Which is the oldest university in the united states?

Answer 1

Institutional age:
Harvard University calls itself "the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and this claim does not seem to be seriously challenged. William and Mary, calls itself "America's second-oldest college," tacitly acknowledging Harvard's claim.
It is possible to quibble over what year should be taken as Harvard's "real" founding date (Harvard, of course, uses the earliest possible one, 1636, when the institution was chartered by the Massachusetts Bay Colony). However Harvard has operated since 1650 under the same corporation, the "President and Fellows of Harvard College," thus Harvard has an unbroken continuous institutional history dating back that far.
One official Harvard web page for the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences [6] chooses to phrase this claim: "Founded in 1636, Harvard is America’s oldest university."
As an historical curiosity, a College of Henricopolis or University of Henrico, near Jamestown, was chartered in 1618 and construction was possibly started, but was destroyed with the town in the Indian Massacre of 1622 and not rebuilt.
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Official designation as a "university"
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University of Pennsylvania
November 27, 1779 is the date of chartering of the "University of the State of Pennsylvania." [7]).
These events are sometimes presented as if they were simply a change in name in a single institution, but the actual history, summarized in an article from Penn's archives department is complicated.
In brief, in 1779 the College of Philadelphia was directed by provost William Smith. One might have expected it to have become the "University of the State of Pennsylvania" but this did not occur. "Since the Revolutionary state legislature felt that the board of trustees led by Provost Smith contained too many suspected loyalist sympathizers, they created a new board of trustees." Thus, the University of the State of Pennsylvania was created de novo. A schism occurred, with an attenuated College of Philadelphia continuing under Dr. Smith's direction. In 1791 Pennsylvania adopted a new state constitution which merged the College of Philadelphia and the University of the State of Pennsylvania into the "University of Pennsylvania," with a board of trustees comprised of twelve men from each of the two parent institutions. "It is this institution and this board of trustees that has continued to this day."

Answer 2

i'm guessing harvard

Answer 3

yale

Answer 4

i do believe its william & mary