Last Updated on September 30, 2026
Quick answer: What I loved most about being a Yale student was the chance to join some of the oldest student organizations in the country, including the Whiffenpoofs, the Yale Daily News, and the Yale Dramatic Association. Generations of alumni give these groups deep networks and resources, and they became the social center of my time at Yale.
What I Loved Most About Being a Yale Student
Yale is one of the oldest undergraduate institutions in the United States. And while “old” often correlates to prestige among US schools, there’s one key way in which the value of “old” is often overlooked and under-discussed, in my opinion.
What I loved most about being a Yale student was the opportunity to take part in the oldest student extracurricular organizations in the world. Yale claims the oldest collegiate a cappella group, The Whiffenpoofs. Yale publishes the oldest collegiate daily newspaper, The Yale Daily News. [1] Yale also shares with Harvard the oldest active collegiate sporting event: the Harvard-Yale Regatta, a rowing race first held in 1852.
The Value of Yale’s Historic Student Organizations
Yale has a remarkable reputation for extracurriculars and part of the reason for this, in addition to the interest of the student members and leaders over generations, is the sheer age of these organizations. Because they’re old, these organizations have thousands of phenomenal alumni, numerous professional connections and opportunities, and huge financial support built up over time. All these factors help Yale’s extracurriculars function at a professional-level I could never have imagined before I was a Yale student.
The professional opportunities I had through extracurriculars prepared me for the world beyond Yale, giving me skills that complemented and expanded on my academics and liberal arts mindset. Did I imagine that I’d learn financial management, writing contracts and hiring contractors, completing taxes, and marketing through my extracurriculars? No, but I did learn these transferable skills.
My primary extracurricular as a Yale student was the Yale Dramatic Association, the campus’s oldest theater organization. [2] In addition to producing and designing, I served on the Executive Board of the organization.
The Yale Dramat was founded in 1901 and predates Yale’s Drama School. [2] Therefore, the undergraduate student members of the Yale Dramat have access to the resources of both the Drama School and the regional Yale Repertory Theater. The Executive Board hires professional directors and designers for the main stage productions, selects each seasons’ shows, consults with a board of alumni in New York, and manages multiple endowments and a huge operating budget. As an undergraduate student, you’re suddenly presented with the resources and opportunities you’d have at one of the best regional professional theaters in the US. It’s no wonder that the Yale Dramat claims alumni like Cole Porter, Thornton Wilder, Jodie Foster, and Edward Norton. The Dramat keeps a book with the signatures of its members going back to its earliest years, including mine. That’s still thrilling to me.
Residential College Life as a Yale Student
Extracurriculars gave my time at Yale its energy, and my residential college gave it a home. Before arriving on campus, every Yale student is randomly assigned to one of 14 residential colleges, and you stay in that college for all four years. [3] Each college includes student suites, a dining hall, community spaces, a gym, a café, and a library. [3]
In practice, your residential college becomes a smaller community inside the larger university. You eat meals with the same friends, run into upperclassmen who can tell you which classes to take, and cheer for your college in intramural sports. Because assignments are random, you live alongside students with very different majors, hometowns, and interests. My college friends included future doctors, engineers, historians, and actors, and our conversations over dinner shaped my education as much as my seminars did.
The residential colleges also connect naturally to extracurricular life. Students rehearse, write, and plan events in their college’s shared spaces, and college traditions give you another place to lead and create. If you are comparing Yale with its closest peer, our Harvard vs Yale guide explains how the two campus cultures differ.
What surprised me most was how quickly my residential college felt like home. The first weeks of college can feel overwhelming, and having a built-in community of neighbors, older students, and dining hall regulars made it easier to try new things. I auditioned for my first show partly because a friend from my college brought me along, and that one decision shaped the rest of my four years. When you tour colleges or talk with current students, ask how first-year students find their people. At Yale, the answer is usually a mix of residential college life and extracurricular commitments, and the two reinforce each other in ways that are hard to appreciate until you experience them.
Extracurriculars as the Social Center of Campus
Famous alumni, remarkable opportunities, and creative professionalism aside, the extracurriculars are social centers of campus for Yale students. Students socialize within their extracurriculars and form lifelong friendships through late hours in the theater or group problem-solving. I cannot overstate how cool it is to be able to take advantage of these old extracurricular institutions, while also working alongside my closest friends.
Yale’s spirited extracurriculars define the campus. Yale students “rush” a cappella groups like they would rush fraternities and sororities at other schools. Yale students in every academic department sing, perform, write, dance, and paint. I never planned to pursue theater professionally, and my peers in the Yale Dramat claimed majors ranging from Chemistry and Cognitive Science to Latin American Studies. At the same time, there were members of the Yale Dramat who chose Yale over theater conservatories because they knew they would have an experience at Yale as they would have had at Juilliard or CalArts. These peers of mine have already gone on to star on Broadway, in hit TV series, and in movies.
You can hear what one of my other peers, Yosepha Greenfield, is up to now and what her experience at Yale was like here:
Room for Diverse Interests
Yale’s extracurriculars prepare students remarkably well for the world beyond Yale, but also let students diversify and follow their interests. If you want a taste for how much everyone at Yale loves to perform and celebrate art, regardless of their academic interests, just check out Yale’s revolutionary admissions video “That’s Why I Chose Yale,” which was created while I was a student. I will never forget my pre-med suitemates who went onto attend remarkable medical schools and become doctors singing “That’s Why I Chose Yale” around campus for months after the video was released. The spirit of the arts and music pervades Yale’s campus and reflects a history of serious and professional extracurriculars that made me happy to be a part of Yale every single day.
Yale’s extracurriculars are central to campus life and are why I loved the college. If you’re wondering how to get into Yale, wholeheartedly pursue your activities and think about how you can contribute to Yale’s extracurricular organizations.
See what other students love about Yale in this Yale campus tour video:
How to Show Yale You Would Thrive as a Yale Student
If being a Yale student sounds like the right fit, your application should show admissions officers how you will contribute to campus life. Yale’s extracurricular culture rewards students who commit deeply, take on responsibility, and bring others along with them.
Think about the organizations you would want to join, and more importantly, what you would bring to them. Admissions officers are building a community, not just admitting individuals, so the clearer your picture of how you would take part, the easier it is for them to picture you on campus. The steps below can help you translate your high school activities into a convincing case for Yale.
Commit Deeply to a Few Activities
Admissions readers look for sustained involvement rather than a long list of short-term memberships. Choose the activities that matter most to you and look for ways to grow within them, whether that means directing a production, editing a publication, or organizing a community project. Our guide to optimizing your activities list for the Ivy League explains how to present that depth clearly.
Show How You Will Contribute
Yale’s supplemental essays give you room to describe what you would add to the community. Rather than listing clubs you plan to join, connect your past experiences to specific ways you would take part, collaborate, and lead. Our breakdown of the Yale supplemental essays walks through each prompt.
Let Your Range Show
Some of my most memorable peers pursued activities far from their academic focus, such as chemistry majors who designed sets and pre-med students who sang in a cappella groups. If you have an interest outside your intended field, let it show in your application. Yale values curious students, and your application is your chance to show the full range of what you care about.
Get to Know Yale Before You Apply
The best way to write convincingly about Yale is to learn about it firsthand. Visit campus if you can, attend a virtual information session, or read student publications like the Yale Daily News to see what students are talking about. Talk with current students or alumni about the organizations they joined and why. Specific details from these conversations help you explain, in your own words, why being a Yale student fits the way you want to learn and live. If you also plan to interview, our alumni interview guide can help you prepare to share those details with confidence.
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