<p>So, I went on a tour recently and was a little disappointed. Firstly, the tanish-yellowish-towerish buildings that they constantly advertise are not prevalent throughout the campus. Most of the campus is comprised of old, worn-down, unattractive brick buildings. Plus, everyone is all like "Yale is so self-contained and cut off from New Haven that it's just ridiculous! You'll never feel unsafe!" but it's not. I don't understand where people get this idea from. After the tour, I was walking on the sidewalk of one of the streets that borders the "ghetto" and I saw a drug deal. You might think I'm BSing but I'm not.</p>
<p>Can someone tell me what they saw in Yale's campus? I was really disappointed. I wanted to like it but from what I saw it just isn't what people make it out to me. Can someone clue me in?</p>
Clearly, you were not actually on what is considered to be the Yale campus when you saw such a transaction. The farther you get from Yale, the more “ghetto” New Haven is – it’s a city, after all. The area directly around Yale – Broadway, Elm, York, etc – is absolutely lovely.</p>
<p>And once you’re actually “in” Yale – actually inside a residential college or its courtyard, for example – you completely forget that you’re in a (in some places) grungy city. Stand in any college courtyard at Yale and tell me that you feel unsafe or that your surroundings aren’t aesthetically pleasing or even beautiful, and I’ll tell you that you’re a fool. :)</p>
<p>I was, I was walking on the sidewalk next to one of the many large old brick buildings (I would specify but I can’t remember which, they all blended together, I might try to find it when I go back next week (with friends this time)) and across the street were some “nice houses” that had nice paint but were still in a slummy-looking neighborhood.</p>
<p>And a couple of the areas directly around Yale (at least not in the direction of downtown) aren’t lovely at all. Many of the houses in certain areas around Yale were clearly in bad condition and were also not inhabited by the most becoming people (at all).</p>
<p>Oh no, houses in bad conditions. Oh no, some shady characters doing shady things. New Haven is a city, for gosh sake! If you’re that paranoid about being surrounded by what is essentially “the real world,” then… go to Dartmouth or Williams or something.</p>
<p>No one ever said Yale’s campus was “magical.” Is it pretty? To some (me included). Is it too urban? To some. You’re simply not going to be able to live in an urban environment without seeing things with which you’d rather not become involved. Most Yalies have their misgivings about New Haven, but they’ll be just as quick to tell you that the city has much to offer, culturally and otherwise.</p>
<p>“The area directly around Yale – Broadway, Elm, York, etc – is absolutely lovely.” –> “Oh no, houses in bad conditions. Oh no, some shady characters doing shady things.” –> ???</p>
<p>I wouldn’t have been disappointed in the first place if the campus wasn’t so hyped up by everyone here. It’s constantly rated by people here as the #1 or #2 prettiest campus of all the Ivies (and much of the time, the entire nation).</p>
<p>And I resent your insinuation that I’m not ready to be surrounded the “real world”. It’s just that I’m hesitant to spread accolades of this place while the campus (as a whole) is not as great as everyone says it is.</p>
<p>A ton of people say that Yale’s campus is “magical” (or they use some synonym of “magical”). I’m fine with urban campuses. I liked Brown well enough. I liked BU’s campus too (but then again, those are the only campuses I’ve managed to drag either of my parents to).</p>
<p>^I agree that some of these buildings (the quad, the collegiate gothic architecture style-buildings) are very pretty, but it felt like 3/4 of the campus was worn-down Georgian brick. Yale hardly ever shows this off.</p>
<p>To tell the truth, I don’t think the Yale campus is so inherently magical, either. It can acquire a whole lot of magic if you spend lots of time there in your formative years, and emotionally important things happen to you there. That’s how it went with me. Otherwise, in the sage words of the Sioux chief in Little Big Man, “Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t.”</p>
<p>How many college campuses have you seen, Honesto? Yale tends to do pretty well by comparison, especially if you don’t particularly like suburban office parks or New England villages. If you don’t like the look or urban feel of Yale, by all means go visit Princeton, Stanford, Dartmouth, Cornell. One of them is likely to appeal to you a lot more. And it doesn’t really matter, because you still have to get accepted in order to spend more than a few days at any of them, so I wouldn’t waste a lot of energy yet worrying about which one has the most magic.</p>
<p>As for drug transactions, that’s something you can see any day of the week at almost any college in America, usually with one of your classmates on either or both sides. Practice not letting your mouth hang open in shock and dismay.</p>
<p>EDITED TO ADD:</p>
<p>And here’s a better, more honest answer: </p>
<p>What’s so magical about the Yale campus? It’s where Yale professors teach and research, and Yale students live, learn, and have fun. If that ain’t magic, I don’t know what is.</p>
<p>I see it occasionally around my high school and it’s not really shocking, but it’s just surprising seeing at happen at Yale. I wasn’t really THAT shocked (my mouth did not hang open and my eyes did not bulge, thank you very much), but it was just like “Wow, Yale, really?”</p>
<p>Princeton is by far nicer than Yale is. But Harvard is about the same. I visited those three plus Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Williams when I was visiting schools on the East Coast, and I was by far most impressed by Princeton, then Harvard and Yale, then Brown and Williams (although someone who likes tiny schools might love Williams), then Penn and Columbia.</p>
<p>What impressed me about Yale’s campus for a Northeastern school is the Green Space. There aren’t a whole lot of Universities on the East Coast that can say they’re both easily accessible and offer a lot of green space. Yale is one. The central campus–where everyone lives–is almost completely gothic architecture, and there’s green space everywhere. Once you leave the central campus, you’re going to find deviations and newer, different buildings.</p>
<p>But as far as the quality of buildings go, Yale is pretty fantastic. If you compare the inside of a Yale dorm to a Columbia dorm or Williams dorm, for example, its a landslide in Yale’s favor.</p>
<p>Waaiiittt. Honesto… this thread kinda went from you not being sure of why Yale is magical to you flat out saying that “It’s just that I’m hesitant to spread accolades of this place while the campus (as a whole) is not as great as everyone says it is.”</p>
<p>If YOU felt Yale wasnt magical, then its not… for YOU. For me, it was absolutely magical. I loved the gothic architecture, the Libraries, the Payne Whitney Gym (Im an athlete, so that was a big thing for me)… basically everything.</p>
<p>Yale was perfect for me, just as it clearly wasnt for you. So, when you say “whats so magical about Yale” its basically whether it was magical for you, an individual… I really dont think that there is one set reason why Yale is magical to whomever finds it so.</p>
<p>Well…I suppose I exaggerated things a little bit. I did think a fair amount of the campus was very nice, and at times it was easy to figure out why so many people love the campus. It’s just that it seems like all of these niceties were offset by the meh-ness of other parts of the campus, and this surprised me. I was going into it expecting to feel the “magic”, and while I felt brief pangs of this, I was just disappointed to find that the campus wasn’t all that I felt it was going to be. I was curious as to whether I was missing something, like “Oh, all of those rundown brick buildings are ______” or “Don’t worry, it’s just because of the construction”, something like that. Maybe it was just a bad day? I don’t know. I guess I’ll see when I visit the campus again in about a week.</p>
<p>Honesto: like JHS said, many of us who attended love Yale’s campus for the intangible because were were there with our fantastic classmates and rec’d our Yale education. Unknown to me, when I was there in the late 80s, Yale was at its nadir in physical condition. I never noticed. I go back now and I say to myself “These students don’t know how good they have it”</p>
<p>But it was four of the best years of my life and that campus will forever be that memory’s foundation.</p>
<p>If you visited anytime after April, you were there during exam period, and anytime after the first week or so in May, after all the students had left. It’s hard to feel Yale’s “magic” when no one’s there – or, if they are, they’re holed up in the library cramming for exams. Yale during the summer is very different from Yale during the year. I almost wrote off Yale in favor of Princeton (back in the age of ED) after a blah summer tour, but luckily changed my mind. Princeton IS prettier, bracketing everything else – but Yale feels more “alive” – when the students are there.</p>
<p>also, if you really have a problem with “unbecoming” people, Yale might not be the place for you. We’re in a city, which means that we’re not isolated from poverty like Princeton or Williams is. I actually appreciate it, since it’s a constant reminder that I’m damn lucky to be where I am, and that I’m in an Ivory Tower – not the real world. Plus, Yale students are super involved in community service and really collectively try to pitch in to make New Haven a better place.</p>
<p>Before I was accepted to Yale, I visited in the summer, and it was beautiful, yet not so magical. However, after going again while the campus was alive with students, my whole perspective was changed. The students=the magic. I have never felt so at home in a place in my entire life. But that’s me, maybe Yale isn’t right for you. However, I would suggest you visit again when the school is active with students, perhaps during the beginning or middle of fall term.</p>
<p>I was downplaying the people’s awfulness. I’m fine with big cities.</p>
<p>And yeah, I really wish I could have visited it during the school year, but that has been and will continue to be impossible for me. I had to pay for my own plane ticket to visit in the first place and had to basically force one of my parents to take me (because although they’re fine paying for tuition and such and are aware of how much tuition costs, they’re reluctant to help me find a suitable place for me, go figure). The only reason I get to go see it again is because a couple of my friends are going back there and invited me (still had to pay for everything, so I will be broke after this). I won’t have the opportunity to fly across the country during the school year, so I have to base my opinion of these schools off of what I see during the summer. It might give me an incorrect perspective on these places but it’s all I’ve got (aside from what I’ve read in books).</p>
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