"Don't FOMO Because YOLO"

That is what one of the Yale students said at lunch with both the Columbia and Brown cohorts. We happened to be discussing our travel schedules, and the Yale students agreed that it was very packed.  One thought it was the fear of missing out. Unlike previous college visits, this one was much more casual and informal. We had current Yale students join us for lunch at a French cheese restaurant and take us around campus. Perhaps the people that we meet at each college. It may not have been as informational as the previous ones, but what we saw on the tour made up for it. Unlike Harvard, the Yale students actually let us go inside the residential housing and see the dining hall, which was a unique opportunity. The architecture of the buildings are just amazing. Almost every building has a great amount of detail on it. And judging from some of the traditional activities that Yale has on campus, both the faculty and the students try to make studying in Yale enjoyable with as less stress as possible.

Having never visited many colleges before this week and all of a sudden visiting some of the best schools in the world, a lot has been on my mind. Most significantly, my general view of college is different now. I have a better understanding of what college life is like, why some people choose certain ones over others, and the different characteristics and "personalities" that each college have. It was certainly the greatest pleasure to visit all those schools, but I also feel that being rejected would feel a little more personal now that I know more about the schools.

I must say, my cohorts and I ate a lot of fancy food today that I probably would never eat with my family. It's very nice to have a chance to be funded to eat at such a high class.

After we returned to Providence from New Haven, we dressed up to go to a formal dinner at The Capital Grille with a Brown admissions officer and an alum. Walking to the restaurant, we attracted a lot of attention being a group of seven well-dressed men walking together in the same direction. I didn't really enjoy the attention, but that's minor. Once again, we had a big delicious meal with informative conversations. The admissions officer told us some philosophies of Brown University and what to do and what not to do in applications.

Tomorrow, we will move in to our dorms at Brown. I hope it'll be a great three weeks.