So, there is no way for me to write this post and NOT be accused of being a pompous jerk, but whatever, here it goes anyway.

Every now and again, someone will refer to a non Ivy League school as an Ivy League institution. They don’t mean anything malicious about it, they just have their denotations and connotations mixed up. So now, once and for all, allow me to set the record straight.

The Ivy League is an athletic conference of eight colleges. Those schools are Cornell University, Brown University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. The organization was formally founded in February, 1954 as a way to organize the schools’ athletic schedules. (Although the history of the association between these 8 schools goes back even farther – I’m just doing the abbreviated version of the history here.

That, my friends is the denotation of the Ivy League – what it really and specifically means. It is all about athletics, and not about education.

But see, the term has been more or less co-opted by its connotation, which is that the schools are prestigious, and exclusive institutions, which they are, more or less. (COUGHBROWNCOUGHCOUGH)

Let’s be honest – the connotation is pretty fair – these eight institutions are known for being tough to get accepted into and their demanding curricula. In the 2010 US News and World Report ranking of the best national universities, all 8 Ivy schools are ranked in the top twenty. The top 3 are all Ivies; Harvard and Princeton tied for first, with Yale close behind them.

So clearly, there’s a reason why when people hear the words “Ivy League,” they think of a highly respected school.

But this leads to a blurry line between the denotation and the connotation, which causes some people to think that if the Ivy League is simply a name for good colleges, that a whole host of other schools should be in the Ivy League. Take numbers 4 and 5 of the US News ranking, Cal Tech and MIT. There is absolutely no doubt that these are amazing schools, both known for being tough to get into and tough to survive once you’re there. A degree from either school is sure to impress friends, families, and potential employers for the rest of the graduate’s life.

But Cal Tech and MIT are not in the Ivy League. Not because they’re not good enough, or because they don’t “deserve” to be, or for any reason whatsoever having to do with their reputation or academics. They are simply not in the athletic conference known as the Ivy League.

It’s really quite straightforward, but man, do people get pissed off when you try to explain this. You hear a lot of things like, “Of course Stanford is in the Ivy League – it’s an amazing school!” Yes, it is an amazing school, but it is not in the athletic conference of the Ivy League. “Well, it *should* be in the Ivy League!”

Sigh.

Saying that a college *should* be in the Ivy League is simply a preposterous statement. That’s basically like saying that the LA Angels are such a great team, they should be in the National League Eastern Division. Or that I am so attractive and talented, I should be Miss Teen Black USA. Or that Australia is such an important nation, it should be in the European Union.

But these conversations won’t ever stop. People are always going to say that any number of other colleges and universities are now currently or should someday be part of the Ivy League. When the correct definition of the Ivy League is offered up, it will then always inevitably lead to complaints of arrogance and snobbery. But to anyone who has been frustrated by having this conversation with someone who just doesn’t get it, remember:

The person who is getting so angry at you can’t help their irrational reaction. They clearly didn’t go to an Ivy league school, after all.