Four Ivies. Two days.

This is my long-overdue trip report from last summer: July 10–11, 2024. We toured Ivy League campuses to help our rising senior son weigh his options, with our two daughters (our kids are four years apart each) tagging along for an early preview. Day one was Yale and Brown, followed by a night in New Jersey. Day two took us to Princeton and UPenn, then the long drive back to Buffalo. Of course we drove, that's how we roll.

Prelude

Lining up campus tours is its own sport. They are booked months in advance. Pro-tip: when your kid is born, call the colleges to reserve their campus visit. We lucked into two open slots, then hacked together a Python script to snipe cancellations and grabbed the other two. Not proud of this, but that's what it takes if you don't book months in advance.

The U.S. college admissions process is Byzantine. It is a weird mix of ritual and performance. There are entire books about how to write the college essay. I have plenty to say about the so-called holistic review process, but that's for another post. Back in Turkey, I just had to take a National University Entrance exam, and score very high to get placed in to a top university. That was also a broken system and was stressful, but at least there were no essays, no extracurriculars, no culture fit, no campus visits.

Here, though, the campus visit is part of the show. It is especially essential if you are considering to sign a binding early decision. Early decision boosts acceptance odds 3–4x. But it also locks you in. Our son didn't end up doing ED. His top choices didn't offer it, and he didn't want to burn his chances elsewhere.

Yale: Cathedrals and Low Energy

After six hours on the road we rolled into New Haven, paid for street parking, and joined the tour. Yale sits right in the city center, and the architecture hits you: gothic cathedrals and stone facades older than the country itself.

The name still carries weight. Even in Turkey, Yale was known through Yale locks, whose founder was a distant relative of the university's founder, Elihu Yale. The Yale programs are ranked high, the libraries are priceless, and the faculty-to-student ratio is great.

One stop in our campus tour was the Beinecke Library. Its marble-and-granite exterior filters light to protect fragile manuscripts. Our guide told us that in a fire, oxygen would be sucked out to save the books, even at the expense of people inside. Dying for the books is romantic, but the fact-check says this is a myth.

Yale also revealed the Ivy pattern we would see in other stops of our tour: Two years of mandatory dorms, no AP credit (just placement), and an abundance of pride in being  an Ivy.

We noted these as downsides at Yale. There is no strong pitch for undergraduate research. Some buildings are beautiful, others are just tired: 1960s concrete, no AC, worn interiors. On a hot day, it felt even worse. The CS building in particular was old, dark, and smelly. It looked like it was designed by someone who hated students.

Brown: The underrated Ivy

Ninety minutes later we were at Providence, attending the Brown campus tour at 3 pm.

Brown impressed us. The open curriculum gives students great freedom, for example, CS mixed with theater, neuroscience, and entrepreneurship. Research opportunities are emphasized from the start of the tour. Every student writes a senior thesis. Brown supports student research financially, and third- and fourth-year students can TA undergrad classes. Stay for a fifth year and you can leave with a combined MS. The culture is collaborative, not competitive. If you fail a class, it doesn't show up on your transcript. This way students are encouraged to take risks... or quit and be lazy, I don't know.

The campus sits on a hill overlooking Providence, close enough to the city. The faculty are strong, the vibe is progressive, and the students approachable. No Ivy airs here. Did you know that Emma Watson studied here? Our tour guide was excellent. Under his spell, my youngest daughter declared she would apply early decision to Brown when her time comes. Our son liked it too. He pointed out that Brown CS graduates earn the most one year out of college. The CS building is cramped and outdated, but still much better than Yale's. We all walked away charmed.

We drove to Jersey for a hotel. Our dinner was Dave's Hot Chicken. 

Princeton: The Old Country Club

Next morning: Princeton. It has a huge campus. We parked at the stadium, and took a shuttle to the welcome center.

Princeton is historic and prestigious. Einstein once taught here. Princeton still has very strong faculty and a lot of resources. Undergraduates do research for senior thesis. But our tour guide spent more time talking about dining clubs and traditions than academics. It felt hollow. Too polished, too self-satisfied. Brown had been about people. Princeton was about tradition and Ivy airs. Unlike Brown, Princeton does not offer an open curriculum or fifth-year MS. 

One odd scene was a busload of Chinese families arriving with luggage in tow, apparently right out of the airport. They dragged luggages across campus, straight into the tour. Princeton seems to have strong prestige in China.

UPenn: Philly Hustle

From Princeton, it was a short drive to Philadelphia. But what a view change. UPenn is right under the Philly downtown skyscrapers scenery.

UPenn struck us as hands-on and pragmatic. In your first year you get a writing course. In your 3rd and 4th years you write research reports and senior thesis. Double majors are allowed, minors too. The Wharton School of Business looms large: alumni include both Donald Trump and Jho Low, the billion-dollar corruption guy. What are they teaching there?

Food trucks lined the campus streets, serving better meals than many college dining halls. The lamb shawarma was awesome! While UPenn is dead in the center of downtown, they still have compulsory two years dorm stay like the other ivies. Our younger daughter adored the tour guide, adopted her as an older sister, and by the end of the tour, declared UPenn as her new top choice.

Closing

So our ranking of the ivies at the end of the trip was:

• Brown
• UPenn
• Princeton
• Yale

Brown feels underrated within the Ivies. The Ivies as a whole, though, are overrated. Colleges in general are overrated. These schools still coast on prestige built decades or even centuries ago. But the world has changed drastically. If they want to matter in the age of the internet and AI, they will need to adapt.