<p>Hi everyone, my name is Yotam and I'm a sophomore in Branford College at Yale. I'm majoring in Ethics, Politics & Economics. Outside of class I produce theatre for the Dramat, write news for the Herald, am pledging AEPi fraternity, and do some volunteering. I'll answer any questions you guys might have about Yale life, academics, EP&E, theatre, publications (i.e. why the Herald is better than the YDN), AEPi, volunteering, and seriously anything else you might want to know about this place - even the smallest, most random questions. Fire away!</p>
<p>What is Greek life like in Yale? I'm applying to Yale and would also be interested in joining a fraternity. I'm not into the stereotypical drunken party atmosphere such as what you see in Animal House but I'd be more interested in the social activities and life-long connections. Did you consider joining many other frats? Also, do you see much presence of the secret societies. From what I understand though, you can't ask to join these - you are just chosen. Thanks</p>
<p>Greek life is a lot of different things to a lot of different people. Especially freshman year, everyone goes to the fraternity parties every weekend - the most popular is definitely SAE (they throw parties every Thursday night), followed by Beta (every Friday night) and then the others. These parties aren't your parents' cocktail parties by any means, but they're obviously not as wild as you'd get at big state schools. Most people don't join frats because most of my friends, at least, aren't "frat types" (each frat has its stereotypical population - preppy kids, football players, etc.).</p>
<p>When it comes to joining fraternities, AEPi was the only one I considered. Many only consider rushing AEPi and SigEp. Both of them don't throw weekly parties for everyone but are much more focused on the intimacy and brotherhood aspect (something I love because I came from a tiny all-boys high school), and neither of them hazes you during the pledge process, as DKE and Zeta do. We don't have to do anything that makes us uncomfortable during pledge; we do have to raise money for Relay for Life and do a building project. The guys are great and I was really attracted to the idea of an intimate group of guys who hang out, have fun (obviously we drink and have parties - we're a fraternity), but mostly get to know each other really well.</p>
<p>As for secret societies, I can't really say because I'm only a sophomore. I do know some people who are in them; they aren't as secret as you might imagine, although I've obviously never been inside any. Each of them has different admission procedures. Skull & Bones and Scroll & Key, for example, consistently take campus organization leaders (team captains, club presidents, newspaper editors). Some others rely much more on current society members to choose juniors who they think would be good for the society. There are also a couple, as well as the semi-secret society St. Anthony's Hall, that invite all sophomores or juniors to interview with them. The others seek you out if they want you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I'd really be interested in joining a secret society. I suppose part of the attraction is the mystique surrounding it. That and the fact that I used to live in a country where they are outlawed and mere membership in a secret society could have you deported, imprisoned or "disappeared".</p>
<p>I really want to get into the EP&E major from Yale. Is this a good major if you want to go into business for graduate school? Also, have you taken any foreign language classes? I want to take Chinese but I haven't met anyone who has taken any of the foriegn languages.</p>
<p>EP&E carries a lot of weight at Yale among certain populations. It's a selective major (around 50% of the people who apply get in), and it certainly looks good on a resume/transcript. That said, it's a competitive major and it's harder to do well in it. What matters most for going to graduate school is your GPA and your test scores (GMAT, LSAT, GRE, MCAT). Your major is definitely not as important (as long as it's not perceived as a gut major, e.g., sociology, anthropology). Therefore I'd definitely stay away from EP&E unless you have a genuine interest in all three fields and in a rigorous major. So far, I'm enjoying the major a lot - the teaching is great and it appeals to me - but it's more work and less fun than just doing one field, if that's what you're really interested in.</p>
<p>I've taken French 150 - Advanced Culture and Conversation - and French 160 - Introduction to French Literature at Yale. The French department here is very good and I've learned a lot. Most people have taken a foreign language here, whether a new language or an advanced level of one they've taken before. Starting with the class of 2009, everyone must take a language for at least a term, even with the necessary AP scores. I don't know anything about Chinese specifically.</p>
<p>I'm a freshman who's currently taking Chinese 115, which is the elementary level. Chinese is definitely a lot of work, but I happen to like it the most out of my other classes. The teachers rotate so that every day you have a different teacher. This is actually pretty useful, since you get to know several teachers instead of just one, each teacher has his or her own style of teaching, and you get to hear different pronunciations. Every day you'll have a short dialogue and six characters to memorize. About once a week you'll have a worksheet to do, which usually takes between one to two hours. For every lesson, you'll need to memorize the lesson's presentation, which is several paragraphs long. You'll also meet with a tutor every week to practice conversations and other things. The best part though is that there's no midterm or final exam.</p>
<p>This is more of a general question, but in your opinion, do graduate schools care about the difficulty of classes? (Like as in AP in high school for undergrad). It's probably better to take easier classes and get straight A's, but is it worth taking hard classes and pushing yourself even if you're getting some B's?</p>
<p>I'm sure stele and others will have input on this subject, and to be honest I don't want to start assuming I know what I'm talking about when I'm just a sophomore and a few years removed from these things. Also, every case is different and there are no easy rules. But my impression is that it looks better to have As than Bs, and that's the most important barometer. Because colleges don't have standardized courses like AP classes, it's hard to say what's a hard class and what's not (introductory photography is notoriously time consuming here, but it's seen as a gut at some other schools). So the GPA - especially viewed in light of your essay and standardized test scores - becomes more important as a way of comparing students. My understanding is that in many cases, your GPA/major are viewed alone, outside your transcript. All that said, if the difference is between all your classes being guts and majoring in biochemical engineering, then you have a different case on your hands.</p>
<p>THanks for the info. I really like politics and economic. I also love to debate ethics so if I could get into the program I think I would really enjoy the hard work.</p>
<p>I can't help you on that question, but nobody played piano during convocation, if that's what you mean by orientation. Somebody did play the organ though.</p>
<p>hi yb12,
i was also interetsted in taking up ethics,pol,and eco if i am able to attend yale.but as you say,it seems like a difficult major to get in to.So since i have chosen that as an intended major would that like restrict my admissions chances???</p>
<p>hi OP, if I chose Chinese studies as my intended major on a whim simply I was surprised to find there would be a major in that specific language at Yale or any other college, would that restrict my admissions chances??</p>
<p>how much do they weigh your intended major? because I want to major in something else now.</p>
<p>Your intended major doesn't matter. Don't worry about it. Once you're here, you don't have to actually declare a major until the beginning of your junior year, and it's done through a menu on a web site - you can change your major as many times as you want, I think even change it back to Undeclared, in 10 seconds and without getting any signatures.</p>
<p>Icy- sorry I didn't respond before now. No, saying your intended major is EP&E won't hurt your chances. I don't think the intended major makes a big difference if it's a popular major (history, English, political science, EP&E). My impression is that if you tell them you want to major in something perceived to be unusual or uncommon, it can help you. Case in point: engineering and chemistry majors are rare, so that could help you. But this is seriously not something to worry about!</p>
<p>mentioning you want to do a popular major won't hurt you. It's not like they only take X number for each department. However, if you list a less popular major, it may help you because it increases your "uniqueness." So I guess you could say that putting down a common major would only "hurt" you if the major you would otherwise have put down is much more unique. Anyways, there's nothing you can do about it now, so just hang in there until decision day.</p>