<p>For most students, Yale is definitely harder to get into than Brown. Yale tends to attract the academic cream of the country (at least the ones that get rejected by Harvard), while Brown attracts the laid-back smart students who don't want the stress of competing with Harvard or Yale classmates. </p>
<p>I got rejected from Yale but got into Brown. But seriously, I would've chosen Brown over Yale after seeing the dump New Haven is, and the pervasive stink of Dubya all over Yale's campus =).</p>
<p>Nbachris, the last election was a Yale versus Yale choice. John Kerry and Dubya both went to Yale. The election before that, 3 of the 4 major party candidates (Bush, Cheney, Lieberman) were Yale. Actually, a Yalie has been nominated for the White House by a major party in every election since 1972. </p>
<p>As far as college towns among the Ivies go, I would say New Haven is easily the best, as evidenced by the thousands of luxury apartments and condos that are being built in the downtown area that wraps around Yale. Just in the past year, 70 shops and restaurants (mostly restaurants) have opened in the area right around Yale, adding to the hundreds that were there already - most immediate areas around the Ivies don't even have 70 shops and restaurants total. At other Ivies, students have to leave campus for entertainment. At Yale, tens of thousands of area college students flock to the blocks around Yale every weekend for the hundreds of eateries, cafes, clubs and bars. Yale's campus social scene is leaps and bounds ahead of any of its top-tier rivals.</p>
<p>Brown is a great school, but as far as Brown v Yale goes, Yale has 10 times the endowment of Brown even though the schools are about the same size. Trust me, all that money makes an enormous difference when it comes to the quality of the school and what resources are available on a per student basis (Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Grinnell and Pomona have the largest endowments per student in that order; Brown isn't in the top 40). I've found many corners and programs at Brown's campus to be neglected, and have heard the same complaints from students there. This all translates to student happiness. It's no wonder Yale is much more selective.</p>
<p>The question is this: is he actually a Yale student (who didn't get into Stanford, judging by his attacks on Stanford), or a high school student, who is therefore basing all of random bits on a mere one-day impression?</p>
<p>No one said poor yale poster, and you're a friggin alum of Harvard. I'd assume most Harvard graduates have better things to do than chasing Yale trolls around on internet forums.</p>
<p>In the case of the Trollster, its not so much "chasing" him as stumbling over him. At least here he seems to be limited to a single screen name.</p>
<p>Oh even better. The noble Harvard graduate chasing Yale trolls through multiple sites since the late 90's, while his lesser classmates are running for congress and curing diseases.</p>
<p>Having just been to lovely Palo Alto this past weekend, I would contend that if you subtract Taco Bell from the equation, then both stanford and yale have about the same number of surrounding eateries. Having said that, Taco Bell is alot to subtract from the eating habits of college students, so I will concede that indeed Palo Alto is better. However, and I know this is dating me, but Yale used to have a centrally located Taco Bell located on York and Broadway, however Wawa took it over to the chagrin of thousands of students.</p>
<p>That's a very dated assessment, given the restaurant explosion in New Haven recently (about 50 new ones just in the past year, and many, many more since the time that you were apparently at Yale). Palo Alto doesn't hold a candle to a place like Madison or New Haven.</p>
<p>"From Irish to Indian, Malaysian to Middle Eastern, Downtown New Haven features more than 100 restaurants serving dozens of international cuisines, all within a comfortable walk from the Green. We'd even venture to say that no other place in America matches the concentration, diversity and quality of dining options that you find in Downtown New Haven. But we'll let you decide. Use the drop down menus below to search for a restaurant based on meal time, cuisine type and cost."</p>
<p>Are you saying that 50 of these 100 just opened. Doubtful, you deceptive anti-Yale troll. I don't know who you are but you are surely not a Yalie - and you've probably never been to new haven. A Yalie wouldn't lie and exaggerate, posting claim after claim without a single reference or citation. Its sad to see you sully these boards. New Haven is great and doesn't need your relentless hyperbole as it opens yale and new haven to new criticism. Please desist unless you are willing to corroborate your outlandish statement. Otherwise you are a subversive anti-yale troll.</p>
<p>I recently returned from the Bay Area myself, and must observe once more that Berkeley has Palo Alto (and ... yes ... New Haven!) whipped as a college/restaurant town. Indeed, IMHO, it is positively <em>Cantebridgean</em> in both respects. </p>
<p>And this is without counting the gastronomic world open to you a few BART stops away in San Francisco ... about as accessible, timewise, as a walk to "downtown" Palo Alto is from the Stanford campus.</p>
<p>I agree with Byerly that Berkeley is an infinitely better college town than Palo Alto, but for various reasons such as the area's compactness and others, it is not better than New Haven. Crimsonbulldog, the infonewhaven page was probably written a year ago, or more. Since just last year, about 50 new restaurants have opened, plus many stores. That would bring the restaurant total to 150, not 100. Also, infonewhaven's definition of "downtown New Haven" may not include all areas adjacent to Yale. It might just include the areas to the east and north of the Yale campus. So the total number, including all the new sidewalk cafes, pubs, nightclubs serving food and late night diners, is probably much higher than that. A published restaurant guide to New Haven called The Menu identified about 300 top-rated restaurants in the area, of which the vast majority were in central New Haven - and that was also written more than a year ago. The proliferation of restaurants in that area is matched only by the number of million-dollar condominiums being built and the annual increase in applications to Yale College (since 1999, a 60% increase at Yale, the highest in the Ivies, versus an 18% increase at Princeton). </p>
<p>I dare say that the area is doing better than just about any other college town because of its proximity to New York City and the financial service industry, which over the past five years has largely spun off hedge funds into the Southern Connecticut area, infusing the area with billions of dollars and giving CT a massive budget surplus. Nearby Greenwich and Westport, CT are now the financial capitals of the world. More locally, the research at Yale is now spinning off dozens of new companies per year, which in total have attracted billions of dollars in venture capital and hundreds of highly-paid workers to the blocks immediately around Yale. Look at 300 George Street, one of the largest office buildings in the Northeast, that sits right next to Yale, as an example - five years ago, it was vacant and sold for next to nothing. A developer bought it, put $100 million into renovating it, and it is now completely full with dozens of biotechnology companies attracting tens of millions of dollars in investment per month. All those workers create an enormous demand for restaurants and other services. The developer is now proposing to build new buildings just like it next door, and a different developer is starting work on a 20-story, $140 million condominium and retail complex across the street.</p>
<p>I didn't like Berkeley as a city. It has the trash and urban decay without the beautiful and gentrified areas. Maybe I didn't walk around enough, but that was my impression.</p>
<p>As much as it pains me to do so, I must once more take exception to "posterX's" fanciful statistics. According to THIS site, there were 160 restaurants worth reviewing in New Haven, and 386 in smaller, more compact Cambridge, MA.</p>