Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

We’ve covered college rivalries centered around sports, location, tradition, gender (and many other factors), but what about academics? Besides endless keggers and lack of parental supervision social stimulation,  isn’t an education the reason we came to school in the first place? That’s the way students at California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) look at things. The two schools boast impressive faculty rosters, tirelessly motivated students, dozens of highly decorated alumni, and a fond affinity for pranks.  Which school will most likely produce the discovery of a cure for cancer? Let’s assess the variables.

1. Provocative Pranks

Caltech – Though certainly not an athletics powerhouse, Caltech once made an appearance at the Rose Bowl. In what’s known as The Great Rose Bowl Hoax, in 1961 Caltech students designed a series of cards to be held up by spectators at the Rose Bowl (contested between Washington and Minnesota) to read “CALTECH.” And in the last decade, several Caltech students appeared at MIT’s  campus preview weekend to hand out t-shirts reading “MIT” on the front…that when unwrapped were found to read “Because not everyone can go to Caltech” on the back.
MIT -Excuse us – at MIT, they’re called “hacks,” not “pranks.” A popular one is finding another place to hide MIT’s unofficial acronymous slogan, IHTFP (“I Hate This Fucking Place”), which has been delicately placed everywhere from class rings to assemblies of giant letter cubes in campus lobbies. The most epic Caltech hack occurred when a bunch of MIT students disguised as movers removed a 1.7 ton cannon from the Pasadena campus and drove it all the way back to Cambridge.

Three credits to: Looks like Caltech is tops in this category, for originality and humor. Read More »

Welcome to a brand-new College Candy feature: The Rival Rundown! We’ll be taking a look at the oldest, fiercest, and even funniest rivalries between colleges and universities all over the country. We’re going to be examining everything from mascots to mess halls to the most obnoxious traditions, all with the intent of determining which schools are ballin’ out of control.

And if you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!

What better rivalry is there to begin with than arguably the oldest and most prestigious in the country? That’s right, its Harvard versus Yale, baby! The two Ivy League institutions have been duking it out since 1852 at the inception of the first Harvard-Yale Regatta.  Now, their rivalry extends beyond crew to who gets the top US News & World Report ranking and the largest endowment. Let the hysteria begin!

1. Mascot Matchup

Harvard- The Crimson are…well, a deep red color. Unless you’re hematophobic (fearful of blood), there isn’t much that is particularly intimidating about Crimson. And the “mascot” is technically a charicature of John Harvard, the founder of the institution. Interesting.
Yale- Yalies are ever faithful to their Bulldogs, which has been proudly carried on by seventeen generations of live bulldogs, each named “Handsome Dan.”

Three credits to: Yale–bulldogs are more intimidating and, well…tangible. Read More »