Hello there,
I’m considering applying SCEA for Yale in the fall and I’ve heard that there will be 2 new residential colleges opening in the fall of 2017 and that the class size will increase by about 15% in the future. I was wondering if this change would directly be reflected in the class of 2021. Would the change be smaller for us? Will this greatly impact acceptance rates?
Thanks!
It should increase the class size of 2021 by 200+ provided the colleges are completed on schedule and ready to house freshman by August 2017. That is the plan but everyone who builds knows that there can be unexpected delays. Given the current admissions statistics that will likely increase the admit rate by about 0.8%.
I think this change would be directly reflected regardless of whether the dorms are ready to house freshmen. All incoming freshmen are assigned to a residential college but don’t actually live in them until sophomore year, so it’s really a matter of having enough space for the new students in the freshmen dorms, which I believe are located in Old Campus.
I thought I’d heard that the new colleges would house the freshman but I’m not positive
The number of beds in Old Campus is fixed and not expanding. Two of the existing 12 colleges (Silliman and Timothy Dwight) already house their freshmen, and the two new colleges (Benjamin Franklin and Pauli Murray) will as well.
The new residential colleges will hold freshman like Silliman College and Timothy Dwight always have. There is no room for 200 additional freshman on Old Campus.
It will be interesting to see how many of the current students apply to transfer to the new colleges. I guess those wanting to be FroCos is one potential group.
The call went out to current Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors to populate BF and PM colleges. The selling point was that this group (along with the 2021 Freshmen) will be able to create, from the ground up, the colleges’ traditions. I don’t know what the goal is from the current students – but it’ll be exciting to watch.
I read it from YDN a few weeks ago about residential college transfers. If my memory serves me correct, the number of freshmen, sophomores and juniors who were willing to transfer to the two new colleges is not too high, something like a total of around 120.
My son mentioned he was thinking about it. Some reason this made me very sad 
I think Branford is quite stunning and I’m tech challenged so I don’t want to change my avitar!
Thanks for the article @prof2dad , and if I read the numbers correctly, the number of current students interested at this point is far lower than the number of available spots in BF and PM. Which is kind of what I’d expect, given how closely students tend to identify with their colleges.
Aside from upcoming seniors wanting a better chance at being FroCos, the other obvious group to me seems like upcoming juniors who don’t want to be placed in annex housing outside their colleges for junior year, for colleges that have to do that due to lack of space, I don’t know how common that is though.
There is also the potential of groups of friends from different colleges wanting to live together. But it does not look like many have jumped on the move. They are not allowed to select one of the two colleges either, so that might deter some who do not want the BF name.
@canoe2015 I hadn’t thought of housing issues driving BF/PM applications. It’s not all annexes (not all are bad – JE’s annex is on the Old Campus and it was lots of fun – I lived there two years) however. It can be other less than optimal lottery draws. But that usually takes place in March? I wonder how long they’ll keep the window open for BF/PM transfers? If they allow for post-housing lottery, then doesn’t that disrupt the lotteries as people back out and decide to go BF/PM? Just wondering out loud.
@T26E4 good questions and I guess time will tell how it all plays out. From what I understand, as of now the window for transferring to BF/PM closes before people would know their lottery results in their current college. If there aren’t enough students who want to transfer that might change things though.
@tonymom
Speaking of avatar, how/ where did you get that. I’ve always wanted to out one up.
Google the college name and crest (for example, Yale Branford crest) and click on images and you will find all sorts of good possibilities.
Thanks
@myyalieboy
Just did Google search and then saved image. If I recall you then just select it for avitar maybe under profile options?..
@musicmerit
Your observation is exactly why my son is considering changing. He and the frosh guys from his team are considering it…
Again I’ve counseled that diversity is the spice of life and he and teammates already spend plenty time together 