This morning was not very charming for me. I woke up at 7:15 AM feeling groggy and exhausted. Perhaps it was the change in weather. The sun was nowhere to be seen and it was raining. Erinn was hoping for thunderstorms, but I was not so hot with the showers. Oh well, we all knew it was coming.
We arrived at Yale University after a manageable 2 hour drive. I had heard from my brother, Connor Miller (he went to Yale last year with the ILC), that New Haven was a sketchy town. The thing is, all towns have their perks, and nothing’s perfect. Our tour guide was a bit difficult to hear, but the campus was a sight to see. The entrance to the inside of Yale reads: "For God, For Country, and For Yale." The buildings were very old fashioned and colonial-looking. I would be interested to see the inside of them.
Yohanna Pepa (Pinole Valley High School Alum 2010 and rising sophomore at Yale University) met us at the Canoe Club Cafe at approximately noon. We had a really snotty waiter but the food was good. I got a grilled chicken sandwich with veggie chips. Yohanna talked to us about the rigor at Yale but that there was also a lot of fun things to do at an Ivy League college. I enjoyed seeing my former drum major from marching band two years ago. It is great to see that a PinoleValley High School alum is adjusting to east coast life so well. That made me feel a little more comfortable since I am considering applying to some colleges out here. Of course Yohanna misses the Bay Area, but she has grown to love Yale in New Haven. Before we parted, I gave Yohanna a list of the marching band tunes I picked for the Spartan band for my senior year. We are drum major buddies.
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| Y-A-L-E (HEART) |
Our next college tour was at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. We met Dan Heinrich at the informational session inside the admissions office. He welcomed us after his presentation because he knew we were the group from California. Dan also took part in the Summer@Brown program when he was a sophomore in high school. He took a class in digital design and studio art, which is also offered at Wesleyan. That information was appealing to me. Wesleyan is a rural college like Dartmouth and it has a loose curriculum like Brown. One thing that I love about college campuses is the plentiful and freshly cut grass. Wesleyan has an open Green that is used for social events and sports. Ms. Larson really enjoyed Wesleyan!
Unlike Boston University, the freshman dorms are spacious. Student housing only improves with seniority. Seniors have the opportunity to live in fancy and large apartments on campus like the one at the right. One thing about rural colleges that I do not like is the fact that students spend too much time on campus. They are very restricted to places they can go and they cannot take out their professors to dinner like other colleges can do in their nearby towns. Other than that, I enjoyed Wesleyan in Connecticut.
Out of the five colleges we visited, my preferences in order would be:
1. Boston University
2. Wesleyan University
3. Dartmouth College
Here's to the Ivy League Connection - Brown Cohort #1!
Erin,
ReplyDeleteYou seem well at ease in all of these photos--like you fit in everywhere.
That had to be something to visit with Yohanna again. She's special and we miss her.
I haven't eaten in quite a while so I keep staring at that photo of the sandwiches trying to figure out what kind of sandwich it is. I don't know how it tasted but it sure looks pretty.