Yale University Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school?

Johanna

Gay was invented at Yale. Irony was invented at Yale. Everyone at Yale can sing. Yale is full of household names, especially in entertainment and media. The hardest part about Yale is getting in; after that, you just develop an academic strategy and do fine. If you get into a secret society, your career is pretty much in the bag. Becoming part of the Yale alumni network is well worth the price of admission. Harvard undergraduates envy Yale because it's a much more undergraduate-friendly place.

Ryan

Pompous, Artsy, Intellectual, Preppy, Old Money

Ryan

Competitive, stressed, WASP-y

Alex

A history major talks about stereotypes and what she does for fun, among other things.

Alex

A Yale student talks about some Yale stereotypes and his experience at the school.

Betsy

Yalies are stereotyped as pompous people who think they're better than everyone else. Popped -collar prep school graduates who got in because their fathers donated buildings or were famous.

PoliSci gal

Some stereotypes are that Yale students are very smart, ambitious, and that some are pretentious or snobby.

Amelia

Yalies are all super smart and antisocial, everyone has a lot of money, it's a very preppy school, people are stuck-up

gavin

they are really smart and it is an elite institution

James

Some call Yale the "gay Ivy," and while there is a glimmer of truth in most stereotypes, this perception is mostly inaccurate. I think the arts are emphasized more than at other Ivies, and that there is a comforting sense of community.

MJ

Always studious, smart, no social skills, nerds, conceited, spoiled, prudes, etc.

Andy

Yalies are known to be more easygoing and artistic than other Ivy League students, but still extremely intelligent, motivated, and passionate.

Andy

At ant hour of the day, Yale students are always up to something. Whether it be studying in the library, singing in an a capella concert, or chatting with friends at the local coffee shop.

Anais

Super preppy yacht types, gay theater kids, nerds who don't go out

Rhys

Yale is a place for rich, white, overly-privileged kids to continue their plans for economic domination. Yalies are uptight and insanely studious, rarely peeking out from their dorms/caves to see the light of a New Haven day.

Charlie

Serious Pretentious In-your-face gay Community Not as good as Harvard

kristin

Rumor: That everyone is the best and they know it.

Rachelle

we're huge nerds. no fun. no partying.

Kathleen

stuck-up, don't like or know how to party, rich,

Emmerson

That we are awesome! Way cooler than Harvard students.

Alexandra

Yale students are nerds. There is a split between academic culture and athletic culture. Yale students are pretentious. Yale students are obsessed with academics.

Kirsten

People tend to think that we always stay on campus doing homework, that we don't know how to have fun.

Shawn

lots of gay guys, incredibly bright, politically liberal, a cappella nerds, theatre nerds, grade inflation, lots of asians

Wenzel

Rich, nerdy, snobby, ambitious, competitive

Alex

Great school - dangerous surroundings (New Haven)

Andy

One of the best schools in America

Claire

At least where I'm from, many people think that Yale is a only a super serious academic institution, where everyone is intense about their grades without much of a life outside the classroom or library. Another stereotype I've encountered is that people think a lot, or even most of the people who go to Yale are from "old money". A third stereotype is that many people think Yale is a very politically liberal place.

Sandy

Some "stereotypes" I heard before coming here billed Yale as a four-year daycare for stupid children of the super wealthy and well-connected. Full of braindead legacies and hyper-competitive prep school graduates; soulless overachievers.

Steve

There are two primary Yale stereotypes, depending on who the audience holding the bias is. The first is the Yale stereotype to people who didn't go to Ivy league schools, but who have heard of Yale. They think Yalies are stuck up, holier than thou, and are always looking for a way to make them feel stupider. Preemptively, they will go out of their way to make you look stupid first, and then point out that it sure was dumb of a YALIE to do something so boneheaded! The caveat of course is that this is probably true for kids who went to Harvard, Princeton, or any other Ivy league school in the country. The second Yale stereotype is the one held by students/alums from other Ivy league schools. To them, the Yalies are the mopey, artsy, emo Ivy leaguers, the ones who love movies without strong linear narratives, performance art and experimenting with homosexuality.

Alexandra

Some Stereotypes: Pretentious, wealthy,articulate, spoiled,

Rory

I think the main stereotype about Yale as that we’re these elitist bluebloods.

Bryan

Snobbery! Pure snobbery. Endless snobbery. George W. Bush.

Robin

Yale specifically, I think, has it the least bad, but in general I would say that Ivy kids are typecast as elitist preppy prep-school kids, who wear tweed jackets and vests, with money to burn. They can't hold their alcohol, they're maladjusted and they never, ever, swear ever. They'll all be President some day.

Greg

Rich, stuck up, extremely liberal.

Lindsay

I think that the most obvious stereotype is that all Yale students are really smart. I also think that people view Yale students as the type that just study all the time and don't really go out and have fun. I think most people think of shows like Gilmore Girls and movies like The Skulls when they think about Yale.

Max

There are two types of students at Yale. The excessive partygoers (mainly athletes and fraternity brothers) and the studious people.

Dawson

Rich, white, preppy.

Hannah

That we are very preppy and stuck up. It's also commonly thought that we're full of ourselves and/or assholes.

Joe

that they are uptight, overambitious, and ugly