The term first appeared in the ''Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities'', published in 1985. He traveled the nation examining higher education institutions, and selected eight that were comparable to the
Ivy League. Moll's original ranking methodology included factors such as academic rigor, quality of faculty, and cost of tuition, as well as assessments of campus facilities, available resources, age, and major cultural traditions celebrated at each institution.
Original list published in 1985 •
College of William & Mary (
Williamsburg,
Virginia) •
Miami University (
Oxford,
Ohio) •
University of California (applies to the campuses as of 1985:
Berkeley,
Los Angeles,
San Diego,
Irvine,
Davis,
Santa Barbara,
Santa Cruz, and
Riverside) •
University of Michigan (
Ann Arbor) •
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill •
University of Texas at Austin •
University of Vermont (
Burlington) •
University of Virginia (
Charlottesville)
Runners-up As part of the initial 1985 publication, Moll also selected nine "worthy runner-up" universities: •
University of Colorado Boulder •
Georgia Institute of Technology (
Atlanta) •
University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign •
New College of Florida (formerly New College of the University of South Florida, it became an independent part of Florida's State University System in 2001) •
Pennsylvania State University (
University Park) •
University of Pittsburgh •
State University of New York at Binghamton (also known as Binghamton University) •
University of Washington (
Seattle) •
University of Wisconsin–Madison == Notable updates ==