In celebration of the introduction of the Yale Daily News to Instagram (@yaledailynews), XC takes a look at #IvyLeagueInstagrams.

The academic excellence of the Ivy League universities can only be rivaled by how wonderful their historical architecture looks through a filter. Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale have all stepped up to the demands of the 21st century by taking their brands to the square, filtered and hash-tagged medium of Instagram.

But what do the Instagram alter-egos of these eight institutions reveal about their personas (and about the prevalence of nature on their campuses)?

Brown University
1

Tree Huggers

Brown University is the nature lover of the group with photos of trees, sunflowers and more trees. A fan of no filter shots, the university even has a favorite tree, the Elm tree, with photos taken of it during all four seasons.

Recent Post: “Under the Elms”

Follow: If you love the outdoors.

Columbia University
2

The Architecture Major

Columbia has the Instagram with the least number of followers, which may have something to do with their obsession with artsy close ups of buildings. It is rare to find a photo of an entire structure, instead be prepared to see diagonal gates, images of ceilings and lots of columns.

Recent Post: “Northwest Corner Building Library”

Follow: If you want to see Greek columns from different angles.

Cornell University
3

Why I Chose Cornell

Cornell’s Instagram resembles the front page of a college catalog. From photos of students laughing on a bench to a picture of a waterfall, every photo is an advert for the university.

Recent Post: Students dressed as Spongebob and Luigi taking the walk of shame showing off their costumes.

Follow: If you did not pick up the Cornell University catalog.

Dartmouth College
4

The sports fanatic

Dartmouth is proud of its status as Ivy League champions and possibly has the largest number of sports related photos. They also managed to rope in characters from Monsters University, Sulley and Mike, to be mascots for their games.

Recent Post: Dartmouth football team gathering for practice.

Follow: if you love your college sports, or at least Dartmouth’s college sports.

Harvard University
5
The #reposter

Having only the second most followers of the eight, it is clear that the Harvard Instagram has gotten confused and is suffering from an identity crisis. With almost half of the photos reposted from other users it is unclear why Harvard is not using Tumblr for these reposts instead. By cheating using other peoples Instagram photos, the university has managed to keep the Instagram page running.

Recent Post: “A #winter view #repost from @harvardmed, showing the courtyard at Vanderbilt Hall. #snow#harvard”

Follow: Plagiarism is against the rules.

Princeton University
6

Princeton loves Princeton.

Princeton’s Instagram is the university equivalent of selfies. If you are looking to see every single corner of the Princeton campus, this is the only website that you need to visit.

Recent Post: The bicycle rack at Princeton.

Follow: If you couldn’t take the Princeton campus tour.

University of Pennsylvania
7

The Hipster

Forget about throwback Thursday – that is too mainstream. University of Pennsylvania has now brought us “Throwback Tuesday.” Other noticeable photos are sunrays in between trees and latte art.

Recent Post: The locust walk in November.

Follow: If you hate the mainstream.

Yale University
8

The popular kid

Yale University is the most active account of the eight. With multiple photos uploaded each day, the university gives followers an overview of life at Yale. A recent feature is the day in the life of… where a student is featured in a post every Monday. In short Instagram was created to be used by Yale.

Recent Post: “It’s always great to have #YaleAlumni return home. Today, we were honored to welcome back an extraordinary artist and wonderful alumna, Meryl Streep.”

Follow: If you go here.

KAMELA AL QUBAISI