“That’s Why I Chose” to Ram a Soldering Iron Into My Ears
Oh. my. god. Yale has released a new admissions video called “Why I Chose Yale,” and it is bananas! Rotting, blighted bananas made of earnest on-key singing and poop.
Here are some misrepresentative quotes from a Yale Daily News article.
“It’s going to get noticed because there’s nothing like it. I expect that there will be parodies and attempts at imitation,” a dean said.
All of these things are true! It cost “less than one-tenth the cost of a professionally-produced admissions video.” You don’t say!
“We begged, pleaded, coerced anyone we could find.”
I am sure you did! At a couple of moments, you may find yourself saying: “That is impressive that all those people are all doing the same thing in a field” and “That is some pretty dancing.” These people clearly worked very hard. The lab girl freaking out about her beaker is kind of great! But, the long and short of it is: everyone has a creepy falsetto and will not stop squealing.
The YDN says that of 60 students attending a premiere Thursday night, 13 had “overwhelmingly positive responses.” I assume the other 47 were unavailable for comment, having strangled themselves with a belt, slit their wrist with the broken shards of an iPod Touch, or otherwise acted out the first scene from “The Happening.”
Watch for the enormously pregnant pause at like 1:06 after a girl confrontationally says, “Yeah. I have a question.” Literally so many things would have been hilarious to say then! One of them, apparently, was a musical-comedy romp.
Alright, clearly I have said nothing at this point (I am still freaking out), so please watch and better explain in the comments why this is such a scream.
53 Comments | 
| 
Print This Post
Read more: Admissions, Yale
Email – 
Search
About
Follow us on Twitter
Report a bug
Archives
RSS Feed
January 16th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
“The YDN says that of 60 students attending a premiere Thursday night, 13 had “overwhelmingly positive responses.” I assume the other 47 were unavailable for comment.”
That statement itself is a misrepresentation. The YDN article stated that of the 60 people, 13 were interviewed and all 13 had positive responses to the film.
I had nothing to do with this film, but still find it surprisingly creative. I think the Yale Admissions Office made a good play on this one.
January 16th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Holy Cow!! What are you talking about, this video is freakin’ AWESOME!!
January 16th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Posts like this are examples of why people should stop visiting this worthless website.
If you want to attack the YDN coverage, go after the fact they got the screening location wrong, not the fact some kid didn’t interview 60 people to make you happy.
The film is simply awesome. You may not like it because its style, but its execution and presentation are professional and impressive. Did you only make it to 1:06?
Your post wasn’t satirical. It wasn’t funny. It sound shrill and pathetic. Put some effort into what you write next time.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:15 pm
That was absolutely horrible. How can anyone go 16 minutes watching this?
January 16th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
I thought this video was excellent. I think it has the potential to go viral, but at the very least, it’s a very well produced film that portrays Yale and the student body in a great light.
I was unsure if others felt the same way. But the truth is everyone I’ve spoken to has a positive review. As for this IvyGate post, I commend you for getting your hands on the video so soon, but really, I agree with the previous comment, be more creative. It’s an excellent video. And sure, it’s a little out there (there’s definitely room to criticize or to ridicule) but overall, this was a good move on part of the admissions office.
January 16th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Actually, this is amazing… you may not want it to be the ONLY representation of Yale, but it’s a pretty damn entertaining overview.
January 16th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
Props to Ivygate! You reported on something within a week of when it happened!
To the other commenters, you really can’t blame Bobby Fineman for hating on the video, since the point of this website is to hate on things. He will eventually disappear into obscurity, along with pretty much every other Ivygate writer in the last two years (RIP Molly Fitzpatrick, may your shitty attempts at humor be found useful elsewhere).
Speaking of pregnant pauses, what happened to the end of this article’s penultimate paragraph? C’mon Bobby, I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!
January 16th, 2010 at 7:32 pm
“And come to think of it, that was the last year the incoming freshman class was predominately straight!” Good show.
January 16th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
I spy the gay YouTube celebrity. (Sexuality only mentioned for identification purposes, of course.) Stop hating on IvyGate, Yalies.
January 16th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
This is hilarious…In a laughing at them, not with them kind of way. Exactly why I read IvyGate.
January 16th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
This is embarrassing. Absolutely embarrassing.
“1 in 4, maybe more” just became “1 in 2, probably you”
Had this been released before I enrolled, I very likely wouldn’t be here.
Absolutely horrendous.
January 16th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
I for one LOVED it! I actually love the camp, love the exuberance and love the whole concept. And hey – this could really help Yale with drawing away cross-admits from other schools.
January 16th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
The only reason Ivygate did this article so quickly was because I emailed it in, thinking they would write some hilarious stuff about it. Nope. What is this article? Does it qualify as English?
I will admit though when that guy started doing that guitar solo out of nowhere that was pretty funny.
January 16th, 2010 at 11:40 pm
Well, Yale has certainly cemented its reputation as the gay Ivy.
“Just right down the hallway, my clothes are washed and dried” is my favorite line so far…
January 16th, 2010 at 11:54 pm
That said, the girl at 6:05 is hot.
January 17th, 2010 at 3:12 am
i forgot how easy it is to be a good writer. just add exclamation points!
January 17th, 2010 at 3:55 am
Absolutely embarassing.
This video is like all those times your parents tried to be cool by making pop culture references and appropriating outdated slang, and just ended up looking really dorky.
January 17th, 2010 at 4:58 am
this video… wow. talk about over the top. ridiculous. so worthy of mockery.
and 6:05… that’d be Allison Williams ‘10
January 17th, 2010 at 10:04 am
This is supposed to be THE Yale admissions video? Even though it’s well done, I’m a little annoyed by the fact that the Dramat/YUMTC/Whiffenpoofs presume to speak for the entire university, including the majority who does not enjoy watching High School Musical.
January 17th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
The hills of the Finger Lakes are alive with the sound of mockery today. Thanks.
January 17th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
“Literally so many things would have been hilarious to say then!” That might be true, but this weird, sloppy post gives me the idea that Bobby Fineman couldn’t come up with anything hilarious to say… ever. I thought this video was amazing, far better than any other admissions video I’ve ever seen.
January 17th, 2010 at 5:39 pm
No shit… keep in mind, this is an ADMISSIONS VIDEO after all. What other school do you know of with a video this catchy?
January 17th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
This was hilariously wrong on so many levels, but your campus seems awesome. Wouldn’t wanna be a Yalie during the next few days/weeks, tho. :D
January 17th, 2010 at 9:48 pm
After the Early Decision quadruplets, Yale really couldn’t afford a ridiculous advertisement of the school such as this one.
January 18th, 2010 at 1:33 am
What are you talking about? This is obviously supposed to be campy and it’s hilarious. It’s also not the only official admissions video, it’ll be posted on the admits website for people who have already gotten in, and on the official YouTube and stuff, but it’s not like this is Yale’s only word to its accepted students. And it’s cheesy and fun and obviously no one in it takes themselves seriously. Is it going to appeal to the future section assholes? Nah. Will a bunch of people make fun of it? Sure. But it’s not going to turn people off who were already decided or interested, and people who are creative and quirky will probably find it funny, and it will get them excited, and that’s what it’s supposed to do.
January 18th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
Effing Yale, now the douches who think this is gay will all come to Harvard.
January 18th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
Doesn’t Harvard already kind of self-select for humorless automatons without an ounce of creativity?
You do have the Lampoon, though. I don’t know how, but you do.
January 18th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I’m a Yale student and I am thoroughly ashamed at this video. We will forever have to deal with this black mark in internet history.
Talk about dishonor and disgrace.
January 18th, 2010 at 6:23 pm
This video makes “Citizen Kane” look like “Julie and Julia.” SPECTACULAR.
January 18th, 2010 at 9:07 pm
That was awful. Almost gave up at around 10 minutes, but then I thought of an interesting idea and had to see it through:
Almost every single aspect that was described in the video exists at the other Ivies. And none of the other Ivies is in a small, crime-ridden city with nothing to offer like New Haven. How did that not make it into the video?
Don’t worry, it’s only an hour and half train ride to NYC!
January 18th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Yeah, because Ithaca and Hanover sure are cultural metropolises…
January 18th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
Hanover is an idyllic college town devoid of any crime and surrounded by some of the most beautiful scenery in America. The fact that things like a liberal arts education, freshmen deans, small classes, lots of clubs and groups were the things Yale decided to highlight shows how bland and average Yale is among the ivies. Literally everything in the Yale video exists at other schools or at least at Dartmouth. What exactly about Yale makes it unique? If you asked me that about Dartmouth it’d be easy: Emphasis on the outdoors, unique greek system, focus on undergraduates, obsession with tradition, the quarter system, the language program and the studying abroad programs, and the unanimous love affair with the college on the hill.
January 19th, 2010 at 12:48 am
I’ll take Princeton’s douchey, conservative, elitist culture over an artsy, PC, hipster school any day. This video makes me want to vomit all over Yale!
January 19th, 2010 at 2:34 am
@Yale2012 – I lold. :D
January 19th, 2010 at 6:47 am
The video is great — very interesting that Yale let the students do it themselves. And it’s OBVIOUSLY campy and meant to be fun – a complete departure from the endless miles of snorific liberal arts school admissions videos. Omg, think about THOSE for a minute and the dentist drill aspect of being exposed to about 20 of them on your college visits. What’s REALLY interesting is that various trolls, including some who are obviously posing here as Yale students, just can’t refrain from hating on something entirely harmless, calling it “gay,” worrying anxiously if their cross-admits will now choose Yale, and otherwise peeing their pants. Get a life and enjoy the ride. Your schools are safe, even though Yale obviously’s got a good vibe and had a good time letting it show through.
January 19th, 2010 at 7:29 am
are we sure the dartmouth yale enthusiasts aren’t behind this somehow?
January 19th, 2010 at 10:31 am
They’re not calling it gay cause it’s “stupid”. They’re calling it gay because there are a bunch of [apparently] homosexual students and alumni putting on a campy musical. It’s not an insult, just an observation. Call it “gaysploitation”.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I think it’s brilliant… it’s totally going to appeal to up-and-coming Glee/High School Musical wannabes who will think that finally they can go to a place where people spontaneously burst into song.
January 19th, 2010 at 11:43 am
I agree with you, and I GO HERE. Kill me now.
January 19th, 2010 at 5:49 pm
a few things:
i agree, this video makes yale seem very bland. that is not to say that yale is bland, but that the video fails to capture what is unique (much like a dartmouth admissions video might omit footage of real beer pong). needless to say, i am a bit disheartened that yale has decided to push this video so hard, when it really is not presenting the campus in an entirely flattering light.
where you are completely wrong, however, is in your opinion of new haven. in fact, i wish the video had focused more on how GREAT new haven is. i’d even argue the best ivy college town (new york is great but distracts from college life, cambridge is cookie cutter, and hanover is unbelievably boring). there is great food everywhere, lots of local arts and music festivals, and beautiful neighborhoods and parks (if you’ve never been to east rock, do not even try to refute this) to walk around.
perhaps my favorite aspect of yale is how many different social scenes thrive on campus. you can find the fratty douche scene (like princeton) or super hipster scene (like brown) or super intellectuals (columbia) , etc. coexisting and thriving on the same campus. unfortunately this video just displays one slice of life. truly a shame.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:10 am
ok allison williams. we get it. your dad is brian williams. you are a very serious actress dedicated to your art, aka cookie-cutter looking with tons of makeup and fancy haircuts and supported by daddy’s money to do what you want while the rest of us will actually have to work for a living. losing a ton of weight doesn’t make you beautiful, and constantly mentioning your famous connections doesn’t make you a good actress. chill out girl
January 21st, 2010 at 2:44 am
Yale students made this video. Harvard students made Facebook.
Point, Harvard.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:21 am
christ
January 21st, 2010 at 3:32 pm
@@Dartmouth,
yeah, because all other schools only have students that entirely fit their university stereotypes…
The video might be seen as campy and fun, but it still has too much seriousness to be let off the hook like that. I see a well intentioned failure that will haunt Yalies on the internet for some time. It is bad judgement to produce a video like that when the university already had a gay stereotype before.
Perhaps the gay video only makes sense because it is about Yale. I honestly can not imagine a video such as that which features Columbia.
Maybe, a new way to judge schools is by the videos produced on campus! Dartmouth is douchey and conservative because those jocks created those rap videos about their new president and stupid shit. Yale is gay and into theatre because of the current video; Harvard is also gay and virginal because of that video they made about their quiddich team. Columbia is badass and super cool because of Spiderman and Ghostbusters. Yay!
January 21st, 2010 at 7:03 pm
I can’t decide if this will be a black point on Yale’s record or something remembered with warm amusement. It’s entertaining yet embarrassing… a shameless humor.
Some parts are definitely funny (like guitar solo) and other parts are too high school musical.
Meh. But who cares? It doesn’t really matter anyways. It’s a video. There’s plenty of those.
January 21st, 2010 at 7:05 pm
correction: *There are*
OCD strikes again
January 27th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Isn’t this really the University of Wisconsin?
January 27th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
ha, but Ithaca IS a cultural metropolis, like actually in the very definition of the word! obvi you have never been here
-K
January 29th, 2010 at 9:19 am
wtf! this is the most rancid piece of tripe…. ever. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
February 27th, 2010 at 12:34 pm
ever seen a DOC trips safety show or a dimensions show? so much cooler than this.
February 28th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
In response to previous posters who think this was a brilliant, creative, effective advertisement for Yale: I hear it’s going to be the setting for the sequels to the High School Musical movies. The target audience of this advertisement is clearly nitwit teens who, despite exceptional academic capabilities, will never be capable of thinking for themselves. This marks the most recent obviation of a tradition that stretches back to the schools founding: find incredibly stupid smart people, create an impeccable public image for them to hide behind, and put them into some of the most powerful positions of authority in the civilized world, controlling them through a secret society of power-hungry, self-serving men.
Wait, I think I’m onto something there….
But my intended point: I would not go to a school which advertises by having its students and staff prance about singing and swooning, EVER, unless I was majoring in the theatrical arts. And even then, this video would strike me as an act of absolute desperation to connect to a generation they are completely incapable of communicating with.
March 14th, 2010 at 11:32 am
22 years after having to decide which to attend, Yale or Princeton, and some 18 years after graduating from one of the two, and a few million earned and much happiness later, I’ve learned a few things:
First, in order to live a full life, you have to put yourself out there.
Second, you have to take some risks in life in order to fully enjoy it and reap the full rewards of your talents.
So, good on you Yale, show ‘em!
March 19th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Is this a joke? I am seriously considering the possibility that admissions wanted to reduce the number of applications to Yale by making this video.