So anyone have anything bad to say about the Comfort Inn @ Milford?
About to book for drop off…
Whew -6 degrees at Yale currently . . . hope everyone on campus is staying warm.
@canoe2015, it’s Valentine’s Day, of course they’re staying warm 
@IxnayBob Haha, good point.
But it’s a dry cold 
@tonymom I don’t know the Comfort Inn as well but I know that the Hyatt Place is new and nice. We held a class there last spring and we thought that the place was convenient and new and they offered a shuttle to and from the train station. To be completely honest, I would not go to Milford unless you are coming in from that side. There is always traffic getting out of New Haven in that direction, it adds to the drive time. If you are driving, I would just take the other direction and go to North Haven. I believe there is a really decent Best Western there. Its easy to get on to the highway from Yale headed to 91 North (I use Trumbull St) and there is never traffic in that direction. The only advantage to Milford for me is the train which saves you parking and driving in New Haven if you don’t care for that.
My wife and I have stayed at the Marriott, and LaQuinta. We love the Marriott, but it’s sometimes the price of LaQuinta.
LaQuinta has a shuttle service to the University, and there is a city bus that passes directly in front of the hotel.
@Memmsmon good point about the traffic in the Milford direction. There seems to be an ongoing construction project on the 91/95 interchange and 95 in the Milford direction with lots of lane closures etc. that can lead to surprisingly long drive times between New Haven and Milford (at least in my limited experience).
Esteemed Yale Parents…which work study jobs have your kiddos enjoyed…preferred? Not sure how much flexibility exists in the choosing…I.e. Kiddo may “get what he gets…”
@tonymom, I don’t know if there’s a difference between “work study” jobs and other jobs that kids get, and I don’t know how one goes about getting a particular job, but here’s what DS is doing:
It’s a bit early to say how he likes it, but so far DS seems cool with being a CS TA. He has done informal tutoring in the past and seems to have a knack for explaining things in a way that people understand. He takes homework with him to office hours so that he’s productive even if nobody shows up.
DS had a “Tom Sawyer” insight when he convinced a campus service organization to fund his hiring of CS students to upgrade the organization’s web site.
He also does some other work related to his major interests, some of which he gets paid for.
I know that DS didn’t campaign for these jobs, and he didn’t have any paid work until the summer after freshman year (i.e., last summer). If I had to guess, I’d say enthusiasm is what keeps my “picaresque hero” stumbling from opportunity to opportunity.
@tonymom, My son got a community service work study job that he really liked. He assisted in a nearby elementary/middle school. It was meaningful and well paying. In the two years that he didn’t qualify for work study, he got term-time jobs at the library and facilities department. Both were fine.
I just got back from a long weekend visiting my son at Yale. I confirm that it was bitterly cold, but son reports that it is 50 today. Weird. Also, I chose to stay in town and not mess with a rental car this trip, since I was traveling without my husband. Courtyard had a more reasonable price so I hoped to stay there, but they were booked up. Stayed at the Omni instead and they treated us very well. I was glad to be walking distance from everything.
I used to read this board regularly, but DS graduated in ‘14 so I haven’t’ been lately; I just popped in for old times sake and read a few pages back.
I am not a Yale alum, but am married to one; both of us thought that the freshman assembly was well worth attending. It really is a special event, especially for DH but even for us non-Yalies. I suspect that there are few dry eyes among the alums when “Bright College Years” is sung.
We almost always stayed at the Courtyard and booked as far in advance as possible. We once stayed at The Study which was wonderful, but pricier and more difficult to get a reservation it seemed. We felt the convenience of being able to walk everywhere was worth the added cost (at least how we justified it to ourselves!) YMMV. This was especially true of commencement weekend. The cost was about 3x normal rates, with a three night minimum (and non-refundable to boot), but the thought of being late or missing a graduation event because of traffic or parking was worrisome to me. At least they try to make it a little better by providing snacks and soft drinks in the lobby and “free” breakfast throughout the weekend (they do the same for Parents Weekend.) I booked the hotel for graduation weekend literally the day after 2013 graduation. I did ask DS about a hundred times “Are you SURE you will be graduating on time?”
Note: They used to sing “Bright College Years” at the freshman assembly, but they didn’t at the last one we attended. It was still very nice, though.
For graduation weekend we are planning to stay on Old Campus so we will be close enough to walk to everything, but not pay the high rates at the hotels in town.
Hunt, just looked at the 2015 Freshman Assembly program and you’re correct. They didn’t sing “Bright College Years”, but, confusingly at least to me, sang another song (“Raise Your Voices Here”) that includes the phrase “Our bright college years unfold” in the lyrics.
Maybe they save “Bright College Years” for graduation now?
Interesting about BCY…I know they did in 2010, because I have pictures of the white handkerchiefs waving. But in a way it makes sense; the song seems to more suited to graduation.
My son had a lot of difficulty finding work study his first year–probably because of his athletic schedule–though there is a job board that regularly posts work study possibilities and he applied to just about everything that worked with his other commitments. He finally landed one job with the help of a teammate, but it didn’t last into spring semester. He found work tutoring online (off the job board), which was great because the hours were flexible and he could continue doing it while studying abroad last summer (on a generous Yale scholarship).
Things have gone better this year. He just got a great paid internship in New Haven in the field he’s interested in from the job board and a Yale-coordinated summer internship relatively close to home (yay me!).
My growing sense is that Yale offers an abundance of good work opportunities, but that they become easier to get as you go along. The main thing is to stay with it, keep a constant eye out for opportunities, and join clubs early because the kids in those groups network and help one another out a lot.
And to clarify work study: There are work study jobs (mostly off campus) for which students must be eligible for federal work study to apply. Then there are Yale work study jobs for which students eligible for Yale work study are eligible for (these students may or may not be eligible for federal work study.) What I don’t know is whether students eligible for Yale work study are given preference for jobs on the Yale job board over students without FA who would like to work.
My kid has two jobs- one in the library and one in her RC. She loves both because the RC job is not only flexible but its minimal hours and commitment. She worked hard and they invited her to apply for the second term. Not all had the same offer. The library is quiet and gives her the loner time she sometimes needs. She can work her regular hours and can pick up late night hours as well which allows her to do homework. This is neat because she would be up doing her HW then anyhow and she is getting paid to be there. Both have been very accommodating and she has enjoyed them both.
ETA- She had to attend an informational night of work opportunities, she applied to a general application with her resume and qualifications and she was told where she would fit in. Then she had to interview for the position. Just like a formal job, she waited to hear if she was hired for both of them. Personality was a key factor in both jobs. She made sure she made it clear that she wanted to work.
“Raise Your Voices Here” is a relatively new song written by Jeff Douma, the director of the Glee Club. It may be that they dropped “Bright College Years” from the freshman assembly because it put too much of a spotlight on the alums in the audience.