INTOTHEBEST's Blog

My cousin Keith got married at Yale a few weeks ago. I have driven past New Haven plenty of times on my way to go skiing in Vermont or to visit Boston or New Hampshire. It was great seeing the family again and being there to celebrate with Keith and Gretchen.

After all the Yale-bashing that goes on at Princeton, I had heard that the school was falling apart and in the middle of a ghetto. I was pleasantly surprised to find that New Haven is an All-American city and that Yale has a style all its own. Seeing a group of tourists, I joined the official Yale tour and learned that the library is in the shape of a chapel because the architect was retiring and wanted to build a chapel because all great architects built chapels in the 1700s. The tour guide explained that the tapestry behind the circulation desk is symbolic because the person’s coat is blue, signifying Yale, and the man is standing on a crimson carpet, showing that Yalies are better than people from Harvard. What I didn’t understand was why the part above the Yale blue was orange. Perhaps that shows Yale’s acknowledgement that it is below Princeton?

Seriously though, the campus is beautiful, it is spread out in an urban setting, and the people are very friendly. On the lawn, I saw a student fighting with a Yale employee. I always heard that Yale was in a bad neighborhood. But as you can see from the picture, the student and Yale employee are members of the Freestyle Dueling Association and are playing with foam swords. Note: The Yale employee is the one with the mullet and the non-mulleted individual is the Yale student and perhaps president of the Freestyle Dueling Association.

The moral of the story is that you should visit as many schools as possible to get a feel for the campuses, to eliminate myths and rumors, and to make more informed decisions.