<p>What exactly are these infamous "secret societies" that I hear about at yale? I've heard varying things like they are "elitist" groups kind of like frats/sororities... but it's all really fuzzy to me (indeed perhaps why they are "secret") Does anyone know how prevalent this presence is on campus? How much of the class is actually involved in this?</p>
<p>The above article is the best source of information on Yale societies (and fraternities/sororities).</p>
<p>Secret societies are Yale aren't really secret. People know who was and who is in them, even though it isn't publicized until after the seniors who are members graduate. The societies don't have any influence on campus; they just serve as a meeting place for the juniors who were "tapped"--that is, inducted into the society.</p>
<p>Everyone knows which tombs (buildings) belong to which societies. Next time you visit Yale, the big tomb next to Jonathan Edwards College (closer to Chapel Street) is the Skull and Bones tomb. You'll never see activity inside these tombs, nor will you see people entering or leaving, unless you do a stakeout. Perhaps due to the clubs' secrecy, they aren't a prominent force on campus. The reason people feel that they "control the world" is that they're mysterious and are quite elitist, although now more and more clubs are leaning toward meritocratic ways of tapping members.</p>
<p>There are no numbers on how much of the class is involved in this. However, you can basically figure it out. Since only seniors are members, there are roughly 1300 seniors the societies may "tap" from. There are 10 societies. Skull and Bones has 15 members. While the number of members in other societies are unknown, let's assume membership ranges from 10-15 in the nine other clubs. That means that there are between 105 and 150 seniors in secret societies, which, assuming that no senior is tapped for two clubs, means that roughly 10% of the graduating class is in a secret society. It's not a large number, but it's not small either. I hope this helps.</p>
<p>Anyone know anybody famous who was a member for sure or is it just rumor?</p>
<p>John Kerry and George Bush are both members of Skull and Bones.</p>
<p>Skull and Bones is famous for turning out high-level officals in the CIA. However, I think that other famous club (is it Lock and Key?), has turned out more powerful individuals.</p>
<p>Okay, senior at Yale here. Secret societies play little to no difference on campus life here except for providing us with lots of entertaining people dressed up in costumes around this time of year (around when Tap Night is). Seriously not something to worry about at Yale. Societies, once the "goal" of a Yale education, have now been relegated to the realm of amusement for those in it. This is something to keep in mind at other schools though, as Harvard's social scene still revolves somewhat around Finals clubs and Princeton's around Eating Clubs.</p>
<p>If you want to know a little more though, I'll explain. People are tapped into societies in April of their Junior Year. The tapping for some societies is based on line taps (as in the captain of the Football team always gets a Bones tap, etc.) or based on nomination by the members. It's very dependent on who you know and is all kind of silly. People in socities get together every Sunday and Thursday and give 7 hour presentations about everything in their life (called Bios) to the other members of the group with the goal being that you get to know the other people in the society (who are often chosen because they've lived very cool lives) a lot better. That's it. Nothing more.</p>
<p>What about greek life? What percent of the student body is involved in it?</p>
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People in societies get together every Sunday and Thursday and give 7 hour presentations about everything in their life
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<p>this is startling. 7 hours? twice a week? each person contribtuing 30 minutes of revelation? I always figured these were glorified American Legion Posts with lots of drinking. If indeed the meetings are either group psychotherapy sessions or simply devoted to ambitious gossip or somewhere in the middle, big family gatherings where everyone talks and listens, powwows, I am very impressed and encouraged indeed if it is as you say zippership, that these societies have knowledge as a goal rather than tittilation.... not that i oppose tittilation,.. in a mausoleum</p>
<p>Societies meet twice a week. Everytime that they meet, they don't do a bio. Sometimes they just get together, cook dinner (or have dinner cooked for them), and talk/drink. Everyone in the society gives their bio once during the year though. The person gets the whole night to talk about their life from first word and first memory to present day. If the person doesn't do much research or doesn't have much to talk about, this can take 30 minutes, but it takes as long as the person needs and so often stretches into early mornings. Of course, for most societies, this process also involves inebriation. Also, not all societies have tombs - in fact, most don't. The societies with tombs, especially those of the mausoleum variety, tend to be the older and more prestigious ones (Known as the Ancient 8).</p>
<p>As to greek life, it's something you can do, although it's not something that dominates life at Yale. There are a few frats and sororities although the social scene is largely based around room parties / college parties and not frats, so they're available if you want them, but not a huge presence. Also, more than 15 something women living together is technically a "brothel" by some stupid CT state law and is outlawed, so the sororities don't tend to have houses.</p>
<p>Yale's societies are nothing more than a chance for 10 or 15 seniors to have free dinner on Thursday and Sunday nights and hang out in an ancient building. The rest of the week, they party with everyone else. Harvard's and Princeton's are far more exclusive and damaging to campus life, because they create a "class" structure.</p>
<p>Wasn't the Skull & Bones society the society Matt Damon was in in The Good Shepherd?</p>
<p>yep. as said above, S&BS has a lot that go into the cia</p>
<p>Correction - used to have a lot of people that go into the CIA. There's another society now that specializes in breaking into other societies and pulling off multi-million dollar heists (you can audition for this society but it's tough to get in). Anyhow, the people who get in are ridiculous at what they do and are almost all given job offers by the CIA. I wouldn't know how many of them take the job because, of course, if they join, it's a complete secret.</p>
<p>Sororities do have houses at Yale now. About 7-8 girls live in each house, though Theta doesn’t have an entire house to itself like Pi Phi and Kappa do.</p>