Yale University

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Majors: Theater Studies and Economics double major
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: African-American Heterosexual Male

Summary

I do a lot of plays at Yale outside of class through the Yale Drama Coalition.

Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: African-American
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public high school in Medford, MA with a graduating class of about 300 students. There was a culture of going to college.
First-Generation College Student: No
Majors: Theater Studies and Economics double major
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I do a lot of plays at Yale outside of class through the Yale Drama Coalition.
What impact has being in plays had on your experience?
The Yale Drama Coalition is very time consuming so I’m with people in that part of Yale a lot. I’ve made a lot of good friends from that.

Academic Experience

Can you describe the weekly coursework for your majors?
I usually have one problem set a week because I’m usually taking one Economics class and two Theater courses a semester. For the Theater courses, we have readings, but not too many readings, and memorizing scenes and monologues for the class.
Is there anything you feel your majors’ departments do especially well or poorly?
The Theater department is very good because there are a lot of choices for classes that you can take and the requirements they have [open you up to parts of theater that you may not be interested in]. For example, I had to take a theater history course that I wasn’t very interested in, but they did a good job of incorporating performance into those sorts of classes. If you’re someone who is just planning on acting and doesn’t see the importance of theater history, they do a good job of teaching you the importance of it while still incorporating acting.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
For the Theater department, the environment in those classes is very not competitive at all. People really want to help you and teach you the ways they’ve been going at it as an actor or playwright. For the Economics department, it’s more competitive because there’s a curve and people feel overwhelmed when they are below the curve or right at the curve. That sometimes causes people to drop the class or drop the major. I feel like the curve may cause you to study more individually, but if you have friends in the class that’s probably different.
How accessible are your professors?
My professors have been very accessible. I’ve had professors in the Theater department reach out after class to me just to hang out and talk and be a mentor for the rest of my life at Yale. For the Economics department, they are accessible but I don’t take advantage of that as much because right now I’m not really sure what I want to do in Economics and what path I want to take yet.
Do you feel people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom?
Yes, I would say people are open to multiple schools of thought in the classroom. But, I would say there is usually one particular school of thought that we all agree on in Theater. I think people would be open to other schools of thought, but that doesn’t really happen because so many people have the same opinion.
How is managing both your theater obligations and your coursework?
It has its difficulties. I do a couple of plays a semester and some of them aren’t very serious and the rehearsal schedule is only about five hours a week, but then in tech week it gets really bad because you rehearse about four hours a day that week. For the major plays, their rehearsal schedule is at least three hours a day and maxes out at five hours a day. That’s very tough. For the more serious plays, we will also have weeks where we will have twelve hour a day rehearsals for three days. It’s manageable, but you just have to get ahead on work. It can be stressful at times but it’s manageable.
Why did you choose your majors? Are you happy with your choice?
Going into Yale, I did not think I wanted to major in Theater. I took the first requirement which was the theater history class that I’ve mentioned. I didn’t find it interesting and thought I would just do theater as an extracurricular. I took an Economics class my second semester and enjoyed it. Then I went abroad that summer to study theatre and really enjoyed it. I wanted to go ahead and see the two different majors, so I started taking classes in both of them and its going well. I’m almost done with the Theater major because of going abroad and I’m starting to take the intermediate classes for the Economics major and I’m enjoying it. My past exposure in high school to theatre and economics brought me to both majors too.

Reasons to Attend

1. It’s a place where you can grow. I feel that I have really changed since the day I stepped on Yale’s campus. Whether it’s through academics or something else, Yale will help you find who you want to be.
2. The classes are very helpful. You can find a lot of courses that interest you and the professors are very helpful as well.
3. Even though it’s predominately rich, White students, I feel like there’s a lot of diversity that you can discover and is very cool.

Reasons Not to Attend

1. Since a lot of people who go to Yale are used to being at the top of their class in high school, if you’re afraid to not be the number one person, it might not be the place for you. Because there are a lot of very talented people here, it can be overwhelming and scary to not be number one.
2. I wish there were more big events on campus. We have the Harvard-Yale game every year which is so much fun, but I wish there were more events like that where the whole student body is invested in something.
3. I would consider Yale a funs school on the weekends, but going out is not the most important part of the experience.

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
Freshman: Durfee Hall with one roommate and three suitemates.
Sophomore: I transferred to Franklin College and I live in a suite of two people. We each have our own bedroom and share a bedroom.
How was transitioning from living outside of Boston to New Haven, CT?
It wasn’t very hard at all, to be honest. I feel like parts of Boston and Medford are similar to New Haven. Also, we’re still in New England, so the weather was very similar.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
I feel very safe on campus. When I do get the emails from the police department about stuff happening on campus it does make me worried. But, when I’m outside I feel like I’m very safe because of the police presence.

Social Opportunities

What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you participate in at Yale?
I like to hang out with friends a lot. One of my friends has a house that I go to where we hang out. When I’m in a play, it’s very hard to manage going out a lot and rehearsals, sometimes I work on weekend nights to get ahead on work and make sure I’ll be okay. I also like to go to fraternity parties because I have friends in them and I’ll hang out with them at night. If I were to do something like that, I’d do it on a Friday or Saturday night. When my friends and I hang out we like to go to comedy shows, acapella concerts, or regular plays. We sometimes go hang around in New Haven or chill in a suite.
What is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
I feel that I’m not around it as much. I was planning on joining a fraternity, but I weighed the pros and cons with the money and also if I could get a similar experience without being in a frat. I feel like Greek life has a big part in nightlife but I feel that people don’t feel like they need to be in a frat or associate with a frat to have a good nightlife. I figured that I don’t need to be in a fraternity so I didn’t join one.
How happy are you with the weekend options at Yale? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I’m pretty happy with the weekend options. I feel like if you don’t want to go out and party there are a variety of other events going on. You can go to comedy shows, acapella shows, or hang out with friends in the Buttery. There are lots of options that people have.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
Through the first suite I had my freshman year. I also met them through the Yale Drama Coalition and playing basketball.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Yale?
It’s a pretty solid social scene. You can find people who have the same interests as you by doing things on campus and you can then really thrive with them. That’s what I’ve been doing and I feel that it’s been working really well. People who are first-years have good stories about finding good friends through the residential college system or through suites.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
I feel like people mix a lot, at least from the spaces I’ve been in. For example, I like going to Fence Club and they have a good mix of people there. Also, the entire performance community, like the comedy groups and people who are in plays, also have a good mix.
How would you describe the Black community on campus? How strong is it?
I feel like the Black community is very strong. There is the Black Men’s Student Union and the Black Student Alliance where people of color can go talk and unite. I haven’t been as much a part of these communities, but I have a lot of friends who are people of color who host events I could attend. That is something I have been trying to do this semester because I want to expand my community.
How would you describe the student body?
I feel like it has a lot of different scenes with different sorts of people. In my Economics classes, it’s very White. But, in my other scenes, such as my performance scene, there is a mix. You do see a lot of rich, White individuals that can seem like the predominant community, but if you look beyond that, which is easy to do, you’ll find lots of different people who have different interests and lots of different scenes you can be a part of. [In 2018-2019, about 43% of students were White. Socioeconomically, about 19% of students are from the top 1%.]
How do you like the size of Yale in terms of undergraduate enrollment? [Yale has about 6,000 undergraduates.]
I see the same people walking around, so I feel like it’s not a very big school. That has pros and cons because if I don’t want to see somebody, I’ll still see them. But, it also brings a sense of community.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Not yet. I haven’t reached out because I haven’t really tried looking for jobs through Yale yet.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I used them while I was briefly trying to find a job last summer. That was brief because I ended up studying abroad. They were very helpful. They have office hours that you can go to.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that will be helpful professionally?
I have not learned any. I did take a Computer Science my spring semester of freshman year but dropped it because I wasn’t understanding it and didn’t want to take the time to try to figure it out.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, accommodating was the office to your needs? Were they responsive to your questions?
Yes, I use financial aid. I’ve been there a couple of times to figure out what documents I need to bring, how to get them, and stuff like that. They’ve been very helpful, but I know people who did not get as much financial aid as they want and they think they’re not as helpful, which I completely understand. [During the 2016-2017 academic year, nearly 50% of students received financial aid.]