I'm on spring break now (SPRING BREAK!!!111!one!), and Yale has flicked out of existence, more or less. The YDN won't come out tomorrow, I won't have to get up early, and I won't drink cheap vodka on weeknights for a while. This is supposed to be a relief, and to some degree it is, but I've also started getting that feeling everyone gets of "oh no, my life! It's going so fast!"
Yalies seem to have a minor obsession with time; generally, there isn't enough of it. I sympathize. My father (an alum; yes, I'm a legacy brat) from time to time proposes offering a 5th year of Yale with full tuition, no housing, and extra degree. There are enormous and glaring problems with this idea, of course, but at the same time it seems somewhat compelling. Another year of college? Another two semesters of irresponsibility and debauchery? Sign me up! But is that what college is really about?
It seems that a lot of us really aren't sure whether we're actually becoming sophisticated adults or whether we're putting off being sophisticated adults by going to college. I'm sure the sentiment varies from person to person, but for all the undergraduate organizations we create and community service we do and navel gazing we engage in, we also binge-drink and hook up and fight against the man in our own special way.
I doubt this will ever be resolved. I suppose what ultimately matters is that sophisticated adults come out of Yale somehow, and go on to do important-sounding things. But I kind of wish we could decide whether Yale is a training camp for life or a protracted gap-year from it.
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This isn't a good answer to your actual question, but my to cents on the question of "I kind of wish we could decide whether Yale is a training camp for life or a protracted gap-year from it."
Prepare for cop-out:
It's totally both. And this is the difference between Yale and Harvard. All the craziest most ambitious motherfuckers in the world are here - the people that never slept in high school and did x y z extracurricular activities and were slowly losing their soul. It's not all of us, but it's most of us to some degree.
What Harvard does with these people is say "yes, yes - that's what it takes to succeed; be competitive, win, study, work, no fun!"
Yale, in its way, is certainly a more "fun" place - but I think that's a great thing. It teaches all the world's most ambitious people that they sometimes they need to actually live their lives, not just be chasing some elusive dream only to find themselves dead one day without a day enjoyed.
I have friends that go to other schools that had the mentality in high school: "I hate this, but at least I'll get into a good school." Then at college: "I hate all my classes, but then I'll get into law school." Then in law school, I predict: "This sucks, but I'm going to make so much money." Then when they become a lawyer: "This sucks out my soul / isn't that fun / I'm working too many hours to see my family but once I get that promotion it'll be smooth sailing.." etc. etc. etc.
At some point, even at the place with the most opportunities, you have to be willing to party or watch some TV or you end up living a tragic life. Yale, I think, teaches that in subtle ways.
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