I’m a swimmer and I’m currently being recruited by Yale for the class of 2020.
I’m super interested in Yale and when I met the head coach a few weeks ago he introduced me to the RC system. I think it sounds awesome and I know it’s all random assignment, but I was wondering if they placed athletes in RC’s close to Payne Whitney? I wouldn’t want to be stuck in TD or Silliman with that long of a walk…
I’m not a legacy so I don’t think I can request a certain RC, but after looking at the map I think I’d definitely like to be on Old Campus. I realize this isn’t the closest to the gym but I’m studying architecture and the School of Architecture is on the southern end of Old Campus, near Pierson. Also I’m really into the whole Gothic/Georgian style buildings.
If anyone has experience as a Yale student-athlete or has any idea what my RC outcome might be, please don’t hesitate to comment.
Also if you have anything else to say that might sway my decision towards Yale, let me know. Because there are no scholarships it is a very iffy decision but I just can’t see passing up this opportunity.
Yale’s residential college system “makes every effort to represent the diversity of the entire undergraduate community within every residential college. In this sense each college is a microcosm of the larger student population.” So, recruited athletes are placed in every RC. That said, I’m not aware of swimmers, or basketball players being placed in Morse or Ezra Stiles because they are directly across from Payne Whitney. I imagine it’s the luck of the draw.
Some of the team rosters on the Yale athletics site list residential college, so you could take a look to see if there are any trends. From what I understand gibby is correct though.
Honestly though I feel like the residential colleges are in a pretty compact area and at most one college might be a block or two closer or farther from the gym or another campus location. There certainly are universities that are more spread out physically than Yale and at one of these I can see location being more of a concern.
I second Canoe’s observation – while TD and Silliman may be the farthest from PWG, it’s only relative. Go to some other colleges and you’ll see the REAL distances students have to march back and forth. Yale is amazingly compact. TD and SM have no shortage of all sorts of varsity athletes or PWG users. Plus, you have a 5/6ths likelihood of not being in either. GL w/your decisions.
There’s no nicer Georgian-style building at Yale than Timothy Dwight, by the way. And no matter what college you are in, you will have plenty of opportunity to appreciate all the pseudo-Gothic and pseudo-Georgian architecture. Or not.
Sometimes clusters of athletes emerge in one residential college or another, but it’s all random. When I started at Yale, my college was sort of English Majors On Acid College. But because of a slightly higher than average number of athletes in the class ahead of me, my class, and the class behind me, by the time I was a senior we were completely Jock College. A couple years later, that was no longer true.
Which residential college you are in will not affect the quality of your experience at Yale one whit. If your desire to go to Yale depends on being placed into one residential college vs. another, then (a) you may not be focused on things that are really important, and (b) you probably ought to think about other colleges more.
In talking about plans for the new residential colleges that are close to the hockey rink and Science Hill, administrators said they are going to make sure that they don’t become home to a disproportionate number of hockey players and/or science students. So I don’t think they will be stacking colleges near the pool with swimmers.
FWIW: Many of Yale’s peer schools split athletes up into different dorms as well. One of my daughter’s freshman roommates at Harvard was on the crew team. The roommate wanted to live with some of her teammates sophomore year, and hoped that by grouping themselves so, Harvard would put them all in a “river house” near the Charles River Boat House. Instead, they were placed in the quad, the furthest distance from the boat house of any upper class dorm. Sometimes, it’s just the luck of the draw.
My daughter is going to be a freshman in Davenport RC. This means she is in Welch Hall for dorms. 3 of her suite mates are recruited athletes from completely different sports. Not sure if that helps but she is not in the closest RC’s. On the plus side, one of her future roommates has early access to the dorm due to her sport so she gets to move a few things in on Wednesday rather than Friday. That part is rather cool.
Two of my friends are recruited athletes. One is in TD and the other is in Silliman, so I’m pretty sure it’s random. Neither has a problem with their college though; in fact, they both love them!