<p>Southeast, it’s really too bad you didn’t do your research, because you are just listing unqualified rumors and conjectures you heard (because I heard some of those similar things before spending a few night here in April for example “not undergrad focused” “bad community” “unhappy students” etc). First off, people here are outgoing, I don’t know how you can say they aren’t. If you want to play games, well a lot of them also got in to Yale and chose to come here, so many of the people are the same types of people that Yale accepted. The way you get sorted into houses does not generate a bunch of cliques, it in fact helps the more reserved people find their group of friends and exposes you to people you would have never met otherwise. Also, a house is big (150 students?), and a blocking group (8 people) just guarantees you’ll be in the same house. Other than that, you socialize with everyone. Also, as a freshman since everyone lives in the yard and eats in Annenberg, you get to know people in your class very well before living with upperclassmen. Not undergrad focused enough? I would argue it’s the opposite. It’s overly focused on undergrads. Grad schools get much less funding compared to the college. Also, as part of the college you get to take classes at or with teachers from the school of government, arts and sciences, divinity school, public health school etc, which is a fantastic resource. And you get guaranteed seats at all events, lectures, seminars, etc. at these schools (as opposed to having a lottery for master teas at Yale which are closed off to the majority of the student population). I could go on and on. </p>
<p>Probably one of the few weaknesses would be the houses aren’t renovated in the basements with modern, high tech lounges that you can find at Yale, but really? that’s not important compared to all the benefits you get from going here. Another possible weakness that is the case at many larger schools is having teaching fellows for large intro courses – these can be great or mediocre. You usually have sections once a week to add to the lectures. Hanna is right though, this place runs quickly. Miss a week of school and you’ll be 500 pages behind on the reading in one class and an essay behind in another. But the funding, professors, atmosphere, etc. overall is fantastic.</p>