When applying to colleges, it can be hard to justify leaving behind Florida weather, in-state tuition and a close proximity to home. However, for the prospective college student looking to leave the sunshine state and venture into New England, Yale might be the match for you.
The residential college system is the heart of Yale housing. Yale consists of 14 residential colleges, each containing its own dining hall and library. When entering freshman year, each student is randomly assigned a residential college where they will reside for their entire college career. For the lucky few with legacy to Yale, you can choose to stay in the same residential college where your parents lived. The same applies if you have a sibling currently attending the university.
Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin are the two newest additions to Yale’s residential colleges. The buildings opened in 2017 and housed the first group of students to live in a new residential college since 1961. Each of the prestigious buildings showcase their own gym, dance and art studios, computer labs, basketball court, buttery (a cafe for late night snacks) and, most importantly, elevators (a luxury most buildings on old campuses do not have). Bad news: these buildings are a fifteen minute walk from main campus. Good news: rumor has it every junior and senior in Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin college has a single (a dorm room all to themselves).
Housing at Yale is broken down into suites. Each floor has three to four suites and each suite contains three to four dorms. Each suite has a common room for students to study, hang out and store their completely necessary mini fridges and microwaves. Bathrooms are located in the hallways for the various suites to share, and, while the suites are gender specific, the floors are not, meaning the bathrooms are co-ed.
Once you leave the residential college and enter Yale’s main campus, the reality of being in an urban area like New Haven shines through. Busy streets intersect Yale’s gothic architecture and pizza shops line the streets across from classrooms. Although residential colleges allow for a tight knit community, having New Haven at your fingertips leaves the students with no shortage of things to do.
Whether cheering on Yale at sports games or exploring one of the university’s 14 dining halls, every Yale student knows the pride in being a bulldog.
