<p>I got a chance to attend my first Yale information session over the last weekend with my daughter. I was really disappointed as the admission officer talked only about how good the Yale Humanities Department is. It sounded more like he is talking about a LAC. He never mentioned any strength about its science departments and mentioned engineering as something secondary at Yale.
Is it a correct picture of Yale? Is it at par with Columbia College i.e. good only for Humanities?
I was disappointed.
Also the admissions Officer mentioned too many times about religion and sounded like a very conservative person which might be true as he seems to be from a very small mid west town.
Is this a correct picture of Yale? Is Yale a conservative place?
I think Yale should have sent a more liberal person to the west coast.</p>
<p>Yale engineering is not generally regarded as being particuarly great and certainly isn't part of Yale's strength as an institution.</p>
<p>USNWR ranked it 37th in undergrad eng. programs this year, behind Harvard (23), Columbia's Fu School (19), UPenn's SEAS (29), Princeton (18), and Cornell (10).</p>
<p>I am sure that if you had asked the admissions counselor after the session, he/she would have been able to tell you more about Yale's program.</p>
<p>I knew that but I thought Yale should have a robust Science department at least. But it doesn't came out like that. But the problem I had was the way presentation was done as it was for LAC. It never touched sciences. My D was able to find out more after talking to the representative but I expected a better job.</p>
<p>But how it is ranked on Sciences.</p>
<p>Also is it a conservative place?</p>
<p>I gave you the engineering ranking. Yale has a liberal arts curriculum, it is not a tech school nor does it have a seperate engineering program so you really could not have expected the admissions officer to give the sciences as much attention as the humanities.</p>
<p>Yale is not a conservative place in that everyone votes Republican or is opposed to abortion/supports the war in Iraq. But Yale is an old and prestigious school. It has the good ole boy feel to it, which may be what you interpreted as conservative. The admissions officer who lead your information session may hold personal beliefs/opinions that are conservative, but that does not mean the institution or its student body hold the same beliefs.</p>
<p>Also: New Haven is not Berkeley or New York City or any other teeming metropolis. It's a college town. It is going to seem a little quaint to some.</p>
<p>Why don't you post this in the Yale section?</p>
<p>By the way, is Swarthmore engineering ranked w/ the schools w/ graduate porgrams? And if it is, how is it ranked?</p>
<p>Thanks for clearing up some doubts. It was my first info session ever, so I need to may be adjust my expectations too. I'll be attending JHU sometime next month. That may provide some data to compare approprately.</p>
<p>CollegeKid12: is it possible to move this to Yale section? I thought that is for students who are already accepted to Yale.</p>
<p>It's safe to say JHU will be quite the opposite in terms of focusing on science.</p>
<p>^^^ then attending Information session might be a good starting point to narrow down list of colleges of interest.</p>
<p>More importantly, what did your kid think of it?</p>
<p>It was even a bigger disappointment for her as Yale was her dream college. She is back on the earth now. She now thinks Stanford is much better.</p>
<p>I don't know if you can move it, but you can just re-port this thread over there. And no, the Yale section is not only for students admitted there; it is for anybody interested in the college.</p>
<p>The Ivies aren't always what people would like them to be. Glad to hear your D is enthusiastic about other options. Has she visited Stanford? Wandereed through the engineering school? My son said it had quite a different feel than most of the other schools he visited.</p>
<p>I don't think your questions have really been answered, so I'll do my best as a current Yale student.</p>
<p>
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He never mentioned any strength about its science departments and mentioned engineering as something secondary at Yale.
[/quote]
Engineering is probably Yale's weakest area (particularly at the graduate level, but for undergrads as well). It's BME program is decent, but if you're looking for a well-regarded engineering school, Yale isn't for you.
In the hard sciences (ie, Physics, Chemisty, etc), Yale has fairly good grad programs (top-15 in the country) and at the undergraduate level is probably as good a choice as any, as long as the atmosphere is a fit. A Yale grad with a degree in the hard sciences will not be at any real disadvantage in either applying for jobs or for grad school. The one reason a prospective physical sciences major might want to rule out Yale is if he or she wants to be at a school with a large percentage of the student body majoring in a similar area. If your daughter would be happy being one of only a relatively few physical science majors (incidentally, this has the advantage of more contact with faculty), then Yale is an excellent choice for her if physical sciences are her area of interest.
Yale is extremely strong in the biological sciences, with very highly rated programs in the most recent NRC rankings (mostly in the top 5 in the country). Biology is a strength at Yale, and a prospective biology major (or someone planning to be pre-med) would, if attending Yale, both have access to a very top program with excellent faculty and be around a significant number of students interested in the same areas. At the undergraduate level, Yale's biological science programs are as good or better than any.</p>
<p>
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Is it a correct picture of Yale? Is it at par with Columbia College i.e. good only for Humanities?
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It's true that Yale is traditionally better known for its strength in the humanities and social sciences than for its strength in the sciences. That does not mean that Yale is, for an undergrad, very different in strength from any other university in the academic sciences. It's more because Yale is so strong in the humanities/social sciences that these overshadow science programs, not that the science programs are actually weak. Engineering may be different, but I know plenty of engineering majors who chose Yale though they could have certainly gone to a much higher rated engineering school (after all, admission to Yale is just as difficult for prospective engineers as it is for anyone else). If your daughter wants to major in engineering, she should probably consider Yale a slightly weaker academic choice than Stanford or MIT, but if the the rest of the university appeals to her, it's not reason enough to rule Yale out. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Also the admissions Officer mentioned too many times about religion and sounded like a very conservative person which might be true as he seems to be from a very small mid west town.
Is this a correct picture of Yale? Is Yale a conservative place?
[/quote]
I'm almost tempted to laugh about being asked if Yale is conservative. In the political and religious senses of the term, it is not in the least conservative. In fact, it is basically as liberal as any of the elite National Universities, if not more so, (with the possible exception of Brown). There is a certain social sense in which Northeastern universities are, as a whole, more conservative than Californian universities. That is, there are going to be more occasions where students dress formally, and some of the types of events that go on at the university are likely to sound a little old-fashioned (ie, Masters Teas, though in reality these are extremely cool, even if the tea part is a little silly). But, if you are worried about being surrounded by religious conservatives, you need have no fear about Yale.</p>
<p>I would really caution you against being put off Yale by one admissions representative. If you can, I would encourage you and your daughter to try to visit Yale (if you can't make it before she applies, your daughter should certainly visit if she is accepted - in fact, that is the best time to visit). Being able to meet current students, experience the campus, and, if you put a little effort in, talk to faculty, is certainly far more valuable than anything an admissions officer can tell you at an off-campus info session. If your daughter was excited about Yale before, I really hope that one info session won't be enough to turn her off from it. Feel free to PM me any questions you may have about Yale, or post them here.</p>
<p>I'll include Yale's rankings in various science fields here, according to the last NRC (though these numbers are out of date, they will still show you that Yale is not weak in the sciences).
Yale was 1st in Pharmacology, and 1st in Physiology. It was 2nd in Neurosciences, 6th in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 8th in Genetics, 10th in Cell and Developmental Biology, and 17th in Ecology and Evolutionary Bio. To put this in perspective, it was stronger than Stanford in 4 areas of biology, and weaker in 3. So, in comparison to Stanford, which seems to be your daughter's other top choice, its biology programs were just as strong at the grad level (and the same is true at the undergrad level).</p>
<p>In the physical sciences and mathematics, Yale is somewhat weaker, but all of its programs still very good, and at the undergrad level, the quality of education is likely to be comparable to all but the elite tech schools (MIT and Caltech). Yale was 7th in Math, 12th in Chemistry, 13th in Physics, 14th in Computer Science, 15th in Astronomy and 20th in Statistics. Though Stanford was better in all but Astronomy, the differences were quite small in Physics and Math, and at the undergrad level, the quality and level of courses will likely differ very little between the two schools.</p>
<p>In Engineering, as I said earlier, Yale is significantly weaker. It only had two ranked programs when the last NRC came out, and both were ranked in the 30s. Since then, it has expanded its engineering offerings so that it has programs in each of the major subfields, but it still remains true that Yale's engineering is not on par with the rest of the university, and since Engineering employers are more likely to care about ranking in their area than other types of employers and grad schools, there may be a disadvantage to coming out of Yale as an engineer (though with such a large need for engineers in this country, it is unlikely to be a very large disadvantage).</p>
<p>Some of the most inane info sessions I've attended have been at Ivy's (Princeton's, most memorably). The idea that you could walk away from Yale with the impression that the campus is conservative suggests you need another visit (and maybe the information officer needs some tutoring). Yale is not a tech school and doesn't claim to be, but it will provide a stellar education in the sciences across the board. If your daughter is looking for an environment dominated by the sciences, then, yes, look to Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Hopkins, Rice, Harvey Mudd, etc. But if her goals are to get great a great science education, Yale will not disappoint her.</p>
<p>New Haven is not Palo Alto. After your daughter looks around some more, let HER figure out what kind of school fits best. She may want to overnight back at her first "dream school." Be careful not to draw impressions too quickly and broadly from one information officer and tour guide.</p>
<p>POIH,
If this was your first college trip to the East Coast, part of your discomfort may simply be the differences between east and west. If you're on the East Coast for more tours, see if your comfort level increases after a couple of days. Being tired after flying cross-country can also affect perceptions. </p>
<p>There was a thread recently about someone who had a similar experience to you and after they adjusted to lots of green foliage and eastern time, found it much more to their liking.</p>
<p>Yale is extremely Humanities heavy. </p>
<p>Science Hill (all the science classes), is approximately 1 mile away from Old Campus.</p>
<p>I don't think POIH went to the East Coast, it sounds like the admissions rep came to the West Coast because of this quote; "I think Yale should have sent a more liberal person to the west coast."
This is, of course, all the more reason not to develop very strong feelings from the info session. Without experiencing the campus or interacting at all with students, you can't expect to get a very accurate impression. Personally, I felt that every info session I attended as a prospective applicant was basically the same (a repetition of a bunch of stats, numerous questions about how hard it was to get in, and whether x activity was good, little distinctive information about the school, and a lot of smugness). If I'd made decisions about where to apply solely based on info sessions, without even visiting the campuses, I don't know how I would have made up my mind about anything.</p>
<p>
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Yale is extremely Humanities heavy.</p>
<p>Science Hill (all the science classes), is approximately 1 mile away from Old Campus.
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truazn, quite frankly you don't know what you're talking about. The whole Science Hill thing is extremely exaggerated. A lot of science classes aren't on Science Hill (some are even at the bottom of Hillhouse, about two blocks from Old Campus), and there are a lot of other universities that are far more spread out than Yale.</p>