Yale Tour

Yale University tours are free, and they’re given by undergraduate Yalies. My tour guide was studying baby and dog neuroscience. I know.
Tours start with a 15-​minute cheesy yet memorable video of Yale students singing the praises of their university. They take you through the courtyards of both the old and new campus, and point out lots of interesting things like statures of famous figures (the United States’ first spy) and incredible architecture (Connecticut’s oldest building is on this campus). While tours are not permitted inside the dorms for privacy reasons, you are taken inside the student library, which is pretty neat. The tour also passes a sculpture created by Maya Lin, the young woman who designed the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC. You’ll hear an interesting story about her when you take the tour.
All in all, for a free tour which focuses on the architecture and history (as opposed to selling you on the University), this is very well done. I’d definitely recommend if you visit New Haven. May be a bit boring for children under 10.

The description of the tour states that it «provides a glimpse into the history and architecture of the University.» The word glimpse is accurate here because they certainly don’t get to show you the entire campus in an hour and fifteen minutes, but they give you a general idea of campus life and some interesting historical tidbits.
The architecture of the Yale campus is pretty incredible. It has a very colonial/​Boston feel and is fun to walk through with all it’s iron gateways. The rare books library is more modern and seems not to fit in with the rest of the older looking buildings, but it’s pretty amazing in it’s own right. It houses a rare copy of the Guttenberg Bible and it’s outer walls are 1 ½ inch thick marble slabs that sunlight shines through.
The Sterling Memorial Library was also interesting. Apparently the architect, James Gamble Rogers wanted to build a cathedral for Yale, but they didn’t want a religious building so he made it a library instead. It’s bizarre to be in a Cathedral that isn’t religious and also has a dewey decimal system and computer rooms.
Part of me wanted to hear more about the architecture of the buildings and less about campus life, but that’s what I get for not going on the architecture tour.