Harvard was Lorali’s dream for Rory, probably in part because her dad went to Yale and there’s a rivalry there. Rory fell in love with Yale when she visited, and chose to go there for herself. But from a non plot based logistics perspective: Yale is closer to Stars Hollow, while Harvard is hours away. Putting Rory at Yale meant that she could interact easily with the other characters. Like how everyone in Gossip Girl ended up going to college in the city instead of at their “dream schools”.

I’m convinced that once the time came to send Rory to college, the writers realized it was going to be tricky for her and Lorelai to have enough scenes together if they were too far apart to quickly commute, and that is the real reason Yale came into the picture. Just logistics.

Harvard didn’t allow them to film there and Yale did. But in the show, rory decides it’s more important to go to Yale because her list has more pros which has to do with her wanting to be closer to her family, especially with her new sister being born and her realising how much she values family

Lorelai wanted Harvard because she wanted her daughter to live her dreams. Also to spite her father.

Yale ended up being her dream school

Yale won the pro and con list.

i read somewhere that harvard wouldn’t let them film there but yale would

There was literally an episode about this?

Her grandparents managed to convince her to go. She later confessed to Lorelai how she felt terrible for allowing her grandparents to interfere with her choice

She made a LIST! It’s Rory!!