<p>Driving in to see Yale didn't leave me with a great impression of the city. But I've heard that New Haven is more than this first impression. What's the deal with New Haven?</p>
<p>I heard it’s a dump.</p>
<p>This is a FAQ, please use the Search function for ‘New Haven’, you’ll get lots of hits.</p>
<p>Carin: Your “dump” is actually a very diverse community – some amazing points, some tragic points. Some people love living there with its amazing downtown, theatre district, restaurants and boutique shopping. While ironically, nearby are neighborhoods where people have been generationally impoverished and would leave if the crime, run down housing and lack of opportunity if they could.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m glad that Y isn’t located in an ivory tower off in the woods. Walking to and fro everyday made me more conscious of the gift I was being bestowed as a yale student. If my two daughters could be so lucky, I’d not hesitate a second to send them there.</p>
<p>This <em>is</em> the Yale forum, so be aware of the nature of the responses you’ll get. </p>
<p>To answer your question as bluntly as possible:</p>
<p>No, New Haven is not Boston, Ann Arbor, or [insert nice college town].</p>
<p>BUT </p>
<p>No, you will not get shot and/or mugged.</p>
<p>I have a D at Yale. No, New Haven is not Cambridge, but it also no worse than the neighborhoods of every other university in its cohort, unless you are looking for a boring suburb. Maybe I am rationalizing, but I am glad that she will get the gritty-city experience as part of her education. She grew up in a boring suburb.</p>
<p>Why is everyone saying Cambridge is such a lovely place? Don’t forget it’s basically in Boston, and with public transportation, it’s a pretty metropolitan area. I’d say “New Haven is not Princeton.” Nothing goes on here. We love being in our little bubble.</p>
<p>I went. It looked like we were in the heart of the ghetto. To make it worse, passing by the school, we see a mental institution. Makes me wonder.</p>
<p>BeautifulNerd219 - don’t know where you live but I would say yale is definitely not for you if that’s what you “see” when you visit. I really don’t know where you’ll end up but good luck.</p>
<p>Yeah, seriously. Really people, why defend New Haven? Odds are you - or any other individual - won’t get in so it isn’t an issue. If by that small chance, you get in then you consider going. We’re talking Yale, not University of New Haven.</p>
<p>Lol, UNH is in a relatively nice area of West Haven.</p>
<p>As a current Yale student entirely unaccustomed to a city environment (small town, not boring suburb), I don’t think it is really a nice city, and there are definitely parts you don’t want to visit (or minimally get depressed from visiting). However, the campus feels safe, is incredibly well-lit, and is always active enough to minimize any tangible security threats. It’s untenable to argue the city is nice, but it’s likewise untenable to assert it’s unlivable. Vibrancy is definitely putting a spin on it (obviously the Yale campus is, but the surrounding area isn’t), but it isn’t an abandoned industrial/residential ghetto as is, say, Compton. And as T264E said, it does put the world in perspective, while not constantly endangering your well-being. In conclusion to my sleep-deprivation induced rambling, don’t see New Haven’s condition as a deterrent to application. Worry about it after you have been accepted.</p>
<p>Right, to what extent is Yale integrated with the sketchy/dodgy parts of New Haven? I’ve heard of Yale students who can see people sleeping on the streets from their dorms.</p>
<p>There are homeless people in New Haven. Some do congregate on New Haven green which is outside of the Old Campus. I don’t think I’ve ever noticed that they sleep there however.</p>
<p>But New Haven green is an integral part of Downtown so as you see the few homeless people, you also see the other parts of the city going to and fro. </p>
<p>But regardless, people will have to deal with their own levels of comfort. For me, there wasn’t any fear/apprehension whatsoever nor would I experience any if either of my daughters were to attend Yale. It’d be the same as walking the streets in Manhattan or waiting for a train in Chicago. Are either of these similar to walking in Princeton or Ann Arbor? No – but one wouldn’t think so either.</p>
<p>If anyone is worried about New Haven (which you shouldn’t be), don’t apply to Yale. It’s as easy as that.</p>
<p>LOL: mythbuster, watch some future applicants in the know exaggerate negative stereotypes of Yale/New Haven in order to suppress applications! Wouldn’t that be something!</p>
<p>Having lived in New Haven in the last century, I can tell you it’s better than it used to be. New Haven has a lot to offer, you won’t die breathing the air there, and if that’s not your cup of tea there are plenty of other schools you can apply to. Really, don’t apply and make room for someone with a bit of moxie. Or have yourself cryogenically frozen, and de-frost when all this messy stuff has been straightened out.</p>
<p>Haha T26E4!</p>
<p>But really, after being on campus for a week and running throughout New Haven everyday, it really isn’t that bad. Virtually everywhere is safe during the day, although there are some places you would want to avoid at night… but it is like this in EVERY city including Boston, etc.</p>
<p>New Haven isn’t the best college town in the world, but it is by far the best college town in the United States that is home to a top-30 university. </p>
<p>Because of the intense concentration of retail, offices, government, cafes, entertainment, nightlife, etc., surrounding downtown New Haven (one of the densest downtows in the country, and where Yale is located), it is often said that there’s more to do within a few blocks of Yale than within a few blocks of all the other Ivies, combined. There’s also easy access to parks and outdoor space. Frankly, the settings of most other top universities are boring by comparison.</p>
<p>In particular, it is worth pointing out that New Haven offers both a very diverse, opportunity-filled and interesting urban environment in its own right as well as easy access to the NY City metro area (which makes every other city in the USA look like a boring village). Yet Yale, being dense and fairly self-contained, still retains the bustling campus life that every college within NY City itself completely and utterly lacks. </p>
<p>Ann Arbor, Stanford, NYC, Princeton, Hanover, Cambridge, Ithaca, Boston and other cities that are home to great universities can’t offer the combination of these things, or even come close. That’s why New Haven trumps them all by a wide margin. </p>
<p>You have to go to Europe to find a college town that beats New Haven.</p>
<p>T26E4 - Well, I hope your daughters are fortunate enough to be there someday. I had some concerns about DD being in a less than bucolic setting, but she said exactly what you said. She did not want to be totally isolated from reality while in school and she wanted to be reminded of how very lucky she was. She has taken advantage of the universities location and has volunteered every year in the public schools. I am so proud that she is grateful for her good fortune and tries to help others achieve their potential.</p>
<p>YIKES - I am starting to sound like that crazy president of ours, encouraging kids to pursue an education.</p>
<p>Well, with some basic training with rocket propelled grenades, automatic small arms, and hand to hand combat, most people can make it to class on time. Always assuming that the armored Humvee convoys aren’t ambushed on the way up to Science Hill from Old Campus. </p>
<p>Speaking of Old Campus, it’s pretty nice. It’s boxed in like a fortification, so that the night watch sentries at the roofs can shoot on sight at anything moving on the green. Always assuming we don’t run out of illumination flares that is. It sometimes happens (with nasty consequences). But you only have you stand on sentry duty every other week so it’s not that bad.</p>