix II as another college of excellence.

In this book, the authors (using the same criteria often used to evaluate Ivy League schools) discuss 30 American schools that are small in size and are either liberal arts colleges or universities that emulate them. The Hidden Ivies: 50 Top Colleges - From Amherst to Williams - That Rival the Ivy League, the second edition of the guide published in 2009, evaluates 50 "renowned academic institutions."

Nine of the 50 schools in the second edition are located in the Midwestern United States, 24 in the Northeastern United States, 11 in the Southern United States, and six in the Western United States.

Hidden Ivies discusses the college admissions process and attempts to evaluate 63 colleges in comparison to Ivy League colleges. The schools are examined based on academics, admissions process, financial aid, and student experiences. The book argues the importance of a liberal arts education and goes on to inquire about the qualities of Ivy League schools in general, and how such qualities apply to higher education.

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