Life at Yale!

The research program at Yale best suited my work interests, had a world class research environment, highly talented and inspiring individuals, and comprehensive funding and support facilities. The health insurance etc. was also comprehensive and fully paid for by the university. My department at Yale ranks among the best in the nation and produces very dense, highly quality research in a tightly knit, multi-disciplinary collaborative environment combining aspects of mechanical/civil/chemical engineering coupled with electrical engineering and analytical chemistry which I appreciated quite a lot. Yale also provides immense international exposure and numerous opportunities to develop additional dimensions in one's personality. In my case, I also trained in Shotokan Karate at Yale and received my Black Belt from Japan Karate Association before I finished my time at the university.

My courses focused on state-of-the-art knowledge of the field and its applications. I was already a Ph.D. student so I focused on research but Yale provided many opportunities also to the undergraduate students to grow into scientists and researchers via having them work in our labs for projects. Many undergraduate students ended up publishing in high quality journals and eventually ended up with awesome work/study opportunities after graduation. Rhodes Scholarship, Churchill and Goldwater Scholarships etc. to name a few select prestigious awards that the Yale undergraduate students consistently win each year.

GRE and TOEFL/IELTS scores are mandatorily required for graduate school. However, these don't make admissions. However, they are used as filters to filter out applicants with considerably low exam scores. If I remember correctly, mine were 321/340 GRE and 115/120 TOEFL.

I received my job position in Switzerland after graduating with a Ph.D. from Yale. It is my understanding that the median salary for undergraduates is somewhere between 80-110K per year but this should be checked.

I was not required to intern during my Ph.D.

I was informed that Yale spends approximately 350 thousand U.S. dollars on training each Ph.D. student on average. So it is safe for me to say that Yale spent approximately 350K U.S. dollars on my education. For undergraduates, it would be less than this amount, perhaps around 200K U.S dollars for four years but also note that nearly half of Yale undergraduates receive financial aid a lot of which could be need-based. Admissions are blind to the needs mentioned by a prospective student. Hence, admissions happen on merit and once admitted, a student is evaluated for whether or not they need to be financially supported by the university.

I annually received VIT merit scholarships during all four years of undergraduate studies, Researching and teaching assistantships at Virginia Tech during M.S., BKT Scholarship during the YIF program at Ashoka University, Charpak Scholarship during Sciences Po Paris and Yale Graduate Fellowship and Yale Teaching Fellowships at Yale. My research at Yale was further funded by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. National Science Foundation grants. Charpak Scholarship required submitting three essays (300 words each) that focused on the relevance of the program to which I was applying, previous experience and how I was going to make the best of the education that I would receive with this funding. All other funding that I mentioned came with admissions and was based on academic merit of my applications. The overall expenditure incurred on my education by all the different sources of funding combined would be roughly half a million U.S. dollars.

The faculty student ratio at Yale is one of the lowest in the country. It ranges from 1:3 to 1:5 (faculty: student). The faculty offices in my department are co-located with graduate student offices so one can in principle approach a faculty member any time they need. Of course this freedom generates a serious responsibility on the part of the student to be careful about their actions and the precious time they seek of the faculty. All professors in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Yale are world class scientists and scholars. I enjoyed all the different courses that I took at Yale and there isn't really one that I could say was any less than the others. Among all professors, I spent maximum time with my Ph.D. advisor Prof. Drew Gentner. Besides being a top scientist, Drew is also very friendly and approachable and inspired me directly through his work. I consider myself very fortunate to have had him as my Ph.D. advisor and I would recommend Drew to any prospective Ph.D. student who is interested in studying atmospheric chemistry and air pollution for their Ph.D. degree.

Yale boasts of a world class gymnasium which is among the largest university gyms in the United States. On its second floor is the largest elevated swimming pool in the world. If you are interested in kayaking, you can train for that as well within the Gym building. So this should give you an idea of the scale of resources available as sports facilities. Yale regularly produces Olympic athletes that represent the U.S. so all facilities are designed catering to the need to train at that level. My Karate team also included members who represented the U.S. in world championships. The Yale Sterling Memorial Library houses over 15 million books and many more could be pulled through its network with other major universities (including the Ivy network, MIT, Berkeley, UChicago etc.). In addition, there are also smaller libraries scattered around the campus (e.g. the Math library is a building dedicated to mathematics). It never occurred during my 5 years at Yale that I wanted an information source (book, article etc.) and I didn't receive it. At this point, I'm of the opinion that Yale library services can reach any info item on the planet that you request them to find for you and all this happens at zero cost to you as a graduate student.

I stayed at Helen Hadley Hall for the first 2-3 years which is part of the Yale international housing. Later, I rented an apartment outside the university with a friend of mine. Yale housing costed roughly 800 dollars each month. The apartment costed about the same per person. The choice between an apartment vs a university hostel room depends on how you want to set up your place and how big you want it to be. Freedom-wise nothing changes. You are free to move in and out all 24 hours. Another factor to consider could be interactions with other cool people. In a university housing, you run into people all the time, hang out in common kitchens or lounge rooms etc and learn about all the great work other people are doing. The apartment will be your private setting. Hence, I decided to spend the first few years in the university housing before I moved into my own apartment.