Of course it was. But not in the way most people would imagine. Top-Ivys too have their fair share of lousy, under-prepared teachers, and big-name professors who have no time for students are legio. As always, the main asset of a first-rate university is the student body. The professors may be middling, but the students are exceptional: very bright, hard-working, well-heeled, good-looking and left-leaning. It’s a very attractive combination.
And if you stay around long enough — I was there 8 years — you’ll eventually come across that quirky professor who does his/her own thinking for him/herself. The professor who will have a lasting impact on the way you view the world. Jim Scott — peasants in Southeast Asia — and Alex Wendt — theories of international relations — made a great difference to my intellectual trajectory.
Yale’s biggest problem is its location. New Haven was the fifth poorest city in the US when I got there and the third poorest when I left. Walking home to my grad student abode in the outskirts of the ghetto late at night was scary!!!
Much later — reading Michael Lewis, who was at Yale at the same time — I realized that 60% of Yale students applied for jobs at investment banks once they graduated. This option didn’t ever cross my mind. Clearly I misunderstood the whole point of a Yale degree.