Key takeaways
- From surprising history to secret societies to squirrel clubs on campus, there are plenty of fun facts that make each college in the U.S. unique.
- These 35+ facts might surprise you, make you laugh, or teach you something new about campus life.
- While these fun facts may not choose a college for you, they may help you think about what kind of campus you’d enjoy being a part of.
Flickr user Sagar Puro
College facts aren’t just entertaining. You never know when you may be able to impress a classmate or professor with an interesting college fact that they had never heard of before! If you’re ready to add some unexpected knowledge to your back pocket, here are 35+ fun facts about U.S. colleges that are guaranteed to surprise you.
35+ fun facts about U.S. colleges
Conversations typically revolve around admission and acceptance rates, cost of attendance, majors, student loans, and other serious topics. But there’s a lighter side to higher education, too. Here are 35+ fun facts about U.S. colleges that you probably didn’t learn on your campus tour.
- What better way to get started than with the origin of the term “college”? College is derived from the Latin word collegium, which can be literally translated to “society.” It was first used to refer to any association that acted as a legal body in ancient Rome.
- “University” is the shortened version of the Latin term universitas magistrorum et scholarium, which can be roughly translated to “community of teachers and scholars.” It refers to any institution of higher learning and typically offers undergraduate as well as postgraduate degrees.
- The name “alumni” comes from the Latin alumnus, which is literally translated to “foster son,” but is adapted to mean a pupil or student.
- “Alma mater” is derived from the Latin meaning “nurturing mother.” How meaningful to think of education as something that guides and cares for its students—much like a nurturing mother!
- The 5 oldest universities in the U.S. are Harvard (1636), William & Mary (1693), John’s University (1696), Yale University (1701), and the University of Pennsylvania (1740).
- Football is among the most popular college team sports—but do you know where and when the first game was played, and between which two colleges? The very first football game between two different colleges took place in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in November of 1869. Princeton played Rutgers, and Rutgers won the game 6-4. Even the rules of the game were different from today!
- Phi Beta Kappa is the first academic honor society to bear a Greek letter name. Founded by five students at William & Mary in 1776, it is now the largest college society with over 290 chapters at U.S. colleges and 50 active alumni associations around the country.
- The first Greek sorority, now known as Alpha Delta Pi, is the oldest secret society for women. It was founded on May 15, 1851, at Wesleyan Female College (now known as Wesleyan College) and is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference—an umbrella organization that provides resources and guidelines for women’s sororities throughout the nation.
- Harvard holds the record for having the largest academic library in the world with more than 7 million volumes in its collection. Opened in 1915, Widener Library is an impressive structure with two main floors, in addition to study spaces and an incredible five stories of underground book stacks. The library has a total shelf space measuring 57 miles, which is capable of holding more than three million volumes. The other volumes are stored in the underground book stacks.
- Speaking of Widener Library—it was actually founded in 1915 as The Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library. Harry Elkins, who graduated from Harvard in 1907, started collecting books with the aim of donating his entire collection to Harvard. When he passed away on the fateful Titanic voyage, his mother built the library as a gift to her son Harry. And yes, Widener Library still has Harry’s book collection on display today.
- As the oldest college in America, Harvard has the first college football stadium constructed in the distinctive style of a U-shaped Colosseum. It is also documented as the first structure that used reinforced cost-in-place concrete on a scale such as this. In 1987, Harvard Stadium earned its much-deserved status as a National Historic Landmark.
- College has clubs, teams, and… secret societies? Yale’s iconic Skull and Bones society is among the most prestigious. So prestigious, in fact, its members include former presidents George H.W. Bush, his son George W. Bush, and William Howard Taft.
- As of 2021, there were a total of 5,916 postsecondary Title IV institutions in the country. Interestingly, this is less than the total of 7,021 in 2011.
- Did you know Columbia University actually had a royal start? When it first opened in 1754, it was known as the King’s College.
- When it opened in 1764, Brown University was only the 3rd college in New England and only the 7th in the United States. Talk about being early to the party!
- When Brown first opened, the University had only one student, William Rogers. Just 14 years old when he enrolled, William graduated in 1769 and later served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
- The five American colleges with the lowest acceptance rates for 2026 are California Institute of Technology (2.6%), Minerva University (3.6%), Rabbinical College Ohr Yisroel (3.6%), Stanford University, (3.6%), and Harvard University (3.7%).
- The five public American colleges with the highest acceptance rates for 2026 are Southern Oregon University (90.1%), University of Houston-Downtown (90.0%), Montana Technological University (89.9%), Arizona State University Campus Immersion (89.9%), and Central Michigan University (89.8%).
- The Ivy League is made up of eight prestigious private universities: Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, and Yale University.
- Since 1976, the number of women enrolling in college has doubled. In the fall of 2025, 57.3% of undergraduate college students were female.
- Harvard University has the highest number of Division I intercollegiate varsity teams with a total of 42. This is in addition to several other club and intramural sports, as well as recreational activities. Over 80% of Harvard students participate in some athletic event.
- 14 of the 25 largest sports stadiums in the world belong to college football teams. Michigan Stadium, the stadium for the University of Michigan, has a capacity of 107,601. This makes it the largest in America, and the 3rd largest in the world. Not surprisingly, it has earned the nickname “The Big House.”
- Beaver Stadium at Pennsylvania State University is the second-largest stadium in the United States, with a capacity of 106,572.
- The Kalamazoo Promise is a foundation of anonymous donors that pays for the college education of students who graduate from high school in Kalamazoo, MI. This foundation was established in 2005 to cover the cost of college tuition and help students pursue their ambitions and reach their goals.
- The University of Michigan has an interesting organization known as The Squirrel Club. It has over 400 members made up of students, alumni, and community members. So what exactly does this club do? They get together once a week during fall and winter semesters to, guess what: feed squirrels. They raise funds to buy peanuts through selling T-shirts. Non-club members are also welcome to join them on these squirrel-feeding expeditions.
- As of 2025, there are 30 women’s colleges in the country. This is down from about 281 all-female colleges around the 1960s. Out of the 30 schools remaining, only two are on the West Coast—Mount Saint Mary’s University (Los Angeles, CA) and Scripps College (Claremont, CA).
- There are 61 all-male colleges in the country. Wabash College, Morehouse College, and Hampden Sydney College, and Saint John’s University are just a few of the 4-year all-male institutions.
- Oberlin College is on record as being the first college to graduate women. Mary Caroline Rudd, Mary Hosford, and Elizabeth Prall were the first three women to graduate from this school with AB degrees in 1841.
- Oberlin College was also the first college in America to graduate an African American woman. Mary Jane Patterson graduated from Oberlin College in 1862, going down in history as the first African American woman to earn an undergraduate degree from an American college.
- However, the very first woman to earn a bachelor’s degree was Catherine Brewer in 1840. She graduated from Georgia Female College, now known as Wesleyan College.
- There have been many celebrity commencement speakers over the years. One of the most interesting, however, was Kermit the Frog, who spoke at Southampton College in 1996.
- Ever dreamed of becoming a pirate? Well, you can (sort of) become one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). That’s right, you can earn a pirate certificate for completing archery, fencing, pistol (air pistol or rifle), and sailing!
- Talk about overachieving (in the best way). Did you know a Stanford athlete has taken home a medal at the Olympics since 1912? That’s over 100 years of bragging rights.
- An undefeated football team for 25+ years? Meet Caltech. They haven’t lost a game since 1993… mostly because that was the last year they had a football team. After 100 years of football, they officially retired in 1993.
- Considering taking an online college course or even enrolling full-time online? You wouldn’t be the only one. Before 2020, only about 2.4 million students were enrolled in online classes. Today, more than one-third of American students enroll in one or more online classes. That’s over six million students!
- College graduates earn more money than non-college graduates. As of 2025, the average weekly earnings for those with a bachelor’s degree were $1,541, whereas the earnings for those with a high school diploma were $953.
- Is the “Freshmen 15” a myth? Well, an Ohio State Study certainly believes so. The study revealed that freshmen don’t actually gain 15 pounds in their first year. Instead, they found that females typically gain an average of 2.4 pounds, while males gain an average of 3.4 pounds.
Find fun colleges that fit your needs
While you may not use these fun facts to choose a college, they are, well, fun to know! Who knows, they may even drive you to look into a school you may not have considered before. Remember to focus on finding a school that fits your goals and supports your academic and personal growth.
If you are looking for colleges, the best resource to use is College Raptor’s College Match tool. This FREE tool makes it easy to discover individualized college matches, personalized net price estimates, acceptance odds, and potential aid at schools around the country!
