• Professors at small Ivy League colleges can devote more time to each student.university college image by Mary Lane from Fotolia.com
  
  Going to a small Ivy League college means class sizes are smaller and professors have more time to devote to each student. Students at smaller Ivy League colleges also have less competition for student grants and fellowships. Students can choose from both urban and rural campuses among the three smallest Ivies. Each has different strengths in art, engineering and medicine as well as the natural and social sciences.
  
  

Dartmouth College

• With an undergraduate population of less than 4,200 in 2009, Dartmouth College is the smallest of the Ivy League schools. Classes have an 8-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio. Dartmouth offers 57 majors and programs, the most popular of which are biology, economics, engineering science, English, government, history and psychological and brain sciences. Dartmouth's Dickey Center and Rockefeller Student Programs prepare students for leadership roles with a variety of off-campus learning opportunities, including international internships and a First-Year Fellows Program in public policy that pairs students with Dartmouth alumni in Washington, D.C. The Leslie Center for the Humanities offers annual research and development fellowships as well as grants to support students pursuing research or attending conferences that will further their education. Admittance is competitive, but more than 60 percent of Dartmouth's 2009 class went to public high schools. Over 90 percent were in the top 10 percent of their class.
  
  Dartmouth College
  Office of Undergraduate Admissions
  6016 McNutt Hall
  Hanover, NH 03755
  603-646-2875
  dartmouth.edu
  
  

Princeton University

• Princeton's 2009 incoming undergraduate class of just over 5,000 places it as the second-smallest of the Ivies. Princeton boasts a 5-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio. Students can work toward their bachelor of arts degrees in 29 departments and earn one of 42 interdisciplinary certificate programs. For the first two years, all students fulfill general academic requirements. In the spring of sophomore year, they can choose a major. Students pursuing a bachelor of science in engineering select one of the following six departments in the spring of freshman year: chemical, civil and environmental, computer science, electrical, mechanical and aerospace or operations research and financial engineering. Princeton supports 75 research centers that promote interdisciplinary scholarship and hosts the Princeton Plasma Physics and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratories. Princeton does not accept transfer students.
  
  Princeton University
  Undergraduate Admission Office
  110 West College
  P.O. Box 430
  Princeton, NJ 08542
  609-258-3060
  princeton.edu
  
  

Brown University

• Brown University's approximately 6,000 undergraduates in 2009 makes it the third-smallest Ivy League school. Since 2002, Brown has been working to reduce its 9-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio by hiring 100 new faculty members. Since 1969, Brown has followed the New Curriculum, which encourages individuality, experimentation and interdisciplinary scholarship. Freshmen and sophomores fulfill general course requirements before declaring a major by the end of fourth semester. Undergraduates can pursue a four-year bachelor of the arts or science program or pursue one of the three five-year programs that combine a B.A. with a B.S. or a bachelor of fine arts in conjunction with the Rhode Island School of Design. With the guidance and approval of an adviser, a student can also devise his own independent concentration. Admittance is competitive but not dependent upon minimum scores. As of 2009, Brown declined approximately 80 percent of its applications.
  
  Brown University
  Office of College Admission
  45 Prospect St.
  Box 1876
  Providence, RI 02912
  401-863-2378
  brown.edu