residential college personalities

<p>They try to mix up the colleges (microcosms) I know, but a recent alum told me that each college still has a distinctive personality of sorts and that some are much more tightly knit than others. Calhoun is intellectual, you get lost in Silliman, TD is the closest, Ezra Styles is close knit and full of leader-types,
Davenport=probable legacy. Is this true?</p>

<p>They are created at random, so it's improbable that the houses have 'personalitlies' as you have defined them. However, some have <em>reputations</em>, but those are based on the buildings and their desirability.</p>

<p>you don't get lost in silliman. you start there from day one, so it has an awesome sense of community. it is, obviously, the best college at yale. f td.</p>

<p>The colleges are not quite random, because if you are a legacy or have an older sibling at Yale, you can request to be in their college, or specifically NOT to be in their college. This has resulted in disproportionate numbers of legacies in some colleges, and, yes, Davenport is one of them. Predictably, Morse and Stiles have the fewest legacies because they don't have gothic architecture. </p>

<p>Based on my D's experience, though, I'd say that a lot of the "personalities" of the colleges have to do with the individual kids that happen to be thrown into them at any given time and can change from year to year.</p>

<p>nature and prior reputation can shape a building's athmosphere. just look at the quad at penn.</p>

<p>what's the reputation of the quad at Penn?</p>

<p>It's the party central of the campus for undergrads.</p>

<p>I have a question about Yale's residential colleges. Am I correct in thinking that you may not change colleges after you are assigned to one? If you wanted to room with someone from another college, you couldn't do that could you?</p>

<p>You can change. The main reason it happens is that a person forms friendships with a group from another college. My D had a friend who transferred into her college because of that. But because the system is set up to encourage friendships within each college, it doesn't happen that often.</p>

<p>on the subject of legacies at Stiles and Morse, my dad was Stiles '76, and I'm applying this fall EA.</p>

<p>i have come to the conclusion that if I do get in, hell yes i'm going to stiles!!! peculiar no-right-angle Eero Saarinen architecture ROCKS!!! it actually is pretty cool...</p>

<p>must say, Bard, you do sound like the leader-type. -you know, the confident creative thinker over the pensive memorizing regurgitator of facts (sooo many of these at all the Ivies). maybe my alum friend is right...</p>

<p>I just checked out Ezra Stiles' architecture. as a student now at a traditional (yes, even gothic!) boarding school I can see how I will not be coveting any more mahogany with bad lighting (been there, done that). But I suppose for those who haven't had that, it's a big deal. anyway...ok, I'd like to be in whatever college you are in.<br>
Rock on, Bard!</p>

<p>Stiles has huge singles & walkin closets.
Some feel that makes up for the modern arch style.</p>

<p>so, hey. let's get back to college "reputations" as they stand right now.
which college is the party college?</p>

<p>its yale...there are parties EVERYWHERE (so I hear anyway)</p>

<p>and since its random, there really is no specific party college, just as there really is no artsy fartsy college or what have you</p>

<p>There are certain suites however that are reserved for people known for partying. One that comes to mind is the God Quad in Branford College. The people there are expected to throw a party every so often. I believe they even receive College funding to do so.</p>

<p>yes, you're correct, we are talking about YALE (the ivy with a robust social life- THE BEST SOCIAL LIFE OF THE IVIES, from what i've been told - ok maybe a tie with princeton). anyway, with that great partying reputation comes great tradition. so...after I graduate from said institution, what TRADITIONAL yale bashes will I be telling my decendents that I remember? - a small house party in a quad? I guess I could go to harvard for that...</p>

<p>You asked what reputations the residential colleges had: The answer is none. Since each college is designed to be a microcosm of Yale College, any reputation that a college acquires will likely last only for that particular class.</p>

<p>In response to the question you just asked in your last post, there are several parties and events that happen with each college. A few that come to mind are Casino Night, held by Morse and Stiles, the Spider Ball, held by JE, and the Safety Dance, held by Silliman. Casino Night has been called one of the best college parties by Rolling Stone.</p>

<p>What’s this Casino Night Like? Real money? Do most of the students attend? etc.</p>

<p>Alex: did you see when this thread was started? All the posters have graduated college by now.</p>

<p>Casino night is fake money .</p>

<p>Casino Night no longer exists; it has been replaced with the egregiously lame Prohibition. It is the victim of Connecticut Law (which is comical considering the New Haven Police Department’s nearly complete eschewal of liquor law enforcement on the Yale campus.)</p>