Skull and Bones

Colleges & Universities Yale University
21

<p>I would just like to emphasize the point that societies play no significant role in the Yale social scene except to the minority who are actually in them.</p>

<p>There was a set of articles in the YDN last week that put the ‘eitist’ institutions of HYP into perspective:</p>

<p>Princeton Eating Clubs: <a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32479[/url]”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32479&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Harvard Finals Clubs: <a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32489[/url]”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32489&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Yale Secret Societies: <a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32518[/url]”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/article.asp?AID=32518&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

22

<p>secret societies sound cooler than final or eating clubs.</p>

23

<p>in response to the original question, no, secret societies do not affect admission. if you do have a relative who was in a society, the only way that that would matter is the fact that he/she went to yale, making you a yale legacy. admissions people don’t know who is a society legacy and who isn’t.</p>

<p>and to dispel some myths:</p>

<p>the movie ‘the skulls’ is lies, lies, lies. there are no war rooms, no killing, and the dorms definitely don’t look like that ridiculous place the main characters lived in. (i wish they did, though.) in addition, skull and bones is actually not currently the hardest secret society to get into (or so i’ve heard from current juniors)…i think it’s scroll and key.</p>

<p>skull and bones is definitely co-ed, as are many other societies.</p>

<p>only about half of the societies are ‘secret.’ my FOOT leader told us about the society she’s in this year, an all-girls society called the whips. (FOOT is a freshman pre-orientation trip, fyi.)</p>

<p>secret societies do not really affect undergraduate life. i can only speak from the perspective of a freshman, but the only time i’m ever really aware of their presence is on tap night (which was last week), when all the juniors being tapped for societies walk around campus in robes and masks (or, alternatively, really absurd costumes) and do weird stuff. they’re not a scary elitist institution that towers over us all…they’re just seniors hanging out together thursday and saturday nights, occasionally in mausoleums (for those with their own tombs), but more frequently at an apartment or something.</p>