<p>Best residential college...give pros and cons of some if you are not particularly fond of just one..i need to know! so spit it out :p</p>
<p>For best, everyone will simply say their own, so there's no point asking. The actual best college is Saybrook, but the others on this site will be blinded by their own college-love, and refuse to accept this fact.</p>
<p>As far as worst goes - Morse and Stiles are the absolute worst. The architecture is bad, as is the set-up of rooms (no suites), they lack right angles, their dining halls are no good, and they're a long ways away from everything except the gym.
Calhoun is next worst, though it's being renovated next year, and judging by renovation history, should improve a lot. Right now though, it's in poor repair, doesn't have keycard access to entryways, has a bad dining hall, etc.
JE was pretty bad last year, but it's under renovation right now, so it will likely be better soon.
Other than that, Saybrook, Branford, Trumbull, Berkeley, Davenport, and Silliman are all very nice. Pierson and TD are perhaps a little weaker, but that's a matter of opinion.</p>
<p>The most telling fact, perhaps, is that almost everyone loves their college, regardless of which one it is. The social community provided by the college is far more important than the physical architecture, so even if you're disappointed by your college assignment when you get in in June, by a month into the academic year, you will have an absurd degree of college pride.</p>
<p>I understand they send out a form that is to be filled, according to which they put you to the respective college. What is that like? I really can't wait until May! :p</p>
<p>Unless you are a legacy, the form doesn't affect what college you are in. Legacies (and siblings of current/former Yale undergrads) can ask to be in the same college as their parents. Alternatively they can ask to not be in the same college (ie, they are assigned randomly to one of the other 11). For everyone else, the form is only used to determine your freshman year roommates/suitemates.</p>
<p>No, i know that..I was just interested in finding out about the residential colleges...cause I have heard that Ezra Stiles is horrible..i just wanted to get a clear picture..</p>
<p>As svalbardlutefisk says, everyone will tell you that their college is the best. In truth, they are all pretty nice in their own way, I certainly wouldn't describe any of them as "horrible". </p>
<p>Stiles and Morse are generally considered the worst, mostly because they are kind of ugly compared to the other colleges. Charitably I would say that they are different, and sometimes that difference works really well, for example if you are keen to have a big single room, and sometimes it doesn't, e.g. the lack of right angles is a bit impractical for arranging the furniture, it looks sort of awkward.</p>
<p>I'm personally kind of so-so about TD and Silliman. People say they have a great community spirit because everyone is all together from the beginning, but I think the OC experience is something I wouldn't have liked to miss out on.</p>
<p>I think Berkeley, Trumbull, Branford, and Davenport are good colleges to be in because their OC dorms are nice as well as the main college. Saybrook and Pierson are nice, but freshmen are stuck in L-dub and, with apologies to svalbardlutefisk, while it's a nice place to visit, you wouldn't want to live there! </p>
<p>I haven't really followed what's going on with the renovations to JE and Calhoun, but living somewhere that has just been renovated is always going to be a plus. For that reason Calhoun will also have a lot of good points for '12er, although the downside will be the lack of facilities while the renovations are going on.</p>
<p>There are qualifiable distinctions between the colleges. For example, the colleges that were among the first to be renovated (Berkeley, Branford, Saybrook and Timothy Dwight0--while they are nice--they lack the top-notch basement common areas that the current phase of renovations (Pierson, Davenport, Silliman, Trumbull and soon to be Jonathan Edwards) will have.</p>
<p>It took a while for the architectural firm that's been designing most of the new colleges to get it right, hence the somewhat poorly done Branford basement and the amazing basements of Pierson, Davenport and Silliman. Jonathan Edwards has been viewed as highly desirable and will continue to be so for the next few years as it will be brand new after a many-million dollar renovation. Calhoun, while small, should improve greatly in quality after it is renovated during the following school year.</p>
<p>Timothy Dwight is generally undesirable as it is so far from Old Campus. Silliman is slightly more central than TD, although in its newly renovated splendor it's a pretty nice college to be in.</p>
<p>Morse and Stiles aren't ideal, because they're far away and just weird-looking, especially when compared to the beauty of the other colleges. However, future classes at Yale shouldn't be disappointed to be in them since they will soon undergo renovations and will probably be really nice after the architects get to work on them.</p>
<p>In terms of resources, some colleges are much poorer than others. Trumbull has little money to spare for its students, whereas Jonathan Edwards has a massive endowment that it uses to fund student activities and even grants for students to travel abroad for free. This obviously annoys students in other colleges, but it's one of the reasons JE'ers have had such high spirit over the past years even though, until recently, their college was near disrepair.</p>
<p>Notwithstanding the objective differences in quality between the colleges, every freshman soon falls in love with his or her own college. Spirit is high among all the colleges, and there is really no losing since compared to other universities, ALL of Yale's housing is really nice.</p>
<p>My child has loved being in TD, lots of spirit. At first she was disappointed in not being on old campus freshman year but she grew to appreciate the fact that she got to live in her college from the start. As everyone here has said, people grow to love their colleges and everyone pretty much thinks theirs is the best.</p>
<p>Freshmen living in TD and Silliman have the advantage of living with upperclassmen right from the beginning and can benefit from their experiences on campus. And that "distance" from old campus? Hmm, all of a five minute walk. </p>
<p>As other posters have said - it is really NOT about the facilities, or the architecture, or the location. Each college fosters a feeling of loyalty and spirit that transcend any objective measure of each one's worth. The colleges become a family within the larger setting and provide a sense of belonging that is different from any other university. As it has been said on other threads, the residential colleges are the reason why there is such a feeling of tolerance and acceptance among students. </p>
<p>I don't think the phenomena can be adequately described on a thread.</p>
<p>And if you take science courses, TD and Silliman are closest to Science Hill.</p>