I’m at a loss since I really love Yale but I think I might be idealizing it. I have visited Yale and spoken to admissions officers and everything I read online makes me love it more.
Are there any cons to going to Yale?
The last few weeks of summer in the dorms can be pretty sweaty. DS thinks that some percentage of students, maybe 10%, are more competitive than he would prefer.
Overall, he is very happy. Good luck.
The difficulty of gaining admission…
In order of importance, @intparent probably nailed it best. But other cons would/could include -
If you can afford to be full-pay, Yale might end up costing considerably more than other options as students likely to be admitted would also be highly competitive for full-ride / merit elsewhere.
Stanford is lovely, especially in the winter compared to New England.
Depending on your intended major, Yale might not be as strong as other options, but could be worlds better in others.
Much depends on what you are looking for in a college/university.
If you are looking for a small school in a rural setting, New Haven is not it.
If you are looking for a women’s only environment, don’t bother with Yale.
If you are looking for a Christian school, or if diversity makes you uncomfortable, then Yale might not be for you.
If you liked being smarter than most of your classmates (big fish, small pond) then don’t bother with Yale.
How important is location/distance from home to you?
Thank you guys. In general, I’m just worried because I like Yale way above the other schools on my list and I know how difficult it is to get in. I just want to make sure I’m not getting the wrong impression of Yale.
@Katspearl, I don’t think you’re getting the wrong impression of Yale; it has a lot to commend it. That is also why it’s so difficult to be accepted; there are simply more qualified people who want to attend than there are empty seats.
Apply if you wish, but do so with eyes wide open. I wish you luck, but also advise you to have alternatives that you would be happy to attend.
“Depending on your intended major, Yale might not be as strong as other options, but could be worlds better in others.”
@3puppies Which majors at Yale do you think are not as strong as others?
If you are dead set on engineering, MIT is certainly a superior choice.
@katspearl, I’m a Freshman and am so happy at Yale. The residential college system has made my adjustment quite easy and my classmates are smart, kind, and collaborative. My classes across the board are great, including one outside my expertise that is fantastically challenging. I am grateful to be here, the college application process is stressful and wildly unpredictable, and I did make sure to apply to a mix of reach and match universities. Good luck 
@cttwenty15 If you do not mind, how many classes are you taking now? Did you try out many during shopping period?
I am in 5 classes, including a lab (4.5 course credits). I was a relatively light shopper, and owe a debt of gratitude to some very helpful upperclassmen during orientation week for their insights. My schedule and workload are quite manageable, and I anticipate taking 4.5 credits in the spring (I am tentatively a STEM major, lots of lab requirements).
Every time I see this thread I get an idea for a new sitcom with 4 Ivy grads who end up sharing a federal prison cell.
@love2cheeses - regarding the intended majors, I intentionally left my comment vague as the OP was provided no clue about his/her intended major. @hzhao2004 points out one generally recognized better alternative to Yale in post #7, but I somehow don’t think engineering students at Yale are really hurting in any way. But there could be many others depending on how specialized a major you are looking for - for example, wouldn’t you agree that if a student wants to major in tropical studies, then maybe University of Hawaii might be worth looking at, and could be preferable to Yale for some students? If a student wants to major in military science, can they even do that at Yale?
Please understand, this is not intended to be a knock on Yale. Every school can’t be everything for everybody.
I don’t think you need to focus on finding cons for Yale. The most common one we heard was that New Haven isn’t great. Honestly when my son talked pros and cons, Yale was all pros. For him. It was his top choice. For other students it will be different. But, if you really love it, it’s fine for it to be your top choice. Apply and see what happens. At the same time, focus on finding the pros of other schools! The most important thing is to have a balanced list so you ideally have some choices in April. If Yale is an option, awesome! If not, you should have other schools where you found many pros and would be happy to attend. As you know, Yale is really reachy so you certainly can’t count on it, but you can love it. Fwiw my son applied to 14 schools and is now a happy freshman at Yale. Good luck!
My son loves Yale, we love that our son is happy. Yale is a perfect fit for him.
The only ‘con’ that I experience is that New Haven requires a flight, then a train, then a bus for us to get there.
From St. Louis, it takes about seven hours. 18 hours if we drive.
Thank you guys again!
My intended major is Ecology & Evolutionary Bio.
This place feels like a prison to me- I am an ABET Chemical engineering major. The only classes I’ve taken are either for my major or for my distributional requirements. Sometimes they tell you that you can only choose 3 things in college- Grades, Sleep, or Social life. I chose grades and sleep, while my gf has become my social life. With that choice, I still don’t have the best grades or enough sleep. I sleep on average 4-6 hours a night and have a 3.5gpa. I wish I were a humanities major so that I could have no friday classes and an overall better gpa. They tell you that there’s grade inflation at Yale- don’t believe them. You are still fighting for your grade relative to others. If you score below the average on a midterm for a class, you are going to get a B, even if the average was a 87/100. Also, it is extremely hard to break into the A/A- range after you have fallen behind from your peers in terms of exam grades. You think its easy to get above the average? Think about who is sitting next to you (someone who is equally or more than likely smarter than you). The only inflation here is that you will find it very difficult to score lower than a C. This is true in the humanities courses, but in the engineering courses, you can score lower than a C. I am fighting my incredible smart peers on every assignment because I know thats how you get the grade.
I am not smart. Honestly, I am only average or mediocre in my classes when compared to everyone else. I have just dedicated myself to my studies. This is the struggle of being an average student at Yale.
In terms of extracurriculars, they will drain your time/energy/grades, especially when you have to work to financially provide for yourself. I used to work 15 hours a week at my student job, but now I’ve had to cut it down to the minimum 6 hours a week in order to have more time for my work. In exchange, I’ve had to cut back on expenses and budget even more. I am also the treasurer of a student organization here, so that eats my time.
Socially, I’ve invested my time into my long term gf and a very small group of friends. Let me tell you that my idea of a friends gathering is doing psets together. I have 4 psets a week. That means on average I need to complete one a night because this does not include reading/study material. I used to be on the party scene here and still love an occasional binge, but then my courses got in the way because degree > good time.
The architecture is sure nice, but it grows on you and you become accustomed to it all, never really noticing the important/beautiful aspects. The food is nice around town I guess (I’ve been to almost every place around here). I’m a foodie, but pizza gets old and boring. Yale dining became bland after my first semester here; I exclusively eat cereal in the dining halls.
Because of the New Haven city, whenever a female friend is walking back to her room from a far distance alone at night, I make sure to walk with her because residents here will make you feel uncomfortable/cat call you (no, I am not trying to have sex with her- I have a gf). Yes, the city is incorporated into the campus, but you will find out that anywhere you go, you will have an urban city environment incorporated into your life- so why would you need that interconnectedness right now? Why not just get inside a college bubble; after all, you’re paying for this?
Come here as a stepping stone for med school if:
You are black or hispanic
Crazy smart for 3.8gpa+ vs everyone else
Go to a state school if you’re asian where you can guarantee a 4.0 gpa.
Also the weather sucks. I would’ve gone to Stanford instead, but I don’t regret coming to Yale because I got to meet my wonderful gf.
Last thing: the political environment here is awful. Very extreme radical leftism from small groups on campus.
You will hear these common phrases:
“Fight the patriarchy.
Check your privilege.
You are a bigot
If you don’t side with us, you’re a racist.
I feel uncomfortable (about everything).”
Shopping period… hahaha… haha. It’s honestly a con if you think it’s great. Yes, it’s useful when you’re trying to decide between 5/6 courses but not useful when you don’t know what you’re majoring in and are trying to decide between 10 courses.
Sometimes I wished I had gone to a state school, gotten a 4.0 gpa, go to med school, and partied every weekend and had the best 4 years of my life, but then I remember that these 4 years DON’T need to be the best 4 years of my life. In the end, they are a stepping stone for me in the future. So I ask you to remember that college is a stepping stone into your great/wonderful/revolutionary future and not the end of your education/satisfaction.
@Applegrit Thanks for sharing. Really appreciate your honest opinion about Yale.
I wonder how much of applegrit’s situation would be repeated at other schools. While his opinion, I personally veer with his assertion “go into the college bubble – you’re paying for it”
Most Yalies have already lived or will move to lives very far away from the common man. To purposefully distance oneself by ensconcing in an ivory tower is one of the reasons I rejected other schools and CHOSE Yale.
How different is Engineering from Humanities in terms of “happiness?” I know that DS will sometimes mention how much tougher CS is than Humanities majors. He has a bit of Schadenfreude in his voice when he describes how surprised many non-CS students are with the difficulty of CS50 (the imported Harvard intro course), at the same time wishing that those students took a different CS Intro to get a better sense of what CS really is (i.e., it’s not about learning to code).
Applegrit, thank you for your honest and heartfelt post. Things might look a bit better when midterms are over.