Interesting Facts about Yale University – 5 Fun Facts

by Scott Jacobson

yale university online Interesting Facts about Yale University

Prestigious Yale University was founded in 1701 in, what was known at that time, as the Colony of Connecticut.

It is the third oldest university in the country and is part of the elite Ivy League with schools like Harvard, Princeton, and Brown.

The university is currently ranked third on the US News & World Report college rankings. They are known as one of the premier research universities in the nation.

However, there are some interesting and fun facts that not many people do not know about Yale University – 5 fun facts are listed below.

Interesting Fact #1

Yale was originally founded as the Collegiate School at New Haven. Various clergymen in the colony wanted to establish a college to train clergy and political leaders for service to the colony. The founders were alumni from another prestigious school, Harvard, which was founded over 60 years prior.

Interesting Fact #2

The Collegiate School officially changed their name to Yale University in 1701. This was to honor Elihu Yale, the governor of the East India Company out of Great Britain. He donated a crate of goods to help the struggling school continue to operate.

Interesting Fact #3

Yale is know for its traditions and staying true to them. The Yale Daily News is the oldest collegiate daily newspaper still in existence. It has been printed five days a week since January 28, 1878. They also have the oldest and best known a cappella group. The Wiffenpoos have been singing on Monday nights since 1909. They typically perform at Mory’s, the famous, members only tavern on the Yale campus.

Interesting Fact #4

One of the most prestigious secret societies in the country is Yale’s Skull and Bones. It was founded in 1832 by General William Russell and Alphonso Taft after two debating societies disputed that year’s award.

Skull and Bones is the oldest of Yale’s secret societies and by far the most determinedly secretive. As such, it has long been an inspiration for speculation and imagination. It still is. The society is, of course, the inspiration for the new Universal Pictures thriller The Skulls, about a nefarious secret society at an Ivy League school in New Haven.

In 1968, when George W. Bush was in Skull and Bones, there were eight “abovegrounds,” or societies that met in their own “tombs,” and as many as ten “undergrounds,” which held meetings in rented rooms. In an article in the 1968 Yale yearbook Lanny Davis, a 1967 Yale graduate and a secret-society member who would go on to become a White House special counsel in the Clinton Administration, described how Bones, famous for its distinguished list of members, held more sway than the others.

Given the society’s history as an incubator and meeting point for rising generational elites, it is not surprising that an especially susceptible kind of “barbarian” — the Bones term for a nonmember — has long seen the society as a locus of mystery, wealth, and conspiracy (Source: skullandcrossbones.org).

Fifteen male and female junior level students are chosen each spring for admission. They tend to be campus leaders, athletic team captains, newspaper editors, and members of the political union. The society’s most notorious members include George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, William Howard Taft, and John Kerry. The group is often steeped in intrigue and conspiracy.

Interesting Fact #5

Yale prides itself on academic excellence. Therefore, they are extremely selective in their admittance. They receive over 20,000 student applications for each freshman class. Of those, only 1,300 are accepted.