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Hi, my name is Julia and I'm a junior from California. Yale’s residential college system is one of the most essential features of the Yale experience. Each of the 14 Residential Colleges is an independent living space with its own dining hall, library, gym, common areas, and courtyard. Before arriving at Yale, incoming students are randomly assigned to their college community, where they belong for all four years. Residential colleges have nothing to do with what you're studying, where you're from, or what you do outside of the classroom. Instead, each college reflects the full diversity of the undergraduate student body within a smaller community of about 400 students. This combination of close-knit community and global diversity makes the residential colleges much more than just a place to live.
Living & Learning
Tour stop audio transcript
Dorm rooms in the residential colleges are arranged in suites, usually with a common room connected to several bedrooms. Most suites consist of four to six people, but they vary in size, design, and features, even within the same college. Although every college is architecturally unique, all are designed so that student suites are joined by vertical entryways that open onto a green courtyard. Most entryways also connect to a large interconnected basement, which makes it easy to get from one part of the college to another.
Lifelong Connections
Tour stop audio transcript
The dining hall is at the center of every residential college. Every dining hall is open to all students, so there are plenty of places to eat. But your college's dining hall always feels like home. Each college also includes additional shared spaces and resources that bring members of the community together and support students’ creative and intellectual pursuits. Every college's gym and library are open 24 hours a day, and you will find music practice rooms, dance studios, recording studios, art rooms, basketball courts, and student kitchens located just steps away from your bedroom.
Support Systems
Tour stop audio transcript
Each college is led by a Head of College and a Dean. Both are professors who live within the college community. The two work as a team to shape the academic, social, and cultural life of the college, while supporting students as formal and informal advisors. From the first day students arrive on campus, they develop close bonds with their heads of college and deans, who form an integrated support system to assist students through academic and personal challenges while helping them maximize Yale’s opportunities.
At Home At Yale
Tour stop audio transcript
The residential college experience is a fundamental part of the Yale experience, creating both a comfortable home base and an exciting launch pad for students to expand their horizons. Every college has its own community traditions and annual events ranging from intramural sports to dances to snowball fights. Colleges host events almost every week of the year, including intimate discussions with prominent special guests called College Teas and subsidized excursions off campus to Broadway shows and New England ski slopes.
Ask any Yalie, and they’ll tell you that we couldn't imagine Yale without the residential colleges. Even though it is the most diverse community many of us will ever join, it’s also a vital piece of our identity as Yale students. The bonds we create in our colleges last long after we graduate.
