<p>I've looked at Yale for a fair amount of time now, and one thing that has continually stood out about Yale is the Residential Colleges Yale has. I was hoping that a current student (or someone very knowledgable about Yale) could give me some more information about them:</p>
<p>What are their advantages...what are their disadvantages? My experience shows me that the res-colleges are quite popular among Bulldogs...is this true? </p>
<p>Princeton recently moved to a similar 4-year res-college model desined to build college unity, and increase inter-class interaction. Do you feel that these two positive traits exist in Yale's res-colleges?</p>
<p>Also, I understand that faculty are involved in the college system in some way. I would appreciate it if someone can explain to me exactly how faculty involvement is formally (or informally) structured into the residential college model. How is extra-curricular involvement affected by the colleges? Is there any flexibility to transfer among the colleges? Is this a problem?</p>
<p>One of the main advantages of the residential colleges is that it allows you to be part of a smaller community immediately when you enter Yale's campus. They also have all of the resources you need (dining hall, library, laundry facilities, snack bars, entertainment facilities, weight rooms, etc.) right in one convenient location. A big negative is that if you don't make an effort its harder to meet people outside of your own residential college (especially if you are in Silliman or TD and you don't live on Old Campus your freshman year). </p>
<p>I would say that both of those positive traits that Princeton is aiming for definitely exist in Yale's residential colleges. </p>
<p>The faculty are involved in different ways. First there is a dean and a master who are generally faculty members of some kind (ranging in areas from political science to religious studies to the Nursing school) that live in your residential college and are almost always available for help. The dean is in charge of your academic life and the master is essentially in charge of your social life running events and activities such as study breaks, Master's Teas where interesting people come give talks to small groups of students (Joel and Ethan Coen of Fargo and O Brother Where Art Thou? fame are going to be at a Master's Tea at Calhoun College tomorrow, for example). The master is also in charge of running the residential college and making sure everything there runs smoothly. Finally there are also faculty members affiliated with the college that eat meals there and are assigned to freshmen for freshmen advising (a few of them also live in the residential college itself. Extra-curricular involvement really isn't affected by the residential colleges unless you attempt to get funding from a particular residential college. In that case, you might run into issues if there aren't enough people from that residential college taking part in your extra-curricular activity. Finally, there is flexibility to transfer among the residential colleges and it isn't too difficult a process, but it rarely happens. Most people end up being satisfied with their residential college and feel that it isn't worth the effort to transfer. If you are really dissatisfied with your residential college/have a majority of friends in a different college then it might be worth it, but otherwise no one does it.</p>
<p>Chasgoose--about how large are the Colleges at Yale (i've heard 400-600...I'm just confirming). Do underclassmen get to know upperclassmen in their college? Do parties tend to be sponsered by Colleges and be attended by residents of that college primarily? Is the Yale academic advising system in any way linked to the residential colleges past frosh year?</p>
<p>What are your favorite things about this system? What are your least favorite things?</p>
<p>haon - My d loves the residential system at Yale. The fact that you belong to a distinct college from the very first day, complete with its own traditions and idiosyncracies, gives students a feeling of belonging and identity even as freshmen. Yes, there is a lot of cross class interaction, as your college is composed of all classes and most seniors still live on campus. Freshmen( except for 2 houses) do live on Old Campus instead of in their residential college, but they are still housed according to res college (all D'porters are in Welch, for instance) which makes it easy for frosh to be involved with their college through the activities, masters events, dining hall, sports competitions, etc. While events sponsored by the college are sort of first come first serve for those IN that college, there is a fair amount of mixing it up between the colleges. My did went to several Master's Teas and parties in other colleges, and the first year she tried all the different dining halls with people she met through her other school clubs (political, community, outdoor program, etc.) </p>
<p>The negatives, I guess, would be that since everything is right there, you sort of need to make an effort to mix in with other colleges. The thing is, Yalies are involved in so many clubs and activities, that I don't think most of them find this an issue. I suppose if you were assigned to a college with people you didn't like, it could be a problem, but I don't know how often that happens. I don't think often, from what the students say, and you can change if you're really unhappy.
Other negatives - the colleges are all different, so some shine in some areas, and others in other areas. People on this board have talked about the varying endowments of the colleges, but they haven't mentioned that the parents of CURRENT students are welcomed to donate funds for their own kid's college if they like - which will be used on the current residents. Yalies have so much going on and so many opportunities, I shake my head when I hear complaints about one college having this or that and the other not. They each have a specialness about them. (Yes, Berkeley has better food- the only complaint that seems to have merit - because they received a grant to grow and serve organic food in their dining hall. The other colleges are now using some of the methods Berkeley has learned, so perhaps all the food will be better in the future.)</p>
<pre><code>Probably the BEST thing about the res college for my D is that she's met the most wonderful group of people she's ever known in her life, and feels connected and involved because of the friends she's made there. This is hardly unique to Yale, but I think the res college system has made it easier than it otherwise would have been.
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<p>Oh, and people... watch out. Calhoun is getting <em>NEW WINDOWS</em>. Da Houn is hotter than ever, heh :).</p>
<p>I also offer an early "howdy" to the Hounies of the Class of 2009. And provided that my friend and I don't mess up horribly, expect a letter from your Calhoun big sib (hounSIB) sometime in the fall.</p>
<p>Haha, that's too bad for Calhoun. It's a gorgeous college, but I really wish the administration would be fair and give the Hounies a full renovation like everyone else. Can't you round up some disgruntled graduate students to protest? They're good at it...;)</p>
<p>Haha, well, I don't think we need graduate student allies for this particular battle... I think that I may just withold my senior gift donation and donate it to Calhoun instead so that - maybe in a couple of decades - we'll have enough money to perform some rennovations.</p>
<p>We (my suitemates and I) joked about having a sit-in in the Calhoun courtyard. Or maybe the Calhoun common room. It's not like they could make us leave. I mean, it's our college... hehe :). Hell, it may even help my GPA.</p>
<p>The GESO strike was coordinated with Columbia's GESU and other graduate student unions across the country as a week-long event. The focus on each day of the strike expanded, going from local to global on the final day.</p>
<p>Jesse Jackson spoke one evening and apparently delivered some boilerplate about progressive movements and adversity. (I hear that he has the same speech for everything...) However, his coming to campus was a nice gesture.</p>
<p>Since the work action was only scheduled to be a one-week event (during the last week of classes before reading week - if my scarred memory from a crazy semester serves me correctly), there was no long-term showdown with the administration this time around.</p>
<p>One particularly interesting event of that week included the Party of the Right's picketing a Social Justice Network ice cream social during Bulldog Days (with their favorite anti-GESO posters in tow, of course). Maybe conservatives, like some ethnic groups, are more likely to be lactose intolerant.</p>
<p>That was arguably the weakest anti-protest protest or protest-protest I have ever seen. Haha, the anti-GESO posters were something like "GESO = BAD.." in scribbled sharpie on I-just-bought-this-five minutes-ago posterboard.</p>
<p>No - the res colleges house undergrads only. I believe there are a few rooms in the law school for current law students; however most grad students live off campus.</p>
<p>I have heard that when the Swing Space dorm is no longer needed to house students whose regular college is being renovated, it's going to be turned into grad student housing.</p>
<p>Aesthetically, two of the residential colleges (Morse and Ezra Stiles) really suck. I was walking through ES the other day on the way to the gym, and I thought, "wow, I've been transported back to UCSD!" (sans eucalyptus trees). </p>
<p>So don't take it for granted that you'll be living in a building with beautiful gothic or Georgian architecture.</p>
<p>Other than that, I really love the sense of having a smaller community (and opportunity for small talk--"What college are you in?") that the res col. system provides.</p>
<p>No! Morse and Stiles are the coolest! I LOVE the architecture. People diss the Morse and Stiles architecture all the time, and I just can't stand it :). The architect was really hip and decided on not having any right angles in the design, and the outside walls are covered with like some weird stone stuff (okay I'm not an architecture major...but at least I'm eloquent...jk).
The residential colleges are awesome. There is a disparity between their endowments...but that only makes me motivated to donate money to my college when I graduate because I love my college :).</p>
<p>I'm Glad Yoshe likes Morse and Stiles, and I probably overstated things by saying they "really suck," given that I haven't spent much time in either. </p>
<p>That said, kids considering Yale should know that not all the residential colleges are Gothic or Georgian styled. People have been known to choose a certain because they "fell in love with the campus." Incidentally, that's a really stupid reason to pick a college, since you eventually get used to the architecture anywhere.</p>
<p>Also, I've heard that Morse, as well as college(s?) that haven't been renovated yet, such as Calhoun, have problems such as really old windows that don't do a good job of keeping out the elements.</p>
<p>"Princeton recently moved to a similar 4-year res-college model"</p>
<p>It is not "similar" to Yale's system except in name. In fact the two systems have very little if anything in common with one another. Yale's colleges have traditions and massive funding sources stretching back for almost a century. Basically, Princeton randomly chose a few dorms and called them a "college" in 1986 in order to attempt to compete with Yale (obviously it didn't work too well, considering Yale is far more selective). </p>
<p>The residential colleges form a center of campus academic and social life at Yale -- for undergraduates of all four classes as well as many graduate students and faculty -- while at Princeton they are totally marginal to campus life and poorly-funded by comparison. Yale's residential colleges are important to freshmen even before they set foot on campus. When Yalies meet, their first question is usually "what college are/were you in?" Even 50 years later, the colleges are always the main topic of conversation, because they were so important in shaping students' experiences. Advising and fellowships are provided by the colleges at Yale, which helps explain why Yale students received 4 Marshall and 3 Rhodes Scholarships just last year, more than the rest of the Ivy League (which has about 10 times more students) combined. </p>
<p>In other words, you can't compare a simple marketing ploy (Princeton) with a system that physically consists of the most elaborate collegiate architecture in the world, is funded by massive endowments and has been an integral part of all aspects of campus life for almost an entire century.</p>
<p>And yes, Yale's colleges are quite popular among undergraduates (rightfully so, considering they represent a 4-year academic and housing system that is unique in the world), and on many levels they do help eliminate any separation or exclusiveness in the student body based on class/major/race/age/activities or other proclivities, that are typically evident at other universities.</p>
<p>it is not "yale's system." the system originated at oxbridge, centuries earlier, and was advocated for adoption at harvard, princeton, and chicago as early as the 1890s (see alex duke, "importing oxbridge"). yale, despite having little to say on the matter until the 1920s, implemented the system only after having its hand forced when the aforementioned harkness took his money to harvard. as for princeton, it created its first college not in 1986, but in 1968 (woodrow wilson lodge, now wilson college). it created four others in 1983. after the completion of $110-million whitman college next fall, princeton will have three "true" four-year colleges, to yale's none.</p>
<p>I LOVE the residential college system.
it's one of the main reasons i'm applying early to Yale.
yeah, i nothing really to add to this conversation, just had to express my devotion:)</p>