<p>@Lirazel - I’m going to have to disagree with your assessment. Although I will admit I am slightly biased (I got into Yale off the waitlist and decided to go there instead of Penn), I don’t think your representation of HYP (or in the case Yale specifically) vs other schools is accurate. I definitely do think that the school’s environment in one of the most important factors (if not THE most important factor) in choosing a college, but it is really unfair to group Harvard Yale and Princeton together without realizing that they have very dramatic differences, especially with regard to the social aspects of college life. Your statement: “She’s a nice, normal, friendly, hanging-out sort of person. The sort you’d pick to spend a day with at the mall or the beach. At Penn, there are all sorts of people. Whoever you want to hang out with, you will find them. Academics does not have to come first in your life, although it can. At Yale, there are not so many sorts of people. Academics is near the top of everyone’s priority list.” just isn’t true. In fact, I would argue that Yale is more socially diverse than Penn is. Yes, you may find more nerdy types at Yale than at Penn, but I will tell you that those nerdy types do NOT make up a majority of the student population. I personally believe that Yale is by far the most “social” of HYP (The Harvard Crimson released an article several years ago I believe entitled “The Cult of Yale” (or something to that effect) that severly contrasts the atmospheres at the two schools, and is quite an interesting read). In fact, Yale has the highest freshmen retention rate of any school in the world and I believe that around 90% of students say that they would return to Yale if given the chance (much higher than at most universities - Yale students are known to be particularly happy). When I was choosing colleges, my priority list was probably 1. Social Life 2. Academics 3. Sports, which is kind of a mixture of the combinations you gave, and I still chose Yale over Penn (don’t get me wrong - Penn is an AMAZING school, and if had the chance I would go to both, but I simply prefered Yale, and I felt that the social life there was just as good). I would consider myself to be a very social individual, and I rarely hang out with the “nerds” at my high school (in fact, my best friends are going to schools such as SUNY Albany, UMASS Amherst, University of Maryland, UConn, Guilford College, etc.), but when I visited I found that Yale students really value their social lives as much as they do their academic careers. (Also, according to **************.com, 66% of students believe their courseload to be more managable than most schools, meaning they have loads of time to pursue e.c.s and social lives) Also, I understand that many of your mother’s teammates were unhappy at Harvard (and Harvard I will admit is probably siginificantly different in terms of social life from Yale or Princeton or anywhere else because each college is truly unique), but also take into perspective that college in general is a lot more “fun” now than it used to be. Universities no longer strive towards the goal of “grim professionalism” (yes, that’s what they called it). I couldn’t stand MIT (didn’t even apply), and I would have chosen Penn over Princeton in a heartbeat, but even those schools provide social opportunities for the students who seek it (in fact, MIT is known for its crazy parties around the Boston area). Also, one last thing, I’m not sure if it is true that there’s no place that Yale can get you that Penn cannot. Although in general the statement is accurate, Yale does have better grad school placement in almost any field, so if that’s important to you, HYP pretty much dominate all others. Sorry, this post is not particularly relevant to the OP, but I felt that I had to provide another perspective.</p>