<ol>
<li>How competitive are the students? Are they willing to help each other out?</li>
</ol>
<p>Normally yes. Goldoro will probably give you more input on this, but my friends and I certainly had a lot of fun studying together this year. Late night organic chem study parties before exams, late night history review sessions before finals... heehee, those are the times you <em>really</em> get to know your classmates :p maybe I just ended up in a dorm with unusually un-competitive people, but we definitely did a lot of communal studying when it came to exam time, and I think we all benefited from that.</p>
<p>Edit: I should add that in my history classes this last year, the profs gave out sample essay questions in advance of the final, and both semesters, the people in my section were all really helpful in sharing ideas about the questions. First semester, we even had this system going where each person outlined one question, sent it out to everyone else who had decided to participate, and then let everyone else debate what was good and/or bad about their answer. Lots of fun, and a great way to study :-P</p>
<p>im only gonna be a freshman, but the YDN freshman survival issue had an article which said that being gay at yale is totally fine and kind of common and that there is no pressure to be a token for the whole community..bc theres so many gay ppl</p>
<p>vitali:
1) i totally agree with athena. some of my most favorite moments have been bonding with my friends in classes over crazy profs/strange books/other students in class...thats where we got some of our best in-jokes. i mean, not everyone is an angel, but youll make your friends and other people will make theirs. large group study sessions are common, especially with people in your residential college, and often we would even read over each others papers or talk through tough concepts and the like. really, dont worry about cutthroat competition.
2) again, depends on the class. there are plenty of guts--rocks for jocks, biologiy of sex and gender, etc. also, if youre good at a subject, itll be easy for you, right? i have to say, though, that the academics are one of the highlights of yale--you really come away feeling like youre <em>learning</em> something, rather than just regurgitating facts. many professors, at least ones ive had (even ones in the sciences, in fact, especially ones in biology), dont rely solely on tests, but go more for papers and creative projects. now, theres plenty of rote memorization, mind you, but its not as pervasive as it might be, easily.
3) see my response above. im in jonathan edwards. morse and stiles are universally agreed upon as being the two worst colleges (bad architecture and no suites).
4) 1480 (combined over two tests). like i said above, if i had to offer concrete advice, i would say focus on the essay. make sure its polished, but dont overthink it too much. make it seem as natural and "you" as possible. aside from that, i cant really comment on admissions, as i dont know too much about it.</p>
<p>hope: thats totally up to you. its just one of many factors that theyre going to look at on your app--i mean, i would say if youre applying under the psych major, take psych...but dont agonize over the decision, please, its not worth it.</p>
<p>richard: the gay scene is great. i myself am gay and have dated, and theres absolutely <em>no</em> stigma whatsoever. with dating overall though, most people are very busy (me included) and dating isnt usually a top priority. but it certainly exists and there are many gay guys at yale.</p>
<p>I know that Yale looks for people with diverse backgrounds, right? Well, now that we're on this subject; I grew up with lesbian mothers. Will admissions even take a closer look at that? should i try to get it into an essay?</p>
<p>Thanks for taking your time to answer our questions Goldoro99. My questions are:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What do you think was the major factor that helped you get into Yale.</p></li>
<li><p>How accessible are the professors? I know that the student to teacher ratio is relatively small. However, is it hard to reach them outside of class to get recommedations, to talk over projects, etc?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>annandale1: no, i didnt mention i was gay on my app. i dont know if it would hurt or help. yale is a really liberal place but i dont know how they feel about using gayness as a sort of under-represented minority status. i feel like if you can write a good essay about it, go ahead. but dont just send a little memo that says "im gay" with your application. thats just a little too obviously fishing for an "in", if you know what i mean.</p>
<p>skullandbones: thats an interesting essay topic, if nothing else. like i said above, dont just mention it in passing. if it is something really compelling that you write a good essay about, thats where to do it.</p>
<p>park: ive only heard the whiffs sing once. they were okay, nothing too special (really whitebread, if you get me). the best acapella group is shades, they do old school r&b and soul music. its fantastic! and about handsome dan, yea he died but they found a new one. his name is mugsy and hes just as inbred as the other handsome dans (but still really cute).</p>
<p>20/20: 1) i mentioned this earlier in this thread, but i think the essay is really important. of course im not an admissions officer so i cant make a definitive judgement, but it was my favorite part of my application and if i had to guess, it was the major factor in my acceptance.
2) many professors are pretty accessible over email. some are cold and aloof, and of course that kind exists at every college, but most are very receptive to communcations from students. one of the main reasons i chose the biology major is because the adviser is such an enthusiastic, warm and open person. i feel like i can talk with her as a friend and colleague, not just a student.</p>
<p>bananas: i dont know, why dont you tell me! i havent heard anything about it. google it and let me know.</p>
<p>Hey goldoro,
I was just wondering how hard/easy is it to change majors? I heard a lot of people change majors. Does changing majors change all or many of your classes?</p>
<p>hope: it depends how far along you are and what you are changing to/from. i changed from enviro sci to biology in my second year and it wasnt too hard a transition because many of the prereqs overlap. but i assume if youre in third year english and you decide you want to do mechanical engineering, it might be a bit of an uphill struggle, to say the least. its a good idea to have an idea of your general field, which im sure many of you do already, and then you can hone your actual choice of major over your first two years. and yes a lot of people change majors. its not uncommon and the administration is not against it at all.</p>
<p>dknicks: i am going to be blunt with you: new haven sucks. some people really like it but it is certainly not a city i see myself planting roots in. maybe its just a california/east coast thing with me, i dont know. however, you have to keep in mind that when youre at yale, youre living <em>at yale</em>, not in new haven by any stretch of the imagination. there are clubs and bars and restaurants and the like all around the yale area, but they are more part of the overall yale milieu than the city of new haven, per se. in this sense "new haven" is wonderful, and yale is not in a bad part of the town at all. there are some really gorgeous parks and hiking areas around yale, as well as beaches within a half-hours drive and a supermarket just a few blocks from central campus. so my advice would be that you shouldnt really consider new haven too much when making your yale decision, because youll really spend almost all of your time at yale, not in new haven. this summer i lived out in new haven proper so i feel i can comment on the city itself, which i am not a fan of. but its <em>not</em> yale, sorry to belabour a point. yale is a self-contained masterpiece all by itself. some people think this gives yale more campus cohesion than harvard, for example, because on the weekends people dont disperse all over the place and disappear. everything is happening on campus all the time. and besides, new york is only an hour and a half away, and the trains are always on time ;)</p>
<p>antimatter: well, i had this really creepy friend named maria who stalked me and left nasty melty-snow water in my shoe all the time. but i guess if i had to choose, id pick her.</p>
<p>gorbachev_sez: they have kitchens that you can get a key for and use. they dont have kitchenettes in the suites, except for swing space, which is the place students live when their college is getting remodeled and renovated. swing spcae isnt everyones cup of tea but it has nice amenenties, like the kitchenettes and air conditioning. its not very classic "yale", though, and its pretty far from central campus.</p>
<p>Awww Mickey... right answer!
If you don't mind, since I'm also bored, I can answer some questions. I'm Maria, a junior in JE, chemistry major (although I want to switch most of the time), play IM soccer, write for Yale SciMag and Journal of Human Rights, also in the Liberal Party of the Yale Political Union (no comments, Mike). And I'm an international student, but live in San Francisco now. Also bored, so ask away.</p>
<p>antimatter ~ what can you tell me about your experiences with the chem major? (and why do you want to switch most of the time?) i'm actually already a yale undergrad (I'll be a sophomore this fall ... wait, so why still on CC?), but I'm <em>tentatively</em> declared as a chem major and haven't had much of a chance to talk to current chem majors, so I'm just curious.</p>
<p>... and I suppose I'm also up for questions? Academically I'm into science, but I'm also pretty involved with undergraduate dance & music (orchestras) groups if anyone's interested in those areas :p</p>