The Boys' Club and Academic Alienation
I come from a complicated financial situation. My father is self employed and my mother has been a professor but has been unemployed for a few years. As a result, my family’s income often fluctuates dramatically. Despite this, my parents always reassured me that I didn’t have to worry about college. I would apply, get scholarships, apply for financial aid, and we would make it work.
When I got into Yale, my financial aid was significantly less than we had hoped. Because we are not low-income enough to get full aid nor high-income enough to be able to pay easily, I was stuck in the in-between zone of the student income contribution.
I have been very fortunate in some ways in how I’ve managed to find work on campus. I was able to get into a job that I enjoy and might have done anyway even if I didn’t need to make ends meet for my tuition, and I also go into a research lab. However, the time I have had to spend on both of these means that I have had to quit all of my extracurriculars just to be able to manage a four-and-a-half-course schedule. I do not yet know how I will manage the higher student income contribution for next year.
While I have been able to get enjoyable and rewarding academic-related work, I know many people are not as lucky and were not able to wait and see what worked out. While I am white, I am a woman and from that perspective I have seen very clearly how much of a boys’ club and, more specifically, a white, rich boy’s club many areas of Yale still surprisingly are. These students are often more academically prepared and I have seen how they can make unwelcoming environments for less advantaged students, especially in the sciences. As I said, I mostly related to this through my experience with gender. The lab I work in is dominantly male, many of my science classes are predominantly male, the faculties are largely male, and while there isn’t explicitly discrimination there is this boys’ club culture which I don’t know if people know they perpetuate. This can be exacerbated by disparities in academic preparedness amongst many low income or minority students. It is hard when your work prevents you from engaging in many of Yale’s social and extracurricular opportunities to also face a level of academic alienation that is related.
When I got into Yale, my financial aid was significantly less than we had hoped. Because we are not low-income enough to get full aid nor high-income enough to be able to pay easily, I was stuck in the in-between zone of the student income contribution.
I have been very fortunate in some ways in how I’ve managed to find work on campus. I was able to get into a job that I enjoy and might have done anyway even if I didn’t need to make ends meet for my tuition, and I also go into a research lab. However, the time I have had to spend on both of these means that I have had to quit all of my extracurriculars just to be able to manage a four-and-a-half-course schedule. I do not yet know how I will manage the higher student income contribution for next year.
While I have been able to get enjoyable and rewarding academic-related work, I know many people are not as lucky and were not able to wait and see what worked out. While I am white, I am a woman and from that perspective I have seen very clearly how much of a boys’ club and, more specifically, a white, rich boy’s club many areas of Yale still surprisingly are. These students are often more academically prepared and I have seen how they can make unwelcoming environments for less advantaged students, especially in the sciences. As I said, I mostly related to this through my experience with gender. The lab I work in is dominantly male, many of my science classes are predominantly male, the faculties are largely male, and while there isn’t explicitly discrimination there is this boys’ club culture which I don’t know if people know they perpetuate. This can be exacerbated by disparities in academic preparedness amongst many low income or minority students. It is hard when your work prevents you from engaging in many of Yale’s social and extracurricular opportunities to also face a level of academic alienation that is related.
