Yale University Visit Report by trekker5211

Visit Activities:

Admissions Interview: No - No interviews until the summer before senior year, but I was able to meet with my area's admissions officer, who was very nice and helpful with my questions

Information Session: Yes - Led by a current senior, who took a year off from school last year to travel with the Whiffenpoofs. I liked (very much) that it was more informal than info sessions I've been too at other school

Campus Tour: Yes - The tour guide didn't walk backwards the entire time - just during some important bits. It was nice to have some downtime between stops, unlike other tours where guides ramble on the entire time

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Campus:

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Honestly, this surprised me. A lot. I was expecting the arrogant/reserved feel I got at Harvard, but not at all.

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I spoke a bit to a professor I met at an undergrad-produced play who was really helpful. The admissions staff were also all incredibly kind - not "don't-bother-me" like some other Ivie

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Beautiful. Yale is the closest thing I've seen to Oxbridge in the U.S.

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Yale seems to ensure that all it's buildings are updated/restored quite frequently, though some interiors of classrooms felt a little outdated.

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All the residential colleges have been renovated in the past ten years, with the last, Ezra Stiles, to be finished by this fall.

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Granted, it's an urban environment, but within the bounds of Yale's campus, I never felt unsafe, and I saw blue boxes EVERYWHERE.

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Yale might be the of the most beautiful urban campus I've ever visited.

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Off-Campus:

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There's a lot of cheap ethnic food (especially Thai), plus really quaint shops, as well as everything you'd expect in an average college town.

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New Haven is a city, with all the problems that accompany an city. That said, there's a quaint Little Italy area in town, and if you know which areas to avoid, it seems easy enough to get around

Campus Visit Notes for Yale University

Visit Description:

I was expecting a lot of Yale, and it exceeded my expectations. The notion that Yale wants its students to work hard, but have fun too, was definitely reinforced, through seeing the large amount of on-campus theatre, as well as the Freshman Olympics, which basically turned Old Campus into one big party.. Plus, it was the first Ivy I've visited that I didn't feel unwelcome at. Overall, it was an amazing, and incredibly informative visit.

Conclusion: I. LOVE. YALE.

A word of caution, however: I'm able to look past the fact that it's in a very urban area. It felt clean to me, but I'm used to urban environments (the thought of going somewhere like Williams or Dartmouth, out in the countryside, has no appeal to me whatsoever). Yale isn't for everyone by any means - and don't set your heart on it until you visit.