Northwestern or Yale?

Bala
Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:15:51 +0000

As someone who turned down Yale for Northwestern and has great fondness for both schools I’ll offer my 2 cents.

Yale is not snooty, cutthroat or WASPy. It is certainly no laid back place, but welcome to the reality of most top tier competitive American student mindsets. There is a great social life to be found at both schools that although different, is very inclusive of all types - options abound. I will argue with mochamaven about New Haven. The town’s come a long way in the last decade or so. But it had a long way to climb from the pit it occupied prior to this. Yale’s perimeter is now bounded by fun, interesting restaurants and retail. There is an identifiable downtown, though small, and safety is much improved. But you hang out, especially at night, with the understanding that all of 2 blocks away from the Thai place you love a drug deal may be going down. You know where not to venture, and that is usually not too far from where you are. With all going on on campus, this is not much of a problem, but New Haven, having come far, still has far to go. Evanston/Chicago still offer vastly better opportunities. Not so the two schools on campus action (comparable).

Academically, Northwestern offers selective draws that probably one-up Yale in engineering, journalism, HPME (Honors Program Medical Education), communications, music (undergrad, remember), chemistry, nanotechnology, education, dance, etc. In the basic social sciences and humanities, Yale remains hard to beat. Overall academics are incredible at Yale. My 2 cents.