What is the student life like at Yale compared to Harvard? Things like student housing, personalities of the students, atmosphere of campus, activities inside and out of campus. Also, does either school tend to be cliquey, or is there a lot of integration in the student body?
Can’t comment on a comparison between the two universities, but at least for Yale, this post is rather like your other one that I replied to earlier http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1826439-do-the-residential-colleges-isolate-the-population.html#latest
FWIW: See post #4: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1483765-choosing-yale-over-stanford-and-harvard-p1.html
I can’t really speak on Harvard, but Yale is like living a dream. The students all know each other, or at least they do within their colleges. There are so many social events and libraries and opportunities to mix and mingle. There’s also no competitive feel, which you wouldn’t really expect if you ended up at an Ivy. Everyone there is helpful, and they want to succeed not only as individuals, but as a cohesive class.
worrysome is pretty right about that, except that it is competitive, but not in the traditional sense. People will collaborate as long as you’re smart or have any meaningful contribution to a group (STEM).
Here is the Harvard Crimson view of Yale v Harvard student life. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/20/the-cult-of-yale-bfor-god/ Not much has changed since the article was written
As an example, the current Yalie meltdown over Halloween costumes would never happen at Harvard, because the administration is so indifferent/hostile to student social life they would never send an email over something like that.
@NavalTradition can you elaborate on this? Indifferent how? I didn’t know this about Harvard!
I kind of sounds like a ‘dogs vs. cats’ analogy.
Yale is a dog… playful, loyal, interested in you, dedicated to you, always happy to see you.
Harvard is a cat, will allow you to adore it, is indifferent, thinks that it’s the most beautiful creature on earth. It can’t wait for you to get home so that it can start ignoring you.
Any thoughts?
@tuty143: Here’s a couple of old Crimson articles to convey what I’m taking about:
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/6/space-social-students-harvard/
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2004/12/7/a-student-center-for-students-the/
Listen to @gibby. She has 1 kid at Y and 1 kid at H so they compare notes within their fam.
@ElMimino - that is perfect. Must be why I loved Yale and not that other school. I love dogs, hate cats.
I agree completely. The “Harvard Corporation” feels front and center when you are a student there.
Yale kids get the whole week off for Thanksgiving giving kids from across the country plenty of time to head home. Harvard kids don’t. 'Nuff said.
@tdy123 As an added bonus, none of their friends are home for Thanksgiving break yet, so the Yale students get stuck at home spending more time with parents 
My favorite part of the football game this past weekend were the kids chanting “School on Monday” over and over as they watched their team lose. In my books they win… They all got to go home after the game. Harvard students went back to Harvard for a few more days. 
On a different and more serious note- One of my daughters close friends goes to Harvard. She stayed with her while they were here for the weekend game. She was in love with the campus, the buildings, the food and the thing she said was the most different is that all of the social gatherings (ok,mostly campus parties) were inclusive. She said that every gathering at Harvard is invite only and if you are not on the guest list you are not invited. This is not the case at Yale. She said that it makes it hard to meet people and relax because unless you already know certain connections, you will not be welcome. That seemed rather cold and closed to me. Oh, and she also loved Toads, for the dancing of course…LOL
@Memmsmom, DS reports that many of the H kids, in a whisper, said that they so wish that they’d applied/chosen Y instead of H. He had heard the same last year, both from kids visiting (unrelated to The Game) and when he saw friends at H during The Game. He said that he doesn’t know anyone who has said that with the shoe on the other foot. Acknowledging that his friends are more like him than not, and the presence of selection bias etc., but still.
@IxnayBob She heard a lot of the same whispers. I found it interesting though that her friend was so open about it. She also said that there were a lot that said that they wanted Yale but didn’t get accepted so they picked Harvard. I think that says a lot about the holistic way that both schools selected their class of students. Needless to say she was thrilled with the comments. LOL
Interesting info and certainly not something you’re going to be able to pick up on during a short visit. Thanks!