frrrph

I third, and concur, and hit Post.

Lucky792

I had the choice between yale and harvard, and although i had my many personal reasons for choosing harvard, one of the observations i made at yale was that whenever i told someone that i was deciding between yale and harvard, they would say how much harvard sucks, etc.

it sort of turned me off especially when someone would go as far as to say new haven was a better city to be in than cambridge/boston . i found that harvard kids were much more objective and even though they would have many great things to say about their school and why they chose it, they would never go about bashing other schools and other people's opinions regarding those schools.

riverrunner

Wait, I thought we were working on a truce. "they would never..." is a pretty bold statement.

frrrph

We back Harvard to pre-frosh because we want them to come, and we know the choice between the two schools can be tough - to our mind, they should come because WE think Yale is awesome, whereas Harvard lures "our" pre-frosh away because they think everyone ELSE in wider society thinks Harvard is awesome.

It's sad that our school sentiment should be negatively defined against Harvard, but I suppose we feel we need to counteract the idea that the only difference between Y and H is that the latter is of higher prestige - when you bash Harvard, you bash "stuffy" academia and try and differentiate Yale from traditional ivy stuffiness.

Obviously most of us have never gone to Harvard, and there is nothing to say that "our" pre-frosh won't be equally or perhaps more happy there. Still, we feel posessive, and we feel sad that people don't acknowledge just how great Yale is, not because, but DESPITE being in the same theoretical league as Harvard.

/Rambling over

frrrph

Sorry, "bash", not "back"

Ragsypagsy

When my son learned he was accepted to Yale, (among the other Ivies as well)my son, as well as my wife and I were simply overwhelmed with joy. And after attending the BDD events, It definitely sealed the deal. He loved everything about it. He was amazed how gregarious every student was and how enthusiastic and passionate theyw ere about being students at Yale. I truly believe that enthusiasm is pervasive through out the yale community.My only concern will always be the community outside the immediate area of Yale.But if you are smart, shouldnt be a problem. My son attends HS about 5 minutes away from Yale and knows the areas to avoid.
He can't wait to get started. Congrats to the Class of 2012..see you in September!

piccolojunior

Those who speak the loudest are the most insecure.


first post here. Tainted 4 life!

goolsci

lucky792, I actually had the opposite experience from you. At yale when i told people i was deciding between yale and harvard, they made jokes about why yale was better but weren't serious at all. They were mostly like "you can't go wrong either way". or "personally i love yale and think you should choose it for these reasons" or "you'll have a great experience at either school."
at harvard i got the "why are you even considering yale" or "yale sucks" and that kind of sentiment. I think this all depends on what kind of students you run into.

Also, this is probably not reliable data considering i was at yale on weeknights and harvard on the weekend, but at yale it seemed like every night people were going to concerts or hanging out and everyone i ran into at harvard was going to get drunk somewhere and assumed that me and the other prefrosh i was with wanted to get drunk too. It seemed like yallies wanted more than just to drink. again, weekday v weeknight means that i can't completely compare
but i chose yale

affle

I too am a prefrosh who chose Yale over Harvard for a lot of the reasons mentioned here. I just got more of that "warm, fuzzy" feeling at Yale, more of that sense of school pride and community. And I appreciated the fact also that the administration itself, not just the students, seemed significantly more "connected" to the students at Yale. This was clearest to me when I went to the welcome address for both schools--Yale's was lighthearted, welcoming, and funny, while Harvard's was much stiffer and dull. Don't get me wrong, I don't harbor any particular negative feelings against Harvard, but I definitely agree that I found the overall environment (rather than just the students) more down-to-earth and comfortable at Yale.

posterX

Good summaries, affle and goolsci.