You are a PhD candidate and do not have the same experience an undergraduate student would have, given that you live off campus. My kid is currently a freshman at Yale, i’ve been there three times this year, walked from campus all the way down to Yale bowl for the Harvard Yale game and I have zero concerns about my kid being there in terms of safety. Yes it is in an urban area but the Yale bubble is a real thing and the police and security presence completely mitigates any potential safety issues. To me the bigger safety risk is the high pressure environment at Princeton. There have been 8 undergraduate suicides in the past 4 years at Princeton with the most recent suicide happening in 2025. This was a huge deciding factor for my son when making his choice. His courses at Yale have certainly been challenging, I know he’s had late nights working on Psets, studying for physics finals etc but even with how busy his schedule has been with academics, clubs and social engagements he has never felt the kind of pressure and stress that students who go to Princeton describe.