Are these groups worth the hype later? Do they behave they way frats/ sororities do for jobs etc?
From what I can tell, there are loads of them and several new ones are started every year, with the goal of including everyone who wants to be in one. I imagine it’s a good way to make friends, but I doubt many of them have big alumni networks. See here: https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3909-open-secrets
I’m a freshman at Yale, and from what I can tell I think most of the non-landed societies simply haven’t been around long enough to have large networks… Specifically new ones created through the YSI (Yale Society Initiative), whose emphasis is definitely on creating friends and enjoying senior year. However, some of the older non-landed societies (they do exist!!!) may still be worth it, if they have the alumni network.
tl;dr: society networking has more to do with how old a society is then if it’s landed or not.
This is something that isn’t worth thinking much about.
Some non landed societies have been around since the 70’s. Granted, that’s not the 1800s, but still not “yesterday” either.
Why is the development of networks not worth thinking about?
If you’re a Yale junior, you already know what you need to know about this. If you’re not a Yale junior, it’s not worth thinking about.
There is the possibility of being a a non Yale junior helping advise a Yale kid. I’d like to think about this and if anyone has any information please provide. Thank you.
The classmates surrounding the Yale junior are much better equipped to advise said Yale junior than people on a college admissions website.
All of that said, a Yale junior is an adult - I’d like to think that a 21 year old can figure out whether they want to join a social club…
I’ll just add this: there are a lot of societies now, and it’s hard to generalize about them. You might meet somebody in one that will be a great future contact, and you might not.
I really don’t understand some of the responses. If you don’t care to know the answer or think it is a bad question, then then don’t engage. This is more than an admissions site and even adult children have questions.
You asked a very open ended question so the range of responses should be expected. Even as an alum, I could not answer your question and did not learn a lot about the current state of the societies until this year because my D was a junior. I think what folk are saying is that your best information may come from people on campus if they are willing to talk to you about it - which most may not be. If you are not on campus, there is probably not much you’ll actually find out since most of it is learned once a society seeks you out.
Being in a sorority myself and knowing about secret societies, I can tell you the premise is about the same. The networking is good but being at Yale in and of itself is also a networking bonanza. There is no way to tell if one of your society buddies will end up being President, a wizard on Wall Street, or the head of the newest business like an Apple. But I would give you the same answer for one of your suitemates, teammates or the kid working next to you in the library. That’s the nature of the beast.