an honest portrait of yale, please

whitecadillac · 10-22-2009, 05:00 PM

hi, everyone. i'm a senior right now trying to narrow down my college choices to the ones i really honestly think i could see myself attending.

so while i am interested in yale, i was wondering you guys could give me a completely honest portrait of what it's like to be a student there.

maybe you could answer the following questions?

1.) what are the classes like? extremely hard? fairly easy? interesting? lectures? small, discussion-based? etc.
2.) i want to be a movie editor/producer/filmmaker. i know brown is not well-known for film. i am applying to schools known for film (usc, chapman, nyu, etc) but i like yale as a school anyway. if i were to go to yale instead of a film-centric school, would i pretty much kiss my chances of being a filmmaker goodbye?
3.) i'm a bi guy, and i know yale is gay-friendly, but are there plenty of bi guys/girls too? i want to make sure i fit in and everything. also, i generally get along better friend-wise with straight or bi guys than gay guys. i do have gay friends though, but i want to be able to have all different kinds of friends, gay, straight, bi. are all orientations well-represented at yalel?
4.) does it get boring at yale? i hear that the neighboring city doesn't offer much and that it can boring. true? false?
5.) what do people generally do for fun at yale? i'm interested in joining a lot of student clubs. but i don't like drinking or doing drugs. are clubs big ways of socializing? how prevalent is drinking/drugs?
6.) how is financial aid? i'd need a ton to go there.
7.) i haven't taken pre-cal or calculus. took honors algebra II, honors geometry, and stats though. would i be automatically rejected from yale?

and any other info about what it's REALLY like to be at yale would be really helpful.

like is there any certain criteria i NEED to fit to be happy at yale? (for instance, it's a lot better to be liberal at brown than republican.) does anything like this apply to yale? thanks a lot guys!

T26E4 · 10-22-2009, 05:22 PM

1) classes? Some hard but can be balance with some easy ones that can be found. But what a collection! My biggest gripe was there wasn't enough hours in a day or semesters allowed to take the classes I wanted. You'll never go without.
2) Plenty of successful film makers who didn't go the "traditional" route. That being said, Yale is FAT for creativity. I think this can be just as useful than a few dozen folks talking about cameras and lighting.
3) All orientations are well represented. The fact that you don't see yourself pigeon-holed is very typical, in my experience
4) false. the fact that Yale isn't in NYC or Boston makes for tons of creative stuff to happen on campus each and every weekend. IMHO, it hurts college cohesiveness when 40% of students empty out of campus on Friday afternoon to go to area bars/clubs. At yale, people stay put and have lots to do.
5) drugs/drinking is there but I'd say a huge part of social life does not revolves around them (unlike some campuses). You could easily go to a cocktail laden sorority party on Thursday, then to a clarinet recital on Friday, then to your roommate's one act play on Saturday and then to meet some politico giving some speech b/c he was visiting town on Sunday. And this wouldn't be weird at all. It was the most culturally rich four years of my life.
6) FA: one of the most generous in the world. Not exaggerating
7) auto reject? no. But hopefully other areas of your transcript show that you're an academically hungry and ambitious person.

Other info? I was drawn to Yale because the students I met all LOVED it there and it showed. "What did they put in the water?" That really grabbed me: from my first info session to my visit during my Senior year to the day I stepped onto campus as a Freshman.

whitecadillac · 10-22-2009, 05:30 PM

thanks so much for your reply!

so, for the film thing, are there like actual post-grad connections to the entertainment industry? i'm sure you know how immensely difficult it is to get your foot in the door in that industry in particular, so that's why i'm a little worried about going to a college that only has a basic film studies program and is so far from both LA and NYC. :-/ would a degree from yale really mean anything in the entertainment industry besides "oh, that person is definitely intelligent". :P are there actual film-related internships or anything available at yale? is the alumni connection solid?

oh, and that's really cool about all the campus events! could you give me any examples of these events?

and as for classes, i took all honors except my ap classes. i took 5 out of 10. i have a 3.85 unweighted gpa, and 4.6 weighted. is that ok for yale's standards?

thanks again for your time and help.

wjb · 10-22-2009, 05:38 PM

Re campus events: Last week, in the span of a day and a half, my son attended talks by controversial Harvard law prof Alan Dershowitz, Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, and the guy who founded Wikipedia (Jimmy Wales).

whitecadillac · 10-22-2009, 05:42 PM

that sounds interesting, but--and i hope this doesn't mark me as an uncultured idiot or something--are there other events that are more designed to be fun and lighthearted? i mean, i've had a pretty dorky, academia-focused four years of high school and would really enjoy attending a college that is both academic AND lively, fun, etc.

BulldogBlue · 10-22-2009, 05:43 PM

Last week I had the privilege of hearing Justice Sotomayor speak, and Art Garfunkel was here yesterday at a Master's Tea. Since I've been here, I've heard Alan Dershowitz, Malcolm Gladwell, Shimon Peres, and Justice Kennedy speak, to name just a few. You'll never lack events to attend at Yale :-)

ETA: There are definitely other events--This weekend, for example, is the Yale Comedy Fest, featuring performances from Yale and other improv groups. The Safety Dance, an extremely popular 80s themed dance, is coming up, and there are always performances by a capella groups, movie screenings, parties, and other fun things to do.

AdmissionsAddict · 10-22-2009, 05:49 PM

Events: Yale puts up about 4 theatrical shows per week. There are several improv comedy groups, numerous dance troupes, almost 20 a capella groups, several official and more unofficial musical groups. This means there is lots of artsy/cultural stuff every week/weekend. 30+ varsity athletic teams means tons of sports to watch. Several famous, renowned or otherwise relevant people speaking on campus each week. A frat party or two every weekend. Dozens of parties in suites going on every weekend. Special, theme parties thrown by a particular residential college (think Casino Night) on a more than monthly basis. Student art exhibits. Poetry reading. The Yale Iron Chef competition. And on and on. This is just an incomplete overview of "events", not a discussion of extracurricular life in general.

At one point Yale had a student film festival, not sure if they still do. The Sudler Fund (I think that's the fund) has been generous with financing student filmmaking. Yale has lots of connections to Hollywood.

More gay than bi guys. NO worries about fitting in.

Agree with everything T26 said about New Haven being excellent and the advantages of going to college in a smaller city.

whitecadillac · 10-22-2009, 05:52 PM

thanks a lot, admissionaddict! those events sound right up my alley.

and wow, it's a relief to know yale has lots of connections to hollywood. do you mean through alumni?

and when you say "more gay than bi guys" yet "no worried fitting in", i'm guessing you mean that--while there are MORE gay than bi guys--there are still plenty of bi guys right? :P

whitecadillac · 10-22-2009, 08:01 PM

oh i have one more question! :P

what is the overall atmosphere at yale? peaceful and quiet? lively and active? etc?

AdmissionsAddict · 10-22-2009, 08:31 PM

A current undergrad would be better at commenting on how many bi guys on campus. There have been threads on queer life at Yale that you might want to do a search for.

You might be interested in these links: Yale UCS - Internships - Yale Programs - Yale in Hollywood

YALE FILM SOCIETY

Yale Daily News - Yale gets dose of Bollywood

whitecadillac · 10-25-2009, 01:52 AM

i also read that there is 'bulldog productions'. is that a prominent group on campus?