<p>Hi - Does anyone know anything good or bad about Morse and what it's like? How important is the residential college assignment? Would appreciate any feedback. Thanks!</p>
<p>You might get more detailed info...from both parents and kids...on the Yale Forum</p>
<p>Of course I prefer Pierson because my wife is a direct descendant of the Rev Abe Pierson. ;-</p>
<p>Originaloog thats what I call "diversity" and "good fit"!</p>
<p>Pass the Poupon-LOL</p>
<p>Is Morse the one with pie-shaped rooms?</p>
<p>All residential colleges at Yale are microcosms of the larger college environment. In terms of student composition, Morse will be the same as every other residential college, a terrific mix of students of all interests and backgrounds. There isn't a jock college, an artsy college, a preppy college, etc.</p>
<p>Students in Morse (known as Morsels) live on Old Campus their freshman year as do the students of all but two of the residential colleges. </p>
<p>To be honest, Morse and Stiles have the least popular architecture of any of the colleges. There are no right angles in any of the rooms. Morse and Stiles won all sorts of architectural prizes when they opened, but current students can't for the life of them figure out why. Morse is known for the Claes Oldenburg "Lipstick" sculpture in its courtyard. I think that you have a better shot of having a single bedroom in Morse than in other colleges, but I may be wrong. Morse is near the gym and close to Broadway where there a lots of places to get food. It is not as close to the core of the univeristy as some colleges, but it's really very near.</p>
<p>Residential college assignment is tremendously important. For most Yalies their residential college is a huge party of their identity and there is lots of residential college pride. Which college you are assigned to is not important, however, as members of every residential college will defend theirs above all others. You can transfer to another college sophomore year if you want, but only a handful of people in each residential college do so.</p>
<p>Here's the Morse web page:</p>
<p>I echo what AA has said. My D is in Stiles, and while the architecture leaves something to be desired, as she put it: "on most other campuses this would be considered great housing; it's only because it's Yale that Morse and Stiles suffer by comparison." She had terrific freshman housing, and will have a large single this fall as a sophomore (yes, M&S both have many more singles than the other colleges, which are composed mainly of suites). And she never dreamed of switching, nor have any of her friends. Most students love their residential college, no matter which one it is.</p>
<p>Morse and Stiles are the two "modern" colleges at Yale, built in the early 70s, and designed by Eero Saarinen. Housing in the colleges consists almost exclusively of single rooms, which is not at all the norm at Yale. (Most people I knew there never lived in a single.) Freshmen, however, live on the Old Campus in normal (for Yale) quads.</p>
<p>Most people are assigned to a college at random. (Legacies, if they wish, can choose either to join their parent's college or to "blackball" their parent's college.) </p>
<p>Whatever reputation Morse has now will be irrelevant to your kid. The colleges do develop some sort of character, but it changes pretty rapidly over the course of a few years. When I was a freshman, my college was known as the English-majors-on-acid college. Three years later, based on the normal vagaries of random assignment, it was incontestably the jock college.</p>
<p>Do the Yale residential colleges take on any personality due to their masters? I thought the Harvard ones did when I was there - but that was before the days of the random assignments. I suspect it's less so now. Still there was an assortment of professors and others that were associated with our House for one reason or another. The master was at the law school. There was a French professor who came once a week at least. And Robert Lowell came and ate with us from time to time. I'd guess Yale has similar arrangements?</p>
<p>Yes, Yale has similar arrangements. Each college has a Master and a Dean in residence. (In my day, there were also a few other faculty in residence in each college. For my colleged that included a young, feckless scholar from a famous family, with a wife and small children, and a painfully shy emeritus professor who was a giant in his field.)</p>
<p>Masters have a lot of discretion to do what they like. Some put out more effort than others, some have flashier connections, and some just naturally do a better job of maintaining a sense of community. But they have no effect on which students live in the college, only on a relatively small slice of what goes on there. To use my (somewhat outdated) experience again -- I caught the last couple of years at the end of one Master's career. He was a retired History professor who did nothing that even remotely enhanced the intellectual atmosphere of the college, but he did host weekly Wednesday afternoon "teas" that were very popular (because they could more appropriately have been called "whiskey sours"). And his very outgoing wife did a sensational job performing the naughty songs of her youth (the 20s and 30s, a period that few of us previously realized had naughty songs). He was replaced by a much more sober, but much less colorful medical school professor, who barely talked to students. Neither Master's inadequacies kept the college from being known at the time for closeness and having great college spirit. (Our Dean, now the principal of a Scottish university, helped a lot.) Other Masters at the time brought in famous friends to attend their teas or to teach seminars, or served better food, and we envied that a little, but it didn't make anyone want to live in their colleges rather than ours.</p>
<p>I don't feel like the colleges take on a personality due to their deans and masters. In all colleges dean and masters host a variety of social events; it's part of the job. Some deans and masters may eat more in the dining halls or show up a the residential college tailgates more, etc., but I don't think it really impacts the spirit or the closeness of the college much.</p>