| Somewhere I had gotten the impression that mammall's daughter had been accepted at Stanford, too. That's sort of an interesting compromise between Cal Tech and Yale -- like Yale, an excellent full service university that is world-class in many disciplines with a diverse student body that's large enough to support lots of different communities, but somewhat more math/science oriented than Yale and, like Cal Tech, on a lovely suburban California campus. (Not a point in its favor, in my book, but I recognize that many others would disagree.) And, at Stanford, when you take the train to go somewhere, you end up in San Francisco, not L.A., which is a huge advantage. (Let's not even talk about New Haven.)
Not that it will make any difference, but I would encourage you NOT to visit. The differences between Yale and Cal Tech are massive, as everyone says. Visiting will muddy the waters, and will give mother and daughter a zillion vivid, random impressions of specific students (and specific dining hall meals) that will NOT really give a sense of what it would be like to be a student there. Neither would be a bad choice at all, and whichever one she goes to, she will discover over a relatively short period of time what she likes best and what she wants to avoid, how she wants to live there. The strengths of each university will entice her in directions she wouldn't have gone at the other. The students who are there generally love both. Surely it doesn't take a visit to decide whether she wants a largish, comprehensive, East Coast, urban, humanities-strong university where 25% or more of the undergraduates are involved with music or drama, or an intimate, intense, elitist tech college in suburban southern California.
Oh, but if you do visit Yale, by all means eat a pizza at Pepe's on Wooster St. The pizza index is going to favor Yale all the way, even if you have to go half a mile to get it. (And if you think the Cal Tech cafeteria pizza is an adequate substitute . . . that's where you belong.) |