It's safe to say that we've all heard a few claims for this title, but what's the truth? As it turns out, this is a much more hotly contested title than we could have ever possibly imagined. A handful of different universities in the US all make claims about being the "oldest university" in the country based on competing metrics and slightly wishy-washy historical reasoning, and even when the rationale is sound, different criteria may qualify different schools for different titles. What a rat's nest this turned out to be!
Regardless, we wanted to look at a few different schools that have all made claims to being the oldest university in the United States, and we're going to dive a little bit into the history of each claim. So without further ado, here are a few schools that like to think of themselves as the Original American University!
The List
The University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines
What a curveball! I'll confess that I'm being a little cheeky with this inclusion, but I had to include it on the list. Founded in 1611, the University of Santo Tomas is older than all of the other contenders for the top spot (the usual claimant Harvard University was originally founded in 1636 at the earliest), and more than a century older than any of its Ivy League competitors began calling themselves "universities." But you may have noticed something odd here: this school is not in the United States.
Okay, okay. You caught me. But there's some truth to what I'm saying. At one point, the Philippines were officially part of the United States, making the University of Santo Tomas the single oldest university to have ever operated under the American flag, and at one point could genuinely have been considered the oldest university in the United States. However, the Philippines haven't been part of the US since 1946, making whatever claim Santo Tomas has to this title now null and void. I hope you'll forgive me for starting the list this way, but I simply couldn't resist.
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Now we're talkin'. Harvard University claims to be the oldest university in the country, and that claim is almost (almost!) never challenged. Founded in either 1636, 1637, or 1650 depending on who's counting, Harvard University has been operating under the same institutional structure continuously since at least the middle of the 17th century, making it indisputably the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Indeed, as a bonus, one of the school's two governing boards-a corporation called the President and Fellows of Harvard College-has operated the college 1650 without changing its name or structure and actually bills itself as the oldest corporation in the Western Hemisphere. Now that's about as American as it gets.
But hold on: does that make it the oldest university in the United States? Not everyone agrees. There seems to be a bit of a disconnect. Harvard University is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, and Harvard University is a university, so shouldn't that make it the US's oldest university? Well, if you ask me, disputing this is splitting proverbial hairs at the highest level, but it's worth devoting a little bit of time to the other claimants and their arguments.
The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
Yes, despite being founded in 1740, the University of Pennsylvania claims to be the oldest university in the United States, and in a sense, they are technically correct, which is the best kind of correct. We'll let Penn tell you how they feel in their own words:
"In the Anglo-American model, a college, by definition, is a faculty whose subject specialization is in a single academic field. This is usually arts and sciences (often referred to as 'liberal arts'), but may also be one of the professions: law, medicine, theology, etc. A university, by contrast, is the co-existence, under a single institutional umbrella, of more than one faculty. With the founding of the first medical school in America (in 1765; Columbia was second), Penn became America's first university."
So there you have it. Penn is not the country's oldest college and has never claimed to be, but it is the country's oldest university based on the literal definition of university. Or rather, it was the first institution of higher learning to specifically become a university rather than a college in the United States. But are there any other schools making this same claim?
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
You'd better believe it! But while I was more than happy to grant Penn their place in the sun here, I feel like William and Mary's claim is fairly tenuous. At the most official level, William and Mary was chartered as a university a whole seven days after the University of Pennsylvania received that same official designation and almost 15 years after Penn became a de facto university with the opening of its medical school. So what gives?
Brace yourselves: William and Mary's original 1693 royal charter refers to the school as a "studium generale," which has been dubiously translated from Latin as "place of universal study," and by interpreting this loose translation of a vague Latin term very literally and very specifically, William and Mary makes the claim that it has been officially chartered as a university since 1693, which would, indeed, make it the oldest university in the United States.
I think it's fairly obvious why I'm doubtful here. If you're convinced by this argument, then by all means, spread the good word. But if you're like the rest of us, you'll be content to think of Harvard as the oldest university in spirit, Penn as the oldest university by definition, and William and Mary as the oldest university in fantasyland.
Oldest Public University
Surely this is a little bit easier to answer, right? Sadly, it's just as hotly contested (and you'll never guess who makes another appearance…). The disputes are a little smaller, though, so we'll speed through it this time.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
UNC Chapel Hill has been chartered since 1789 and has been enrolling students since 1795, making it the oldest operating public university in the United States.
The University of Georgia, Athens, GA
The University of Georgia was chartered in 1785, meaning that it was technically chartered before UNC Chapel Hill and thus by some metric older, but it didn't actually begin operating until around 1800, existing only on paper for its first 15 years. So yeah, it is "officially older" than UNC Chapel Hill, but who are they trying to fool?
The College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA
You're kidding. Well, at least here I think their claim is a bit more valid. William and Mary is, indeed, a public university and is actually significantly older than both UNC Chapel Hill and University of Georgia, but it was originally founded as a private university and didn't become public until 1906. So yes, William and Mary is the oldest currently-public university in the United States, but not the oldest to be founded as a public university.
Conclusions
It's usually around here that I tie all this back to College Rover, but this time, there's not much to say. No one's picking their college based on which school gets to be called the oldest. Regardless, we thought it would be a fun exercise just to work through all the different claims, and we hope you got something out of it. And hey, if you're reading this because you're on the lookout for where to spend the next four years, head on over to our website to compare all of your top choices on all the metrics that matter to you, and make this process a whole lot easier for yourself.
