December 19, 2006
Posted by Sam Jackson
Yalies = the happiest, most interesting people in the world?
That's the title of a discussion thread created on Facebook by Eddie Fishman, a fellow Yale pre-frosh from Harriton Senior High School. Eddie is aware that the degree to which we early admits of yale 2011 seem to be communicating with one another online is unusual and noteworthy. He asked:
I have a bunch of friends who got good news like me at the end of last week. I have several friends going to Penn and Wharton (very common for Philly high schools to send a bunch), a couple at Cornell, one at Princeton, etc, etc, etc.
YET...none of them have had any experiences even remotely close to what we've all been doing over the past couple days. I mean, we have spoken to each other, joked, philosophized, debated, shared odd and obscure personal stories, our goals, our plans, our undying excitement to be YALIES! What is it, folks, that makes us so damn happy and eager to get acquainted? Is it something about the types of students who are attracted to Yale? I can't tell you how many friends have called me after seeing my facebook wall, saying, "Whoa. You have soo many Yale friends already. Everyone from [insert name of college here] is boring/doesn't show initiative to get to know the class." Can somebody please explain the causes of this phenomenon to me? Have you realized it too?
Tess Lerners-Byars of North Hollywood Senior High gave a response which I think fairly answers part of the question:
I don't know what it is, but meeting everyone and sharing insights, interests, stories, and everything else has been exhiliarating--so much fun. I think it's some sort of endless cycle in which we feed off each other's excitement, causing us to want to get to know more people, who make us want to be yalies even more. I have to say, it's incredibly unique and just another item on our ever extensive list of why yale reigns supreme over all other schools. but honestly, what a way to begin the next four years of our lives!
All this surrounds what I can only describe as a very fascinating phenomenon whereby some 200+ prefrosh Yale 2011 have been hugely socializing online using all the tools social networking and the 'classic' web has made available to us. The special admitted students website is supplemented by Facebook, where many in the Yale 2011 group have had their friend-adding abilities disabled because they've been on such adding sprees. I've spent a terrifying amount of time since Friday talking to people I never knew before our early acceptances brought us together...
I think this could be a case study in some of the new ways teens are using social networking, and it's something that I will be tracking in the upcoming months. It's not surprising that we're all using Facebook to get in touch with one another; what's interesting is the scale and speed with which we've embraced it as a forum for 2011 communication, likewise with the yale admitted students site. It's hard for an outsider to see just how much mileage we're getting out of these tools, but I'll have more posts in the coming days to try to quantify this a little bit.
I'm currently a rising senior at Yale University and I've been blogging about college admissions and higher education marketing trends since I began my college application process in 2005. I now also write about my experience here at Yale.
6 Comments
December 19, 2006
It'll probably be weird when you actually get to Yale. I made a friend two years after I went to school but I knew her because she added me, like hundreds of others, on facebook in the summer before freshman year. She eventually removed most of her so-called "friends" but she said it made things awkward when she met people she already vaguely knew through facebook.
December 19, 2006
J, who writes to us from a UPenn IP address
-- I said as much on the discussion board. It'll be logistically nightmarish enough when it comes time after RD to integrate the 1000 other kids into our community even before we ever (never) meet them.
December 19, 2006
I realize I am not actually really "meeting" people or "talking" to them. They aren't already my lifelong friends. Maybe some of them are people I will never meet. But the simple fact that suddenly I know that there are people out there who want to know me because they share my love of the weird and archaic...well, after four years at a highschool I can't wait to leave it is a good thing to know. And I really believe that some of these people will become real friends who I will make an effort to find before it is awkward when we meet years in the future. So yeah, the internet isn't totally real. But I'm still excited.
December 19, 2006
She turned out to be cool when I happened to work with her over the summer... two years after I first "knew about her." I guess the point, if there is one, is that meeting friends traditionally will always work out better (and have less awkwardness) than trying to meet up with people you've interacted with online.
December 19, 2006
p.s. Penn - not UPenn is the preferred nickname of the University of Pennsylvania
December 19, 2006
Well, I defer to your knowledge--I was just trying to be as clear as possible. Enjoying the wifi?
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