<p>I was in same position as you last year. Let me make a few comments:</p>
<p>“If a school lets me take as few math classes for this as possible that’s a plus.”</p>
<p>-An econ major at Yale only requires 1 single variable math class (extremely easy). Obviously you may need to use more advanced techniques, but they will be taught in the Econ classes as opposed to requiring explicit math courses.</p>
<p>“Sports, Weather, Laid-back, Cultural”</p>
<p>-In terms of high quality athletics and weather, Stanford wins and I won’t contest that. The “laid back” thing though is a California myth; they call it “duck syndrome” at Stanford, where everybody tries to appear “calm on top” but underneath is “paddling desperately struggling to stay afloat.” This may be a result of Stanford’s quarter system vs. Yale’s semester system, which means that Stanford students have more midterms and finals. Culturally, Yale is more politically active and probably more self-assured, but I also found it far more integrated (i.e. fewer differences between “engineers,” “jocks,” “classics majors,” etc).</p>
<p>“Tie: Academics, Surrounding Location”</p>
<p>I think it is probably fair to rate the surrounding locations at equal, but be aware that they are very different. Stanford students don’t roam off campus as much and Palo Alto has less going on for college students than New Haven (i.e. in terms of clubs, bars, affordable restaurants). On the other hand, Stanford is also in a generally wealthier area. As someone from Palo Alto, however, I would say that I certainly don’t find New Haven to be “poor” or “filthy” or whatever.</p>
<p>See <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/610751-welcome-yale-college-class-2013-feast-comestibles.html?highlight=feast+comestibles[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/610751-welcome-yale-college-class-2013-feast-comestibles.html?highlight=feast+comestibles</a></p>