I'm considering Yale and trying to get a sense of its campus size. Is everything within a good walking distance, or do you need to bike or bus to get around? How's it compared to other Ivy League schools?
Yale's central campus in New Haven, Connecticut covers about 260 acres, and it's relatively compact when compared to some of its Ivy League counterparts. Many of the academic buildings, libraries, residential colleges, and dining halls are close to each other, which means most facilities can be reached by foot within 10-15 minutes. Of course, this can slightly vary depending on where you're starting from and your walking speed.
If you still need to cover more ground rapidly, Yale does provide free campus shuttles for students, which run throughout the day and have stops at various points around the campus. Biking is also an option, but it's not a necessity given the size of the campus.
When comparing Yale to other Ivy Leagues for size, it's about midway in terms of physical area. For instance, Harvard and Cornell have significantly larger campuses (Harvard's campus is about 5000 acres while Cornell's is over 700 acres). Meanwhile, Princeton's campus is around the same size as Yale's, while Dartmouth's central campus is relatively smaller. However, all these universities offer shuttle services to help students get around.
Ultimately, whether a campus feels large or small can be subjective, and can depend a lot on an individual student's schedules and daily routines. When possible, it's always helpful to visit campuses in person or explore them via virtual tours to get a better feel for their layout and accessibility.
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