Yale University

My experience at Yale was absolutely amazing. The diversity of the student body, the quality of the education, the variety of extracurriculars can't be matched. I was active in the singing community, I did children's theater, I volunteered, I was politically active, and I was always impressed by the amount of support, money and resources made available to undergrads to pursue these activities. However, as Yale begins to focus more on being a research institution, we could all sense a shift away from support of the College. So I couldn't tell you what life is like now. At the time, though, I couldn't think of a better place to be an undergrad.I majored in philosophy because I was going to go into education. I went into that knowing it was strictly a liberal arts major, and if I had it to do all over again, I would still major in philosophy. Midway through my education, however, I switched to film, but it was too late to get into the few film classes that were offered. The program was very small, almost non-existent (at least it was when I was there), the classes were packed and priority for enrollment was given to freshmen/sophomores. So if I could have changed one thing it would have been to take a film class or two early on.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

Yale Grad School was a lot of bullshit at times, but I can't bitch too much, since the university picked up the tab for my education.

Some grad students there were absolute assholes and some were absolutely brilliant. The brilliant ones either never finished the dissertations or wound up not becoming academics. So all the bonding and networking was for naught, though I learned more from my colleagues than from most profs. Some profs were super--hardworking, brilliant, demanding, friendly--and gave a lot of themselves. Some profs were Yale undergrads--> Yale Ph.D.s--> Yale tenured profs. What wasted lives! It was the ol'boy network back in the day. I don't know if things have changed any.

The name YALE is everything. Go abroad and say, "Yale" to an illiterate washerwoman, and she will clean your clothes for free. (That's a metaphor, son, but a damn good one.) The library was Paradise. Any book, any article, any interlibrary loan you wanted. The staff turned a blind eye to photocopying restricted materials. Their job was to facilitate your research. Lots of neat perqs, like the fine health plan and the gym. The university staff treated grad students like demi-gods. TAships were nice, since undergrad kids were smart (sometimes rich and lazy, often filthy rich and arrogant, but smart nonetheless).

New Haven was a dump. Get a car. Wait! My car was stolen from an Olive St. lot (that's after my battery was stolen some months earlier). Don't get a car. Find a friend who drives, and get out of town from time to time. There was a significant amount of pressure that the profs and the other grad students applied--oneupsmanship and all. Needless to say, I ran five miles a day and smoked a lot of dope there for a while, just to keep my head clear.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

Yale is the best undergraduate institution in the country, bar none. You will be intellectually satisfied, you will grow as a person, you will make tremendous friends, and, most importantly, you will be happy with the quality of your life at Yale.

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000