The weather in New Haven in April is sunny but cool. I enter the campus by walking over Science Hill. On my left is a museum with a larger than life triceratops-like dinosaur model out front. To my right there is an interesting collection of buildings ranging from what I would call classic-university-architecture to modern design with solar paneled roofs.
We continue down onto Hillhouse Ave and are surrounded by pretty houses on both sides of the street; here we pass the Admissions Office and the president’s house. We walk by the law school and graduate school before checking out the bookstore. The next stop on our journey is Old Campus, which has many of the colleges Yale is so famous for being divided into (more on these later). Then going through Cross Campus we stop at the Women’s Table, a physical record and celebration of female involvement at Yale.
Into the Sterling Memorial Library, which holds just a fraction of the almost 13 million volumes at Yale, college libraries never cease to amaze me. The Yale library has beautiful stained glass and an enormous card-catalogue set up next to the entry area (no cards inside though, I checked). They also have an extensive music library. And the nice librarian is happy to tell me all about Yale.
Yale is the third-oldest university in the United States, established in 1701. Its motto translates to “light and truth” in Hebrew and Latin. Yale teams are the Bulldogs and their rival school is Harvard; the Yale-Harvard regatta is the United States’ oldest intercollegiate sporting event on which the rivalry was built.
As part of the Ivy League, Yale is recognized as one of the foremost schools in private education. Besides Yale College with its undergrad population of about 5,350, there are even greater learning opportunities in the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and 13 other professional schools. Collectively Yale has a student body of close to 11,900 individuals.
Yale is famous for dividing students into 12 residential colleges, each with its own common area and dining hall as well as a Dean, Master, resident fellows, and affiliated faculty. Each residential college has unique architecture and additional facilities such as music rooms, libraries, basketball courts, you name it. Another bonus are the seminars and Master’s Teas offered at each college which bring famous speakers from all over the world to Yale campus and to Yale students.
Yale is a medium-sized university in a small city. It has hundreds of majors and activities. It has a wonderful atmosphere and a little something for everyone. I certainly had a great time exploring the campus and hearing all about the Yale experience. Anyone with the hunger to learn will fit into the community. The people at Yale have enormous amounts of school pride and desire to make you a Yalie.
