<p>We have some good discussions going on guys!
For me, academically, although I plan to study Astrophysics in college, the Humanities and stuff are inseparable parts of me. That’s why I love Yale’s extraordinary humanities backdrop. I believe one cannot be a great scientist without a full liberal arts education. And as some of you mentioned, an 18 year old is too young to make mature decisions of himself/herself academic-wise, and narrow his/her interests down.
As for other reasons, I agree about the great people at Yale. I felt Yale was the most considerate place among all the other colleges I visited this summer : )
And yeah, residential colleges (I mean, who doesn’t like them!)
For a potential science major, I was also happy to know that Yale has been developing its science programs over the past years.
Late congrats on you son! @IxnayBob </p>
<p>@ProximaCentauri a fellow astrophysics fan! I’m in the same boat as you except what really drew me to yale was its Astronomy and Physics major. Not many schools let you combine the two unless you double major. Doing a bs will let me do pre med just fine and take whatever other classes that interest me</p>
<p>Yep, I plan to do the Astronomy and Physics major too (just calling it astrophysics for brevity’s sake). And I think Yale’s Astronomy and Physics major is more like a single Astrophysics major than a double major, especially in terms of the course requirements. The thing is, not many schools even have an independent astrophysics/astronomy major! </p>
<p>Bob- I understand all those other caveats, but if you’re applying to Yale or the really tippy top schools, the schools that fit those descriptions are not usually on your radar. My D applied to her state school. There was no school on her radar that allowed rolling admissions and besides Yale, there was no other school she wanted to bind herself to ED 1 or 2. Never wanted to apply out of the country so basically in her case, Yale SCEA and her state school which was University of Maryland College Park.</p>
<p>Of course you can simultaneously apply anywhere else RD at the same time you are applying to Yale SCEA. Which means you can have all the apps in, but you won’t hear from them until spring. Yale you hear from in December.</p>
<p>abc2cbc- I am sorry for the confusion. I hope IxnayBob and I cleared it up for you. I know how confusing it was for us this time last year applying with all the SCEA, EA, ED, ED2, etc. Too many alphabets!!!</p>
<p>Thanks, Tperry1982–you and IxnayBob did clear it up for me. I was just worried that I had misunderstood the policy!</p>
<p>Application in! No more dwelling. It’ll go before adcom this week (starting Wednesday) to see if I’m LL worthy (recruited athlete). Love the school and really hoping that all goes well, especially because I managed to get the green light after my preread.</p>
<p>Good luck CardioParty!! I have been reading the posts of the seniors on this thread and I wish all of you good luck, however you choose. I agree with IxnayBob that Yale is a good place, but only if it “fits” you. The student body is phenomenal. Alumni relations are awesome. I just went back for a Jonathan Edwards (first residential college) all class reunion (I was Class of 1982). It was 500+ alumni registered and we had a blast. The residential college system is definitely a selling point FOR Yale considering most schools in that upper echelon will basically give you the same excellent education.</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman like IxnayBob’s, and is having a great first few weeks. Even though it was her undeniable first choice, she did question herself when she first got there and had some rough patches with homesickness, etc. But she has hit her stride, found some wonderful ECs and volunteer opportunities, and is making some good friends.</p>
<p>While I love my school, I learned from her college application process that you have to go to these schools and get a true and realistic sense of them. I have known people to tour Yale and hate it (okay, they’re few and far between). I even had a friend who went and had a bad experience (some random student was rude to her) and tried to use that to sway my child away from attending!! Anyway, please keep your options open. I have posted online before that even the Ivies are very different and you cannot possibly like the environment at all of them simultaneously.</p>
<p>I wish you all luck and if you have any specific questions I will be glad to answer them via PM since I also do recruiting and alumni interviews.</p>
<p>Tperry1982: I have someone who also does recruiting and alumni interviews who offered to write a letter for my son. Do you think this is worth doing? It seems to me that schools like Yale only want the required letters unless the supplemental letter is truly noteworthy with additional critical information, not just “I think this student is a great candidate”.</p>
<p>You should only send an additional letter if it adds something really significant about the student that doesn’t appear elsewhere in the application. A letter from somebody who is an alumnus who just knows the student casually won’t likely have any impact. Well, maybe if the person is a super-rich donor–but even then, it may not help unless the student’s family is also super-rich.</p>
<p>Thanks Hunt. That was my thought as well. </p>
<p>To spark up more discussion! (seniors, I know we’re all busy right now) What do you guys think about the change in those 250-charcater short answers questions this year? I was already thinking about the “historical moment” questions when I saw that Yale changed them last month. There’s one that asks “how would you contribute to the dynamic of your suite?” that I thought was hard to write about (in 40 words or so)</p>
<p>To confirm a rumor I heard : is it true that there’s no air conditioning in the dorms in Yale’s residential colleges?</p>
<p>@ProximaCentauri, the rumor you heard is correct. There is no air conditioning in the dorms in Yale’s residential colleges. </p>
<p>The kids cope. Fans are allowed.</p>
<p>To confirm another rumor: New Haven is located at Latitude:41.31, Longitude:-72.9236. And the number of days during the actual school calendar that would require air condition are woefully few.</p>
<p>Thanks IxnayBob!
And T26E4, yeah, good point. I visited Yale this summer and some of my friends doing summer school there were complaining to me. But besides in the summer, there really is not much need for AC.</p>
<p>@ProximaCentauri, to be honest, my son griped a bit about the lack of AC in the first 2 weeks – he’s more accustomed to ice rinks than saunas. I recommend strong fans (we used one of the semi-industrial fans that we usually use to dry his hockey gear) and spending more time outside in the shade. I think if you asked my son what his recollections are of his first two weeks, the heat wouldn’t be in the top 10 memories.</p>
<p>My son has moderate seasonal allergies, but I guess if one had very strong seasonal allergies then the open windows and lack of filtered air might be an issue. I missed that day at med school :)</p>
<p>Wow-- @proximace you have such a cool interest!! Good luck to both of us! And wow so there’s no air conditioning in any of the dorms? And by the way does anyone know about the inside of the residential colleges–as in, does each person get their own room or are there roommates?</p>
<p>@WiseOrigins, I stayed in one and the college was split into different sections. Each section had a main staircase with a foyer on each floor that had three doors–two to separate suites, and one to a shared bathroom. On the bottom there was a network of tunnels that connected each “section”, where there was a gym/dance studio/printing room/buttery/lounge area. Pretty cool setup.</p>