I had never toured a single university before being accepted into it. This wasn’t done with cockiness but necessity. I’m from The-Middle-of-Nowhere, Oklahoma, and I simply didn’t have the time or money to travel the New England coast to visit the schools I dreamed of attending, knowing it was admittedly unlikely that I would get a spot.
In a twist of fate, I was accepted to many. April of 2023 was a very hectic time of travel and decision-making. Ultimately, I whittled my options down to two, and a forbidden love bloomed. Yale and Harvard haunted every waking moment of that April, as I imagined my life at both trying to decide which was better. My mother and I visited on our own in that first week, both as a senior road trip and an opportunity to see both campuses in regularly scheduled programming. I had hoped my choice would become clear, and I wouldn’t even have to go to the admitted students days – unfortunately that didn’t quite happen, though there was something about Yale that made me start to lean.
Me being a traitor and posing in the Harvard Yard on April 6, 2023
I did admittedly enjoy both campuses, but there was something about the environment of Yale that presented a stark difference. I vividly remember the first time I stepped onto Cross Campus. Music was playing, people were laying out on blankets, laughing, reading. It was what I imagined when I dreamed of my college life.
Me straddling a gate on Old Campus during my first few moments on Yale’s campus on April 8, 2023
There was about a two week break in between my first visit and Visitas / Bulldog Days, and it was a tumultuous one. All I could do was ponder the decision. Some days, I said I was going to Harvard; others, I said it was Yale all the way. Finally, I boarded the plane to Boston, and with no exaggeration at all, I had a very negative experience at Visitas. Not that anything in particular was wrong, but I could feel in my spirit that it wasn’t the place for me, and I wasn’t having a lot of fun at all. A couple days later, I made the trip down to New Haven for Bulldog Days feeling remnants of disappointment at my Cambridge visit. That all changed when I arrived on Old Campus to check in for Bulldog Days.
Almost immediately, I felt excited and welcomed at Yale. Something about it just made me feel comfortable. I found a great group of friends, and we spent the days laughing long into the night before disrupting our poor hosts’ sleep with texts to come let us into the dorms. Over the course of Bulldogs Days, I met so many amazing, funny, inspiring, exciting people, and it made me excited to come to college in general. It was something other campuses failed to incite in me. I called my mother many times throughout my visits to catch her up on how I was feeling, and when I finally told her on the last night of Bulldog Days that I knew where I would be going, she said she wasn’t surprised. The energy of Yale and Bulldog Days was evident in my voice through telephone signals stretching across 1,500 miles. The day after I returned from Bulldog Days, I accepted my offer of admission and became a Yalie.
A group of pre-frosh and I walking to the Silliman Buttery - the place to be during Bulldog Days
For me, choosing a school was very intuitive. As this story exemplifies, intuition isn’t always an easy thing, though. I went into my college visits listening to my gut, and it led me to the right choice. I believe tangible things can only take you so far when it comes to making such a huge decision, and the best decider is your feelings. Bulldog Days was an amazing experience for me, and it did have a large part in my ultimate decision, but everybody is unique. When you arrive on campus in a few weeks (presumably not your first admitted students day), I simply encourage you to listen to yourself. My intuition led me to Yale, but that may not be the case for you, and that’s alright.
Another thing I would encourage is to take admitted students visits seriously. Of course, you will consequently put a lot of effort into a school that you won’t end up attending, but putting your all into the quick relationships you make and the activities you attend is the best way to feel out what the best choice is. Moreover, doing so is sure to foster the best outcome for whatever school you do attend. The friends I made at Bulldog Days are friends I still see very regularly – it’s almost hard to believe that we met so long ago on such a short trip. College can be very stressful and difficult at times, so it is important to pick a place that makes you feel comfortable and excited. Though it would be great if Yale is that place for you, as it was for me, it’s alright if not. Only you can make that final decision after you attend Bulldog Days, of course.
