my son was placed in the residential college Silliman, one of the two colleges where the freshmen move into the upper class housing immediately instead of living on old campus with the rest of the freshman class the first year. I am worried that because of this he will miss out on the " freshman year" experience and meeting and making friend with others in his class but not in his college. Can anyone speak to this issue?
My daughter was placed in Timothy Dwight. Like your son, she was initially sad that she would “miss out” on the “freshman experience”. Within half an hour of arrival at TD, she was thoroughly brainwashed into the opinion that it is FAR better to be able to spend all four years in your RC, and to be with the “grownups” rather than only silly, immature freshmen. I’m sure your son will love Silliman!
My son was placed in Davenport. He and his suite mates have “friended” on FB but not exchanged any actual words. Makes me bananas!
This makes me feel so much better! My son (in Saybrook) has 2 suite mates who are not even on FB and he has not communicated with them AT ALL. It is driving me crazy. My husband says guys are not like girls …
@wchatar2, respond your question from another thread. My son is currently traveling and out of the country, so, I have no idea what he has done or what he is supposed to do. 
He only told us which college he has been assigned to, 2-3 words describing/characterizing each suitemate, and he is very happy. I agree, guys are different. For now, I try not to worry, just give him and myself a vacation!
Same situation here as @Community2605, my son was assigned to JE and has “befriended” his suite mates, but thats all.
My son, who was a freshman in Saybrook four years ago, refused to befriend his suite mates prior to move-in day. He kept telling us “That is so lame.” On move-day, all four kids should up with a mini-fridge (ugh) and no furniture. However, the kids all went shopping together and furnished their suite with couches and tables from the Salvation Army, which is just a couple of blocks away from the old yard. So, in the end, it all worked out. I imagine it will too for your kids.
Thank you donnaleighg for addressing my issue. That makes me feel a bit better. I am sure it will be fine, but as a mom I worry. Did your daughter meet andale friends with people outside TD?
That was supposed to say " meet and make friends"
Sure. She joined an EC and met lots of people there who she became very close to. Of course as many kids seem to do, the group of young women who were on her hall freshmen year pretty much stayed together in varying configurations of room-mates for the next four years, always living on the same hall. The RC really is an important part of life at Yale.
If you are spending any mental energy at all worrying about which residential college at Yale your child has been assigned to:
(a) You must have a very care-free existence, free from anything actually worth worrying about.
(b) You need to find another outlet for your compulsion to analyze trivial differences. Why not devote yourself to figuring out which archangel is best?
© Seriously, it’s time to let go.
Everyone I know from Silliman – and that’s a pretty decent number of people – feels like he or she won the lottery by getting placed there. That’s pretty much true of every Yale residential college, but the Sillimanders are especially vocal about it.
It doesn’t really matter if your kid only makes friends within Silliman early in his Yale career, because there are plenty of great people to make friends with in Silliman, and there’s plenty of time and opportunity for branching out later. The freshmen from every residential college are housed in blocks on the old campus, and some activities like intramural sports are sorted by college, so freshmen tend to make most of their early friends within their residential college anyway, or at most within their college and one other whose freshmen may be housed nearby. I suspect the closiong of Commons has made that even more true. What residential colleges are really good for is opportunities to make friends with people in other graduating classes early in your freshman year, and Silliman and TD are obviously best for that. As time goes on, ECs and classes and where you like to sit in the library and just plain life ensure that you meet people from every college and class.
Your kid will be randomly assigned to the best residential college at Yale. Just ask him or her a few weeks in.
I understand the sentiment behind this and in the coming weeks/ years worrying about this will seem trivial, you will get no argument from me. But on the other hand, many are coming to CC for the first time because their oldest child is going to Yale in the fall. Of course there is some agita about what your childs life is going to be like, thats a natural thing. Is it “wrong” to ask on a forum about such things to people who have “been around the block”? Im beyond thrilled that my child is going to Yale, I honestly think admissions made a mistake sometimes. Its the fear of the unknown coupled with the certain knowledge that 18 year old people/ children let things slide that their parents would rather have them deal with. Of course it will all work out and things settle down. I would just ask some forbearance by the “old timers”. Personally Im stoked that my son is in Saybrook, randomly I completey accept.
My son got assigned to Davenport. He never mentioned whether he friended any of his suit mates, and it didn’t even occur to me to ask. He may have said he got a room all to himself. Just for the furnishing purpose, he probably should communicate with his suit mates to make the most efficient arrangement.
@wchatar2, I think it’s fair to say that many (I suspect, most) of the old-timers here really believe in the excellence of the residential college program, and in the way all the students come to believe (quite rapidly, for most) that their residential college is the best. In other words, this is one thing you really don’t have to worry about–Yale has you covered on this aspect of college life.
@Hunt Thank you, Ive heard that from a lot of my friends who attended Yale (alas I did not) but a parent abhors an information vacuum:) Again, thank you.
As the parent of a completely unhooked applicant, as deserving as any other accepted student but also no better than many who were rejected, I completely understand. After the first year I got over the feeling and am unambiguously convinced that this will work out well for both DS and Yale.
Re an information vacuum, DS communicates with home more than most kids his age, but there are still periods of time where he’s radio silent. That’s the way it’s supposed to be 
wchatar2: What luck! Your son really got the best residential college!
All of you: Hunt said clearly and kindly what I (and others, including Hunt) had been saying obliquely and archly – this is not something even parents who worry about everything should worry about.
That said . . . “a parent abhors an information vacuum” . . . you all ought to start getting used to a lot less information than you like to have, because in most cases the information spigot is darn near closed when your child goes to college. You will get some information – carefully curated – from your child, and some from bursar’s bills and cell phone bills (if your child is still on the family plan). But you are not going to know your child’s life in the way you know it now. And you are not going to be able to affect your child’s life the way you can affect it now. You should be practicing keeping calm about that instead of wondering whether living in Silliman is better or worse than living on the Old Campus.
@IxnayBob Im fully expecting to never hear from my son unless he needs money or needs to come home for laundry. Its the eerie quite before that is difficult to deal with.
Your words are encouraging because as amazing as my son is, very, its really hard for me to believe that hes in Yale. And the most irritating thing is that he seems downright blase about the whole thing. Youth.
@JHS Thank you for confirming that Saybrook REALLY is the best residential college! I knew that you would come clean.