<p>There is no shortage of threads on this forum fostering the perpetual freakout of CC’s Yale “applicants-in-waiting” (including myself). I have found that when I feel myself getting anxious about the decision, the best way to blow off steam is talking with other people about what is so special about Yale. I hope for this thread to become just that, a place where people can talk about YALE, not the Yale APPLICATION PROCESS. Here’s my longwinded Yale experience:</p>
<p>I live in CT, about 45 minutes from New Haven. I have been visiting Yale since I was very little because both my parents are graduates, my mom of the college and my dad of the forestry school, and they have always enjoyed taking my sister and me down to New Haven for family outings and such on weekends. My mom has always talked to me about Yale; she was born in Havana, raised in Puerto Rico, and the first time she saw New Haven, let alone Yale, was when she arrived at Old Campus for move-in day. She took me to her 15th reunion in 1996. I remember playing frisbee on Cross-Campus and the frisbee going into one of the masters’ backyards. I left a note on the master’s front steps with my address, asking him to send the frisbee to my house if he found it. Needless to say, I never got that frisbee back. Field trips to the Peabody Museum were always fun. The one on which my mom was a chaperone was my favorite. All the other groups were jealous of my mom’s group because she took us to the top of the science building that is next door to the Peabody. This building whistles when its windy, and from the top of it, you can see Sleeping-Giant, a series of hills that collectively form the figure of a sleeping giant. My sophomore year, my mom and dad took me to see the Yale Glee Club sing Handel’s Messiah at Battell chapel, and that was the day I decided that Yale was where I wanted to be. It had snowed the day before, and let me tell you, there is something amazing about Yale’s campus in the snow. My mom snuck me into her college, Jonathan Edwards, and gave me a little tour. She showed me where she and my dad would eat with their friends, Yorkside Pizza, Clark’s Diner, and Pepe’s Pizza to name a few. I even learned that day that I owe my existence to Yale because had it not been for the Forestry School Library, my parents would not have met. My dad was student at the Forestry School, and my mom was a senior, working at the Forestry School Library. They even got married at St. Thomas More, Yale’s Catholic Church. Anyway, having visited Yale nonstop since that trip my sophomore year, I have learned what it is exactly that I love about Yale. The musical opportunities there are amazing. The organ at Woolsey Hall is considered to be the most important concert organ in the world, and is supposedly the 17th largest organ in the world. I saw Anthony Newman play Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 (Organ) on it…AMAZING! Even taking a casual stroll around Yale, music seems to seep from the walls. You can hear people practicing through windows or carrying music to a lesson. Even at the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript library, you can use a composer’s original manuscript for research! How many places can say that?! Yale even has a rare instrument collection! The whole second floor is devoted to the development of the keyboard instruments. However, my favorite instrument there was an old Russian variation on the basson; it had an end that was the head of a snake. WOW! That being said, it is also the endless amount of resources at Yale that has me absolutely sold on it. The Yale Art Gallery, at least for me, is one of the most amazing art museums that I have ever visited. For a college to be in possession of some of art’s most recognizable paintings, like John Trumbull’s iconic painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, is absolutely brilliant. And for these resources to be available to me!..EVERY DAY! How could one ask for more? It’s just such an amazing place. Even watching the movie The Good Shepherd, you can see how Yale has played an integral part in defining the history of the United States. The CIA was practically formed out of the the skull and bones secret society. For people on this site who haven’t visited Yale, I suggest you do, even if you have no interest in going there, don’t get in there, etc. If you want to just see an amazing place, visit Yale. </p>
<p>Now that I have spat out an incredibly verbose and disjointed divulgence of my feelings about Yale, does anyone want to share their thoughts, feelings, experiences about Yale?</p>