My latest fascination has been the legendary Skull and Bones club at Yale. I am reading 'Secrets of the Tomb' by Alexandra Robbins, and it is blowing me away.
For those of you who are not familiar with the club, it is an organization that is highly selective and highly secretive. It operates on old money and has produced many politicians and world leaders. George W. Bush and John Kerry were both members during their stints at Yale. The club is thought to have an influence on world happenings through its infamous "repayment" policy.
The large sums of money, secrets, and old-money New England selectivity make the Skull and Bones club the Mafia for the yacht and polo set.
Very cool? You gonna join if you go to Yale?
In my Yale interview, my interviewer told me that if you become editor of the Yale Daily News, then the Skull and Bones club might invite you in.
Are you thinking of applying to Yale?
The Mafia?
Mafia is organized crime.
The Skull and Bones society is NOT organized crime.
Jen...you have to be selected, and there are only 15 members per year.
Also, it is a male-only society. Not a club, a society. They meet in "The Tomb" on the Yale Campus
One of the major "world happenings" that was thought to have come from Skull and Bones was the A-Bomb. Many of it's developers were members of the society.
Some pop-culture around the S+B includes "The Good Shepherd" (great movie) and if any of you know of Ralph Lauren's Rugby line...their symbol is a skull and cross-bones.
Mafia was used as a metaphor that has widely been used over the past few decades to describe the club; and since large criminal activities have been thought to stem from this group (money laundering, hits, etc.) 'organized crime' seemed fitting.
As well, the Skull and Bones club does in fact admit women. After a good bit of research, I have found that this was a decision that is now public knowledge for the public.
And yes Jake, I do believe that I am going to apply to Yale later this summer. And Jen, haha, I don’t know about joining. As I’ve read in this book, it is a lifetime commitment that can be quite dangerous.
Public knowledge for the public. Good to hear.
Also, I stand corrected. After about 1.2 seconds of research (according to Google, type in skull and bones AND women) I found that within the last 15 years they have started to admit women. But I still don't think they are a mafia type. Whatever
I wasn't going to apply to Yale, but when I got their viewbook in the mail and saw the picture of a tiny person standing on the floor of a gigantic library, I think I changed my mind. But I didn't apply to Harvard.
Yale is an amazing school with an amazing physics program. Of course, they have other stuff too.
Good luck with applying to colleges. Don't apply to too many - I had to make a chart of all the essays I had to write for my eight college applications. You are doing the right thing starting those applications early.