<p>I would like to know what is “master’s tea” at Yale?</p>
<p>You should be able to easily google it for more info, but basically a Master’s Tea is when the Master of one of Yale’s 12 residential colleges invites a notable guest over to speak with students :]</p>
<p>Each of the residential colleges has a Master in residence, who is a senior faculty member. Most of the Masters – they have a budget for this – hold periodic afternoon “teas”, which are open-houses for students in that college (and sometimes are open to other students as well), with drinks and finger-food and some kind of guest speaker or presentation (which can vary a lot depending on the Master’s contacts and interest levels, and those of other faculty who care to get involved).</p>
<p>When I was there, our Master in Saybrook had teas every week, where the refreshment served was essentially a punchbowl of whiskey sours. There were no guest lecturers, although sometimes after a few whiskey sours his wife would sit down at the piano and sing naughty songs from her youth (the 1920s), which was both hilarious and highly educational. But I doubt anything like that happens anymore. Now – as then – I think most colleges do it two or three times a semester, usually with some sort of non-academic guest (artists of various ilks, business figures) that you are pretty thrilled to get a chance to meet informally like that.</p>
<p>^ Yeah, no more whiskey sours… 
Now there are just some sweets, fruits, and tea. Some colleges hold them more frequently than others, and the guests wary widely. For example, recent guests have been: Jodi Picoult, Soledad O’Brien, Howard Dean, some actor from Twilight. There have also been other people who are prominent in their fields but of whom I have no knowledge. Whoopi Goldberg is coming to a Master’s Tea next semester. And last year, Ludacris was at a Master’s Tea with Branford.</p>
<p>^ Oh, and can’t forget James Franco… Sorry.</p>
<p>it’s a synonym for: awesome event that you plan to go to, but don’t actually have time for because they’re always scheduled during times you have other commitments. :(</p>
<p>A Master’s Tea (when I was there…) went something like this: afternoon tea, coffee, soft drinks, and a nice spread of finger foods and desserts; a cozy, clubby, paneled room with leaded windows and leather couches and chairs; your college Master, about 10-20 people from your residential college, plus…one OUTRAGEOUSLY famous person sitting there talking with you all like you were all friends. I remember: Betty Friedan, Ted Kennedy, Joe Lieberman, David Lynch from the Talking Heads, Gloria Steinham (sp?), Wendy Wasserstein, Meryl Streep, Toni Morrison, William F. Buckley, Chai Lin (one of the organizers of the Tianenmen Square protests in China). There were more, just can’t recall them all. Basically, the current literati or glitterati. ;-)</p>
<p>It’s this thing I read about on CC a few days ago and quickly incorporated in my “why Yale” paragraph, making myself seem knowledgeable about Yale although it was sheer luck.</p>
<p>Ah… Master’s Tea… </p>
<p>That’s like one of my favorite things about Yale 
I think you can go to any of the 12 college’s Master Tea’s as well, right? It would be nice meeting half a dozen famous people every month :)</p>
<p>^ You can only go to another college’s Master’s Tea if the college allows it and if there’s space. People in that college get preferential choice.</p>
<p>And totally agree with eatingfood on that one!</p>
<p>Thank you. It seems to be lots of fun:D</p>
<p>zomg! whoopi? to which college?!</p>
<p>^ The best college at Yale, Calhoun.</p>
<p>Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee james franco eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!</p>