<p>Go ahead, ask me anything.</p>
<p>Do you know any linguistics, philosophy, or cog sci majors? How much do you know about the program?</p>
<p>was it a stretch for me to say that Yale’s a capella tradition was one of the things that made me apply to Yale?</p>
<p>Prob waste of time as I prob won’t get in but:</p>
<p>What are the science majors like there? hear it is very very arts orientated, so how strond is the maths/physics dept. compared to say Princeton or Harvard?</p>
<p>choaspreferable: I know some of each, although I can’t say I can tell you a ton about any of the programs. Cog sci is one of a small number of selective majors, though… you have to apply for it, because the DUS (director of undergraduate studies) wants the program to be small so that there can be more individual attention, or something along those lines.</p>
<p>powerbomb: Not if it’s true. Only you can answer that.</p>
<p>Idiosyncra3y: Science majors are good. It’s obviously impossible for me (or anyone else, except for the tiny fraction of people who are transfers from one school to another) to actually make a meaningful comparison about our science departments versus Princeton’s or Harvard’s, but just because Yale is renowned more for its arts than its sciences doesn’t mean that the sciences aren’t also extraordinary. It’s also wrong to think that Yale doesn’t have a significant history in the sciences, either… lots of important historical work was done here, including a bunch of stuff on the Manhattan project.</p>
<p>Do you find that most Yalies are overstressed on a regular basis? (with workload/ECs/career stuff)</p>
<p>If you could do it over again and had the choice of every college in the world, would you again choose Yale based on what you have experienced there?</p>
<p>How safe do you feel on and off campus? [only because my parents are freaking out about this.]</p>
<p>I’m an alum and if Khaki doesn’t mind I’ll answer the last three:</p>
<p>1) people are overstressed because they’re involved in so many things b/c they love 'em. It’s a self-made stress. Overall however, I think the campus has a pretty good equilibrium. It’s not like some schools where people pretend to be all chill but secretly are freaked out and worried their friends will find out that they are. Overall, it’s not a huge pressure cooker.
2) I’ve worked at some other colleges and known alums of other top schools. I’ve not met any that I know of who sincerely are as in love with or rabidly loyal to their College as Yalies. No joke. The answer is Yale.
3) Safety: everyone needs to answer this for himself/herself. I wouldn’t hesitate for one second sending my two daughters to Yale if they were accepted. Yale is adjacent to an urban area and some “street crime” occasionally migrates to campus, yes. But even if you’re in some rural campus, don’t think some drunk jokers aren’t gonna smash your parked car windows, steal you iPod or laptop or date rape your hallmate or smash the nose of your buddy at a drunken tailgate. No place is free from crime. Yalies know their limits. So would you if you attend or visit. Have your parents contact me directly if they want. I answer this question to families when I conduct info sessions on Yale.</p>
<p>Hope this helps</p>
<p>Khaki: who’s leading in the Tyng cup race?</p>
<p>Hm…how big is music (pianowise) at Yale?</p>
<p>I’ve got a bunch of piano awards, including an international one with a performance at Carnegie hall. How do they look at pianists?</p>
<p>Also, I was born at Yale (lol)…any bonus there?</p>
<p>Comm101: every residential college has practice rooms and several pianos. I believe there’s rationed practice time at the Music school but that’s to be expected. I knew many accomplished pianists who weren’t music majors but still put on yearly recitals. Friends and family would come out in droves to hear them play. Many who weren’t “into” music still came out because it was their friend or classmate or teammate on the intramural basketball team to hear them play.</p>
<p>The residential colleges would be great for this – usually providing refreshments. I can’t say I knew any of the actual performance majors, however. Khaki, do you have any insight?</p>
<p>T26E4: You’re welcome to participate in the thread and respond to questions. Having both an undergrad and alum perspective is probably pretty helpful. What year did you graduate?</p>
<p>I’m not actually sure who’s leading in the Tyng cup race at the moment. I’ll look into it once we get back from break.</p>
<p>As far as performance majors, I have to say I can’t really provide much more useful insight. I know tons of people who are involved in music, and there are always people playing piano in my college’s common room, but I don’t really know a whole lot about the music major. I have one friend who I know came to Yale because of it, though, so if you have any specific questions in that regard, I can ask her once we get back from break.</p>
<p>Thickfreakness: College is a lot more stressful than high school. This is because you’re living there, and so it never really stops. When you’re in high school, you basically have three worlds: school, friends, and home, and these are relatively defined and separate. When you’re “home” without any friends hanging out with you, it’s easy to recharge and relax. In college, all three of these worlds are combined into one, and this has some pretty serious consequences. For one, extracurriculars are constantly happening, no matter what hour of the day. What all of this translates to is your life being much more full, and one side effect of that is you’ll probably need more sleep than in high school. I could get by with pretty little in junior year because I spent so much time sitting around at home doing nothing, and my body was able to rest then. In college, this just isn’t the case.</p>
<p>What’s important to note, though, is that none of what I just said is unique to Yale. College is a different world, and it’s a much more all-consuming one. Yale is probably a little more intense in this regard than a lot of other places, but that’s because people are so much more enthusiastic about the things they’re involved with. The major time commitments are extracurricular, and that means you’re choosing to fill your time.</p>
<p>Another thing to note is that Yale has a much better-formed support system than most schools. There are many different places you can turn to for guidance on this kind of thing if you want it.</p>
<p>silverturtle: Yale was my first choice before I was accepted, and now that I’ve been there for a semester and a half and have talked to people from other colleges, I can’t even begin to imagine going anywhere else. Yale’s history and traditions are a huge part of life on campus in a way that they really aren’t anywhere else, and I honestly can’t imagine going to a school that didn’t have this. I also think it’s fairly well-established that we have the highest quality of life of any of the top-tier schools, and this is definitely borne out based on my and my friends’ at other schools experience.</p>
<p>Yale has the same top-of-the-pyramid academic experience as its peer schools, but what really makes it stand out is all of the student organizations. The administration is smart enough to stand back and let these exist without really any interference. The only interaction organizations have with the administration is that “registered undergraduate organizations” (ie ones that want to get money from Yale each year) have to meet certain basic requirements, which mostly consist of having people officially take responsibility for it in case something happens.</p>
<p>chibistar6: I feel very safe on campus. It’s really just a non-issue. There are places in New Haven I wouldn’t want to go at night, but they’re not anywhere near where I live or really any place I would have any reason to go.</p>
<p>Hows the premed at yale? What about the premed committee?</p>
<p>How come the number of applications for every major university have shot up by a larger percentage? Isn’t the recession bitting into everyone’s pocket? Then how else can this unusual phenomenon be explained? I am very very very very worried about my chances… I simply can’t sleep at night…</p>
<p>Thanx for ur time…</p>
<p>How difficult is it to be accepted into the EPE major?</p>
<p>Do you have writers?</p>
<p>This is a really great thread. thanks for your time Khaki and T26E4. Really helpful to us considering Yale</p>
<p>Yes, thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks for this thread! </p>
<p>I just wanted to ask about New Haven and the area around Yale. Is it a nice city to study? I’ve heard that it is an unsafe city… but then again, you can say that about pretty much everywhere. My question really is whether personally you have felt comfortable there? Thanks in advance!</p>