EA Yale or ED Dartmouth for an international student

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>HELPPPPP!! I'm a Vietnamese student applying end of this year (as an international student frm Vietnam) and i'm seriously stuck with that question! I've been thinking about it for over a week now (plus doing a lot of research online @ collegeconfidential and other sites) and i seriously can't decide!
The only concern i have over Yale is New Haven's environment... i heard its quite crime-ridden and i'm one of those who run a high risk of losing all my stuff within a few weeks... i'm living in a very safe country now (singapore) and yet i've lost my phones + ipods like ten times? And quite a lot of ppl actually said that ppl in New Haven are not so friendly towards Yalies..
As for Dartmouth, it's so isolated ! I'm quite a shopaholic and the thought of having no shopping malls to browse scares me a little.. i'm also quite concerned tt Dartmouth's vibrant Greek scene will b a disadvantage to intl students? like if i want to venture out of the intl stud community its kinda hard? and i'm not tt into outdoor sports.. I play squash and badminton competitively but they're all indoor sports so.. LOL :D</p>

<p>So what do you guys think? I have the impression that its a bit easier to get into Dartmouth ED than Yale EA (since its non-binding --> more applicants).. is it true?</p>

<p>I'm a sociable kid.. was prom queen n miss popularity once and everybody kinda describes me as a typical social butterfly.. Not study crazy :D but somehow i got the grades... Dartmouth is often described as a "tight-knit community" n it strikes me as "tight-knit WHITE community" and i seriously dont wanna spend 4 years of college just among international students.. ):</p>

<p>Oh one last thing, i'm interested in majoring in political science so will it put me at a disadvantage? since vietnam is a communist country! should i highlight the fact tt my dad is western educated, my mom is half German and my family's political view is liberal? </p>

<p>Thank you guys so much!! :) (repost this thread in Dartmouth box)</p>

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<p>Ow !! Yale and Dartmouth are on my list too. I am from Vietnam too. However, I am not going to apply until 2009 since I will be a repeat junior next year.</p>

<p>What are your stats ? Are you an A Star or ASEAN scholar ?</p>

<p>Personally, at first I like Yale the most. I don't really care about the location. However, I have just found out that Dartmouth had a really good economics department. It makes me more confused. My criteria is academic excellent and then school lifestyle. I want to go to a good school but also want to fit in the school. Let's imagine that I get in a small good school and a big prestigious school like Yale and Dartmouth, I might have to see where I feel most comfortable. There is a chance I will go to the small school.</p>

<p>I still have time to choose. Anyway, I am not an outstanding student so my chance is so narrow. It's worth a try</p>

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<p>
[quote]
However, I have just found out that Dartmouth had a really good economics department.

[/quote]

For what it's worth, Yale's econ department is significantly better, but it probably doesn't matter that much at the undergrad level. Both are excellent schools, but they have extremely different environments - if either of you can manage a visit (which I'm sure is tough given that you are both internationals) it would be well worth it.</p>

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<p>I really Yale's economics program. I have known it for a long time, that's why Yale has always been on the top of my list.</p>

<p>I think the point I wanted to say was I just added Dartmouth onto my list.</p>

<p>How different is the environment between two schools ?</p>

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<p>See reply here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1060195894-post2.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1060195894-post2.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>As someone who has been forced to make the difficult decision between these two schools, maybe I can offer my opinion. As a kid, I grew up loving Yale. I thought Skull and Bones was a sick movie, I sided with W in 2000 because I wanted Yale to beat Harvard, and I would always check the US News rankings to see how Yale was doing. In short, I was in love with the prestige of the Yale name, and this continued up through my high school years. </p>

<p>At the same time, during high school my knowledge of schools expanded and I happened upon Dartmouth. It really struck me as a unique place – an Ivy League school, yet uniquely focused solely on undergraduates and not located in a big city. Sure, it doesn’t have the social outlets of a city, but it has a big Greek scene which is ALL-inclusive and it still has all the intellectual outlets a person needs (just look at all of the political activity there during the past primary season). The D-Plan allows for a lot of special opportunities and there’s a lot of study abroad, while the sophomore summer just emphasizes the sort of tight-knit community that Dartmouth really engenders.</p>

<p>This whole post is going to sound biased, and it is. I’m trying to show you the perspective from which I ultimately arrived at my decision. I live close enough to New Haven and I’ve been there a bunch of times. It used to be a realllly bad city that’s gotten a -lot- better over the years, but I can tell you it’s not a place you’d really want to live in. Sure, there might be other college kids, but are you really going to have any interaction with the kids from U of New Haven or Southern CT State? Have fun with that. You can’t compare New Haven to a city like Boston, and while we’re at it, Dartmouth has an amazingly beautiful campus with lots of sick trails and amazing access to all the skiing you could ever want.</p>

<p>But it’s hard to ignore the big name of Yale, and whether you admit it or not I know that that’s a huge part of why people love it. The residential colleges are cool and it’s a first class education – I’m sure there are other big pluses that I’m less familiar with. But really, is it going to make that much of a difference if you graduate with a degree from Dartmouth or a degree from Yale? No – the difference will lie in your specific record at whichever school you wind up at, and more significantly, it will lie in how you develop as a person. To me, Dartmouth offers the traditional college experience, a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. You can always go on to grad school at some big-name city Ivy. I’d say that the biggest consideration, at least for me, was the financial aid. I would’ve really benefited from Yale’s new program, but ultimately, I’m going to be paying more than twice the amount to go to Dartmouth. Sure, I might be making the dumbest decision of my life, but I’ve worked my ass off the past four years and for once I’m making a decision with both my heart and my head instead of something based just on the numbers.</p>

<p>And I’m posting this in the Yale forum because the other dude posted in the Dartmouth forum. I’m sorry if I’ve been terribly one-sided, I still like Yale a whole lot and they’re both great schools. But what it really comes down to is what you want and where you think you’ll best fit in. This is probably pretty long too, I’m sorry about that as well. I only hope I’ve offered another dimension to the comparison of the two schools.</p>

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<p>Yanks, although I don't agree with your specific characterizations at all (having spent a lot of time in both places), you make a very excellent point that you should choose the school that is best for you. How you do where you go is much more important than just where you go. That said, it is important to make sure you make an informed decision, which entails spending 2-3 days at each school, sitting in on classes and dinner conversations, checking out the student "scene" and talking with as many professors and students as you can.</p>

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<p>I've thought about visiting both but its kinda hard? Cos where i'm living school year starts in January end in October (November this year cos of the A levels exam), with only one month of summer vacation in June (and my family is alr going to Japan to visit my dad's very good friend. i dont think he's gonna change the trip which has been planned since like forever because of this? - i might ask him though). Earliest i can visit is September - odd timing no?</p>

<p>the best plan (i think) would be EA yale n RD Darmouth, then plan visit trips and decide. But that's kinda a tough bet since it's harder to get into Yale and even though objectively speaking, i think i have the academic n ECA cred (not the best but not bad either), i'm NOT confident! :( ED-ing Dartmouth def. increases the chance of getting in but what if i realize i totally love Yale then? ARGHH this is killing me :(</p>

<p>I will post my stats after i take the SAT in May (: or maybe i'll just post it later when i'm done with lessons</p>

<p>Personality-wise, i'm social, loud n pretty enthu. I like parties but i'm more of a drinking-and-talking-to-ppl than a dancing like mad and going nuts kind of person. (even though strangely most people who know me think otherwise ?) I'm non-religious, liberal. I skip class on a frequent basis LOL, quite playful :D Not that into sports except racket games like tennis, squash etc. where would i be a better fit in?</p>

<p>@nns91: r u on vietabroader? i'm there too :D</p>

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<p>@Confused_vnese: Yeah. I am VA too. Do you play badminton and tennis competitively ?</p>

<p>I played tennis for my school's district when I was in grade 3,4,5 and 6.</p>

<p>I played badminton at Children palace since grade 2 and then in grade 5, I got into Hanoi's gifted team.</p>

<p>What other schools you are going to apply ?</p>