[SWTXBelle]

Originally Posted by ree-Xi

/hijack/ Sorry, I have to giggle at the term "Southern Ivies". The schools you reference are not Ivy League, for two reasons: The term "Ivy League" originally referred to a eight private schools in the NCAA athletic conference. More contemporary usage of the term "Ivy League" referrences the group as the country's oldest, academically prestigious universities. (Thank you WIKI). As someone who has lived in the northeast my entire life, I had never heard the term "southern ivies" until about a year ago, and it was here. It just seems like an odd concept to me. /end hijack/

The term "public ivies" is now bandied about to describe academically prestigious universities. In much the same way as "Xerox" is used to describe any copier, or any soft drink in the south is a "Coke", "ivy" is used to describe a school with a good academic reputation.