Testimonials

Last year, I arrived at 1:30 am and was surprised to find myself hugged by more than 20 counselors and students, who were all excited to welcome another international into the Yale family. The friends that I made during OIS are among my closest at Yale, with whom I went shopping for winter clothes, shivered in the cold for the Harvard-Yale game, and reminisced about the warm weather back home.

At OIS, I found friends that I could relate to and rely on throughout my freshman year!

OIS is one of my most fond memories of my first year at Yale. It was lovely to be able to meet many upperclassmen who had also traveled from all over the world to come to Yale. During those first few days I made connections that I believe will stay strong for the rest of my life.

It was an amazing opportunity to meet and bond with the people who have shared and will share many of your experiences at Yale.

OIS is the best way to acclimatize culturally and socially for the Yale experience.

I enjoyed the restaurant visits a lot and more generally the free time we had in the evening to socialize outside of our set groups and activities. The counselors were fantastic.

OIS was an incredible experience for me. I really enjoyed the bonding time with our clan as this was where I met some of my closest friends. I also remember fondly our daytrip to the Outdoor Center which gave us a chance to relax and socialize, and truly solidify the friendships that we made during those few wonderful days.

At OIS, I learnt that we're all in this together.

I found it very helpful to get to meet other international students, so I had a base of people whom I already knew by the time all the other freshmen arrived. My favorite part was visiting the Outdoor Center. The most helpful part was the talk on political correctness and the various movements that were going on at the time. The counselors were all wonderful.

Participating in OIS was by far the best decision I have made at Yale. I met some of my closest friends at OIS, and was able to relax and settle in before the hectic life of Yale took off.

I found amazing friends at OIS, got comfortable around campus and the people at Yale in general, established a network of people I can always ask for help.

OIS was a great opportunity to meet international students and to already have people to hang out with during Camp Yale. Apart from the first-years in my college's entryway, all my other friends are internationals that I met during OIS.

Overall I had a really nice experience, and looking back right now, the first week was definitely the hardest in terms of how overwhelming the experience was, and parting from friends and family, moving in... adapting... I cannot imagine how it would be without the OIS, because OIS felt warm and family-like, while having my intro to Yale via Camp Yale would be quite chaotic. I still regard the international community as home, despite how much time I spend with Americans. I think OIS creates a good balance because the majority of our friends will naturally be Americans – due to the fact that they are majority and I spend the most of my time with suitemates, teammates, classmates etc. So, having that introduction to other international students was very valuable because it would not be as easy as it was to know them if I hadn't the time alone with them during OIS. Thanks for everything :)