Bulldog Days

debelli
Thu, 27 Jan 2005 20:11:31 +0000

My son went to Bulldog Days last year. He went up on a Sat and stayed with a friend that was already a student there, then went to stay overnight on Monday with his host, leaving to come home on Tuesday.

I flew him up there solo and he took a cab from the New Haven airport. Not even a half hour after he stepped foot on campus did he call me to tell me he knew Yale was the place for him. He had visited other colleges that had accepted him and none of them made him feel the way Yale did. I’m glad he went :)

Taking him up in August, we flew in to Hartford, rented a car. I then knew why he fell in love with Yale and the New Haven area - it’s beautiful. I had worried about the area after reading some stuff about it being seedy and not so safe - not true from my own personal experience.

My son has taken CT LIMO without any problem. Very reliable and they take you right to OC (PHELPS EXPRESS). My nephew is going to visit him next month and will take it to/from the airport. I think it’s $40 rt.

I know this is a bit premature, but I rarely come on this board anymore, so here’s a few bits of advice a wee bit early:

Last year when I was scouting the boards AND the web, I couldn’t find any information about the dorms, how big, what they looked like, etc. Of course, they are all different. If your host doesn’t mind, take a picture and post it on a special board that shows the dorm suite and/or room. I think many kids were surprised at the space, or lack thereof, of the dorms they got assigned to. The closets in my sons dorms are, for lack of a better word, minuscule! People were surprised when I showed them the pictures I took of my sons dorm room and how small it was (common room is nice size though). Others at Yale said his room was big in comparison to theirs.

And, for those of you who do get accepted and decide to go to Yale, take an allen wrench or two with you - the small tool kit that I brought came in VERY handy to unbunk the beds if yours are bunked and don’t want them to be. This avoided having to wait hours/days to get on the list for maintenance to come and do it. Oh, and duct tape, that too came in very handy.

And, for those of you who go to Yale, and are going to fly - how to get all your stuff there? GREYHOUND! I got my son the Student Advantage Card which allowed us to ship his stuff at 50% off. Just picked it up at the New Haven station. Of course, that was in addition to all the luggage we took up with us on the plane - thank goodness DELTA SONG lets you check in 3 pieces per person!

Good luck to all of you who’ve applied!