As a reader only of Hockey-D and not a regular on Hockey-L, I feel a bit intimidated about jumping into the fray here. BUT as a graduate of both an Ivy League school (Princeton) with a fairly undistinguished hockey program and a non-Ivy League school (Wisconsin) with a very distinguished program, I thought I might make a few short comments. The atmosphere both academically and athletically at those institutions (I can only speak for the times I was there... PU '72-'76 and UW '76-'84) was very different. I agree COMPLETELY with the comment that a student can get just as good an education at a state school (even one that is not the research institution that Wisconsin is) as s/he can at an Ivy League school. It depends almost completely on the motivation and aspirations of the student. That said, I will, however, assert that due to the larger percentage of students with such motivations and aspirations at Ivy League (and here you may insert all sorts of other institutions that I don't mean to slight ranging from Ivies to UChicago to MIT to Williams to Reed to Oberlin to Grinnell to...you get the idea) schools than at most state schools makes it a bit easier - there's more support to study, etc. On the other side the athletics are VERY different - I would use the example of the 80,000 attendance at UW football games (before they stopped serving beer - or so I hear) compared to the 1000(just a guess) at a Princeton football game. Just look at the bands if you want a good comparison. However, it is true that Ivies, etc. can compete in certain athletic arenas. We were all impressed by Harvard's championship in hockey, Cornell's perennially strong showing. And here I will brag about Princeton's basketball team (not to mention its incredible coach Petey C.) - you've all seen them almost upset Georgetown (no comment) in the NCAA tourney, they've beaten high ranked North Carolina and others over the years. I'd bet on them against Wisconsin almost any time. I guess all this means is that schools are different. Their attitudes and intentions are different. Their student bodies and their athletic teams are different. Big deal. I for one am thankful that both exist - I had a great time in both situations. I think there are both students and athletes that would prosper in each - and some who would do fine in both. Can we leave everyone alone and go on.... (We'd better; otherwise I'm going to start talking about the University of Maine - I'm not sure what would happen then!!!) Thanks for listening, Charlie Slavin Princeton '76 University of Wisconsin '80,'84 Department of Mathematics - University of Maine (We all need to thank Bob Johnson for what he did for college and amateur hockey across the country.)