Yale University

Location

Located in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, Yale University is a central part of city’s economy (being its biggest taxpayer and employer). People willing to bring cars must know that parking meters in New Haven are for $1.5 per hour. There is a free 'Yale Shuttle Service' that provides transportation between the University and various areas nearby. One can also use ‘ZipCars’ for car sharing. Students often use bicycles and rollerblades within the campus. The closest airport is Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport (8 km) and then there is Bradley International Airport (83 km). Yale is in a strategic location as it is not too far from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc.
Some of the recommended restaurants at New Haven are Pepe’s Pizza, Miya’s, Zinc, Caseus and for good music, one can go to Cafe Nine, Lyric Hall, the Space (out in Hamden), BAR (Wednesday night shows and known for its pizza), etc. The only thing that one needs to be careful about is the crime rate in New Haven with frequent muggings but the counter view is that it has the same crime rate as any city its size. Also, the campus and its immediate area are marked as very safe.

Campus

The central campus is located in downtown New Haven and is spread across 260 acres which include its main, historic campus and the medical campus.Known particularly for its Gothic Style architecture, it has stone sculptures depicting various prestigious college personalities. Acid was splashed on the building walls to make them look older. Some of the examples of Gothic style buildings are Vanderbilt Hall, Phelps Hall, St. Anthony Hall, etc which may give a huge sense of Harry Potter's Hogwarts but not all of Yale looks like that. The oldest building on campus is the Connecticut Hall (1750) which was built in the Georgian style.
Yale is also home to one of the largest libraries in the world reserved especially for the preservation of rare books- the six-storey building- Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Some of the other notable buildings are Battell Chapel, Harkness Tower, Ingalls Rink, Sterling Law Buildings, Yale University Art Gallery, Yale Art & Architecture Building, etc. The University constantly works towards reducing the gas emissions and is a strong proponent of renewable energy.

Residing Options

On-campus housing for graduate students is limited here and is not guaranteed. There are options like Elm Campus where you can rent Yale owned off-campus housing. Some of the recommended living options are Berkeley Apartments, Divinity, Esplanade Apartments, Whitehall Apartments, etc. Dorms are 254 Prospect Street, 276 Prospect Street, Harkness Hall, Helen Hall, etc. On-campus housing costs about $8500 per year and off campus may cost about $800-$1000 per month for shared apartments.

Faculty

With a total of 4410 faculty members, Yale has a faculty to student ratio of 1:6 that is enough to get you awestruck and over 75% of their classes have fewer than 20 students which means great one-on-one learning. The classes can be rigorous and stressful. All the departments are equally stressful and equally good. Some of the known professors on campus are Ramamurti Shankar (Physics), Joanne Freeman (History), Ralph Selig (Mathematics), Marc Lapadula (Film), etc.