<p>Well... I used to love chemistry in high school and I took 118 freshman year and I liked it. But then... orgo happened. That's a big part of it. It drove me insane. Also, I realized that I love other things, like literature and languages and can't imagine doing labwork for the rest of my life. Also, I changed since coming to Yale, so I don't want to be locked in the basement by myself making chemicals (ok, so chemists don't do that), but basically I might need a something that is dealing with humans a little (so, I'm thinking about getting a PhD in in neuroscience). Another thing is that I used ot love getting exact answers for questions and now I'm more into vagueness and multiple possibilites as opposed to one definitive answer. I do hope chem gets better because it's too late to switch (unless I switch to history or anthro). I must add that I loved most of my TAs and they taught me more than some professors (I'm refering to orgo).</p>
<p>my thunder has officially been stolen. watch out antimatter, i know where you live.</p>
<p>thx, antimatter :-P although I haven't had much of a bad experience with orgo (in fact, I rather like it :p), I do understand the thing of wanting to do something that deals with people a little more... well, good luck to you, and I hope you manage to find a way to make everything work out happily in the end :)</p>
<p>any info on the art department - friends in it - or classes taken?</p>
<p>goldoro99 & athena_wiles....can you give tell us what the first few weeks of Yale was like for you? How was orientation....fun, intimidating..? How was the begining of classes and the shopping period? What about the social scene? Were cliques begining right away or were people open to meeting everyone?</p>
<p>casey5: dont really know anything about the art department. ill defer to my fellow yalies on that one.</p>
<p>nala: first few weeks for me at least were fun but pretty stressful...i can imagine that it would be the same at most colleges, the transition is a major one no matter where youre going to school. things were a little more complicated by the fact that the dining halls were closed during a strike. it was nice to get money to buy food but it also would have been nice to get to the dining halls right away. but yea, i think most socialization begins in your suites, and then you branch out from there. i was lucky to get some good suitemates who im still friends with. as for classes and shopping, i didnt really do too much of it because i was in ds, so i knew most of my classes already.</p>
<p>Hey guys. This thread has been very helpful and informative so far. Thanks. Here's my deal. I want to major in English/Literature and Journalism. I'm also interested in Creative Writing. However, from what i've read, Yale doesn't seem to have Journalism or Creative Writing as majors. Are there any programs that focus on that, though? Or should I think about applying somewhere else?</p>
<p>laptop or computer?</p>
<p>nala ~ the first few weeks are crazy, but it's a good sort of crazy. I remember my first few weeks were filled with things like auditions (for orchestras and Yaledancers), getting to meet all of the people in your college (one of my best memories from the first few weeks of school was going showing up at an Indian restaurant with 20 people from my dorm... without a reservation... man, we had so much fun that night :-P), going to orientation meetings (w/frosh counselors and your college's administration), etc. The social scene can also be pretty hectic; there seemed to be a lot of parties going on, both so the upperclassmen could show off to the underclassmen and so everyone could have fun before the workload started to get tough... no, I don't remember cliques forming in the first few weeks (the only real clique that I can think of freshman year didn't really take shape until about the beginning of second semester, and even then, they weren't really that much of a <em>clique</em>, although I'm sure other people have worse stories on that front...)</p>
<p>And yes, negotiating shopping period for the first time can be stressful. Actually, shopping period can just be stressful in general, because sometimes it's <em>really</em> hard to choose between what seem like two really cool classes (or to choose between one you think you <em>should</em> take and one you <em>want</em> to take...). But it's worth it... I think it's fun to just go shop a ton of classes, even ones you don't think you'll ever consider taking, because sometimes you run across a subject or a prof that you'll absolutely just love and that you wouldn't have found any other way... :p it's great. Stressful, but great.</p>
<p>jhudora - I think there's a writing concentration within the English major? You have to apply to it after already declaring as ane English major, though... check out the department's website and see what they have to say....</p>
<p>imdanumb1 - laptop. desktops are nice b/c they usually have more power, but the portability of the laptop (letting you take it to the library, out into your common room, take it home over breaks, etc.) is worth a <em>million</em> times more as a college student, in my opinion.</p>
<p>jhudora: there is a comprehensive creative writing concentration in the english major, as well as a playwriting conc. in the theatre major and a screenwriting conc. in film studies (very nice, i must say). then there is the standard english major and a standard literature major. as for journalism, there are plenty of ways to study it at yale, and there are about a zillion publications (all take a backseat to the granddaddy of all college dailies, the yale daily news). ive heard that if you want to go into journalism as a career, you shouldnt major in journalism in college. you should find a subject that really interests you, and hone your skills in writing in general, and pursue journalism through that subject. i personally am considering going into science journalism (ie, national geographic, etc), and from the advice ive gotten, this is a good way to get into it.</p>
<p>oh and imdanumb1: definitely laptop!</p>
<p>Thanks goldoro and athena, I was kind of worried about that one. As to pursuing journalism through another subject, that actually makes sense. I hadn't though about it before, but it's a good idea.</p>
<p>goldoro, i'm interested in going into high-tech business and also in majoring in some sort of engineering, will yale's reputation of excellent humanities hurt me? what kind of job opportunities are there for people interested in business coming from yale?</p>
<p>=] Here's my question. Are there any students in Yale who took only 3 years of Foreign language in their high school years?</p>
<p>Sneakie, I didn't take a foreign language my senior year of high school and got in. But I did go through "Spanish 5" and get a decent AP score before I stopped. I wouldn't worry about it if you really don't want to take a foreign language this year, but i'm no admissions expert =).</p>
<p>=/ Blah does that mean I will have to take AP Spanish in May. -.- Oh boy. =] Thanks Justin. ^^ I hope the admissions understand my situation though. :]</p>
<p>How are job opportunities at yale and internships</p>
<p>iv4me: i dont think yales reputation of excellent humanities will hurt anyone. its true that yale isnt the best school in engineering, but lately it has been pumping a lot of money into these fields and is serious about improving its standing. you also have to keep in mind that yale fosters a great sense of academic exploration and experimentation--so what you think you love now might not be true in a few years (it certainly happened for me). and you can of course major in engineering and your yale degree wont hurt if you want to get into a great engineering grad school--and because you went to yale, youll likely come out with passions and interests that will inform your engineering work and set you apart from other majors from more "technical" schools.
as for business, yale has a fantastic and large econ major, and recently new haven has become pretty big into biotech and other high-tech firms. honestly, the opportunities for someone coming from yale interested in business are about as good as you can get. yale and wall street are practically joined at the hip, but its not limited to new york--i have a friend whos thinking about working at jp morgan in japan next summer.</p>
<p>sneakiie: i didnt do a language my senior year, though i had gone through spanish 4 ap in junior year and got a 4 on the exam. i dont think it really matters for admission, as long as youre a good candidate overall, its not going to make or break you, in my opinion. of course, if you dont test out through aps, you have to fulfill the language requirement at yale.</p>
<p>imdanumb1: im not really sure what you mean--are you talking about jobs at yale or jobs that you can get through yale connections? im gonna assume youre talking about the latter, and for that i can say youre options are pretty vast--almost too vast for someone like me who has trouble making up his mind. yale has a good job/internship placement office, though the best way to score good summer jobs/internships is through professors who can write you awesome recs, or peers who know someone who know someone who knows...etc, or just other people youll meet there, and the fact that you can put "yale student" on your resume doesnt hurt either. though of course depends on what you want to go into. if thats not helpful maybe you could be more specific about what youre looking for...?</p>
<p>"Sudents say there's virtually no competition between students; the competition there is all internal. 'Yalies care about what they are studying and do work hard, but we do not let the quest for GPA dominate our lives.'" </p>
<p>Do you think this is true?</p>
<p>What kind of job opportunities are waiting for you after getting a degree in something like English or Poli Sci?</p>