Questions about Directed Studies - I’ve heard that Directed Studies is a lot of work. I’ve heard that the grading is mainly through turning out a 4-6 page paper per week, so rather than approaching the reading for memorization and details, should you try to do the readings thematically or with a certain slant in mind?
Also how do the profs grade these papers? Do they expect incredible effort with finely-tuned papers? Do they grade hard? easy? Please share.
FYI - Just saw they opened a new commuter rail line that you can take from New Haven to Hartford (and beyond). I didn’t spend a lot of time on the site, but looks like you’d still have to take Bradley Flyer from station to airport. Also didn’t look at price. But may make Hartford an easier airport to get to for students. D loves to fly out of there when she can. She has a car but in winter when weather potentially bad or when flights really early I’d love for her to be able to go by train.
My daughter went through Directed Studies and loved it–the reading, the small classes, the great professors and the camaraderie with her fellow DSers. It really is a foundation for a liberal education in the best sense. You need to do the reading with a thought for what could be a good paper topic --she never had any problem coming up with topics since the discussion groups generate so many ideas.
Since it is your first semester of college, the work may seem daunting but that is largely because it is your first semester of college, not just because it is Directed Studies. But if you like the idea of engaging with the best that has been thought and written, it will be absorbing.
Grading is medium, in my opinion. Challenging but not expecting perfection. And you will be pleased at the end of a year how much your writing and thinking has improved.
One less-discussed advantage of Directed Studies is that the three courses are coordinated such that you have one paper a week and the work is distributed relatively evenly, which means that you don’t get slammed with, say, three midterms in two days as you might if you were taking unrelated courses.
OK. Thanks. So it seems the readings are not so much for absorbing details, but to glean enough to generate papers. I hear there are no midterms. What do the finals look like? Are they a combination of essay/short answer/mult. choice?
There is an online course catalogue where you can search for classes and professors. There are also student evaluations posted for each class. You will need to log in with your Yale NetID.
Thank you, bludbulldog, DeepBlue86, and BKSquared. I’m a Yale parent - 2022. My DD is excited to matriculate at Yale and has applied to the DS program…awaiting word. How did your kids tackle the readings? I’ve heard that some kids that have gone through the IB program use “triage” reading. I think because of the volume of the readings, they used means to focus in on certain aspects of the material rather than trying to read everything for detail? Could you shed any light on this?
@YaleInsights , my son did IB, but did not do DS. Nevertheless, during his time at Yale, I think he benefited from having learned how to do reading list triage.
I think it’s common that most first years have never had the availability of intellectual stimulation that they have at Yale, and they act a little bit like children let loose in a candy store. Pacing themselves is important.
Thank you IxnayBob. My DD went to a STEM school, although her first love is the humanities, so she never learned to do reading list triage. Forgive me for my ignorance, how do you do triage? Is there are resource that you could point to?
OK, Thank you. I’ve gotten some information about doing triage…
My son just got his residential college assignment - he will be in Jonathan Edwards, Freshman year at Farnam Hall. Any JE parents out there have useful info for us to prepare him for living there? He’s going to be in a suite that sounds like 4 singles and one double??? Can’t be totally sure. Anyways, any info would be greatly appreciated regarding what we should expect for furnishings, etc.
My Son(freshman)has just been assigned a double in L-Dub with a bunk. He is very tall and while there should be a mutual understanding, taking the top bunk is just not an option for him. It’s a suite of 4 boys with two doubles. All four have hobbies that require big musical instruments and sports gear. My Son is coming from Asia and likely to carry all his gear for the year in durable suitcases. We foresee issues and stress managing space and storage in the suite. Any advice on approaching this predicament. Thanks
@Singhai – I don’t know if this will be possible, but if the suitcases can nest inside each other, that will save some space. My son’s roommate traveled from Asia and another boy in the suite traveled by plane from within the US. Both had lots of suitcases and plastic storage bins. The best advice I can offer is that he be considerate of the shared space. Store empty plastic bins or huge suitcases on top of the wardrobe, for example, or in a corner of the suite between two desks perhaps.
My son’s room did not require bunk beds but there was not an extra inch of space with the two beds in the room. The dresser drawers were stored under the raised beds, and there was space behind the dressers to stash suitcases.
@Singhai – Congratulations to your son. Our son was also in L-Dub a few years back when he was a freshman, and can confirm that the rooms are often on the smaller side. But the rooms get so much better (!) after this one year, and being on Old Campus is really fun for freshmen. Does their suite have a common room, because if so, one option is to break down his bunk bed and move furniture into the common room? Our son’s very tall, too, no way he’d have been happy in either the top or bottom bunk bed, instead his wardrobe was in the common room, which was an easy tradeoff – and other suites put all the desks in the common room in order to avoid bunking beds.
Agree with previous poster that the beds have height adjustments, so quite a lot can easily fit under them when unbunked. Suitcases can go inside other suitcases and then stored on top of a wardrobe.
@Singhai, Congrats! Pierson or Berkeley? S was in L-Dub in a quad with 2 bunk beds as well. L-Dub is probably the least desirable of Old Campus dorms, but Berkeley and Pierson are 2 of the best residential colleges. His roommates were pretty reasonable in allocating and compromising on space and room rules/expectations. It may be good for the 4 of them to start working out some logistics now so you avoid a first come/first grab scenario which usually does not end well. Also now is the time to agree on stuff like who is handling the frig, microwave, coffeemaker, etc… I think most if not all L-Dub rooms will have basic common room furniture like a couch, so don’t get any big stuff until you see the room.
The 4 boys ended up agreeing on 4 areas in the common room where they placed their desks for supplemental space. The space under the beds were all well used and you can get storage bins that fit there. Also there are organizers that you can hang on closet doors. I would also plan on packing as light as possible until you have a better handle on total space. In terms of suitcases, we just left one with our son and took one back with us. We are not international, but we have to fly to get to the East Coast.
Try not to stress. It will be a great adventure for your son.
@Singhai , do not worry. My son was in a very cramped room in L dub. His roommates were not really his tribe. But, he had a great year nevertheless, and he had an awesome four years. He was in Pierson, although his junior and senior years he rented a nearby apartment with roommates.
My DD, 2022, is also in Jonathan Edwards. She’s in a suite with 3 singles and 1 double. I’ve heard about other suite assignments with singles in JE today, including the post above from moosiechica88… Does JE have more singles than other colleges?
@YaleInsights
All JE Freshmen are spending their first year at Farnam Hall in Old Campus. It is my understanding that they have a LOT of singles at Farnam. Your daughter should have received an email with links to the First Year Handbook which has a rough sketch of the typical suites at Farnam. My son is in a sextet, with four singles and one double, and he’s already been chatting with all but one of his roommates on Facebook or Snapchat. It’s so cute how quickly they began reaching out for each other!
Not sure what the room situation is at JE, though, and it’s really hard to find anything online. My biggest questions are about how life is in general at JE. My son is super athletic (will hopefully be rowing as a walk-on) and extremely social, and I keep hearing that JE is very “artsy,” which wouldn’t be the best fit for my son. Most of his super athletic friends ended up at Davenport and Saybrook.
I also was a “worried” first year parent about the placement of my kid three years ago. Please be assured that all the colleges are great incredible spaces where kids bond over social/intellectual/athletic/artistic pursuits. I have one in Silliman and one in Davenport and they both think their college is the objectively best college at Yale! The students are randomely placed so there is not one college that is more athletic or artistic from the other. It may happen that year to year and class to class that this occurs but it is a random excercise in dividing the class. JE is a dorm with amazing spaces and more money than the other colleges so your son may be able to do some activities thru JE that other colleges don’t. My kid has some very athletic friends in JE class 2021 so he will be just fine!
Each residential college is suppose to represent a cross section of the undergrad body in general. That does not mean that colleges don’t have distinctive vibes, but often these vibes change over time and are driven by the Head or the Dean or certain groups of students who may choose to transfer into a particular college after freshmen year. JE is one of the smaller colleges and will have a different feel than say Silliman which is the largest one. Maybe @Tperry1982 can give you some insights. I believe she and her daughter are both JE.