<p>That said, what sort of kids end up at Yale. I really hope they are not the snooty type--my experiences are obviously very narrow but the kids from my area who are dying to go Yale and/or get in are usually well...never mind.
I really hope this stereotype is absolutely false.</p>
<p>Students who go there always claim that the atmosphere is a very friendly, uncompetitive one. Snootiness comes through in college applications, and I’m sure a lot is done to avoid admitting such students.</p>
<p>I will be matriculating in the fall and during my visits to Yale, I saw very little snootiness if any at all. Everyone was extremely friendly and the atmosphere has very little competitiveness. I think everyone there realizes they are all great in academics so there is little drive to “beat” another person. As one student told me… if your competing with anyone academically, it’s yourself and you need to drive yourself to do well for personal reasons, rather than to do better than someone else. In every way this is more personally satisfying. </p>
<p>So that’s why I choose Yale!</p>
<p>What about the professors? Affably liberal or caustically conservative?</p>
<p>Caustically liberal.</p>
<p>^LOL.</p>
<p>In any case, why attempt to characterize an entire school’s student/faculty population into some generic label?</p>
<p>
Exactly. Yale has a mix of all kinds of people, really, which is part of its appeal. Yale has its fair share of snooty students, but they’re only a fraction of the student body.</p>
<p>You are actually right, srrinath and IBclass06.
It’s just the atmosphere you can feel.
For example. Columbia v. Penn,
Penn students actually stop and help
Columbia students don’t as frequently.</p>
<p>Why did you say that Yale is the most selective school? Are there new numbers out? (Last I heard, Yale had a 7.5% accept rate and Harvard had a 7%.)</p>
<p>/\Yalemom- I think you’re right on the final numbers (and the difference of fractions of a percentage doesn’t mean much). I think OP was comparing Yale’s regular decision results (5.something%) to Harvards’s regular decision (Harvard has no early decision/action). For SEAC yale was at 13. something%, which, when averaged with its RD results, comes to the 7.5% you cite, which indeed would be appropriately compared to the Harvard total (i.e. RD) results.</p>
<p>When you’re dealing with a number as large as ~23000, 0.5% does make quite a difference.</p>
<p>//\ You’re right that it makes a difference in number of students given the large base. However, I don’t think the difference between 7% and 7.5% in admissions means a great deal in terms of likelihood of admission of a prospective applicant to both institutions.</p>
<p>I visited Yale spring of my sophomore year (I’m going to be a senior) and I have to agree with Mythbuster; even though I wasn’t an admitted student I was there during Bull Dog Days so I kind of got the gist.
Basically, there are a few kids around who snootiness does unarguably emanate from…the few remaining old school boys essentially, but on the whole Yale has an extremely diverse and welcoming student body that isn’t in any way reminiscent of the school’s “good ol’” days.</p>
<p>Yale IS NOT the most selective school in the country.</p>
<p>However, the student body will be similar to the student bodies at schools like Harvard, Stanford etc. There will definitely be a contingent of snooty kinds (mostly legacies); however, given the work that Yale has done in publicizing its strong financial aid program, the majority of kids who go to Yale will be humble and grateful for the opportunity to study at such a wonderful university. All but one Yalie I’ve met have been personable, humble, and inspiring.</p>
<p>Also Emma Watson, there is a difference between those who want to go to Yale but can’t get in and those who are actually accepted and will be going to Yale.</p>
<p>I think the snooty kids will be some from private prep schools, not the legacies. But even most of the prep school kids will not be snooty. Snootiness is not really a part of Yale culture; saying that Harvard is snooty is.</p>
<p>That’s because Harvard is Harvard. What can you do.</p>
<p>kd5qdf—well put, you have to pay attention to the kids who actually attend a school, not just the kids who want to go there. There are A LOT of prep school kids with trust funds who think they’re bound for Yale, and you’re destined to run into a few on a prospective student tour, but Yale is over being a breeding ground for those types of people so you won’t find as many of them at the actual school.</p>
<p>^I’m sorry you’re experience was that bad. I wonder if people weren’t as friendly because you were with a parent? Students seem to be at ease with talking to random pre-frosh but that wasn’t always the case for those who were with parents at BDD.</p>
<p>I understand the car situation though. New Haven is a fairly bad place to have a car. You’re paying somewhere between 700-1000 to use the Yale parking garage each year and will have to constantly use quarters and search for parking when you go someplace. If you’re lower class or even middle class its pretty doubtful that you’ll bring a car. If you’re upper class and unsurprisingly have a nice car, you may pay the money it will cost to have a car on campus.</p>
<p>I did not get that vibe at all. Literally, whenever I pulled out a map, someone was there to direct me. I gave up asking because I knew within seconds someone would help. I had random conversations with random Yalies, one at the caf that gave me advice on the other schools I considered, one I met walking that talked about the Yale experience, showed me his res college introduced me to friends, another who talked about studying abroad, etc. I’ve never been on a friendlier campus.</p>
<p>harvard: if you’re going to look at the cars in the student parking lot, you’ll get a skewed perspective. Like dreaming out loud said, by virtue of the general expense of a car on campus, it only makes sense that those w/lots of spare cash will have them there. I’m sure if you were to poll the entire population that owned cars, they’d run the whole gamut. But 80% of them are in their parent’s garages, not in New Haven.</p>
<p>Sure wealth was there (heck, about 50% of the student population doesn’t even get FA). But it was very egalitarian feeling. To be snooty or show vulgar wealth was definitely frowned upon. And I’m from a definitively blue-collar, immigrant family.</p>
<p>H: only a very small percentage of students kept a car on campus. No freshman are allowed this privilege either. I believe you’re in Jersey? Trains for East coast folks. I and a lot of my friends hailed from the midwest. Only one of them had a car on campus. Another girl in our circle of friends had a car too. It’s definitely a rarity.</p>