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UndercoverPages t1_j6k5fjw wrote

The two places are very different. Chicago is a huge city with tons of cultural options and New Haven is a small city that is decent for its size. However, I think it's important to know that your choice isn't between the two cities, but rather being in Chicago or being part of the Yale community. Yale is a very large part of the New Haven. Though it is integrated physically with the rest of the city, the university is pretty secluded socially. Since you'll be a part of the Yale community, I'd recommend talking to be who have firsthand knowledge about the social life there since there will be social options available to you that are not open to the public.

I never attended Yale, but I know there are opportunities to socialize outside of your program with other Yalies. For example, Yale has an on-campus pub called Grypon's for graduate students and postdocs. Yale also has a lot of events for its graduate students. You may be better off asking on a Yale subreddit or Facebook group to get specific information on graduate student life.

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cton_uniqueid t1_j6lo3r7 wrote

About half my friends are Yale affiliated, half are not. From the Yale crew, there are certainly those who I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only one they know from outside of the University.

It's an international institution, there are tons of folks who aren't very socially skilled in Academia, there are lots of reasons why people stay within the university socially. There is also no barrier to meeting new people in town. Going to a social event and having someone say "oh, I work at Yale ____" is incredibly common, plenty of folks do it.

On the other hand, depending on what program you're going for you'll have to see if socialization is in the cards whatsoever =p.

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