<p>This is for anyone who knows current Yale students or alumni. My daughter has applied for next fall. We are very middle class -- two public school teachers -- and if we can afford to send our daughter to Yale, it will be quite a financial stretch. She will not have a car or money for expensive social outings. Are most of the students rich and/or snobby? Will she be left out if she can't afford expensive social activities? Thanks for your thoughts.</p>
<p>While Yale certainly has its share of wealthy students, there are plenty who aren't. Almost no one has a car, since it's completely unneccessary - students can walk everywhere they need to go. My freshman daughter goes into NYC occasionally on the weekend to visit friends, but it's an inexpensive trip on the commuter train.</p>
<p>From what my daughter tells me, students are not judged on their wealth or social connections (unless perhaps you're trying to get into Skull and Bones) but on their likeability, intelligence, enthusiasm, etc. Yale, as you will read in many of the posts here, is an amazingly friendly place. My best friend went there 30 years ago, and the only snobbery she has is intellectual. :)</p>
<p>Yale is not snobby, with some minor exceptions. People with money often downplay it and it's a sin against the campus ethos to make someone feel badly about their socioeconomic status.</p>
<p>There aren't a lot of expensive social outings, but if your daughter doesn't have any additional spending money it might be tough when everyone wants to go out for pizza or to a play on campus or whatever. Some extracurricular groups have a banquet every year that could be hard for everyone to afford (say $50). If your daughter wanted to join a sorority, for instance, she might have concerns about paying the dues (I'm guessing a couple hundred dollars a year???). </p>
<p>I sense that some schools have lots of formal events requiring lots of cocktails dresses and the like. Yale isn't like that. </p>
<p>If you're asking if people do extravagant things all the time, no. In fact, I can't think of anything that happens that's truly extravagant. But if you have absolutely no extra spending money, you might feel left out, but I think that would be true of any school.</p>
<p>Just a thought . Will she be able to work over the summer for spending money??</p>
<p>Yes, she will have a summer job and hopefully some kind of work study job during the school year.</p>
<p>I'm definitely middle class, and still headed to Yale next year! One of the reasons I liked the school so much is that the kids, rich or not, overall seemed really down-to-earth when I stayed overnight last spring. Good luck to your daughter!!! She won't feel out of place being middle-class, I promise!!!</p>
<p>fiskelove - i'm a yale parent & was feeling very apprehensive about this time last year so let me reassure you! there are all kinds of kids at Yale! from what i've seen, the main ingredient is intelligence & involvement! Friendships seem to form around residential colleges, interests & classes. she will have friends of every conceivable combination & and while she'll be busy w/ her studies & activities, there are a million social activities which require little or no $$. it was not that hard to find a job on campus. last year about this time, i was thinking i must be insane to even consider yale; after christmas, i thought omg, what if we hadn't!? it's a heady time for your family, but it's really a rarified atmosphere at Yale... nice, smart kids learning together in so many ways.</p>
<p>There are many VERY rich kids at Yale...probably far more than their share of the general population. But the previous posts are absolutely correct: students neither discuss nor care about family socioeconomic background. And one advantage of going to a place with such a huge endowment is that social events that would cost a lot of money elsewhere are free at Yale. My D's residential college regularly sponsored free ski trips, outings to Broadway musicals, and, senior year, a seemingly endless succession of parties.</p>
<p>Were the outings to Broadway muscials really free?</p>
<p>All that stuff with the residential colleges really is free, but there may be lotteries for events by Broadway musicals, operas at the Met, etc. b/c of their popularity and the inability to take everyone. The ski trips, if I remember correctly, don't have lotteries and everyone can go.</p>
<p>Most people live on campus (all freshman and sophomores must), so there isn't the issue of who has nicer housing. People generally eat on campus, although I expect most people buy a couple of late night pizza slices a week. I would think this on campus focus relieves a lot of financial tensions.</p>
<p>Fiskelove and All,</p>
<p>I am so glad I found this thread. Thanks to everyone for your experiences. </p>
<p>My Son is applying to all Ivys as well. Given my own very humble roots from middle class Asia, I would most definitely not want my Son to wear a 'Wealthy kid' batch at any point in life, be it within or outside the boundaries of an educational institution.</p>
<p>We have already discussed that he should work in the Summer and possibly seek a Research Assistantship during the College year. It may not amount to a great deal of money but it would be his own contribution to his extraneous expenses such as books, pizza, a weekend movie etc. Above all, he can take pride in making his own contributions.</p>
<p>Also bear in mind that once they finish at least a year of College, they are eligible to Summer Internships at Companies. Most Businesses that participate in SI Programs, pay fairly well.</p>
<p>So I'm going to back up what everyone has been saying and say that people at Yale downplay/don't talk about their wealth, but there are definitely issues.</p>
<p>Working over the summer is one of the huge problems that Yale faces right now concerning its financial aid program. There is a summer income contribution around $2300 that students must pay as part of their financial aid, and paying this can make taking an internship with a nonprofit organization or overseas almost impossible. </p>
<p>On a good note, Yale is starting to take closer note of the working class. On campus pay is very high (usually $10.50-12.50) but it is hard to find enough hours in the week sometimes. If you have a Yale funded overseas fellowship or participate in an overseas Yale summer program, your summer income contribution can be waived, but only once (I think. check out <a href="http://www.yale.edu/isa%5B/url%5D">www.yale.edu/isa</a>)</p>
<p>The difference isn't that big, but there is still a huge difference between having 8-10hrs a week to study/do extracurriculars/recover on sleep/function as a human being vs. working a job so that you can pay your cell phone bill and buy books. However, my on campus jobs have been very rewarding and even interesting/fun, and I'm sure that it means something to employers when they see actual work experience on a resume.</p>
<p>Those are just some general thoughts, I can talk specifics with anyone in a PM.</p>
<p>jimmypop, have you found it's relatively easy to get a job on campus and, once you have a job, balance it with studying, etc.? I really need to get a job but don't qualify for work study and am worried I won't be able to find anything.</p>
<p>jegan:</p>
<p>It's really easy to get a job on campus. You can go to <a href="https://www.yalestudentjobs.org/JobX_FindAJob.aspx%5B/url%5D">https://www.yalestudentjobs.org/JobX_FindAJob.aspx</a>, or sign up for the Yale JobMail mailing list, and get notified of the dozens of positions that open up, everything from working at the library or gym (common) to working as a research assistant for a professor (more rare, depending on your skills coming in).</p>
<p>How about the political union groups? If I went to Yale, I would be highly interested in that type of thing. But having looked into them (I'm looking at the right-wing parties) they all seemed to be a bunch of suit-wearing socialites. Not exactly my set. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>OP has posted similar thread in multiple forums. This topic has been beaten to death in the Parents forum. I think if OP is that concerned about this issue, then he shouldn't send his daughter to any of ivies. I frankly don't think this should be OP's main focus.</p>
<p>drummerdude,</p>
<p>Most YPU parties on the right do tend to dress up in suits for debates; they also tend to be, on average, more pretentious than the average Yale student (though there is, of course, a mix of personalities). I'm not sure what you mean when you refer to them as socialites. The Independent Party has a much more casual atmosphere and a broad range of opinion from liberal to conservative, which may appeal to you (their main drawback is their huge number of members). </p>
<p>However, the YPU offers an experience that is unmatched by debate teams at any other American university--the opportunity to rigorously argue for and examine your beliefs on the pressing issues of the day (unlike, say, competitive parliamentary debate, where the point is winning the round). It's also fantastic to be able to debate with top political figures (Justice Scalia and Al Sharpton spoke last semester; John Bolton spoke last year).</p>
<p>Everyone here keeps saying that they are middle class, but don't forget that middle class is a huge range! The families that send kids to Yale are wealthy but still part of the middle class--may it be the upper middle class. I believe that the upper middle class max income is about 500k. Granted, there are many families that make more than that, but as it has been said before, I do believe that financial class has little affect on life at all. As for pizza or eating out, there are plenty of jobs that pay WELL enough for you to do these things. There are five levels of income in yale jobs. Levels five and four pay $12.90 and $12.40. To get the top paying jobs here, you should apply very early. I had to apply two months before getting to Yale to get my 12.40 hr job that is relatively easy and offers great connections to internships, jobs, and every network Yale has got--it is the best job. Best still, getting jobs at Yale are easy and they all pay wonderfully. The minmum wage is $10.90 which is great.</p>
<p>apfreak, what job do you have?</p>