<p>So what is it like? I've heard some pretty mixed reviews, and a lot of people have said that the city was the reason why they decided to turn down Yale for schools like Harvard and Brown. Is New Haven really that slow of a city? What is there to do there? Will I be too busy with work to even care?</p>
<p>I just posted some of my impressions on downtown New Haven, and Yale in general, over at</p>
<p>It used to be slow and a bit run-down, but over the past 5 years it has transformed into one of the best college towns in the country. It's on par with or better than Ann Arbor or Charlottesville in terms of stuff to do, but much more interesting of a city overall (e.g., much more diverse) and with a number of restaurants of a quality you would only find in New York or Chicago. It's really great because Yale is the only Ivy located in the downtown of a major city, and it's the center for college life for all 50,000 college students in the area. As I see it, the only major problem is that, like what happened to Harvard Square 10 years ago, the city center is gentrifying really quickly so soon won't be as great of a college town. All the student friendly places are going to be bought out by interests catering to all the people buying million-dollar homes & condos in the area.</p>
<p>I'm from New Haven, Yale is really reserved but as of lately is doing more to improve New Haven, new haven, like any other small city has their good and bad parts, Yale makes new haven, and that new haven is one of the few major cities in CT, gang and street violence is becoming more crazy and since the birth of myspace, the city has been entering the main library to use it, but since myspace is dying (towards the youth population), so will the residents of new haven entering the library to use the computers.... yale provide remedials jobs that are sources to familes income... theres not enough cops to meet the rising number of youth.. but yea i dont want to get off in a tangent so imma cut it short here</p>
<p>Ha!!!!! You don't have to worry about the city for now...getting in is the 1st priority.........</p>
<p>Oh I know, thats going to be really hard. but if I were to get in I wouldn't want something like the surrounding city to have me turn down my number one school.</p>
<p>i love new haven. the outskirts arent the best, but downtown new haven, where yale is, is awesome. tons of funky little stores and cafes, awesome restaurants, and happening nightlife with a wide range of bars and clubs.
summers are amazing, as the entire city comes alive with free concerts and events.
i'm a very petite white girl and i've never felt unsafe.</p>
<p>Downtown is pretty safe. You will know when you get into a certain area where you shouldn't be. Violence in the bad areas is up, but you can avoid them a lot of the time.</p>
<p>Also the new Indiana Jones movie is going to be filmed in New Haven.</p>
<p>It is kind of relative, though. So far this year, New Haven has had one murder, which was several miles away from the downtown & Yale campus and involved a couple of kids fighting. Philadelphia has had 155 murders <strong>just so far this year</strong> (and 400+ last year), many of them right next to Penn or even on the Penn campus. In a recent weekend, for example, there were 11 killings. Baltimore has had over 110 just so far this year. In Washington, D.C., famous activists have recently been gunned down and killed in robberies in the middle of Georgetown, and there are hundreds of killings too. Although it is smart to take precautions like in any town or city, honestly, I would be more worried about going to a suburban college and having to drive more, because car accidents are about 100x more likely to hurt you. For example, Dartmouth, which is hours from any city of any significance, has a lot of students driving around and several die in car accidents on a regular basis. At Yale, just like at NYU or BU, you can walk to everything you'd possibly ever need. </p>
<p>The other posters are right, that the city has poor areas filled with immigrants from around the world as well as rich areas with $2,000,000+ mansions, like any major city. Since New Haven is one of the oldest cities in the United States (it was actually the first "planned" city in the U.S.), I'd say it's primarily just a lot of very historic areas like "Wooster Square" that draw yuppies and people who want to live in beautiful historic areas, kind of like Brooklyn, Charleston, or Savannah. Those parts have been skyrocketing in price and all have their own chi-chi coffeeshops, brunch places, foie gras shops, art galleries, gourmet grocers, you know what I'm talking about. Personally, I like the more striving areas because due to the immigrant population, there are literally hundreds of incredible ethnic restaurants. In my travels to New Haven, I've tried Mexican food, for example, that's better than anything I've ever found in Mexico, Arizona or California. Pretty much every world cuisine you can imagine, even Peruvian and Eritrean, is served in a restaurant. Those neighborhoods are a little more unfamiliar to outsiders and most Yale students, though, and of course the paint on the houses isn't necessarily fresh. But New Haven is not like Philadelphia where there are 60,000 abandoned buildings, in fact it's hard to find an abandoned building there, and people are usually pretty friendly and happy regardless of where you go.</p>
<p>The downtown area, where Yale is, is one of the best sections of town and has urban "loft" condos that sell for a million dollars, tons of shops, a 7-screen luxury movieplex and restaurants that cost you $100 for dinner, in addition to things that are more student-friendly in price :) </p>
<p>There is also a great nightlife scene, that's become so "hot" (I'm talking about streets having to be closed off to traffic because crowds are so thick, a la Bourbon Street) that it's now starting to be taken over by chain establishments.</p>
<p>"For example, Dartmouth, which is hours from any city of any significance, has a lot of students driving around and several die in car accidents on a regular basis. " </p>
<p>huh?</p>
<p>My point was only that students drive more, and car ownership is much higher, at some campuses compared to others.</p>
<p>My point was that students do NOT "die in car accidents on a regular basis" at Dartmouth. I get your point, but not that specific reference.</p>
<p>"It is kind of relative, though. So far this year, New Haven has had one murder,"</p>
<p>Ya right, only one? Do you have a link? </p>
<p>Also, murder is not the only thing to be afraid of. Rape, robbery, assault and battery etc.</p>
<p>a couple of days ago someone posted a map of new haven pointing out all the crime that had been committed over the past year. it was interesting to see how little crime actually occurs near the yale campus, just the typical petty thefts that you find on any college campus.</p>
<p>if anything, i complain that new haven is too pedestrian! it drives me nuts as i'm driving my car, avoiding all of the pedestrians and bikers that are everywhere. very active community</p>
<p>Dank08, here's the link: "First murder of the Year" May 10, 2007 <a href="http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/05/first_murder_of.php%5B/url%5D">http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2007/05/first_murder_of.php</a>
No murders since then, if you don't believe me you can read through all the newspapers for the past month. A far cry from the 120+ murders so far this year in Baltimore, 4+ in Providence, 24+ in Boston and 155+ just so far in Philly. </p>
<p>I agree of course there are other, much more important things to be afraid of, though - they are 1) car accidents if you go to a suburban campus, 2) your city getting totally destroyed in a terrorist bombing if you go to school in NYC, and 3) dying of alcohol or drug overdose if you go to college in the middle of nowhere.</p>
<p>I once saw a post that said "Yale has created a gentrification bubble around itself, while the rest of New Haven isn't great".</p>
<p>
[quote]
I agree of course there are other, much more important things to be afraid of, though-... 2)your city getting totally destroyed in a terrorist bombing if you go to school in NYC
[/quote]
I have no problem with you sticking up for New Haven, but this was a little bit much. OP, there are no hard and fast rules for choosing a college, and basing your decision on the likelihood of a terrorist attack is, to put it mildly, unwise. New Haven has a lot to offer, but it is not for everyone. I didn't really care for it, so I crossed Yale off my list. posterX seems to be a good source for information on New Haven, but don't let his or her irrational fear mongering keep you from considering schools like Columbia.</p>
<p>Agreed. But considering that 3,000 people died in the last terrorist attack in NYC a few years ago, and the fact that thousands of college students die each year while cruising around in their cars, it's much wiser to base it on either of those things than the fear of random crime -- which kills fewer than 10 college students nationwide each year.</p>