<p>Trying to determine the athletic Vibe at Yale. Do students attend games and suppport their athletes? D is a recruitable athlete and trying to get a feel for Ivy League athletics vs. top 50 public universities where sports seem to reign supreme. Yale and other Ivies have contacted her so trying to take the $$ out of this (since Ivies can't give athletic scholarships). Academic resume is quite good even without the athletics nudge. Any input welcome. Thanks</p>
<p>With one child at Yale, and one at Harvard, my impression is that neither student body supports athletes all that much – except for the big game, which just seems to be a huge excuse for students and alumni to start drinking at 9am. (Yes, I’m very cynical of the value of sports at those schools. It may be better actually to evaluate each school based upon the “feelings” you get from coaches and players, as your student will be spending the majority of their non-classroom time with them in practices and games). </p>
<p>This article, which is several years old, will help you see what Yale values: <a href=“Athletes hope next president will raise recruitment - Yale Daily News”>http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2012/09/21/athletes-hope-next-president-will-raise-recruitment/</a></p>
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<p>what sport does your DD play? If it’s one where there’s an appreciable difference (say W VB) and she’d prefer the fans out at the games – vs. something like W Ice Hockey or Field Hockey which, tend to be niche spectator sports everywhere…</p>
<p>@T26E4, Gymnastics so not a huge spectator sport but she is interested in the overall athletic experience and being able to support other teams as well. We are big hockey fans too and I know that Ivy hockey can be good. </p>
<p>@vlee12: FWIW: As far as I know, my son, who is a senior at Yale, has attended 1 hockey game, 4 Harvard/Yale football games, but no gymnastics meets in his four years at Yale. </p>
<p>No, the student body is not interested in intercollegiate sports per se, but students are definitely interested in each other as interesting human beings which most Yalies seem to be par excellence. </p>
<p>The Game is the singular exception but let me point out that one of the commemorative T-shirts sold each year features the slogan, “As much as we hate football, we hate Harvard even more.”</p>
<p>I would suggest that your daughter makes sure that she “fits” at the school holistically and should regard being able to play her sport as a secondary criterion. I know a number of kids for whom playing their sport was the number one goal but the rest of the college experience turned out badly resulting in transfers after the first year. This would be true for any school, not just Yale.</p>
<p>I concur w/keesh. I went to a lot of FB and men’s Ice Hockey games and Women’s BBall b/c I had good friends on the teams – on my own, I probably would have gone to fewer. But I think this speaks to the full integration of many athletes into many facets of the student body. In my largish circle of good friends were: football, M Soccer, W Soccer, W BBall, M BBall, Ice Hockey, LTWT Mens Crew, Swimming. The athletes weren’t at team tables or at mandatory study halls – they were at the literary club mtg or piano recital or Fri night movie with everyone else. This IS athletic support – maybe not “rah rah” with TV coverage and roaring crowds in the stand – but something very meaningful – possibly more meaningful than to be an athlete at a big sports college, I would posit.</p>
<p>I dated someone at Stanford and almost her entire circle of friends were her fellow swim teammates. My experience w/athletes at Yale was completely different. I worked with athletes in big time teams at a big time University – and they lived in a rarefied universe – very cut off from the rest of the college.</p>
<p>@vlee12 – if your DD can visit and get a feel for what her possible future teammates’ schedules and lives are like – outside of the sport itself – I think that will be extremely useful to her. Best of luck to you all.</p>
<p>Somewhat tangential, but gold medal Olympian skater Sarah Hughes chose Yale, partially b/c her host during her visit, was presidential daughter, Barbara Bush – who lived a fairly normal life, which impressed Hughes. <a href=“FIGURE SKATING; Hughes Is Busy Making Choices - The New York Times”>http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/sports/figure-skating-hughes-is-busy-making-choices.html</a></p>
<p>I wrote in my “Why Yale?” essay about the spirit of Yale student’s at sporting events… I guess I didn’t do my research, but how bad will this hurt me? </p>
<p>Edit: Or is it okay to speak to the spirit and energy of the students who do go to sporting events? I’m just not really sure if this will hurt me significantly, or if there really is a fan-spirit, or whatever.</p>
<p>I find Yale students to be genuinely interested in each other’s pursuits without bias or disdain manifested by attending activities that their friends are involved with. </p>
<p>If your essay used athletics as a vehicle to describe Yale’s overall supportive community spirit you will be fine. If you simply asserted that the Yale student body has a deep and enthusiastic collegiate athletics spirit you will be off the mark.</p>
<p>^^ That said, if you replace the word “Yale” in your essay about the spirit and energy of the students who do go to sporting events with another college, say “Harvard” or “UMich” and the essay still rings true, then it was not specific enough to Yale.</p>
<p>Mine is much more in line with the first, because that was what I was going for. But I wrote about the overall friendly, fun-loving and enthusiastic spirit. Is this ok? </p>
<p>To be completely honest my impression of yale was people who enjoy each other, have fun, and love eachother, whereas in other schools it was annoyingly competitive. This loving, friendly attitude was very important to me. I talked about the enthusiastic and friendly spirit (both in and out of athletic competitions) to explain why I would fit in with yale students as someone who loves sports.</p>
<p>I guess if this is out of line, a large part of my impression of yale that really distinguished it for me as the right school may be out of line. So is what I wrote accurate?</p>
<p>@yaleapplicant1, when you put it that way, IMO it’s accurate. It is an enthusiastic and friendly bunch in my eyes. I tease my son that being on Old Campus is a bit like walking into a park full of puppies with their tails wagging. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
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While that may be true this year, the student body of any college completely changes every four years. While I believe Yale Admissions tries to find students who “reach out” to each other, friendliness is subjective and not necessarily what Admissions looks for in an applicant.</p>
<p>The friendliness or “social tone” of a college results from decisions, large and small, made by the administration on issues such as physical space and its use, housing, how freshman are welcomed and integrated into campus life, what role upperclass students play as advisors and mentors, what role graduate students play, how readily faculty members volunteer to host events or trips, etc. It’s a well orchestrated plan to create a vibrant campus environment that fosters hard work, unity and FUN – and that is something Yale’s administration actively does. So the feelings you experienced are not out of line, I just think the reason is not because of the students, but rather how the Administration helps create the kind of environment where students write love letters to their college: <a href=“KEEGAN: The Opposite of Loneliness - Yale Daily News”>http://yaledailynews.com/crosscampus/2012/05/27/keegan-the-opposite-of-loneliness/</a></p>
<p>I agree. This is definitely true, especially for the residential college system. However I don’t think they necessarily look for only one specific character quality, but I feel explaining my personal qualities will give the admissions a better picture of who I am, even if my quality is the social fun loving side of me.</p>
<p>If that is who I am, writing about it can only help me. I’m sure hard working, leadership, maturity, etc… all come out through my extracurricular activities, essays, and LORs. </p>
<p>@T26E4 Thanks for the insightful post. I actually am quite pleased to hear that the athletes mix more outside of their sport as I think it better prepares them for life after college. Once the 4 years are over, there is no Sunday morning gymnastics meet - it is done, so being able to continue to compete in her sport while also acclimating to a life outside of gymnastics would be wonderful. Thank you.</p>
<p>@yaleapplicant1 - good luck to you. I would love to hear which schools you visited where you didn’t get the ‘friendly vibe’.</p>
<p>Thanks again. Very helpful forum.</p>
<p>@vlee12 Not that Yale is the only friendly school, but I think Yale definitely has a more welcoming environment than most schools do (for many reasons). Yale was simply the school I felt right in; it was the only school that I was really excited to apply to. Of course, the school you fit in to is definitely personal preference, so I can’t speak for which schools you may not find friendly. It really is just an impression. I don’t want to name schools and give you a misconstrued idea of any school. </p>