Saturday’s multicultural open house at Yale was… informative. I wish I could write paragraph after paragraph about how exciting it was, but it wasn’t particularly thrilling. I do not think this was entirely Yale’s fault–I felt like a zombie half the day, because getting up at 6 AM was not a good way to cap off the last three weeks of poor sleep–and I don’t know that the event should have been exciting. As my one-word description implied, I learned a good deal more about Yale and life at Yale. It was a valuable experience. The thrills are perhaps better saved for overnight visits.

The majority of the day was spent in one place, Battell Chapel. Registration and light breakfastry was had in Dwight Hall. Registration was from 8:30 - 10 and those who registered before 915 or so were encouraged to go and take a campus tour. My Dad and I had already been on a tour in July, and early-morning New Haven temperatures did nothing to lure us from Dwight Hall. We spent the time instead talking to Josh Sayler, a senior in Johnathan Edwards College, about his childhood on a cattle ranch in rural North Dakota.

What happened at the opening address? Find out after the jump.

By 10 we were ushered over to Battell where Rob Jackson spoke about the day for a little bit before giving the podium over to the Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeff Brenzel. Brenzel announced he was utilizing an important Yale skill, “being in two places at once,” as he was at the same time supposed to be moderating a session at the Roosevelt Institute’s conference on socioeconomic diversity in higher education (YDN). He spoke about how it was important to be in a place “out of your comfort zone” so that you could deconstruct and then “reconstruct yourself as a global citizen.” “Global citizen” was the buzzword here. There was also a constant referencing to the fact that you could only ever “scratch the surface” of opportunity at Yale, so vast were the possibilities as an undergraduate. “You almost never see all of it,” said Brenzel. “Everything hides something else deeper” was the gist of it.

Then the distribution of “wisdom” came–bad news, there are lot’s of applications to Yale. Good news, you’ll do great wherever you go. Esentially: we are sad to reject good people, do your best to make sure we don’t have to. And then the kicker: “Treat admissions as a ‘lesson about how the world works.’” I don’t think he meant that in a Price of Admission fashion. The caveat: “your life doesn’t depend on where you go; obsess over being ready to seize opportunity. Best of luck.”

See part two here: Yale Multicultural Open House rundown: part 2