<P> Moll, who earned his Master of Divinity degree from Yale University in 1959, was an admissions officer at Yale, and the director of admissions at Bowdoin College, University of California, Santa Cruz, and Vassar College . He traveled the nation examining higher education and identified eight public institutions (the same as the number of Ivy League members) that he thought had the look and feel of an Ivy League university . In addition to academic excellence, other factors considered by Moll include appearance, age, and school traditions as well as certain other Ivy League characteristics . </P> <P> The original Public Ivies as Moll listed them in 1985: </P> <Ul> <Li> College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia) </Li> <Li> Miami University (Oxford, Ohio) </Li> <Li> University of California (Nine campuses as of 1985) </Li> <Li> University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) </Li> <Li> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill </Li> <Li> University of Texas at Austin </Li> <Li> University of Vermont (Burlington) </Li> <Li> University of Virginia (Charlottesville) </Li> </Ul> <Li> College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia) </Li>

Public ivies a guide to america's best public undergraduate colleges and universities