<p>I am currently in the process of deciding between Yale, Swarthmore, and Reed. What worries me about Yale is that it seems the individual can get very easily lost in the crowd. Is it easy to find your voice and your niche even at a larger school? Furthermore, I'm a little concerned about the pretentiousness, and namebrandness, of Yale in particular; I also am not excited about the immensity of the seemingly inflexible tradition, like the residential college system. And is the academic evironment more or less intense, more or less competitive, at a smaller, but well-reputed school like Swarthmore? Opinions? Experiences?</p>
<p>i'm also wondering the same thing (trying to decide between swarthmore and yale). so any insight will be much appreciated! =)</p>
<p>Have you visited both schools for their official admitted student days?</p>
<p>Well, I don't know a lot about the other schools you mentioned, but Yale certainly isn't an enormous school. Part of the reason I chose it was because it is rather small. It's not hard to find your niche--especially with the residential college system which pairs you with about 400 other students that you get to know very well.</p>
<p>yea, I hear that the residential college system is quite good at that.</p>
<p>I agree about the residential college system :-D It definitely creates you a "family away from home," or at least a real sense of a smaller community within the larger university so that you don't feel, as macrospect put it, "lost in the crowd." If you figure that each college has a class of maybe 100 to 120 incoming freshmen each year, the residential part of the university is more on the scale of some of the smaller private schools... actually, I think this is one of the chief reasons I love being a Yalie: I get access to all the courses and research facilities of a "larger" university (but really, it doesn't even compare in size to UC Berkeley or the like...), but I still have a sense of a small community to which I belong. Yup. It's great :-P</p>
<p>I don't know that the words "Yale" and "pretentiousness" can go in the same sentence. Honestly, I have yet to meet a pretentious Yalie. And the environment at Yale is relatively cozy, in my opinion - I think it would be a little too cozy at Swarthmore and Reed. One of the reasons I chose Yale was that it combined the intimacy of Swarthmore/Williams/Amherst with even more amazing resources and medium size (slightly more people is a good thing, in my opinion, although I live near Ohio State, so Yale seems tiny to me in a very good way ;)).</p>
<p>I chose Yale over Swarthmore many years ago, and have always been glad: The residential college system--one of the very best things about Yale, to my mind--made me feel I belonged right away, but I also had access to a wider academic and social world. And, as a public school kid who wasn't rich or connected, I found most Yalies remarkably *un*pretentious; looking back, I guess there were some snobs on the premises, but I honestly didn't have much to do with them. My daughter is a freshman there now, and she too is finding a wide range of students and activities, without feeling lost in a crowd.</p>
<p>For me it was actually easier to find my niche in a school that offered so many different possibilities. But Yale and Swarthmore are both so terrific that you can't go wrong if you simply pick the one that has the stronger appeal for you.</p>
<p>My older son was very interested in Swarthmore until he visited. His observation, that day anyway: noone SMILED. And, noone, including his tour guide, made eye contact. Another son goes to Yale. He remembered to watch for smiles and eye contact at all school visits. Yale must have passed that test with him. What was your gut reaction about those types of things when you visited? You might want to consider such criteria.</p>
<p>I love Yale, but I can understand how it might be a bit overwhelming to some students, especially if they come from a smaller high school environment. While the residential system creates a family-like housing situation, the school itself is big! I don't mean that the population is huge, but the buildings are large and imposing. It's surrounded by a bustling urban city, which may seem intimidating to some kids. Be aware that the students at Yale are an outgoing, energetic, bunch for the most part, although quieter more intropective students can be found if you look for them.</p>
<p>Don't feel pressured to go to Yale because of prestige or because you think you should. Swat and Reed are excellent schools and will provide a rigorous education in a smaller more intimate setting. Be true to yourself and choose the environment that will enable you to thrive.</p>
<p>I actually think that both Swat and Reed would be much more competitive feeling than Yale, because 1) both small schools have such an academically intense reputation and 2) there is so much going on at Yale besides academics. It sometimes seems like the extracurricular stuff the kids do is much more time-consuming than their studies - although it's an individual choice how involved you want to be.
You are lucky to have such wonderful choices! Congrats!</p>
<p>I didn't apply to Swarthmore because I thought there would be too much pressure and competition, actually. It has the reputation of being one of the toughest schools in the US. I hear the students never stop studying there, because of the intense grade deflation and all that. But it's still a great school. Very good placement for grad school, but the same is true for Yale and Reed. I also was considering applying to Reed, but I decided against it. The grade deflation, location far away from any family or friends(mine, that is, I don't know about yours), and druggie reputation turned me away. I think that if you want a small school, you should go for Swarthmore.</p>
<p>However, overall, I think Yale's the best choice. You won't get lost. Think of the Residential College System!</p>
<p>At this point, though, you need to listen to your heart and pick the school you really want to go to. It feels great when the agonizing decision making is over.</p>
<p>said at Amherst info session this summer I was at that when she was there, maybe 20 years ago, that kids would wear a T shirt that said: "Swarthmore
Study Sleep Friends Choose Two"</p>
<p>i dont really get the t-shirt slogan</p>
<p>Swarthmore</p>
<p>Study, Sleep, Friends</p>
<p>Choose Two.</p>
<p>(I.e. you can't have all three).</p>
<p>haha yow. hope that isn't true.
but that does seem to be the general consensus even now.
when i visited yale, i told the students my other top choice was swat... they all questioned whether i wanted to forego a social life. =P
1. that surprised me since one would expect yale to be very intense as well
2. that makes me wonder... if swat indeed is so academically stressful and hardcore that students barely have any time to have fun, how can they still be happy?</p>
<p>Yalies seem to have found the ideal balance between work and ECs/fun. They end up going to bed late, but hey, it's college.</p>
<p>True that.</p>
<p>There is a young lady at S's school who is agonizing between Williams and Yale. She fell in love with Williams and was all set to go there. She has not really "taken" to Yale but her parents really want her to go there and the conventional wisdom is for her to go there. But she really does like Williams better, and the size of the school is playing a big part in her feelings. Don't know if she has chosen yet.</p>
<p>I think you'd have to be pretty shy and passive to get "lost in the crowd" at Yale, and students that passive don't usually find themselves admitted to Yale. If you feel more at home at somewhere like Williams or Swat, that's a fine choice, but most admitted students will thrive at Yale. It's not like we're talking about a gigantic state U with 40,000 undergrads and a huge commuter population.</p>