Yale University

Terrible

The food quality claims to be wonderful, but the bread can be stale or even moldy. The food program is mandatory during some years, and it is always overpriced. There are no options outside of the dining hall system. Unlike some campuses, there are no alternative restaurants or food places where one might use meal points or card swipes. Definitely not worth the money or the hassle.

It Is What You Make It

It's easy to find guts, and sometimes difficult to get really good seminars. As with most large universities, it's hard to avoid taking a lecture at some point (especially in sciences), but there are often multiple levels of intro classes to accommodate students with different levels of preparation or interest. Seminars can be competitive to get into when the topic is popular, but there are enough classes available that overcrowding tends not to be a big problem in upper level classes (I have never been denied a seminar, so long as I stayed with it all through shopping period, but I know people who have.) The registration process SUCKS abysmally. It's important to have backup plans in case you can't get into a class (and often you don't know until two weeks into the term whether you are in), and shopping period is the worst kind of limbo for students and professors-- nobody knows who will end up in the class, or what the atmosphere, size, or sometimes even the final syllabus will look like. The class you see during shopping period is seldom the class you get stuck with for the rest of the term.

I have actually found the seminars at Yale a little disappointing. Professors are usually great (though sometimes it's easy to tell they are overworked and don't really have time for your class), but discussion can be a letdown. The 36 course requirement means that many people are taking 5 courses per semester, and there's a lot of pressure to take on an "above-average" extracurricular load, so without a "fifth class" (something a little lighter), it can be difficult to be thorough with all of your classes. This means that you often have to discuss books with very vocal people who only read analyses, peer review "drafts" that look more like short outlines, and tolerate incredibly vague, incorrect, but bombastic monologues about things that happened "all throughout history" or what makes something "so human." It's really frustrating to take a junior seminar (a core requirement for your major) with people who decide they just won't do several of the assignments, because they can still get away with a B if they don't turn in this or that. (Grade inflation, by the way, is a real thing. Easy to get away with a B in most classes. Credit-D is kind of like a sport for a lot of people: how low a grade can you get within the C- to A spectrum? It's actually really difficult to get something below a B in some classes.)

University Shuttles Are GREAT

I love the shuttles on campus. You can get to classes, areas surrounding campus, and important off-campus areas (train station, Yale-New Haven hospital, grocery store, etc.) for free. City buses are pretty cheap, but few people take them. If you want to get out of New Haven with friends for fun sometime, trains are also not bad ($14.00 one way to New York City, I think about $21 total if you buy round trip.)

Everything is pretty centrally located except science hill, and it's very convenient to get to science classes with the Blue Shuttle (free.) Or you can suck it up and walk, because it's really not that far, and the hill is not steep.

Travel to and from Yale is not too difficult, in my experience (Yale gives you a pretty nice budget when calculating financial aid, so you have options.) A lot of people take take taxis, Go Shuttles, or CT Limo vans to get to the airport (usually Tweed in New Haven, Bradley in Hartford, or one of the New York ones.)

If you go through Tweed, a taxi is about $15.00. Flights can vary in price-- service is very limited, but if you buy well in advance and can get a flight to an airport near you (usually multi-stop), it can be pretty cheap. DO NOT buy tickets late, though. They get pretty pricey. I find booking two or three months ahead of time is a good window, and I can sometimes get cheaper flights through Tweed than through the New York airports.

If you go through the New York airports, I don't recommend taking a Go Shuttle or CT Limo van, especially if you travel light (it's often cheaper for me to mail stuff home than check baggage anyway, but I know people with more stuff who disagree.) Walking to Union Station is not difficult, especially if the weather cooperates, and a train plus subway and public shuttle ride is longer, but much cheaper (less than $20), than a ride directly from Phelps Gate to the airport ($50+).