Ilvermorny School Of Witchcraft And Wizardry

Other American Wizarding Schools

History of Wizard Education in America:

With long-standing educational institutions such as Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Hogwarts, many young witches and wizards in Europe begin their formal magical education at an early age (usually around the age of 10). However, with the Wizarding Community being so grossly entangled in the No-Maj community in the United States, the Magical Congress of the United States, along with the Department of Magical Peoples (DMP), felt that a wizard's primary magical education would be best matriculated at home to preserve the Statute of Secrecy. American Wizards still begin their education at the age of 7 but are taught mostly prestidigitations and domestic magics. Once those have been mastered, the parents are to follow a curriculum devised by the DMP to teach their children all the magic a functional member of the Wizarding Society would need to know. When a Muggle-Born child shows talent in the magical arts, the DMP is very quick to send a tutor to the budding witch or wizard who will (after gently explaining to their Muggle parents what has happened) guide them into this new and strange world they have been thrown into. Those pupils who show exceptional skills are encouraged to take the WASPS (Wizarding Aptitude for Serious Pursuit of Study). A high enough score there could get them a place at one of the US's 5 Wizarding Colleges. Those who do not pass their WASPS or choose to go into a vocational Wizarding career (Floo Network Repair, Basic Healing, Clerical Magic) may choose to continue their education at the Wizard Institute for Magical Professional Services or one of the many other Wizarding Trade schools scattered across the country.


Wappinger University

Location: New York, New York
Est: 1850
Founder(s): Adolphus Van Guilder
Mascot: The Skookum

Founded in 1850 by Wizard Socialite and Philanthropist Adolphus Van Guilder. Van Guilder, you will remember, gained his immense wealth by owning the largest pewter company in the US and gained his immense fame for devising a magical process to combine pewter and steel making his products stronger and lighter than his competitors. Like many socialites, he had amassed a fortune that could last him several lifetimes, so he decided to do some good for the Wizarding World. A graduate of the Salem Institute, he always felt the process and structure of the age-old school far too foreign, far too British for his taste. He believed as American Wizards, who had survived the wild frontiers and made their way in the world (both Wizarding and Muggle), they needed a school that reflected this innovative, driven, American nature. Thus Wappinger University was born.

Named for one of the indigenous tribes of Native Americans in the New York area (Van Guilder always thought of himself as something of a Wizard Frontiersman), Wappinger University is located in Lower Manhattan, in the middle of the SoHo district (an area commonly known for the eccentric people who live there, Wizards and Muggle artists alike). Wap U is the most likely to resemble a "typical" American Muggle university. Their real claim to fame is the ever-expanding Wap U library. Housed in what appears (to Muggle passersby at least) as an abandoned Tenement building, the Adolphus Van Guilder Library houses the largest collection of magical texts in the US, possibly the world. With shelves delving deep into the earth and scraping the eaves of this ancient building, they have devised a coding/locator system similar to one found in Gringotts.

The United States Auror Academy 

Location: Alexandria, Virginia
Est: 1862
Founders: Jackson Mawdesley and Dora Hedgeflower
Mascot: The Snallygaster

 The USAA, or the United States Auror Academy is the oldest of three service academies that educate cadets for commissioning into the United States Auror Divisions. Founded in 1862, one year after the beginning of the Civil War in Alexandria, Virginia, and after MACUSA President Jackson Mawdesley directed that plans be set in motion to establish it. Located in the beautiful Old Town neighborhood, the school is said to resemble the United States Army Academy in West Point, New York. In 1908, a huge and ferocious pillow fight broke out which would then become a USAA tradition to celebrate the end of the brutal six-week basic training session. 12 cadets were sent to the hospital and all students involved were given a huge amount of demerits. Porpentina Goldstein and Percival Graves rank among the academy's most outstanding alumni. The school has a world-class Quidditch program, winning a grand total of 35 national championships. High marks in Defense Against The Dark Arts, Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration are required to enter this prestigious institution.