Questions about dorms at Yale

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
1

Hello! I was just curious about the freshmen residential colleges at Yale.

  1. Are they coed?
  2. In a suite, does each student get his or her own bedroom?
  3. Are bathrooms located inside of the suite?
  4. If I have a home in New Haven, am I still required to live in Yale’s dorms? It seems rather silly.
  5. How much thought goes into selecting roommates? Is there a questionnaire involved to allow the best placement?
2

Look on Youtube at the “That’s Why I Choose Yale” video. Also look at other videos about residential colleges etc. You will see lots of examples of suites at Yale. Go on the blog called TheBoola. There is a blog this week about suites with some fancy examples of some.

Yes, coed. Some bathrooms in suites, some in hallways. Freshman must live on campus unless they are over 21 or married (definitely on the website). If you get in, which obviously you haven’t yet, you will get an extensive survey which they will use to select your suitemates and residential college. You have no choice unless you are a legacy which obviously you aren’t or you would have the answers to these questions.

3

Thank you ever so much!

4

When assigned to a suite, you’ll also be assigned to a bedroom. Maybe a single, maybe not. You don’t have a say in it.

5

The residential colleges are coed, but the suites are not coed. You will have to share a bathroom with the opposite gender if you happen to be on the same entryway and floor. I think your likelihood of getting a single versus a double is roughly 50/50 based on my (Y90) experience and my daughter’s (Y17). TPerry has more recent experience than I do (and maybe in different residential colleges), but I have never seen an inside-suite bathroom. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of them are outside of the suite, in the hallway. Freshmen are required to live off campus, but after that you can choose. I’ll say that when I went they did a poor job of selecting my roommates. My daughter things they did a great job, so I assume the algorithm has greatly improved. You saw TPerry’s answer with respect to the online survey.

6

While that’s true for freshman year, that’s NOT true for sophomore, junior and senior years: http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2014/12/09/mixed-gender-housing-extended-to-sophomores/

You’ve never been to JE: Page 14: http://je.yalecollege.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/2018%20Handbook_3.pdf

7

After freshman year, suites can be coed but students put together their suite mates for the room lottery. Even though suites aren’t coed freshman year, there’s a lot of co- mingling since Yale has no rules regarding opposite sex being in rooms like some schools have. Farnham suites on Old Campus have in suite bathrooms. I’m sure others do.