@zoebrittany: As a current Yale sophomore, I, too, find @DryMango’s description of Yale completely unrecognizable, and just wanted to wish you a warm congratulations (!), everyone here the best during the stressful waiting period.
@DryMango, I read your post, and see where you might have a better fit at Notre Dame. Maybe Yale did feel competitive, perhaps the surrounding area did feel unsafe, etc.
But, Yale students being cut-throat and unhappy is so completely removed from any reality that I wonder if that’s honest reporting.
I guess that your decision is one that you won’t be second guessing, so that’s a plus.
@winterkomt Notre Dame has been my dream school for years. Personally, I love the superior academics AND great sports (I am a HUGE football fan). As a Catholic, the Catholic environment was also a big factor. I also felt I fit in more with the culture at Notre Dame. Both schools are fantastic though.
I may have been too harsh. That was my impression during Bulldog Saturday, but I understand that just as every student is different, every student will have a different experience 
For discussion, what do you all think of the fact that 47% of Yale’a students are on antidepressants? Just curious. @IxnayBob @cttwenty15 @zoebrittany
@DryMango , a reference?
I understand you chose Notre Dame over Yale and Princeton, but there’s no need to spread blatant falsehoods about other schools to justify your decision.
The closest article I could find was one from the Crimson http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/12/14/alarm-over-antidepressants-antidepressants-may-cause/, which states “about 7 percent of Harvard students are prescribed antidepressants”. Yale students are generally perceived to be slightly happier than Harvard students, so I doubt that number would be any higher, and definitely nowhere close to 47%.
@drymango: I don’t understand why you sound so angry and bitter about Yale if you are content with your decision to attend Notre Dame. I am certain your “facts” are wrong. And I am equally certain that it is wrong to denigrate people who bravely seek relief from paralyzing, and often fatal, depression. It isn’t generous or compassionate; two qualities I easily associate with my friends who do attend N.D.
A very wise parent on the Class of 2017 page posted this today, after a couple of insensitive posts by a couple of people.
- A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle.
- Celebrate their success without questioning your own.
- You never look good trying to make someone else look bad.
I will look for the article right now. I first heard the statistic when I was visiting Princeton. A group of students showed me an article about university prescribed anti depressant use at Yale (obviously in an attempt to denigrate the school). I have nothing against another student attending Yale, it just wasn’t the right fit for me Also, consider re-reading my comments after looking up the definitions of “angry and bitter” @zoebrittany
@CT1417 I love your kind words and positivity!
@DryMango, I appreciate your showing back up in this thread. That inclines me to think that you didn’t fabricate the 47% comment out of whole cloth, and shame on the kids who claimed it to you. I have searched, and haven’t found anything even close to that figure. I think it’s fair to say that if the number were actually 47%, it would be plastered all over the internet.
@IxnayBob I still haven’t found it, but I will continue searching for a real number. I also contacted the students who showed it to me. My intent was honestly to discuss a statistic that I perceived to be true.
@DryMango, I don’t doubt you. I doubt the statistic.
As regards discussing the statistic, I think that Yale students are overwhelmingly happy in comparison to most campuses. Tbh, I doubt that there’s a campus anywhere in the US where 47% of students are on antidepressants.
@DryMango the antidepressant statistic is definitely wrong. 40-50% of Yale undergrads visit mental health at some point during their years at the university. This number includes students who turn up only for the intake appointment, and many of these students don’t come back for ongoing treatment with therapists and psychiatrists. Of the students who do return for ongoing treatment, most of this is therapeutic (including without a diagnosable mental illness), with a minority of students being prescribed medications (of which antidepressants are not the only category). I think the number would be closer to 5-15% on psychiatric mediations.
Anecdotally, I was on medication, and none of my close friends were.
Also, most of the psychiatrists I’ve interacted with would not prescribe antidepressants (let along long term) to people experiencing situational issues, which would include academic pressure and adjusting to a culture they found unhealthy. Antidepressants are more often used to treat organic depression, especially when recurrent. I would be surprised if many Yale psychiatrists doled out prescriptions to people having trouble with Yale’s culture unless there were other causes for the depression as well. As such, looking at the antidepressant rate might not be the best way to assess any institution’s impact on student welfare.
@DryMango @panic2017 If you don’t mind me asking, did you both actually get into Yale? With Dry Mango I find your description of Yale about as off as can be… I visited Yale during Bulldog Days this Monday through Wednesday and was immediately drawn in by the inclusiveness of the fellow prefrosh as well as the students currently at Yale. While I was on campus at least 30 prefrosh said hello and introduced themselves to me and said where they were from without me even saying anything: something that did not even happen once at the schools I also visited such as Georgetown, ect. Furthermore, current students readily made themselves available to help answer any questions they had as they genuinely loved their school. As for Panic’s reason for “choosing Notre Dame over Yale” because it was his dream school and he is Catholic (As am I) I wonder if you knew ND was your dream school why even apply to Yale? If you get into Yale (which is nearly three times as selective) you are 95% likely to get into ND so why even bother? Why take the spot of someone who genuinely wants it when you do not… Also if ND is your dream school wouldn’t you have applied early and found out then? Why apply to Yale then? Overall I find the whole thing shady… Plus the fact I am wasting my time typing this is sad when I have better things to do 
Just wanted to bring these obvious things to light… I also find it strange you both are all over this page if you are “content” with your decision to attend ND. I don’t want to come across as aggressive whatsoever, I just find it to be a shame that you are making Yale out to be awful and shaming it on its blog with fake statistics when you should be focused on ND. Why care about Yale anymore if you are done deciding?
“something that did not even happen once at the schools I also visited such as Georgetown, etc”
I did notice that the prefrosh at Georgetown did not mingle much but I think it may have had more to do with 1) the structure of the GAAP days where the prefrosh do not get much chance to mingle with each other and 2) the kids that you met at Yale are much more likely to attend Yale than a typical GU prefrosh at a GAAP year (based on my conversations with parents). (My DD attended an accepted students here and the kids there were able to mingle better and seemed to get on very well).
@CollegeCraze72 1. Yes I did ACTUALLY get into Yale. 2. I am a she. 3. I applied to Yale because it had a better financial aid policy than Notre Dame. I knew it was much more likely for me to afford Yale than Notre Dame, but I was lucky enough to receive some additional aid in my Notre Dame financial aid package that made it possible to attend my dream school. If this did not happen, I probably would’ve ended up at Yale, a terrific school, but not my dream school. 4. I did apply to Notre Dame early, and then had to apply to Yale on Regular Decision as a result. However, Notre Dame’s financial aid does not come until the end of February, so I still did not know my financial situation. 5) I made sure to reject Yale as soon as I came to a decision so that way one of many deserving students on the wait list could have my spot. However, I was still waiting on some financial information on Notre Dame’s part until last week. 6) I am on this page for two reasons. First, because appfast asked (and many others probably wondered) if anyone was going to reject Yale. Second, because when I was college searching I found these pages tremendously helpful. If there is someone in the future trying to chose between Notre Dame and Yale, I want them to know my reasons so that they can either agree or disagree with them.
I know you’re not trying to be “aggressive”, but quite frankly it’s rude and mean to suggest that someone who earned a spot at Yale did not “actually get in”. You should never assume anything because you can’t ever possibly know the whole story.
It should be noted that, in my reading, @panic2017 was measured in his comments about Yale. The “fake news” was contributed by @DryMango , who is still searching for an explanation.
I think it’s human to confound the two ND fans here, but they are very different in their tone and content.
@CollegeCraze72 Thank You for asking. For reasons very similar to @panic2017 , I chose Notre dame over Yale. You can look at my stats and will see that I not only got into Yale, but was a cross admit for Princeton and Cornell. I applied to these schools for financial aid purposes and to keep my options open. I always imagined myself going to a school like Yale because of its name, but when I arrived on campus I just did not fit in at all.
Keep in mind that I visited during Bulldog Saturday, not Bulldog Days. Also keep in mind that, as I’ve said multiple times, every student has different experiences. If every student had the same experiences that many of you did, Yale would have a 100% yield. But it doesn’t. I chose Notre Dame because I knew it would provide an incredible 4 year experience with incredible academics, and I decided to pass on the prestigious names of the other schools I was considering even though they too offer incredible academics. I hope this answers your question
@IxnayBob lol. Yes the statistic is officially fake news. The students admitted that they were trying to get me not to attend Yale. There’s a reason I didn’t choose Princeton either 
@panic2017 Thanks for the response. I was not suggesting or assuming anything about you not getting into anywhere, I was merely asking a question. Like you said you can never know the full story on threads like this and I was merely asking the question to find out as much background as I could on your decision. Let’s be honest, a lot of people prank these threads and I never like to believe anything 100 percent for sure. I also applied to Yale (Somewhat on a whim) for financial aid and they gave me a package I could not refuse compared to others so I definitely know the way money talks when not wanting to go into debt for college @DryMango Thanks for the response and the cleared statistic haha. I have a friend who will be attending ND next year! Going to a Catholic High School and living in the Midwest I know how incredible of a school is. You guys will have a great 4 year experience without a doubt.