Yale University is a private university in New Haven， Connecticut. Founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School， Yale is the third oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The University has graduated numerous Nobel Prize laureateslaureate adj.佩戴桂冠的 n.戴桂冠的人， Supreme Court justices， and U.S. Presidents， including William Howard Taft， Gerald Ford (LL.B)， George H.W. Bush (B.A.)， Bill Clinton (J.D.)， and George W. Bush (B.A.). Its ＄12.7 billion academic endowment is the second largest worldwide (behind only its larger rival， Harvard University).
Yale，s emphasis on undergraduate teaching is unusual among its peer research universities. The undergraduate College was the most selective worldwideworldwide adj.全世界的 in 2004， accepting fewer than 10 percent of its applicants， and has produced more Rhodes Scholars than any institution save Harvard. Each undergraduate lives in one of the twelve residential colleges. Yale offers strong graduate programs in classics， dramadrama n.(在舞台上演的)戏剧， 戏剧艺术， art， architecture， history， medicine and law. Among law schools， Yale Law School is by far the most selective in the United States. Overall， the University has more than 3，000 faculty members， among whom Sterling Professors are considered the highest rank.
The rivalry between Yale University and Harvard University is long and storied， by far the oldest and most intense in the Ivy League； from academics to rowing to college football， their historic competition is similar to that of Oxford and Cambridge. Princeton is often included in the same breath as the older U.S. schools， but its place in any rivalry is far less developed.
Where the more subjective question of “prestige” is concerned， Yale also fares well. For example， in the faculty reputational surveys which form a key component of the college and university rankings published annually by US News & World Report， Yale consistently ranks in the top echelonechelon n.［军］梯形， 梯阵， 梯次编 vt.排成梯队 vi.排成梯队 (along with Princeton and Harvard).
Intellectual “Schools”
Because of its age and prestige， Yale has been responsible for many intellectual trends. Most famously， these have come out of Yale，s English and literature departments， starting with New Criticism. Of the New Critics - Robert Penn Warren， W.K. Wimsatt， and Cleanth Brooks were all Yale faculty. Later， after the passing of the New Critical fad， the Yale literature department became a center of American deconstruction， with French and Comparative Literature departments centered around Paul de Man and supported by the English department. This has become known as the “Yale School”. Yale，s history department has also originated important intellectual trends. Historian C. Vann Woodward is credited for beginning in the 1960s an important stream of southern historianshistorian n.历史学家， 史家； likewise， David Montgomery， a labor historian， advised many of the current generation of labor historians in the country. Most noticeably， a tremendous number of currently active Latin American historians were trained at Yale in the 1960s， 1970s， and 1980s by Emìlia Viotta da Costa； younger Latin Americanists tend to be “intellectual cousins” in that their advisors were advised by the same people at Yale. Because so many of the country，s law professors were trained at Yale Law School， there is a similar effect in legal education.
Sports
Yale supports 35 varsity athletic teams that compete in the Ivy League Conference and the Eastern College Athletic Conference， and Yale is an NCAA Division I member. American football was largely created at Yale by player and coach Walter Camp， who evolved the rules of the game away from rugbyrugby n.橄榄球 and soccer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yale has numerous athletic facilities， including the Payne Whitney Gymnasium， the largest and most elaborateelaborate adj.精心制作的， 详细阐述的， 精细 vt.精心制作， 详细阐述 v.详细描述 indoor athletic complex in the world. The school mascot is “Handsome Dan”， the famous Yale bulldog， and the Yale fight song (written by Cole Porter) contains the refrain， “Bulldog， bulldog， bow wow wow”.
Yale athletics are ably and enthusiastically supported by the Yale Precision Marching Band. The band attends every home football game and many away， as well as most hockeyhockey n.曲棍 and basketball games throughout the winter.
Yale intramural sports are a vibrant aspect of student life. Students compete for their respective residential colleges， which fosters a friendly rivalry. The year is divided into Fall， Winter， and Spring seasons， each of which include approximately ten different sports each. About half the sports are coed. At the end of the year， the residential college with the most points (not all sports count equally) wins the Tyng Cup.
The University of Pennsylvania宾夕法尼亚大学
宾夕法尼亚大学坐落在美国第四大城市费城市中心。这所创立于1740年的大学，是在美国历史上最活跃也最有影响力、贡献最为广泛的公民之一——本杰明·富兰克林的建议下建成的。为了纪念他，宾大校园里四处可见老本杰明的雕塑和以他命名的建筑。特别有趣的是一颗破碎成两半的巨大的扣子的雕塑——据说，本杰明在晚年时很胖，有一次竟然将他衬衫上的一颗扣子撑破了。
在宾州大学的各个院系之中，沃顿商学院的学生们是最为趾高气扬的一群。在1998年美国大学研究院排名榜中，沃顿商学院排在第三位。1997年底，江泽民主席在访问宾州大学时宣布：中国将委托沃顿商学院培养高级经济管理人才。除了在商业、财经方面声望极高，宾州大学的历史、英语专业和企业管理等也非常出色。考古系在全美的声誉亦是极高，而其他如传播学、心理学、护士学等专业报考人数也极高。
与其他学校相比，宾州大学一个很大的不同之处便是它既重视本科的基础教育，也重视专业预科教育和职业培训。实用而不是纯学术的钻研是宾大的一贯作风。
宾州大学校园中，那随处可见的富兰克林的塑像是宾大一道永远不变的风景。走在校园中也便走在富兰克林的注视之下。那目光似乎在提醒他的大学：“应该是一个为公民而设立的教育，其目的是通往生意或是政治的成功。”
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn or UPenn， although the former is the preferred and recognized nickname of the University) is a private， nonsectariannonsectarian adj.无宗派的， research university located in Philadelphia， Pennsylvania. A member of the Ivy League， Penn is considered to be a leader in the sciences， the humanities， law， medicine， education， engineering and business.
The University of Pennsylvania is often confused with the Pennsylvania State University (also known as “Penn State”)， a public research university whose main campus is located in the geographic center of Pennsylvania in State College.
History