Curated playlist
Need-blind educational institutions
- Yale UniversityIn 1779, British forces occupying New Haven threatened to raze Yale. A Yale graduate intervened.
- Cornell UniversityIn 1969, armed protesters occupied a building at Cornell University. The occupation forced its president to resign.
- Harvard UniversityHarvard University's name came from a dying man in 1639. John Harvard left the college 780 pounds and some 320 books.
- Columbia UniversityAt Columbia, Enrico Fermi ran the Americas' first uranium fission experiments. They took place in Pupin Hall.
- Princeton UniversityPrinceton's first women undergraduates reportedly broke their dorm's new security system within a day.
- University of Notre DameNotre Dame began in 1842 with just two students. A priest and eight brothers opened it in an old log chapel.
- University of Southern CaliforniaThe University of Southern California's first graduating class had just three people. One was the only woman.
- Stanford UniversityStanford University began as a memorial to a grieving family's only child. Leland Stanford built it after his son died.
- Dartmouth CollegeIn 1817, a rival Dartmouth University moved into Dartmouth College's buildings. Trustees kept teaching in rented rooms.
- University of ChicagoThe University of Chicago was founded twice. The first one closed in 1886 under debt, and a new one opened in 1890.
- Duke UniversityDuke University spent more than $1.5 billion on research in 2024. It began in 1838 as Brown's Schoolhouse, a private subscription school in Randolph County, North Carolina. Today the private university in Durham holds an endowment of $11.9…
- Brown UniversityIn 1969, Brown's faculty voted to abolish required courses and D grades. Failing grades stayed off transcripts.
- Johns Hopkins UniversityJohns Hopkins University began in rented rooms because its railroad stocks collapsed.
- Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyHarvard tried to absorb MIT at least six times. A 1905 court ruling ended the closest attempt.
- Vassar CollegeVassar College declined a merger with Yale and chose to admit men on its own terms. The change finished in 1969.
- Georgetown UniversityWilliam Peter Blatty set his novel The Exorcist on the grounds of Georgetown University, and the film adaptation was shot on location on that same campus. It is an odd kind of fame for a school better known for training ambassadors.…
- Rice UniversityRice University began with the 1900 murder of its founder. William Marsh Rice died in his New York apartment.
- California Institute of TechnologyCaltech began in 1891 as a vocational school started by a local businessman. Amos G. Throop was not a scientist.
- Babson CollegeBabson College opened in 1919 with 27 students in a former family home. They punched a time clock like real executives.