Thank you! I just looked these up, and they all look great. Upscale is a good way to describe what I am looking for, but we also like good “normal” restaurants too where the food is delicious.
Italian is sounding good - we don’t have great Italian in our neck of the woods. Consiglio’s seems to get good reviews for classic Italian. Has anyone tried that? L’Orcio (suggested above) looks good, Northern Italian perhaps.
Wish I could eat in New Haven tonight, looking at these menus makes me hungry!
We tried Bar when we visited on President’s Day weekend for a tour, and it was great.
Ate at Bar on the suggestion of the crew coaches and the pizza was amazing!!! Well I got a sliver as did my husband before our kiddo inhaled the entire pie. It was the size of a side table!!!
Looks like they also had live music too, another plus
We bought our daughter the membership to Mory’'s so we could go watch her sing with her A Capella group. The food was decent but pricey for what it was. The history was so much fun to experience and it felt so wonderful to be there and know why we were able to. We like Basil which is a simple noodle bowl take out place off Broadway and you can take it out to have a picnic in the courtyard of the residential college. To be honest though- I had asked that she use one of her guest meal swipes to let us experience eating with her rather than go out to eat. Family weekend was a time when the family gets to see what the kids do.
Just would like to share. My kid told us that he never felt so excited about going back to school for learning after a break!!! Yale somehow has casted a magic spell on this kid, and we feel so grateful for making the right choice!
More thoughts on how Yale is different from other schools in addition to no Dean’s list.
D is tired of explaining shopping period repeatedly when friends ask what classes she is taking.
Also she has some friends at very conservative schools. They are shocked about the lack of visitation policy in the residence halls. No where to sign in! Even a not so conservative nearby LAC wants all campus visitors to be registered. Other moms ask me if there is not a front desk at the entrance. They don’t get it when I explain that there is no “front entrance” and describe all the entry ways at each stairwell.
Lots of differences that people just don’t get unless they have been there.
@buttercreamlilac, isn’t it great to see your kid enthused? DS’s GF is spending a few days here before they head off for shopping period, and they’ve been doing some “blue booking.” Their enthusiasm is such a pleasure.
@musicmerit, I’m surprised that any colleges (other than perhaps deeply religious ones) can keep the tradition of signing in guests going.
@IxnayBob, one cute comment from this kid. He mentioned that the suite mates were able to do many things together last semester. So, I asked “any one has a GF?” This cool kid replied, “GF equals 2 credits. Froco only allows us take 4-5 credits. No capacity…”
I am bringing my kid back today. She wanted one last night in her bed. She finally gave up on the deans list answers and just started flat out saying her grades. I guess that is one way to handle it. She is not a fan of the shopping period being that she is slightly neurotic. She would rather have set classes so to explain that she has no idea what classes she is actually taking and that she has to test them out and possibly go into a lottery is really annoying to her. On the other hand she has no issue telling her friends when classes actually start- ha ha ha. I think the part she is most excited about getting back to is her suite mates. They all messaged her over the weekend saying that they miss her and it honestly made her happy because she struggles with saying goodbye to her local friends that all go to UCONN.
I am excited to hear about her experiences and friends. I have to admit that I kind of missed that while she was home. It is almost like hearing your favorite show is returning in 6 weeks.
Not to change the topic as all of these posts are very helpful but on a different note…
Curious how many of you dealt with the FA work study component. I’m a bit concerned for my son with first year demands (getting used to Ivy academic vigor, varsity sport, etc) and have encouraged him to try to cover the $$$ amount by applying for outside scholarships. I fully support the idea of work study and want him to have that experience, just not sure it’s wise for year one…
@Faulkner1897 - as far as restaurants, the kids don’t need fancy. I took my D and assorted friends to the Cracker Barrel. The friend from Hawaii was thrilled by the place since she had never been in one. If you have a car with you, taking them to eat anywhere away from campus is a treat.
@musicmerit - they will also be scandalized to know that there is no one to scrutinize students’ comings and goings or their visitors (even of the opposite sex). The only people interested are the roommates if the overnight guests stay too long. While I was there in the late 70’s, we had couples who literally lived with each other the entire school year. It was great for me sophomore year because my roommate moved in with her BF and was gone 24/7. Believe it or not, they are married still after 32 years.
Any parent that needs their 18+ year old to be watched that closely definitely does not need to send them to Yale. This is part of the ever important “fit” that lies behind the fancy name.
@tonymom - beware of outside scholarships. If they go straight to Yale they will offset their financial aid portion, not the parents’ contribution or their summer employment requirement. The thought behind that is they can then take their money and give it to another student to meet their need. I guess if the scholarship is giving the money to the student directly, that is different. But most scholarships I know frown upon giving money directly to the recipient. Please check and verify with the financial aid office before you go to far down this path.
@tonymom, our daughter, will be a student/athlete, and we share your concerns. She has never worked before, and thinks that it would be exciting to have a job, but we have vetoed that idea for freshman year. We will handle the EFC with joy. Still can’t believe that we’re eligible for any aid from Yale. After she gets acclimated to Ivy vigor and 20+ hours per week of varsity practice, we’ll take another look at it sophomore year. We’re open to summer employment, but would like to keep the door open for invaluable, unpaid internships.
My D was told that she did not have to work so she could concentrate on her studies freshman year. The student contribution doesn’t actually go to tuition, room or board, but is used for travel, books, etc (look closely on how the financial aid package is set up). So, if the parent can cover these extra costs, the student doesn’t really have to work anyway. My D got a job anyway both years because she wanted to. Freshman year she worked in the Buttery one night a week ($30 a week), then she volunteered at a school in a special Yale program ($300 stipend per semester). She is now her residential college’s sustainability coordinator which entails some meetings but not a regular schedule. The point being there are a lot of non-traditional jobs that some students get there and take that don’t include washing dishes in the dining hall or working a shift in the library.
My understanding is that Yale applies outside scholarships–even those sent directly to Yale–to student effort first. My son didn’t receive any–just relied on his summer earnings–so i don’t have any direct experience with this, but we’ve encouraged him to apply for them this year. @Tperry1982, do you (or does anyone else have actual experience with how Yale treated an outside scholarship that contradicts this statement? http://finaid.yale.edu/costs-affordability/types-aid/scholarships-and-grants I notice the “may” in the language, so I’m wondering…
As far as work study goes, my son got a great work study job his first year through one of the older guys on the team. That fizzled, though, and though he applied for lots of other jobs, no one bit, possibly because his school/team schedule was too restrictive. He has ended up finding work outside the college, doing test prep/college essay tutoring, I do wish that Yale made it easier for athletes to get job. It’s flexible and he makes enough money to get by. It’s also pretty easy to cut down the student effort amount through frugal living-- renting or buying used books from Amazon for example. My kid is still milking money he earned in hgih school. If they don’t join a fraternity/sorority and eat on campus, they can get by without spending much at all.
I worked in HS and never expected NOT to work as a freshman either. Frankly, it was decent down time – 10 hrs/wk where I could get away and complete simple duties. Right now the Yale min wage is like $13 or something. Even having your kid do 8-10 hrs a week wouldn’t be too nutso I think. One of the cushiest jobs is to work in the RC masters office. I worked at the SOM for 3 yrs – easy to fit into my schedule
@tonymom - The answer to your question is yes. My son has an outside scholarships and it can be used to reduce both the work-study and summer contribution. My son did not try to get a job at the beginning of his 1st semester freshman year. Between school and a cappella, he was a little overwhelmed. After taking a couple of months to adjust, he had a hard time finding a job on campus. He put in quite a few applications without any responses. He ended up not working his freshman year. Fortunately, he was able to make his summer earnings and graduation money stretch over the entire year. He did work spring salvage at the end of the year and made quite a bit of money within several weeks.
The second year, he was much smarter about applying. He applied right before the beginning of the semester and he followed up every application with a personal e-mail asking the person who was hiring if he/she had any questions that he would be able to answer regarding his application. With this process, he had two job offers with his first two applications. After finishing up a semester abroad this year, his supervisor hired him back for the rest of his junior year.
Hi just echoing Tperry on working AND studying to Yale’s demands AND doing a the sport to the Coaches demands. You’ll have a way better idea of how the time managing is going after freshman year. The varsity athletes really have to take on a lot AND get good grades. Plus many would like to enjoy some ECs on campus. IT’s a lot frankly given the amount of time they must devote to it all. Can you hold off for now and see how it goes?
@tonymom, our son received outside scholarships his first year and did not take a job. Yale applies outside scholarships to student effort first. One interesting thing we discovered was that our son was not eligible for work study his freshman year, presumably because of the outside scholarships. He could have taken a term-time job, but decided to focus on acclimating to Yale without the addition of a job. His sophomore year he qualified for work study and found an interesting community service job that requested a two-year commitment. Unfortunately, his junior year, he did not qualify for work study and his job was not available as a term-time job. He and the community agency were disappointed that he was unable to fulfill his two-year commitment. Though I don’t really know for sure, I believe he stopped being work study eligible after our oldest son graduated from college and we no longer had two in school at one time.
P.S. one clarification - I should have said outside “merit” scholarships (like the ones awarded at the end of high school) are applied to student effort first. There are other outside scholarships like need-based state grants that reduce the Yale scholarship instead and are not applied to student effort first. At least that was the case in our situation.
