How did Yale end up so weak in science?

natsherman
Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:05:02 +0000

Yale actually dominated American science throughout much of the 19th century but in the 20th century has seen its reputation fall significantly behind it major competitors (Harvard, Princeton and Stanford). It barely registers in engineering.

With its long history, serious academic reputation, and the world’s second largest endowment, how did it come to lag even Princeton, a significantly smaller school that for the longest time had only a semi-serious academic reputation and more of rich kids’ country club reputation?

Well, you can say it “decided” to focus on humanities, in which it excels, but its competitors rival it and sometimes exceed it in the humanities, too. Princeton and Harvard are not as far “behind” Yale in English and History as Yale is behind them in Math and Physics. Even in a basic humanities discipline such as Philosophy, Princeton is ranked #1, and the last ranking I saw for Yale was something like #40 in the country.

How did this happen?