764,500 international students hurried in the United States in 2011-2012 to study, the most chosen specialties were business, math and computer science, and the total endowment fund for the year 2010 was 356 Billion dollars. Among this multitude of institutions, 5 Universities shine more than others: Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Columbia and Stanford. Curriculum vitae of these prestigious universities.
Princeton, Dei sub numine viget
The History
Founded in 1746 as the "College of New Jersey," Princeton University is the 4th oldest in the United States. With 10 young men in his early days studying under the right instructions of the Reverend Jonathan Dickinson, the school gradually grew to be officially recognized in the early 1900s as a full university under the impetus of its 13th President.
It was Woodrow Wilson who developed Princeton, provided him with an efficient administrative structure, redesigned his curriculum with different programs for juniors and seniors, and reorganized his dormitories into four different "colleges" ( There have been 6 since 2007).
The translation of the motto of the university is "Under the power of God it flourishes".
Princeton in figures
1969: Princeton opened to girls
5,264 undergraduates registered in 2012-2013
2,648 "graduates" enrolled in 2012-2013
1,100 teachers
180 buildings on campus
13 million books in the 10 bookshops
15 former students have obtained or have worked on a project that won a Nobel Prize
$ 58,965 is the amount of tuition for the 2014-2015 school year.
The Alumni
The writer F. Scott Fitzegarld
Steve Forbes, President and Founder of Forbes Inc.
Ethan Coen, half the shock duo of the Coen brothers
The wife of the 44th President of the United States, Michelle Obama
The millionaire Jeff Bezo, CEO of Amazon.
Harvard, Veritas
The History
Created in 1636, it is the oldest university in the country. It is named after its first benefactor, John Harvard, who left his entire library and half of his property to the institution. In 1642, the university had 9 students, and 10 years later it welcomed the first student "Native American".
Initially to train the members of the Unitarian clergy and the congregationalist clergy, she then opened up to another audience to quickly rise to Yale's first rival - Harvard remains the richest faculty in the world in front of her opponent. The rivalry between the two universities is manifested on the ground, on the occasion of the "Game" of American football, every year.
The motto of the university is more than formal "Veritas", is translation really necessary?
Harvard in figures
323,000 alumni in 190 countries
1879: Opens the Harvard Annex, with 27 students
47 Nobel laureates and 28 Pulitzer Prize winners
1995: The brains of the Harvard Medical School develop a new vaccine against cholera
$ 56,407 for one year in 2013-2014.
The Alumni
John Quincy Adams (6th President, 1825-1829), Tutherford Birchard Hayes (19th President, 1877-1881), Teddy Roosevelt (26th President) , Franklin Roosevelt (32th president from 1933 to 1945), John F. Kennedy (35th president, from 1961 to 1963), George W. Bush (43rd president, from 2001 to 2009),also Barack Obama.
Actor Tommy Lee Jones, who shared his room at the college with Al Gore
Bill Gates, the brain behind Microsoft Corporation and Mark Zuckerberg, the curly head that launched FaceBook
The actors Matt Damon and Natalie Portman include.
Yale, Lux and Veritas
The History
Founded in 1702, the university is the 3rd oldest institution of higher education in the United States and has the second largest library in the country.
Yale has taken the example of English universities like Oxford or Cambridge, and has 12 small communities of about 450 students each. The university now comprises 11,000 students from all over the United States and 108 different countries.
No need to have taken the Latin course at college to understand that the motto means "Light and Truth".
Yale in figures
1830: registration of the first Latin American student and in 1850, the first Chinese student received a diploma
1869: first graduate students
125 hectares of land and 260 buildings on the main campus, and a total of 440 buildings
15 million books in his library
168,987 still alive in 2012
$ 42,300 for annual tuition fees but about $ 58,600, including accommodation, personal expenses, etc.
The Alumni
US Presidents George H. Bush (from 1989 to 1993), Bill Clinton (1993 to 2001) and his wife Hillary, Dick Cheney (from 2001 to 2009)
The actors Paul Newman, Ben Stein, Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Jennifer Connelly, Edward Norton and Claire Danes among others.
Columbia, In light Tuo videbimus lumen
The History
Founded in 1754, King's College welcomed 8 students during its first year and quickly formed the nation's elites: the first Chief Justice of the United States Secretary of the Treasury, the author of the final draft of the Constitution, or one of the 5 feathers of the Declaration of Independence.
When the establishment re-opens after closing it during the American Revolution, it takes on the name of "Columbia" and changes location several times. Under the impetus of President Michael Sovern in the 1980s, the university grew strongly, with the construction of new buildings, and its successor George Rupp also contributed to its development.
The university now has a main campus in Morningside Heights and three others in the surrounding area, and even in Paris with a teaching hub at Reid Hall.
Students in Columbia may not often see the light, no wonder that their motto is "In light Tuo videbimus lumen" or "By Your light we will see light."
Columbia in figures
8 astronauts or aviators sat on the university benches;
80 students have won Nobel Prizes, making it the largest brain boosting incubator for the award
12,810,581 books can be found in his library;
11,343 diplomas were awarded in 2013.
$ 46,846 for one year, and $ 64,144 in total (with accommodation, books and personal expenses).
The Alumni
Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945)
3 Chiefs of Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and 9 members of the Supreme Court
Moult governors and twice as many cabinet members and advisers to the President.
Stanford, Die Luft der Freiheit weht
The History
Established in 1885, Stanford University is not part of the Ivy League, since it is located in California. The university opened its doors to 555 students (and students) two years later.
2 times damaged by the earthquakes of 1906 and 1989, Stanford grows slowly but surely, building new buildings until becoming a true campus.
For those who do not speak German fluently, the motto means "The wind of freedom blows" for a university in the wind.
Stanford in figures
7 schools
700 main buildings
22 Nobel Prize winners
$ 1.35 million spent on research
20,000 parking spaces and 7 car parks
18,000 spaces for bicycles and more than 20 km of bike paths
25 fountains and 3 water tanks
43,000 trees and 800 species of plants
97% of undergraduates live on campus
211,706 former dispatched in the world in 2013.
The Alumni
William Hewlett and David Packard, creators of Hewlett-Packard
President Herbert Hoover and 4 Judges of the Supreme Court
The writer John Steinbeck
Ray Dolby, founder of Dolby Labs and Bradford Parkinson, the inventor of GPS
17 astronauts, including the first American woman in space, Sally Ride.
The Great Court and the Ivy League
This legendary group is made up of 8 universities of New England, which are among the oldest establishments in the country. Their name would come from one of their architectural characteristics: their facades were covered with ivy (ivy).
The Ivy League includes the following universities:
- Yale University, founded in 1701
- University of Pennyslvania, founded in 1740
- Princeton University, founded in 1746
- Columbia University, founded in 1754
- Brown University, founded in 1764
- Dartmouth College, founded in 1769
- Cornell University, founded in 1865.