I was on the Old Campus, and thought it would be terrible to be in Silliman or TD. Every single person in Silliman or TD I have ever met, without exception, thought his or her college was the greatest and were sooooo happy not to have been on the Old Campus. That’s just the way things are.
Objectively, as an adult, I would say that it’s better if the freshmen are interspersed among more senior students. There’s a lot of silliness and disruption that happens in freshmen-only dorms everywhere, including Yale’s Old Campus, that registers as “fun” to some students (such as, me) and “hellish torture” to others (such as, my wife), but that in retrospect is clearly distracting and not all that valuable in terms of forming friendships or learning anything.
Freshman dorms are really a pretty terrible idea, especially at a college where 90% of all students live in dorms. (If you only have the capacity to house freshmen, you really can’t avoid having freshmen dorms.) The real benefit of being a member of a Yale college that houses its freshmen on the Old Campus is that after your freshman year you never have to live next door to freshmen again.
That’s probably accurate. Branford occupies half of Harkness Memorial Quadrangle, which includes Harkness Tower (which is in Branford) and Wrexham Tower (much shorter, in Saybrook, which is the other half). Harkness Quadrangle was built in the early 20s, before the residential college system was instituted, and it has a level of construction quality and detail that surpasses that of the other residential colleges, The Quadrangle has six courtyards – a huge central courtyard dominated by Harkness Tower at one end, with a sweeping lawn, many trees, and views of both towers, and south of that a set of three intimate courtyards where the buildings are four stories tall, and on the north side a set of two courtyards with five stories of building. Branford has the large courtyard and the three more intimate courtyards to the south. So it has the single most impressive open space in any college, plus beautiful more private-feeling residential courtyards. Saybrook has the two north courtyards.
It is somewhat more aesthetically pleasing than Saybrook, and also quieter. Most of the external Saybrook rooms look out on Elm Street or York Street, which are busy, and the Saybrook courtyards can be very noisy public spaces. Branford only has a few rooms along York Street, and the rest of its rooms are internal to the college or look out on a pedestrian walk between Branford and Jonathan Edwards. Its courtyards are either less conducive to noise or dissipate it better.
So, much as it pains me to say so, I think Branford, objectively, is the prettiest of the Yale colleges.
@IxnayBob
Love the t-shirt!
I suspect this residential college vibe is similar to the George Carlin skit about “stuff”…
My stuff is great stuff while your stuff is crap…
It’s all relative
I agree completely with that. But I don’t think everyone is randomly assigned to the prettiest residential college at Yale. They are all pretty, but a few are definitely prettier than others.
This has been around since I went to Yale in the 70’s. Everyone thinks that the college they are in is the best. Those that live in Silliman and TD believe they hit the jackpot because they are in their college for 4 years. Those of us who lived on Old Campus thought that was the best deal. I find that all the angst goes away once they are there - and yes I got quite a few tearful calls the first weeks of freshman year (and a few even now from my rising Junior).
And just a note - Jonathan Edwards is the first and prettiest residential college - and while some may argue with the prettiest, we will ALWAYS be the first.
Sorry have to say hubby and I attended UCSC and That’s the PRETTIEST! Redwood forest trumps old, dusty hallways any day And we have banana slugs as mascot and “invented” pesto pizza…
Anyone know what the layout is like on Old Campus frosh dorms? Co-Ed or by floor? Tiny kitchen sink in quads or no running water? I tried to search Old Campus on YouTube but couldn’t find any “tour” videos like the Yale crib ones for the residential colleges…
@tonymom, depends on the dorm. I can’t speak for all of them these days, but I know Welch Hall and Durfee have bathrooms/running water within the suites. Back in the day, and perhaps still now based on @donnaleighg’s post, Vanderbilt had bathrooms/running water outside the suites.
As others have said, it varies. Some suites open up to a communal bathroom in the doorway, shared by several suites. Some have its own bathroom.
Floors tend to be single sex but an oddball mixture may occur due to space considerations. Also many suites have fire escape doors to adjoining suites. This doesn’t mix genders generally within a hall. But it doesn’t carry when speaking outside the particular hall: thus if the 2nd floor of Farnam is male but the 2nd floor of adjacent Lawrence is female, the suites that abut each other will have access to the other.
^ That’s about right. We had a GF or two in our guys’ suite for about 3 of the 4 yrs, living there more or less permanently. But our that was atypical from what I could tell.
