<p>I'm sorry, but the crime in New Haven is almost zilch in comparison to where I live.</p>
<p>In short, I'm only an accept student right now, but from the people I know that live in NEW HAVEN itself, and from students there, it's not a ghetto.</p>
<p>Kids on this board don't know what ghetto is for the most part (live on the border of Mexico and hear illegal immigrants and border patrol at all hours of the night in your one story house with a ten year old car, then talk)</p>
<p>Cities in general can be dangerous, though again, just don't do anything stupid.</p>
<p>Other than that and a brief visit, New Haven seems to rock :)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>New Haven is certainly a disadvantage of Yale; there's no doubt about that. But the reason is not because it's unsafe. The dramatic articles we see in the YDN don't mean that New Haven is less safe than many other places you'd go to school. The reason New Haven is lacking is that it's not a very pleasant place and it doesn't provide a solid alternative for social life and things to do outside of campus life and extracurriculars. There's a few bars, one movie theatre, and tons of restaurants within walking distance of campus. The only area that I would say is pleasant is the gentrified area, which is a few blocks around central campus. Science Hill is also a nice area. Whether New Haven is reason enough to decide not to come to Yale is personal preference. Although Cambridge is a nicer place to go to school and Boston provides many opportunities, the campus is much more spread-out (my friend has to take a 5 to 10-min bus ride to visit his girlfriend, whereas the furthest dorms at Yale are less than a 10 minute walk apart), eliminating some of the tight-knit campus life that Yale has (also encouraged by the fact that everything happens on a few blocks here). Your criteria for what you want in location are most important. There are no absolutes.</p></li>
<li><p>I don't think it's necessarily true that Harvard students don't have the same gut reactions against Yale. Harvard has "Yale sucks" Facebook groups and T-shirts too, although maybe not as high in quantity (or wit). That said, there's no denying the perception that the rest of the world places Harvard above Yale. It's a very strange situation, actually, because most Yalies acknowledge the perceived #1-#2 ranking and some do feel the need to bash Harvard because of it, yet in my experience very many of my friends applied early to Yale and/or never considered Harvard. Obviously, many people I know take Harvard seriously and a few wish they had gotten into/decided to go to Harvard. There's a variety of views and I wouldn't say any one of them necessarily characterizes the Yale student. In any case, comparison goes on at Harvard too, have no doubt. Plus, other than Yale-Harvard weekend (when it's all part of school spirit), it does NOT take over our lives. Please don't perceive us as a group of Harvard-wannabes with inferiority complexes. Yalies love Yale and are here for all sorts of reasons, and our lives here have nothing to do with Harvard.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You forget, yb12, that New Haven is also close to New York City (its the same metropolitan area, technically speaking), and NYC puts Boston to shame in terms of culture and things to do. Comparing Boston to NYC, frankly, is like comparing Siberia with London. Boston is incredibly dull and boring by comparison.</p>
<p>New Haven is connected to NYC via dozens of high speed, affordable commuter trains running around the clock. As a student you probably don't want to be IN New York itself, because that would tend to completely kill all campus life and personal interaction among people (relatively speaking), in addition to being expensive and not very student-friendly. But being close to NYC definitely has an advantage over being close to (or in) a relatively second-rate place like, say, Cincinnati, Boston, Dallas or Memphis.</p>
<p>Of course, by far the most important factor for students is what you said - which campus is more close-knit. As a student, you'll be spending 98% of your time within a few blocks of campus. In these respects, Yale wins by a mile over Harvard, mostly because the campus is much more close-knit, social and friendly than Harvard (Yale has a higher density of students in a smaller area, so there's a lot more interaction and running into friends), but also especially now that New Haven has become a more vibrant and interesting place than Harvard Square. If you're lucky enough to get admitted to either school, visit overnight for a weekend or a few days and you'll definitely notice this disparity.</p>
<p>Although New York certainly is better than Boston, it takes around an hour and a half to get to New York from New Haven, whereas it takes only around half an hour from Cambridge to Boston. In other words, you can go to Boston on a whim for the evening, but it's harder to do that if you want to go to New York.</p>
<p>That's true, but the point is that New York makes Boston look like a small village in North Dakota. Honestly, there is really no comparison.</p>
<p>And the other thing you don't consider is that while NY is an attractive, planned daytrip, the fact that it ISN'T half an hour away means that there is much more campus life at Yale. At Harvard, people ditch the campus much more often to go elsewhere in the Boston area, which, when compared to Yale, kills the campus life and social life. It's hard to imagine this. But walk around the two campuses on a Saturday evening and you'll notice an enormous difference because of this - bustling sidewalks with thousands of students running into each other and walking to dozens of campus or local activities at Yale, versus a quiet, dead campus and a few people walking alone at Harvard.</p>
<p>This is... not true. Let me preface this by saying that I love Yale and am glad I go here. But I don't want anyone to come here expecting a bustling nightlife and constant trips to the city.</p>
<p>I go to Yale; I live outside of Boston. I laughed aloud when I read "New Haven has become a more vibrant and interesting place than Harvard Square." I love Yale and am glad I go here. But let's not start making things up - New Haven is not vibrant and is not interesting. You'll exhaust this place in a week or two, except for the restaurants. Boston/Cambridge beat New Haven any day, and listing Boston in the same breath as Cincinnati, Dallas and Memphis is a joke too (I lived in Dallas too, if you're counting). Boston is a college town with lots of college students, bars, restaurants and entertainment, all connected by a cheap (if slow and annoying) public transportation system. Boston is a city that can hold its own, even if it isn't New York ("small village"? please). Enough said there.</p>
<p>And New York a convenient day trip? In nearly two years of being here, I've taken two daytrips to New York. From my understanding, that's about par for the course. More people go skiing four hours from here than go to NYC for the day.</p>
<p>"Bustling sidewalks with thousands of students running into each other?" Not from December to February. It's true that Harvard doesn't really have a campus life, and my friends at Harvard don't really use Boston and Cambridge that much anyway. But let's not start saying things that aren't true when it comes to the enormous hordes traversing the "vibrant and interesting" streets of New Haven.</p>
<p>From another person prepared to love Yale as possibly the best undergraduate experience on the planet: The reputation, from far away, is that Harvard students are intelligent jerks who are convinced they attend the best institution (even if they hate it) and Yale students are confident that they are superior people and think they possibly attend the best institution (at least liberal arts, at least undergraduate and maybe law) and they love it, or at least their college. Is this at least partly right?</p>
<p>Are students at Yale happier? It's hard to say objectively. I do think kids at Yale have a pretty good time and make the most out of their time. A couple of friends at Harvard seem to enjoy themselves alright too, but some other people I know are always complaining. </p>
<p>Also, it's my experience that people at Harvard go to Boston about as much as Yalies go to NY. The extra time-travel is sort of negligible since it's usually a whole day thing (i.e. spend a Saturday in NY, come back Sunday morning).</p>
<p>I corroborate yb12's observations... (though our living situations are opposite) I have not the faintest clue which parallel universe PosterX inhabits.</p>
<p>Ok, I am slightly partial to the issue and have been reading up to the point where people started saying that New Haven is a city and hence it has a life ouside the campus and it has a high crime rate and so on.
A city with 123,626 people? I live in Madison, Wisconsin where the population is 443,000 and I certainly feel like I am in a town. A small college town. Up until I looked it up just now I even believed that the population is around 160,000. How could a 123,626 town like New Haven feel like city with all its perks gangs and oportunities. What are Boston, Chicago and NYC then???
I am not trying to be argumentative, I am just really confused and curious.</p>
<p>yb12: your post has saddened me. i am now ready to accept that there is only one bad thing about yale and that is new haven. why oh, why is yale in new haven?</p>
<p>New Haven definitely feels like a city. You also have to remember that when you live in the downtown area without a car, your world gets a lot smaller than when you live in the suburbs and drive a car every day.</p>
<p>A LOT of very snooty people. Maybe they become snooty while they are attending Yale.</p>
<p>OH yes, I have met a number of folks who attended Yale, Harvard, Brown, MIT etc. Those from Yale and Princeton grads really stand out for their arrogance.</p>
<p>I do own a car and live in the subarbs. I am also an urbanophile and maybe this is why anything under 2,000,000 metro is not really enough. In Madison have exhausted all restaurants, clubs, happenings, lakes, etc. Any nice beaches in New Haven or anything?</p>
<p>Ok, to clear things up for me a little bit, since I cannot visit New Haven right now, can you please compare it to Palo Alto and Ithaca? Everything but campus. Where would one be happier if they lived at home (off campus) and attended school????? For the purpose of the study let's not distinguish b/n schools ;)</p>
<p>Really taxguy? That's funny, cause I'm yet to find all these snooty, arrogant people you're talking about. Sure, it happens, but overwhelmingly Yale kids are unexpectedly very laid back IMO.</p>
<p>darkamaranth-
yeah it does, Yale's GESO joins up with kids down at Columbia all the time. oh GESO, they can be annoying. they rallied during my Bulldog Days. it was lame, i was in a classroom and couldn't hear the professor. they did it again this year while i was in Portuguese. they literally set up right outside the window.</p>