For all you Yale graduates, Yale hopefuls, etc who mostly aspire to Yale because of that elusive thing we call a “vibe,” what was the next best place? Yale seems to straddle the intellectual and the vibrantly, inclusively social in a way that no other school does. The school you recommend need not be “Ivy League” or “top 10,” though of course that’s an important feature of Yale. Where is a school with a strong sense of community but also vibrancy in the arts and the social scene, and respect for the liberal arts and intellectualism? yale is basically a more fun version of Swarthmore or a more intellectual version of brown. Are there any other schools like Yale, for when I get rejected next year?
Good question! The “find similar colleges” tool on ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ suggested the ones below. I can see some resemblances, but none is a perfect twin and none is a safety, either.
Washington University in St Louis
Columbia University in the City of New York
Johns Hopkins University
University of Chicago
Vanderbilt University
Well there are a lot of parts to the idea that some place is like Yale. I’ll try to break it down as best I can.
Politically: Pretty left and has social justice
Similarity: UC Berkeley, kinda
Opposite: UChicago (literally said no safe spaces)
Why: Cal always has had a history of liberalism and fighting for social justice, as does Yale these days. It seems Yale is the most progressive of the ivys in that it promotes other cultures and social justice ideas. I am not saying this is good or bad, but its a fact of the climate. Just like Cal, social justice thrives at Yale, but the “kinda” part comes in in that at Yale there really is no confrontation and violence about it. Most students agree with the politics, and if they dont they are not confrontational about it/seen as the old ivy money. In contrast, Berkeley likes debate and the administration, despite common claims, actually enjoys this aspect. A kid this year applied to poli-sci and said in his essays that he wanted to be the next Trump, and got in. Everyone has heard of the Berkeley riots, but this is mainly due to urban anarchists coming to the protests and ruining dialog, which does not happen at Yale. If you want the social justice aspect and the progressiveness, then Cal is the closest
Housing: Residential colleges that are seen as your family
Similarity: UChicago, Vanderbilt, any elite private school
Opposite: Public schools (Cal*, Michigan, UVA, etc)
UChicago has its housing system that is very similar to Yale in that it has individual themes in each house where professors stay, motto s and other things to make each house separate. There is a intramural sports league consisting of each house. Vandy is very similar and has the professors and motto’s and such. The idea of a residential college/house (Hogwarts style) is very common in elite private schools, but at Uchicago and Vandy its the most similar to Yale.
*Cal has many housing options, some typical public school with large amounts of people but others smaller and more exclusive, including engineering only theme programs, and all-girls dorm, and a mostly athletes dorm. This may exist at other public schools, but Cal students kinda make the dorms feel smaller and more to a theme then they are meant to.
Academics: Top Language arts and relatively good stem
Similarities: Brown (to an extent), Harvard, Vandy, UChicago
Opposite: Any major specific school/Stem school (MIT, CMU, Cal*, Caltech, etc)
Yale is known for its acappella groups and drama, as well as great social sciences like law and economics. It still promotes great engineering and stem, but do not go there if stem is the major goal. Brown is similar in that its linguistics and other language arts are top not where as stem is second place. Harvard is close, but to me it seems more balanced.
*Cal is seen as a stem/business heavy school as it is best ranked in those areas, especially with Stanford right across the way as a more balanced school, but it still has decent language arts, and top notch econ.
There are other factors, but in that breakdown I see some common schools. I defined a common school as having two of the three categories. In no particular order:
- Vandy
Vandy has the housing and academics, but not the political climate as it is still in the south. Granted, Nashville is probably the most progressive city in Tennessee, but you will see country music and god everywhere, as with republican ideals. - UChicago
UChicago again has the housing (most similar to Yale) and academics, but its more favored on the social science side (philosophy, probably tied with the top economics schools). However, the political climate is pretty right, but its in chicago and there are plenty of left-minded professors there - Harvard
While its housing is not exact, obviously the academics are similar. - UC Berkeley (wildcard)
To me, Cal has a similar political climate to Yale, but also in the right subjects Cal can have equal if not better education than Yale. In the peer rank (or the rank other colleges give the academics of each school), Cal is a 4.7 and Yale is a 4.8 (2013), and since then Cal is improving. Granted, Yale liberal arts is better, but then your options are more like Brown and Harvard. Don’t do CS or Engineering at a non-stem school. Econ is debatable, but even then Cal economics is seen as equal to that of UChicago. In my opinion, I truly see Cal as a budget Yale. Yes its public and has its issues, but you can easily make it your own. - WUSTL
I know I did not mention it, but just as a vibe it seems similar to Yale. I really have no idea and so I did not place it in any of my categories, but do your own research and see.
Obviously, Im biased toward Cal. So, if you don’t like it, try and remove it from my suggestions. I tried to make this as objective as possible.
Thank you!!
I agree that the residential colleges are key. Chicago is still a bit too nerdy In a not fun way to be a Yale lookalike i think, whereas Vanderbilt is a bit too fratty, Berkeley too big, closest thing is probably Brown (but i might not get in there For sure). Still, thanks for the ideas!
How about Rce?
They are different in academic focus, but they have residential colleges too and a fairly happy student body.
Vandy is trying residential colleges – not sure if theirs have been nearly as successful as they’ve been at Yale and Rice.
Yeah, good suggestion; I do have Rice on the list. It’s a bit imperfect as I want to be a humanities major and that’s a big part of what draws me to Yale. But I have to accept that simply no school will be “the opposite of loneliness” the way Yale is, and stop romanticising it now.
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Houston, like Nashville, is more conservative than New Haven and its environs. But college campuses tend to be more liberal than their surroundings, especially socially, so I’m sure you’d find your people at either Rice or Vandy.
Conventional wisdom says that if a school isn’t known for a particular major or field – like Vandy with STEM or Rice with the humanities – they might lack quality in those areas. A counter to that is that if you are one of relatively few students in a program, you’ll probably have small classes and a lot of direct interaction with, and attention from, your profs. As long as they offer the courses you’d like to take – or enough of them – the “black sheep major” might be something to consider.
Yale has become an ultra left wing nut job, second only to Brown, Oberlin and Cal. Moreover, every time I am forced to leave the Harvard Club and lunch at the ill equipped and diminutive yale club, it becomes evident that the harder this “me too” finishing school tries, the further it is from getting there.
LOL
Actually – UChicago is the clear academic peer especially in English, History, area studies, languages, anthropology, sociology and economics. UChicago is markedly stronger in physical sciences and math and weaker in biological sciences.
It has worked out that way for DS. Shhhh. Our secret 
What about elite LACs like Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Bowdoin, etc.?
Yeah, those are almost all on my list. There’s still something about the vibrancy of the culture and social scene at Yale that is not reflected in those schools, but academically they are equal if not superior. Thanks! (Also; they’re hard to get into!)
@lightsgoout not the same universe. Cannot compare the experience at Yale and what it’s diploma will do for you as , one of the worlds greatest universities , to an LAC.
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I hath ripped the quill from out his (or her?) grasp and art here to defend thee forthwith, my liege!
Thou art Harvard, and Harvard art king! In thy House, Yale be thy diva and Chicago be guardians of thy purse!
hehe
(Chrchill makes things fun. And in this case regarding Yale and Chicago – aside from the fact that Chicago has the Core – I think he’s right in that they are quite a bit alike in their breadth of quality.)
Yale is different; it has a more collaborative and intellectual culture compared to harvard and Princeton, and more arts emphasis.
In terms of your stated criteria, look into Kenyon, Vassar and some of the NESCACs.
In some ways, the 20 Kenyon overlap schools, among which Yale appears, could be a good resource for you:
For a sampling of generally literary colleges, you could read through these descriptions:
http://flavorwire.com/409437/the-25-most-literary-colleges-in-america
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