Can you Identify These Famous Universities From a Short Description?

By: Becky Stigall
Estimated Completion Time
3 min
Can you Identify These Famous Universities From a Short Description?
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About This Quiz

Harvard, Yale, Duke, Stanford and Oxford are all universities with recognizable names. But can you guess which is which from a one-sentence description?
What Ivy League university is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and was established in 1636?
Harvard
Ohio State
Michigan State
Florida State
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Harvard University was once known as Harvard College. Notable alumni include Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.

What university has its main campus in Greenwich Village?
UCLA
USC
UNC
NYU
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

New York University was established in 1831. Notable alumni include author Frank McCourt and Ma Ying-jeou, the president of Taiwan.

What famous university is located in a town in England of the same name?
Yale
Harvard
Oxford
Pennsylvania State
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Oxford University is considered the oldest English-speaking university. Notable alumni include Oscar Wilde and J.R.R. Tolkien.

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What Massachusetts university has a Department of Engineering that is ranked number one on many lists?
University of Michigan
Ohio State
Florida International University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, was founded in 1961. Notable alumni include astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Ronald McNair.

What California university is featured as the employer of several 'Big Bang Theory' characters?
Caltech
Yale
Harvard
Penn State
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Caltech was established in 1891. The university's motto is "The truth shall make you free."

What public university in England takes its name from the town in which it is located?
Cambridge
Harvard
Yale
MIT
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Cambridge was founded in 1209. Notable alumni include Stephen Hawking and Charles Darwin.

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What California university is known as The Farm?
Harvard
Cambridge
Yale
Stanford
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Stanford University was founded by former California Gov. Leland Stanford. Notable alumni include Elon Musk and John F. Kennedy.

What Ivy League university, located in New York City, has a mascot called Roaree the Lion?
Columbia
Stanford
Cambridge
Oxford
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Columbia University, formerly known as King's College, was established in 1754. Notable alumni include Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Alexander Hamilton.

What Ivy League university is the third oldest in the U.S.?
Oxford
Penn State
Yale
Ohio State
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Yale University, formerly Collegiate School, was established in 1701. Notable alumni include Meryl Streep, Vincent Price and Oliver Stone.

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What private New Jersey university was founded by the New Light Presbyterians?
Stanford
Oxford
Princeton
Penn State
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Princeton University, formerly College of New Jersey, was originally established to train Presbyterian ministers. Notable alumni include John Nash and Queen Noor of Jordan.

What university is considered the most prestigious in Japan?
Cambridge
Stanford
Yale
Tokyo
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Tokyo was formerly called Imperial University. Notable alumni include 11 Nobel laureates.

What California university's motto is Let There Be Light?
Yale
Stanford
Cambridge
Berkeley
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of California, Berkeley was formerly named University of California. Notable alumni include Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

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What Ivy League university is located in Ithaca, New York?
Oxford
Cambridge
Penn State
Cornell
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Cornell University motto is, "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study." Notable alumni include Bill Nye the science guy and Christopher Reeve.

What London college was founded by Prince Albert?
Imperial College London
Penn State
Berkeley
Stanford
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Imperial College London was established in 1907. Notable alumni include H.G. Wells.

What college is located at Gower St, Bloomsbury, London WC1E 6BT, UK?
University College London
Yale
Harvard
Cornell
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

University College London was established in 1826. Notable alumni include Mahatma Gandhi and Chris Martin.

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What top college includes the Pritzker School of Medicine and the Booth School of Business?
University of Chicago
London University
Penn State
UCLA
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Chicago was established in 1890. Notable alumni include Carl Sagan and Milton Friedman.

What Ivy League university's motto is "Laws without morals are useless"?
University of Pennsylvania
Cambridge
London U
Oxford
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Pennsylvania was established in 1740. Notable alumni include Elon Musk and Warren Buffett.

What Ann Arbor university's sports teams are known as the Wolverines?
Penn State
Harvard
Stanford
Michigan
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Michigan was founded in 1817. Notable alumni include Gerald Ford, Gilda Radner and Mike Wallace.

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What university was formerly known as the Southern Branch of the University of California?
UCLA
Harvard
Yale
Cambridge
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

University of California, Los Angeles was established in 1919. Notable alumni include Ben Stiller, Tim Robbins and George Takei.

What university is considered the first research university in the United States?
Oxford
London
Tokyo
Johns Hopkins
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Johns Hopkins University was established in 1876. Notable alumni and faculty include 36 Nobel Laureates.

What U.K. university was established in 1955?
Yale
Harvard
Stanford
University of Exeter
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Exeter is a public university with over 22,000 students. Notable alumni include J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series of books.

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What university's nickname is the Blue Devils?
Stanford
Yale
Duke
Harvard
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Duke University was established in 1838. Notable alumni include Richard Nixon and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

What university's students are known as the Tar Heels?
UCLA
UNC
UPenn
OSU
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was established in 1789. Notable alumni include Michael Jordan and Andy Griffith.

What university is known as one of Scotland's ancient universities?
Stanford
Harvard
Duke
University of Edinburgh
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Edinburgh was established in 1582. Notable alumni include Alexander Graham Bell, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

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What Rhode Island university was the first in the U.S. to admit students of any religious affiliation?
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
Brown
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Brown University was established in 1764. Notable alumni include John D. Rockefeller Jr. and John F. Kennedy Jr.

What London university's motto is "To Understand the Causes of Things"?
OSU
UCLA
LSE
UNC
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The London School of Economics was established in 1895. Notable alumni and staff include Nobel Prize winners.

What U.K. university's motto is, "My soul doth magnify the Lord"?
Stanford
Yale
University of Dundee
Harvard
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Dundee was established in 1967. The school was originally established in 1881 as University College

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What London university's motto is "With United Powers"?
Yale
Harvard
Duke
Queen Mary University of London
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The Queen Mary University of London has more than 21,000 students. The university includes schools in Humanities and Social Sciences, Medicine and Dentistry, and Science and Engineering.

What New Hampshire college is nicknamed The Big Green?
Dartmouth
Yale
Stanford
Duke
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Dartmouth College's motto is "A voice crying out in the wilderness." That's "Vox clamantis in deserto" in Latin.

What southern university is home to the Longhorns?
UCLA
NSC
UNC
UT Austin
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Texas at Austin was established in 1883. Notable alumni include Janis Joplin, Eli Wallach and Matthew McConaughey.

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What Midwest university is home to the fastest supercomputer on a university campus?
U of I
UCLA
UPenn
UNC
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was established in 1867. Notable alumni include 22 Pulitzer Prize winners.

What California university is the oldest private research university in that state?
UNC
USC
UPenn
OSU
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Southern California was established in 1880. The school motto is "Let whoever earns the palm bear it."

What U.K. university began as the Merchant Venturers Navigation School in 1595?
Stanford
University of Bristol
Harvard
Yale
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of Bristol is home to almost 22,000 students. The university does not have an actual campus, but is housed in the center of the city in an area called the University Precinct.

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What university was formerly known as The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas?
Texas A&M
Baylor
Stanford
Ohio State
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

Texas A&M University was founded in 1876. Notable alumni include astronauts William A. Pailes, Michael E. Fossum and Steven Swanson.

What California university is home to the Tritons?
Stanford
Harvard
Yale
UC San Diego
Correct Answer
Wrong Answer

The University of California, San Diego was established in 1960 and is the former Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The school counted nearly 37,000 students in 2016.

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