<p>Can anyone shed light on some differences between student life at harvard and yale? I hear from people and read from research that yale students generally have more fun, and that Harvard's student life ranks bottom in the COHFE survey.</p>
<p>If you don't know both sides of the argument, just provide one side.</p>
<p>I know nothing about the Yale side and the Harvard part is only as a parent observer. D is a currently a freshman at Harvard. The academics are solidly challenging (which you did not ask about) and the school is filled with smart (and “genius” as my daughter keeps reminding me), hardworking students. My Valedictorian daughter has quickly adjusted to now being “average”. Socially she has NEVER been happier in her life. She has plenty of “fun”. If my daughter’s experience is at all reflective of the Harvard student body sincerely then cannot imagine that Yale students “have more fun” or are “happier”. I’m sure you will be able to be happy at either.</p>
<p>As far as I can tell, they’re about as similar as a couple schools can be. I have two Ds at Harvard, they’re both in an a cappella group, and they go to Yale to perform with a cappella groups there. They report that they feel very much at home in each place. One of the things I’ve noticed about Harvard students is that because they sense no need to have their school catch up with peer institutions that are above them on the reputation hierarchy, they’re pretty honest in their assessments of their school. The rest of us tend to have a halo effect in our assessments since we want to convince others that our school’s just as good as the school whose reputation its trying to catch.</p>
<p>I have a D at Harvard and a D at Yale. It is difficult to compare/contrast student life, because my D’s have different personalities. I can say with certainty that they are both extremely happy at their respective schools, including with regard to the social life. (I often worry that their social lives are too busy!) Yale’s may be a bit more focussed because of its location, but Harvard’s offers the variety of the surrounding community and Boston venues. They have spent time at each other’s school and rave about both.</p>
<p>Yale partisans will assert that being assigned to their residence houses from the start makes a huge difference and is the key to all happiness. Harvard partisans will shrug and say they can’t see much difference in being assigned to your House for four years instead of three.</p>
<p>Harvard partisans will focus on the superiority of Cambridge/Boston and the many activities that affords as an important part of the Harvard experience. Yale fans will say that living in New Haven focuses student life inward toward the campus and produces a more unified, cohesive student body.</p>
<p>coureur has it about right. The other piece is that Yale is a little more laid back, and Harvard a bit more dog-eat-dog (mostly around ECs, not classes). This is relative to one another, not to the rest of the world. Yale may be laid-back ONLY in comparison to Harvard (and perhaps a few other places). It is more common for Harvard students to feel oppressed by the idea of Harvard, that they ought to be measuring up more than they are. It is also more common for Yale students to feel oppressed by the idea of Harvard, that they are somehow inadequate because they aren’t in Cambridge.</p>
<p>Whaddya mean, dog eat dog?</p>
<p>I go to Harvard and one of my good high school friends goes to Yale. Our good parties are definitely better than their good parties, but we tend to work hard on weekdays (excluding Friday and sometimes Thursday), while at Yale you’ll still feel a buzz of activity even on weekdays. Harvard does everything very well in moderation.</p>
<p>[The</a> Cult of Yale | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/20/the-cult-of-yale-bfor-god/]The”>The Cult of Yale | Magazine | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>this was in the harvArd newspaper a couple years ago</p>
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<p>I might disagree with this one. It may only be one example, but the acapella rush process at Yale is about as dog-eat-dog as extracurricular competition can get (and is totally unique to the institution).</p>
<p>“dog-eat-dog”: OK, a little hyperbole. </p>
<p>What I meant was that I have always had a sense that Harvard had somewhat more students intent on carving out a niche they can dominate, always looking towards the next level. Mostly that is done through ECs, and Harvard students tend to take their ECs (at least the major ones) very seriously. So there is a little more fierceness and desperation around things like comping the Crimson or the Lampoon compared to their Yale equivalents (the YDN and, really, nothing, respectively, although there are some wannabes). Again, I am talking about marginal differences. Yale certainly has people like that, but they are enough of a minority so that they don’t set the tone. (Or at least that used to be the case.)</p>
<p>I can believe that a capella auditions at Yale are very competitive, but for crying out loud, Yale has two or three times as many a capella groups as anywhere else, although I’m sure it attracts more than its share of a capella singers. A really good singer is going to be courted by multiple groups, and that’s probably more dog-eat-dog than the competition among singers for places. In general, Yale has so many ways for students to participate in the arts that there’s pretty much room for anyone to do anything.</p>
<p>“that’s probably more dog-eat-dog than the competition among singers for places”</p>
<p>Yes, it can be. When I was an undergrad, there was a “rush rule” at Yale that singing group members were not allowed to have sex with freshman recruits. That became a rule, of course, because one group was doing just that.</p>
<p>The rules are still pretty involved:</p>
<p>[The</a> Singing Group Council Official Website](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/sgc/rules.html]The”>http://www.yale.edu/sgc/rules.html)</p>
<p>Harvard is better</p>
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<p>Can you or any other Cantabs/Yalies comment on the party scene? I’d really appreciate the insider perspective - embarrasingly enough, its one of the factors in my applications (sorry mom!). Merci!</p>
<p>which school has high amounts of drinking and drug use?</p>
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<p>Although I do not have the personal experience to say, nearly everyone will say Yale.</p>
<p>both schools do</p>
<p>I think the rates of drug and alcohol use may be slightly higher at Yale as far as the % of student using goes. But at Harvard, I would conjecture, those who do participate do so more frequently and with greater magnitudes of intake than do their Yale brethren.</p>
<p>It’s not an important point of distinction between the colleges, either way.</p>
<p>currently a harvard freshman. i’d say i party just as much as my friends at penn state and other big state schools, if not more. there’s definitely A LOT going on during the weekends. final clubs, frats, certain party suites on campus, etc. are always throwing down. alcohol is in abundance. you’ll have no problem getting hammered every thursday, friday, and saturday night, if that’s your goal. i haven’t really seen too many drugs. the only one that’s kinda big is pot. i have friends at yale and hear that their party scene is good too. maybe even better, since the elitist factor plays a smaller role at yale than at harvard.</p>