Current Yalies, why did U chose yale?

posterX
Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:41:18 +0000

Downtown New Haven is easily one of the best college towns in the country. Certainly there is more to do than any other Ivy League college town, which I think is reflected by the fact that Yale is now the most selective university in the country. The best thing about it is Yale is at the center of downtown New Haven - compared to other Ivies none of which are at the center of their host cities - and therefore Yale students have access to everything. In the case of schools in huge cities (like Harvard and Columbia), students leave the campus altogether and campus life is therefore totally dead.

Downtown New Haven used to be a bit rundown a long time ago. Now there are million dollar condos being built everywhere, and all the upper levels of old department stores, firehouses, factories, shopping malls, etc., have been turned into luxury apartments. There are hundreds of stores, falafel or hookah joints, diners, cinemas, theaters, bars, restaurants, cafes, etc., many open 24/7 or late into the night. Beyond the downtown, of course, it is a fairly large city (with a metropolitan population of 800,000+) and there are a variety of neighborhoods in the city, including suburban ones with multi-million dollar houses, “yuppie” areas with gourmet grocery stores and indie coffeeshops every block, seemingly endless immigrant areas lined with ethnic restaurants and bodegas, old waterfront areas with seafood shacks, etc. Much like a little piece of New York City - in fact, central New Haven has virtually the same demographics as NYC.

That said, from everything I’ve heard, Yalies choose Yale primarily for the following reasons:

1) Incredible social life - because Yale is compact, campus social life is buzzing around the clock. There are places to sit and hang out, dozens of theaters, and all parties are accessible because unlike other Ivy League schools, all of the undergraduate dormitories are within a three minute walk of each other. Walking across campus on even a minor errand, you are bound to run into a dozen of your friends. And because of this, it’s easier to make friends and students of different backgrounds interact MUCH more.

2) Academics - Among all the Ivies and top schools (with the exception perhaps of Caltech), Yale has the most focus on undergraduates. Even David Brooks, a UChicago alum and famous columnist, has written that Yale provides the best undergraduate education in the country. Because the city is small compared to say, New York or Chicago, faculty live nearby and spend more time teaching and interacting with students in general; also, classes tend to be very small.

3) Residential Colleges - Among universities, Yale has the only true 4-year residential college system. It’s hard to explain here, but there’s a lot of material about it on the Yale website I’m sure, and if you visit and stay over, you’ll hear all about it. Other schools have tried to copy Yale’s system (for example, in 1986, Princeton instituted a “college system”) but to no avail - you simply can’t replicate something that’s been around since the 1930s and has so much funding, dedicated buildings and dedicated staff.