<p>Theta: People are happy, but there is a difference between sometime happiness and outright love affairs/worship/adoration.</p>
<p>Maybe...there's only so much love one place can take...
but with Harvard, because everyone else loves it so much...the student's love for it has to be somewhat subdued...at least in comparison =)</p>
<p>I don't know, bro...</p>
<p>Last time I used that argument I got dumped.</p>
<p>Theta: I believe that there are reasons for people to choose harvard over Yale or vise versa. If you already picked your school then go for it. You should be fine. Not all harvard students are unhappy or snoppy. I personally know a few of kids there, and they are doing fine.
I went to bulldog days with my daughter. I just want to use one word to describe the yalies: PASSION. I am supprised to find that the passion is not short either in newly admitted students. There are still constant message exchanges, persuasive letters. encouragement and support up to this moment among this big group of newly admitted students. As a result, all the students admitted from our area will matriculate this fall at yale. The group even helped several kids to finally make up their minds to go for Yale. It is amazing that these kids just met a couple of weeks ago. No body ever asked them to do this. Love of Yale bonds them together. The energy, passion, enthusiasm and mutual trust are just incrediable. So I know My d and her new friends have their reasons to choose and love yale.
Theta, I am sure you have your reason to choose Harvad, and I hope you will enjoy you harvard experience as well.</p>
<p>
<p>Yale has easily the #1 undergraduate academic program in the country, one of the best social scenes and most vibrant campuses of any university in the world, one of the best college towns (certainly the best in the Ivy League), and a one-of-a-kind residential college system that many other universities have been trying to copy for decades, to no avail.
I LOL'd so hard when I read that because it's such a biased and foolish overexaggeration. Yale is, in my opinion, easily one of the top 5 universities in the world but there is no way it's even close to having "one of the best social scenes" or being "one of the best college towns". Almost every state school has a better social scene and is located in a better college town than Yale. You might be right about the residential college system because it sounds like a great living/learning environment but I feel like it's importance is greatly overemphasized on this board.</p>
<p>No one can know with any certainty whether Yale students are happier than Harvard students or vice versa. Both attract equally intelligent and talented students so there's no reason to suspect there's even a minor disparity in the matter. The happiness of a certain individual would probably come down to his/her own personal experiences and environment anyway. I, for one, would definitely prefer to live near Boston(one of the greatest and vibrant cities in the world) than in ghetto New Haven.</p>
<p>Ok EAD's comment is so full of inaccurate statements that I need to respond.</p>
<p>I'm a student at Y, but most of my HS friends go to our large state school. To be honest, I think our social scene (with size taken into account, of course...50k vs. 6k is a big difference) is almost as good! Probably better, if your definition of social scene goes past "wild frat parties." </p>
<p>New Haven is also unfairly bashed by non-residents. It actually has a lower crime rate than Cambridge, and just because <em>gasp</em> we have non-college students/professors living near campus does not make it a ghetto. It actually just makes Yale a little bit less of an ivory tower, because we actually have to recognize that not everyone is privileged and brilliant. New Haven isn't that dangerous, for the most part, if you're not stupid. It's actually been becoming livelier and more interesting than it was in the 1980s, not to mention a lot safer. Schools near big cities also tend to have poorer on-campus lives since students are distracted by the bustling city. New Haven's businesses tend to revolve around students (from Y, UNewHaven and SCSU), which is why it is a college town, in a way.
(Also, Boston is a very nice city. It is not one of the world's greatest/most vibrant!)</p>
<p>A friend of mine from MIT visited and commented that Yale students are much happier than kids at Harvard...the enthusiasm of Yalies actually surprised him, since he assumed they'd be much like Harvard students. Also check out the Pton Review's annual rankings of student happiness...Yale (and Pton, Stanford, and Brown) are pretty much always on it, while Harvard has yet to make an appearance. Coincidence?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Princeton Review rankings are whack. Who really takes them seriously?</p></li>
<li><p>The definition of a social scene varies from person to person but for the vast majority of college students, it would entail a combination of awesome tailgates/large Greek scene/attractive student body/lots of time to party. Yale is an extremely hard school and doesn't have big-time athletics, a huge Greek scene or particuarly good-looking people.</p></li>
<li><p>Harvard is located near Boston while Yale is not located close to any major American city. Don't tell me that "Yale students can just take the train to Boston" since that's not really realistic since I'm sure Yalies are quite busy. New Haven is pretty dangerous, at least relative to most places in the country.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>None of my statements are "inaccurate". There's no way for you to prove that Yale students are happier than Harvard students since that's something that's extremely subjective. A strong Greek community or big-name athletic programs need to exist in a school in order for it to have a cohesive social scene that includes the vast majority of the student body, something that Yale lacks. At the end of the day though, Yale is arguably the best or one of the best universities in the world so most people would be crazy to pick another school over it for the factors I mentioned because of the giant disparity in the quality of undergraduate instruction and available resources for students.</p>
<p>Who says you need a huge Greek scene to have parties and events that are fun, crazy, chill or outrageous in any combination thereof? Greek parties are easily the lamest option out there, at least in my experience. Yale is very social - and Greek-provided alcohol doesn't even begin to cover all the ways in which you can be social and enjoy yourself.</p>
<p>New Haven is not "pretty dangerous, at least relative to most places in the country". It's an urban area with a mostly "minority" population hovering around the poverty line -- a fact that does not equate to it being an instanteous death sentence for anyone that dare go beyond the safe confines of campus. Which you don't have to, and most Yalies don't. The bars and restaurants of downtown New Haven are great, and I've never had any safety issues enjoying them at any time of day I want to. It's not a suburban refuge. It's not the SAFEST place to hang around, but that being said, it's definitely not a particularly big issue if you use common sense, either.</p>
<p>If it wasn't for New Haven being a real place with real people not connected to Yale, I sometimes wonder if I would've enjoyed my Yale experience as much -- it's nice to get out of the bubble sometimes. Who knows, maybe I would have liked Boston better, but New Haven is not by any stretch something that makes me any less in love with Yale over other options.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Don't tell me that "Yale students can just take the train to Boston" since that's not really realistic since I'm sure Yalies are quite busy.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>But they can easily take the commuter train to NYC, something my D and her friends do a few times a year. Frankly, though, there's so much going on on the Yale campus that it's usually a matter for her of bemoaning what she has to miss each week.</p>
<p>Pacificbreeze, congratualtions to your D's choice.
However, I have to say that it is this passion about convincing perspective students to matriculate that somewhat makes me concerned. I really think the students should be left alone to make this important decisions. I discourage S to go on those boards to avoid his own opinion being heavily influenced by others. I actually know a kid last year who was given an extention on the reply deadline as the local alumni was so anxious to make sure that the yield in our area met the targeted number. This is really alarming.</p>
<p>But don't you think that current students' passion for convincing kids to come says something about who we are as a school?</p>
<p>Pacificbreeze talked about passions among newly admitted students. I wonder where that comes from if it is not from the persistent and intensive persuasion from the current students.</p>
<p>^^Why is it necessary to denigrate the school your child did not choose? My son had a terrible time choosing between H & Y. Liked them both very much, and found many more similarities than differences. One of the factors that ultimately led him to choose Yale was the spirit of enthusiasm among the students. He did not view it as "alarming" or "persistent and intensive persuasion."</p>
<p>wjb, that's exactly my point. Kids are different. Your kid did not feel concerned, my kid did although this was not the only reason he did not choose Y. Location and intended area of concentration among others were the determining factors. </p>
<p>I'm simply here to share my perspectives. This board is not only visited by admitted students and their parents. There are many perspective students here trying to get information. I wasn't trying to denigrate the school that my kid did not choose. However, i If you read the title of this post, you know who is doing that. I do not often see threads like this on other boards.</p>
<p>No, there are no admission officers or current students behind the scene. At least in my daughter's case. She fell in love with Yale when we visited there almost two years ago. She then did thorough research on her own comparing all the peer schools and only found that she loves more about yale. She is a people-person and finds perfect fit in Yale. The passion I saw in her is not influenced by other people considering that she knew no body there before she is admitted and she is the first one to be admitted to Yale in her school's histroy. Interestingly she already found a bunch of newly admitted student who went through the similar identification process, that is why and how they started passing around their enthusiam, which naturally infected people around them. </p>
<p>Well, my point is that somehow Yale's culture attacts kids who apprently enjoys a healthy and supportive scocial life. While you basically can get the top education in all the top schools, the school culture and social life then become very important. "fit" is probablly the most important thing to consider when you choose a school. (I always have trouble to reason why kids choose a school based heavily on location when there are no safety concerns. It is the school and its people make the major college experience!). I know that not everyone will fall in love with Yale, which is perfectly normal. But anyone who identifies him/her at yale is going to have a great time. My daughter now can't wait to go to Yale, it is wonderful to see how much she loves it.</p>
<p>pacificbreeze, very well said. My D will be a Yale 2012 as well. Her process of "falling in love" with Yale is similar to your D. She has visited three times in 18 months, but prior to her junior year, she knew virtually nothing about Yale. </p>
<p>She says everyone she's met with a Yale association: employee, alum, current student and admitted student, has been unfailingly humble, kind and generous. This can't possibly describe ALL Yale people, but it seems to fit a surprising number! </p>
<p>She is pretty naive about "prestige" and social position, so this wasn't a factor. We live far from New England, she doesn't know anyone who goes to a private school, and her classmates will stick pretty close to home for college. She's attracted to the obvious things: unparalleled academic opportunities, the residence college system, and a very hard-to-pin down feeling about the people at Yale. "They're all just so NICE," is something I've heard many times. </p>
<p>Any concerns about New Haven simply had no room in her decision. Nor did hours and hours of travel from home and friends. pacific, maybe our daughters have already met on line. The admitted student website is a wonder, and a true gift to the prefrosh community.</p>
<p>OK, I'm already a diehard Yale fan, and I haven't had the high school graduation party yet. Sorry to gush.</p>
<p>I believe there are kids who chose Harvard after thoughtful studies. They found fit there and they believed they love and can thrive there. I respect them and sincerely wish them a great time there. However, Ive also heard things like Harvard is Harvard, which, to me, is like what do you want me to say? I am at Harvard! . That kind of superior sentiment really puts me off. You do not hear Yalies saying thinks like that. Kids should feel lucky that they have opportunities to go to the top schools to get top educations. There are so many individuals who are equally talented and qualified but just did not even apply to top schools due to various reasons and family issues. I often think that the Yales friendliness and down-to-earth attitude come from Yalies hearts, how can one fake it?</p>
<p>There are also kids who can not decide which school to go simply because they can not find a single big reason to tip their balance, and they have to rely on coin-toss. I fully understand them. </p>
<p>However, lately I often heard kids saying things like: I really want to go to Yale, but my parents want me to go to Harvard My heart is at Yale, but I asked my parents to let me go to Yale for college; and told them Ill go to Harvard for graduate school There is one extreme case: a father told her daughter that he would not pay unless she chose Harvard. I wonder what these parents are doing, or if it is them to want that tiny-teeny bit of old prestige. I just want to tell these parents that besides education, in todays world, healthy emotion, supportive peer groups and sincere associations with all kinds of people are the factors that will take the kids to a far more productive and enjoyable life in the future. Please let them choose.</p>
<p>pacificbreeze,</p>
<p>I think you should just enjoy your childs years at Yale and not worry about what other people are doing. My son did choose Harvard, but after lots of consideration. He has many friends who chose other schools other than Harvard or Yale (even when they were admitted) because they felt a better fit elsewhere. No one that I know is saying anything to them as to why they chose those schools over Harvard and Yale. </p>
<p>Let it go and stop trying to make a point. Everyone is different.</p>
<p>Pacificbreeze, I'm glad your daughter found her fit and passion at Yale. Good for her. I have no doubt most kids will be happy at the school of their own choice. Last year, my friends were unhappy about the way their kid was persuaded to matriculate. When I saw your post about persuasion letters and support groups, I couldn't help make a comment. </p>
<p>When I talked about the location, I did not refer to safety cioncerns, but rather a city vs college town feel. In terms of prestige, I really feel H and Y are pretty on par with each other. I do believe the choice between these two great institutions have more to do with the location and specific field of concentration.</p>
<p>As a mom of a very happy Yalie, I would be the first to say that no school is perfect. Having visited H & P for admitted students days last year, my daughter had this sense that Yalies were intense, but didn't take themselves too seriously. That impression has been borne out this year. </p>
<p>For some, the almost manic atmosphere of Yale might not be right. There are always a hundred things going at once and it can be hard to balance all of the activities and competing interests. If you think Bulldog Days were intense - wait til you arrive as a Freshman. My daughter was signed up for so many activities and I just had to bite my tongue and wait for her to figure out that she couldn't possibly participate in all of them. For my D it has been terrific year, but I think she would have been happy at any of her top choices.</p>