Places "Like Yale"

College Search & Selection
21

<p>Monydad, Yes, there is great public transportation available FREE to all WashU students. Students get a free UPass card which gives them access to all public transportation. There is a new stop on campus and the kids can get all over using public transportation. Secondly, the kids can and do walk to an area called "the Loop". The Loop is a "hip" area walking distance from campus filled with restaurants, boutiques, ice cream and coffee shops...etc. </p>

<p>Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.</p>

22

<p>Different region, but check into Emory... And Syracuse could be a safety for a kid with a shot at Yale. Maybe Vanderbilt?</p>

23

<p>Trinity is like an armed camp in a bad section of Hartford, fenced in all around. Yale much more open to rest of New Haven and, even though people denigrate New Haven, is in a better area by far. btw, Princeton does not have residential colleges. Yale and Harvard do exclusively and Cornell and Penn increasingly.</p>

24

<p>Tulane University and a few LAC suggestions: The Claremont Colleges, Reed College and although certainly not urban, Kenyon College.</p>

25

<p>Princeton does have residential colleges. tokyorevelation9 should know. He's a student there.</p>

26

<p>i think we're talking about four-year residential colleges, in which case princeton just opened their first this year. previously I believe it was a two-year system.</p>

27

<p>Might want to look at Holy Cross-very nice campus- in a mid-size city 1 hour from Boston. HC is Top30 LAC with one of the strongest alumni networks. William & Mary has a nice campus in Williamsburg but is a state school.</p>

28

<p>Trinity has taken many steps towards INCLUDING the city of Hartford in its endeavors. The Watkinson Library, a world-class anthology of historic literature, not to mention the rest of the Raether Information & Technology Center, is open to the public.</p>

<p>From Trinfo.Cafe, serving the technological needs of Hfd. residents, to Koeppel Community Sports Center, providing skating programs/camps for Hfd. youth, to the Humanities program, offering free courses to Hfd. residents for college credits, to the Learning Corridor, an adjacent, Trinity sponsored consortium of primary/secondary learning institutions serving 800 children in the Hfd. area, and two of Hartford's Hospitals... Trinity is far from a locked-down camp. Furthermore, the only fence bordering the campus, separates a playing field from the street. Trinity has done it's damnedest to better the surrounding area, even purchasing an entire street nearby and revitalizing it to Trinity's standards.</p>

<p>The surrounding area isn't "bad," by any means, given its cultural diversity, the strong, on-campus presence of the Hartford Police Department (not to mention their coalition with Trinity's Campus Safety Office), and the nearby, thriving, small businesses that Trinity students flock to [unharmed] on a daily basis.</p>

<p>Trinity's location in the capital city of Hartford is an opportune one, and is frequently taken advantage of by the student body. Trinity students engage in community service, internships and work experiences right across the street in the Learning Corridor, or in the History Downtown area, also just a number of blocks away.</p>

<p>My point being: Trinity is a great school, with great intentions for the Hartford community and its residents. It is also the best choice, IMHO, for a student with Yale credentials because of: a) it's similar urban location, in the nearby, rising capital city of Hartford, b) the similar richness in college history, c) Trinity's pursuit of excellence in liberal arts education, indicative of its platonic categorization as a "Little Ivy," d) the steps that Trinity has taken to become as "safe" and "open" of a campus as Yale.</p>

29

<p>Pomona College (not as crazy as you might think)...</p>

<p>SATs: Yale 1390-1580. Pomona 1370-1520
Undergraduate Size: Yale 5,333. Pomona 1,545 (Claremont Consortium 6,000)
Campus size: Yale 260 acres map[/url</a>]. Pomona 140 acres (Claremont consortium 320 acres) [url=<a href="http://www.cuc.claremont.edu/maps/flat_bw_map.pdf%5Dmap%5B/url">http://www.cuc.claremont.edu/maps/flat_bw_map.pdf]map[/url</a>]
Location: Yale-small city. Pomona-suburban large city (LA)
Architecture: Yale [url=<a href="http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Yale_University_Art_Gallery_exterior.jpg/800px-Yale_University_Art_Gallery_exterior.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Yale_University_Art_Gallery_exterior.jpg&h=488&w=800&sz=104&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=JlYFY7G0ePXrdM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyale%2Buniversity%2Bbuilding%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGIC%5DArt">http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Yale_University_Art_Gallery_exterior.jpg/800px-Yale_University_Art_Gallery_exterior.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Yale_University_Art_Gallery_exterior.jpg&h=488&w=800&sz=104&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=JlYFY7G0ePXrdM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=143&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dyale%2Buniversity%2Bbuilding%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGIC]Art</a> Museum. Pomona Bridges</a> Auditorium
Housing: Yale-87% live on-campus; residential colleges. Pomona-97% live on-campus; sponsor groups
Educational mission: Both schools stress undergraduate liberal arts education, not pre-professional</p>

<p>Obviously, one is a small LAC and one is a research university, but they were my D's top two picks (she's at Pomona)</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.pomona.edu/ADWR/Admissions/ViewBook/mypomona.pdf%5DPomona"&gt;http://www.pomona.edu/ADWR/Admissions/ViewBook/mypomona.pdf]Pomona&lt;/a> View Book<a href="Large%20PDF%20file">/url</a></p>

30

<p>Princeton and Cornell are taking steps towards establishing Residential College systems, the flagship in Princeton's effort being the newly-completed Whitman College.</p>

<p>While Penn has dormitory units marked off as 'College Houses,' it is dishonest to say it is anything like Yale. Penn's housing stock does not lend itself to being a Residential College system for many reasons:
-they are far too varied in size, ranging in size from the mammoth high rises and Quadrangle to comparatively miniscule Gregory.
-there is no meaningful sense of identifying with one's college house. By and large people will still refer to them as "dorms"
-the facilities also vary widely in endowments of aesthetics as well as useful common space</p>

<p>For all these reasons and more, the college houses will never be more than dorms, which is why a full 1/3 of students live off-campus (considering ALL freshmen live on-campus, that 1/3 of students is closer to half of everyone who actually has a choice)</p>

<p>I love Penn, but their housing situation is horrendous and in desperate need of reform too radical and expensive to consider. Superblock needs to be demolished for starters...</p>

31

<p>As I understand it, Harvard and Yale have 3 year residential colleges (years 2-4), with the exception of Silliman(sp?) at Yale, which is 4 years. Princeton has had a residential college system for years 1 and 2 until this year. Now half the residential colleges at Princeton are 2 year and half 4 year.</p>

32

<p>^^ Yes. Princeton has six residential colleges this year. Three of them are 4-year residential colleges; Butler College, Mathey College, and Whitman College. and the other three are 2-year residential colleges; Wilson College, Rockefeller College, and Forbes College. I live in Wilson College. </p>

<p>If you are assigned to a four-year college, you can opt to leave that college's housing after your sophomore year. For those in the 2-year college system, you just move to upperclass housing, but in both cases you are still affiliated with that college. </p>

<p>You can check it out here: Princeton</a> University - Residential Colleges</p>

<p>Even though the 4-year system began this year, Princeton has had residential colleges since 1966.</p>

<p>Anyway, I think people get the point. </p>

<ul>
<li>45 Percenter & ilovebagels thanks for the info about Penn college houses.</li>
</ul>

33

<p>SarahsDad, why was Pomona one of her top two picks? I'm trying to get my son to apply there but he is refusing. He won't even visit it. I've heard it's a great college. Can you give any more insight to the college?</p>

34

<p>Raffles, she stumbled across Pomona while looking at the Fiske guide - the more she looked the more she liked. She was HS valedictorian but very laid back and "social" - she wanted a top school that was competitive without being cutthroat. She really liked Yale's residential college setup, and found after her Pomona visit that student-student interaction is highly regarded there too (sponsor groups, Freshman orientation adventures, Faculty advisor groups). It doesn't hurt that it has the highest endowment per student of any LAC, falling behind only HYP overall. Plus we live in NC now (former Yankees) and she appreciates the ability to wear flip flops in February...</p>

<p>Here's a nice thread that highlights the advantages of a Pomona education: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/175120-top-10-reasons-go-pomona.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pomona-college/175120-top-10-reasons-go-pomona.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

35

<p>My daughter is a little like Raffle's son-- very interested in Yale (for her it is the residential colleges) and not interested in Pomona. But she will consider Harvey Mudd and Claremont McKenna. Maybe Raffle's son would also consider one of the other Claremont colleges.</p>

36

<p>I was also going to suggest Claremont (<a href="http://www.claremont.edu)%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.claremont.edu)&lt;/a>, and specifically Pomona. SarahsDad already did a great job of explaining why the school(s), despite being small LACs, make sense to include here.</p>

<p>As part of the Consortium, Pomona might be a great middle-ground for your daughter...the small, residential LAC feel that you suggest she likes, but also some elements of the more "intriguing" mid-size universities. The other Claremont school I might suggest looking at, especially for a shot at good merit money, would be Scripps (better odds of admission, equally excellent education).</p>

<p>And a bit of pop-culture trivia: In Gilmore Girls, when Rory goes to tour Yale, the campus scenes are all shot on Pomona ;)</p>

<p>Raffles: Is your son against Pomona specifically, or Claremont in general (or perhaps he hasn't looked elsewhere in the consortium)? Do you have any idea what turns him off?</p>

37

<p>Pomona looks wonderful. S did not want to be a plane ride away. I really like the flip-flops perk!</p>

<p>DS chose Williams, and I must say, the entry system is wonderful. Twenty kids are real buds from the first. When I speak to S and ask him where he is he says, "I'm in the entry", not "I'm in my room." Entry made him a birthday party after he was at school for only three weeks. </p>

<p>Williams also has great pre-frosh orientation. DS went canoeing and met another group of kids.</p>

<p>The entries are paired with "neighborhoods" which function similarly to residential colleges. You are in your neighborhood for four years unless you request a change. It gives frosh access to upperclasspeople.</p>

<p>Williams has no frats or theme housing so everyone is included in this system.</p>

38

<p>Look for colleges with the same "hogwarts feel" .. i.e., Vassar.</p>

39

<p>If you're in love with Yale's colleges, it's madness not to apply to Harvard too. It's far more similar to Yale than any other school mentioned here. Admissions are unpredictable enough to make it worth your while.</p>

<p>Columbia and Chicago are the next two places that spring to mind as obvious choices for a Yale fan. Chicago's also usually a match for students reaching for Yale.</p>

<p>Another interesting option is the residential college at Michigan. All the pluses of the big school with a more intimate setting, and it shouldn't be quite as insanely hard to get into as Yale.</p>

40

<p>As a loyal Rice student, I feel I should reiterate how much sense it makes to match it with Yale. In fact, when I was applying to colleges, Rice and Yale were my two favorites. In my opinion, though, we have a better college system than Yale; none of this "separate freshman housing" business, we're all together from the start. Your move, Yale.</p>