Hey, all! Doing some considerations for next year, and I had a few questions:
- I saw on the website that 12/36 required classes are for one's major. Does this make it easier or harder to double? I'm considering a theatre double, and I want to be sure.
- I read somewhere (maybe on the wesbite, but Idk) that you might have a mixed-gender floor despite the same-gender suites. Is that true?
- Is New Haven really that awful? I visited last year, but I really only stayed on Yale's campus.
- How early can one start undergrad research?
- How is the current environment? When I visited last year, I kind of hated it because my tour group (full of aspiring Yalies) was so cutthroat. I had multiple people give my family the stink eye, and I don't want that environment. I've heard so much about how nice and collaborative Yale is, but if it is as mean as my tour group was, I don't want it.
Thank you for the help, and happy new year!
- Many kids double major.
- I don't particularly know, but it's my half-joke that, by Columbus Day, all floors are mixed-gender.
- New Haven is not awful. There are dicey parts of NH. My son has lived off campus and enjoys it.
- DS was doing research sophomore year. Others might start earlier, others later. He had many opportunities.
- I wasn't on your tour. Yale is more collaborative than many of its peer institutions. The kids come from a variety of backgrounds, and being competitive might be in their personality mix. DS has experienced mostly collaboration, although he's seen some contra examples also. I don't think he's ever experienced cutthroat behavior, but I guess it could occur. Remember that, on average, a single digit percentage of your tour's "aspiring Yalies" would be admitted, and I would imagine that it's not the ones giving your family the stink eye :) , but there's no way of knowing for sure.
Good luck. Happy new year.
From my DD:
- 12 is on the low side for a major (depends on the major). It is hard to double, but it is possible - but you won’t have much room to choose classes just for fun. Yale as an administration discourages students from doubling but students do it all of the time.
- Yes, true. But it varies tremendously by college, so there is no one set situation. My daughter’s Old Campus dorm freshman year had all in-suite bathrooms and single gender suites, but on the floors there were different genders. The colleges themselves are all set up differently so there is too much variability to make a general statement.
- The Yale campus feels safe, but just like in any city, you want to be aware of your surroundings. Many students tend to stick to the campus area. The residential colleges and Old Campus dorms are swipe access, so there are many places on campus that are for students and faculty (and their guests) only.
- Most professors are very open to students reaching out to them if they are interested in their work. My daughter is a humanities major, and has not done research yet.
- In my daughter’s experience, she wasn’t 100% sure about Yale based on the admissions experience. Now that I think of it, she had a similar experience to you on our tour. It was a holiday weekend, and there were tons of people, and the vibe was quite intense. Given the 6% acceptance rate, the people on the tour are probably not a good representation of the students who will be accepted to Yale. You might get a slightly better feel at Bulldog Days, although Bulldog Days can be an overwhelming experience and is focused on highlighting all Yale has to offer/differentiating Yale from other schools. It is also difficult to observe a culture from the outside - often you have to experience it from the inside to really understand it.
Once my daughter became a Yale student and experienced life at Yale first hand, she found that Yale is very welcoming for first years, and there is a strong support network. There are many systems in place that put community as a focus - the residential college system, first year counselors. She has found that the student body is highly collaborative, supportive, and humble. No one talks about grades or accomplishments. Even in the hardest academic weeks, the vibe on campus is still very social; people still take breaks and it’s not like everyone is camping out in the library. She has also found that her peers are always willing to help.
@IxnayBob Thank you so much for the info! This really helps!
@Faulkner1897 Thank you for the info!
- Many people double major, but it's not necessary - you can instead choose the classes you like and get out of a few courses that the major requires that you don't like. You can still go to graduate school in fields you don't major in if you have strong preparation.
- Yes, there are mixed gender floors. You can request an exemption for religious reasons and these are given out.
- New Haven isn't that bad - there are some cool areas. There are also some areas which do have higher crime rates, but you probably wouldn't organically end up there (there are places wherever you live that you won't tend to visit, and New Haven isn't an exception). There are tons of fun restaurants and activities happening beyond Yale's campus.
4.You can start undergraduate research as early as first semester, but I would recommend against this. It’s a large time commitment and you’ll be missing out on other opportunities. It is also important to spend time finding your feet as college will likely be a huge transition. If I could go back I would have spent less time sophomore year doing my research and more attending interesting talks.
- Yale is not a competitive environment in the sense that it is collaborative, but it would be disingenuous to say that it isn't high pressure. This comes from students competing against themselves (and setting high benchmarks, including benchmarks based on what peers achieve). People work together and work to build each other up, but I would be lying if I said that it wasn't an intense environment.
@IvyPlaywright - Congratulations on your SCEA admission to Yale. I agree with everything @Faulkner1897 wrote above. As someone who attended an extraordinarily competitive high school and is now a first year student at Yale, I can say with complete honesty, in response to your question (5), that the students I’ve met at Yale are infinitely nicer, more helpful and supportive than I ever could have imagined or hoped for. Also, in response to (3), I’m from a city, so for me, New Haven was a draw, rather than a deterrent. Especially for a prospective theatre major, Yale’s program - and New Haven’s closeness to NYC’s drama scene - is really appealing. And as someone who is pursuing a double-major, and who is also intensively involved as a non-major in classical music study and performance, it can be done! If you feel like you “fit” better at another school. then that’s what you should do. But I loved Yale from a distance until I visited, but unlike you, had a great first encounter. Now that I am a student, I can’t imagine being happier anywhere else. Best of luck to you!
@exyalie15 and @zoebrittany Thank you both so much for everything! Ngl this feedback is definitely swaying me more towards Yale. I can’t wait for bulldog days!