<p>I visited Yale with my parents a year ago. Of course I loved everything: the campus, the library, the students, the course catalog etc.
However, when driving back to the hotel in the evening, we witnessed a rather scary scene involving police and people being arrested.
Of course this could have happened anywhere in the world, but it was just the first time in my life I saw such a violent scene in the street and it had unfortunately to happen at yale.
Being international I had no pre-conceived idea of New Haven, but I have since done some research and it appears the place is not very safe.
I would like to understand the extent of this. How unsafe is New Haven compared to other places such as Cambridge or Providence for example. How does the location affect students everyday life? Do they feel they must stay confined on campus ? is Yale students' life really different from that of other similar colleges ?
Do students turn down Yale primarily for its location ?</p>
<p>I wrote up a really detailed post, but I got logged out so I will sum it up but still try to be thorough.</p>
<p>25 most dangerous colleges - <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/784118-25-most-dangerous-college-campuses.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/harvard-university/784118-25-most-dangerous-college-campuses.html</a>
[How</a> Safe Is Your College? - The Daily Beast](<a href=“The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News”>The Daily Beast: The Latest in Politics, Media & Entertainment News)</p>
<p>All institutions with multibillion dollar endowments and national reputations take security very seriously. Regarding the links I posted, Harvard and MIT placed 20th and 5th respectively (Cambridge), Brown was 18th, and “dangerous” Yale was 23rd. Ignoring the fact that most of these crime stats are on-campus burglaries committed BY the students of each institution, the article comments that Harvard in particular “was also near the top for crimes in nearby public places (mostly robberies, assaults, and vehicular thefts.)”</p>
<p>Cambridge is just a fancy name for Boston, and Boston has a lot to offer. I am not going to deny that. On the flip side, it destroys any semblance of a “Harvard bubble” and community is one of the most constant complaints among Harvard students. Cambridge and Harvard has real crime - two dealers selling to Harvard students got into a Harvard building and one shot and killed the other. Cambridge also has a lot more lights on at night which makes it feel safer and is a good idea, but doesn’t actually make it safer according to the stats.</p>
<p>Providence is pretty boring, which means for the most part it is safe. It has a mob circuit, but the mob is not picking pockets or holding people at gunpoint. It has some VERY seedy areas, but most of the parts around brown’s campus are nice and there are more high class venues immediately around Brown than at Yale, not that you would be visiting any of them as a broke college student.</p>
<p>New Haven has its better and worse areas, but the areas around campus and the properties that Yale owns aren’t worrisome at all and there are a lot of good places to eat and go as a student. Yale, like all these schools, has their own police department and you will see them cruising around the campus at all times of the day. The location does not change how students go about their day, but many students reach out in the New Haven community. When I was on a prospective visit I was talking to a townie and was surprised to find that he had a very positive view of Yale and what it does for New Haven as I was under the impression that the town-gown relationship was very tense as best.</p>
<p>The biggest difference between New Haven and any other place deemed “safer” is that when a crime happens in New Haven, it is the focus of attention to outsiders looking at the city. As the only major attraction and true bright spot, it is easy to separate Yale from New Haven in people’s minds. There is nothing else world leading in New Haven and when good things happen in New Haven they are quickly attributed to Yale (rightly or wrongly) while New Haven is left with no accomplishments. People also have higher expectations for New Haven BECAUSE it houses Yale and that further leads to disappointment in people’s minds. There are many nicer places than New Haven and many worse places than New Haven, but Yale leaves little to be desired.</p>
<p>In short, yes, people do. But I wouldn’t if I were you.</p>
<p>I’m local and I don’t think of Yale as a dangerous place, but it’s part of my “home”. When I read about neighborhood in Philly, they seemed more ominous, it’s all perspective. Yale gets a lot of press but other colleges have more incidences not reported and reported but not given as much press.
New Haven has a lot to offer,as safe as a city can be if you’re careful, but you it’s not Mayberry. : )
My daughter’s friend is going to a women’s college and her mother was surprised how much crime and sexual assualt was reported, nothing is really safe, but you do feel safer at some schools.</p>
<p>Yale is in a city. Cities have crime, and people getting arrested on the street – but hey, isn’t it a good sign that the police were arresting the guy? The New Haven police do their jobs well. </p>
<p>Basically, New Haven has its reputation because the area was REALLY bad in the 1980s. Since then, it’s gotten a lot better and really isn’t that dangerous. So I doubt too many people who really do their research turn Yale down b/c of crime.</p>
<p>having lived in West Philly, I didn’t have a problem w/ NH, in fact, I liked the fact that there were volunteer opportunities that were actually meaningful. Every single place has its problems, cities have poverty, and violence, rich suburbs have the money to finance drugs, pick a place YOU feel comfortable with and take comfort in knowing, as someone already said, that these schools take their students’ safety (and their reputations) VERY seriously. Use common sense, and as the USC rep said at my school, “There are some things that you just don’t do at three in the morning”</p>
<p>I’m sure they do, but I’m also pretty sure we wouldn’t want them anyway.</p>