Ivy League

[jakartaman]

Hi,
It's a fairly simple question but it makes me scratch my head.
In my country, we often refer to any school in the Ivy League simply as Ivy League.
For example,
"I entered the Ivy League." (to mean that I was accepted to an Ivy League school)
Is such a usage OK or do I have to say "I entered an Ivy League school/university?"

In case "I entered the Ivy League" doesn't sound right just because the Ivy League is composed of 8 schools,
is it OK to say "They entered the Ivy League"?


Thank you in advance

 

[Sabretooth]

I've never heard of using "the Ivy League" to refer to any school in the Ivy League. In my dialect, you'd need to say "an Ivy League school/university."

 

[jakartaman]

I've never heard of using "the Ivy League" to refer to any school in the Ivy League. In my dialect, you'd need to say "an Ivy League school/university."

So what if I said "They entered the Ivy League" to mean that they were accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc.? Do I still need "schools or universities"?

 

[Sabretooth]

So what if I said "They entered the Ivy League" to mean that they were all accepted to one of those 8 Ivy League schools? Do I still need "schools or universities"?

You would still need "schools or universities."

As an aside, we probably wouldn't use "entered." We'd say something like, "They were all accepted into Ivy League schools."

 

[jakartaman]

Thank you very much, Sabretooth

 

[bennymix]

I wouldn't say "They entered the Ivy League" though I suppose its meaning is obvious. For singular, "He got into an Ivy League college." or "He was admitted to ...." For plural, "They got into Ivy League colleges (or universities)."

Informally, one could say, of a person, "He's gone Ivy League," or "He's Ivy League now" or "He's an Ivy Leaguer now."

 

[Rover_KE]

Don't Americans say 'He's an Ivy Leaguer' like we say 'He's an Oxbridge man' when we don't know or care whether it's Oxford or Cambridge he went to?

 

[bennymix]

See the last line of my post #6, just above yours, rover!