Yale University Top Questions

The gay community is pretty big and pretty active on campus. As the saying goes, “one in four, maybe more,” so if you're thinking about coming out, this is the place to do it. The student body is really diverse - there are a students from every state and a lot of international students here as well. People constantly practice speaking in other languages in normal conversation. Everyone is smart here (even the students who got here on athletic merit had to do pretty well in school and be pretty intelligent to be here). Everyone either has one thing they're really awesome at, or is ultra-intelligent, or is really well rounded, or is just really interesting here. I have never questioned why any student got accepted into Yale, because it's always so apparent.

Since Yale draws students from across the country, we have a really interesting mix of people. I love my suitemates. We stayed together from freshman year to sophomore year and we're probably going to stay together through junior year. Students are much more collaborative than you would expect. People are always very willing to share their notes or prepare for exams in groups. We all do want to make good grades, but we aren't willing to do it at the expense of others.

Yale is the most diverse place I've ever been. There are people from every corner of the world, from every financial background, who's interests span the entire spectrum. People are involved in all kinds of dance groups, music groups, drama clubs, volunteer organizations, religious groups, athletic clubs, fraternities and sororities . That said, I think it would be very hard to feel out of place at Yale; there's a group that where everyone can fit in. On top of that, the residential college system ensures that every student is placed within the close-knit community of their college. Really, I think it would be really hard to feel out of place. And yes, different types of students interact. The residential college system ensures that there's a good mix of people in each suite, entryway, college, etc so that you're exposed to and form friendships with all different kinds of people.

I'm pretty sure the only people who feel "out of place" at Yale are conservatives. People at Yale, and I suppose this is true of American culture in general, are very quick to label themselves "victims" of racism, sexism, this that or the other... it's ridiculous. We have an incredibly diverse, incredibly open, incredibly privileged community here, and anyone who says otherwise is looking for pity or attention. This is an incredibly, incredibly liberal campus. That said, the comparatively small conservative movement here is passionate, intelligent, and fearless. For the most part you don't see childish, unproductive shouting matches a la Crossfire in political discourse here- you see intelligent people passionate about their ideas engaging each other in political and philosophical discourse (or at least, within the Yale Political Union; it's probably different elsewhere). There seems to be a disproportionate number of students from California... People dress well here. Incredibly rare is the sloppy pajama pants and baggy t-shirt look (I never saw it once from anyone in my 9:25 class 1st semester, which is one of the earliest time slots Yale has). Heels, skirts, sport jackets, et cetera, although this is not a universal phenomenon.

I'd say that the Yale student body definitely takes all kinds ... There's an awful lot of interest group/race/religious cross-pollination unless you choose to stay specifically within your clique (I'm talking about YOU, overachieving Asians, Orthodox Jews and "political" Black kids.) But because Yalies are so driven and self-absorbed, no one really takes a huge amount of trouble being "social." People wear their pajamas and worse to class, and campus is so spread out that it's easy to fall into just hanging out with your roommates and their closest friends. Most Yale students are pretty liberal, which makes the conservatives who do go there react by being awfully loud and obnoxious.

The LGBT community is large but the lesbian community specifically, is quite small. the student body is pretty main stream. Range of financial background.

Like I said, the students here are mostly the coolest. Everybody is supernice and interesting, they all have some weird secret talent. Like you’ll have been talking to somebody for a month before they’re like, “Oh I worked on this project to help make removing plaque from people’s arteries easier” or “Oh yeah, that poem I published in the New Yorker.” As for minority groups on campus---I went to a high school with like 5 people of color in my class and zero out gay people. You wouldn’t have gotten the shit kicked out of you for being gay but you would definitely get teased mercilessly. Here that just isn’t plausible. Something like a quarter of the kids here are gay and nobody cares. Everybody’s friends with everybody else. And I finally have gay, black, and Hispanic friends, which is exciting.

Fine, they're pretty in your face, but (as I have discovered) with good reason. Out of place? Erotic minorities, goths, people who've lived in the real world for any period of time, people who are WISE beyond their years, people who are alternative, people from certain super-conservative countries/areas. Yale tilts towards the mainstream, so anything too far removed from that, watch out. 1. Black kids. 2. Internationals. 3. Athletes/Frat boys. 4. College-proud, bland kids with nothing outside their residential college. Most Yale students? Northeast. Financial backgrounds? Upper-middle-class. Politically EVERYTHING? Yes. Centre, with some right inclinations. Bank accounts? No concept of money, yet. Give it time.

I think that there is so much diversity at this school. As I stated before, I do think that some groups tend to kind of isolate themselves, which I think is unfortunate. I do not think anyone would really feel completely out of place at Yale. There are so many different kinds of people here, it's just a matter of going out and meeting them.

There is a large gay community which was strange for me, being from Switzerland were homosexuality is not widely tolerated. About half of the students seem to be on some sort of scholarship. Most students dress casually (Tshirt,Jeans). Yalies are mostly left and very politically aware.