Yale's schools of drama, art, music, medicine, management and architecture are all often cited as being the best.
Yale students are often called "Yalies" or "Elis" after Elihu Yale, the university's first benefactor and namesake.
The campus is well known for its Gothic buildings as well as several historical modern structures.
The oldest building on campus is Connecticut Hall, which was built in 1750.
The university consists of 12 colleges, each organized as residential and named for important figures or places in university history or for notable alumni.
Yale's central campus in downtown New Haven covers 260 acres.
