Yale College Class of 2018

A few weeks ago, Yale welcomed its next freshman class, the Yale College Class of 2018.  Ten members of the Class of 2018 are the children of members of the Class of 1987.  On of them is our son.

Being a Freshman at Yale in 2014 is a bit different than being a Freshman at Yale in 1983.  It has been an interesting experience to see the Yale experience as a parent and hearing about our son's experience, which has thus far been very different from mine.

I knew things would be different when our son got his rooming information.  Included in the information was the phone number for his suite.  "What's that for?" he asked.  Well, son, in olden times, phones were plugged into the wall.  And, there was just one per suite.   He seemed perplexed at that thought.  They also don't have the need for white boards on the door.  If you want to leave a message, just text.

They also have a lot of meetings.  Many, many meetings.  Meetings about classes, meetings about scheduling, meetings about extracurricular activities, meetings about sex, meetings about drugs, meetings about not being too stressed.  Lots of meetings.  After a few weeks, the meetings seem to end.  I don't remember so many meetings.

Our son has also tackled things I only looked at from the outside.  He is in the Glee Club and a singing group -- both very different in experience and expectation than anything I did 25 years ago.

The happiest thing for us so far was going to his first concert, an unbelievable performance of Mahler's Resurrection.  I didn't know much about classical music before our son got into it.  The music was breathtaking.  What was more moving, though, was seeing our son singing.  He was with his people -- people who love music as he does, who work at it like he does, and who welcomed our son into their world.

I will report on the experience of a Yale parent from time to time.  Would love to hear the reactions of others.