@WhatDoIHaveToLose: yeah I visited and I really loved Penn. If I get into HLS it will be a tough decision. Made some friends at Penn. If I get into YLS though, will be a nobrainer for me.
@MetroHero: same wave as you - that $$ from Penn is nice and idk if hls name makes up for the money you’d potentially miss out from them, Yale on the other hand would make up for any $$ lacking
For Yale, I worry that people blindly sometimes take it because it’s always been #1 and “no one turns down Yale” without thinking more deeply about whether it’s the right environment for them, or whether the unicorn things it gives you better odds at are even still attainable for any given member of the class. A lot of students were fairly happy, but there was a handful that felt jipped/sold a bag of goods
When I toured it was an “aha” moment where I realized it’s not the vibe for me. It felt like it was arbitrarily put in a random spot and the biggest thing that stuck out to me was when people asked the tour guide how students generally felt the answer was “it’s YLS, we’re all just grateful”
Granted I’d still really consider it if I was fortunate with my stats to get in but I would really take in the factors I felt when touring and thinking if I’d really enjoy the next 3 years there