Greetings and congratulations, prefrosh!

I know from experience that the college decision process can be stressful, but for all of you, it doesn’t have to be. I’ll keep it simple: having spent the best four years of my life here, I can say with certainty that you should come to Yale. That being said, in no way should you base your decision on this article.

Yale’s great—no doubt about it. The academics are unparalleled, the campus is beautiful, and the extracurriculars have something for everyone. But, come on, you knew all that. That’s why you applied. I really can’t stress enough that you shouldn’t decide to come here because a current student basically told you that the admissions brochures weren’t lying to you.

You should still come to Yale! There are better reasons to come, is all I’m saying. Here are some good reasons to decide to come to Yale:

  • The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library
  • Paul Krugman teaches here
  • You got good financial aid

Here are some bad reasons:

  • Skull and Bones
  • Your dad went here
  • This article

To be clear, if this article does end up being a deciding factor for you, I’m flattered, but why? Keep in mind I’m only one student. Everyone’s experience here is different, and you shouldn’t expect yours to go exactly like mine. I mean, is anyone surprised that a straight white cis man had a good experience at Yale?

I’m not exactly breaking new ground here.

In any case, if you do choose Yale, then you’re making the right decision, but if you don’t, that’s a reasonable thing to do even having read this article.

Definitely don’t go to Harvard though.

—E. Campbell-Taylor