Sophie Henry

Imagine trading places with a Harvard student. And no, not like “Freaky Friday.” I’m talking about an exchange program — one where students in the Ivy League could spend a semester or two studying at another Ivy. It’d be like a study abroad program, except instead of going to Spain for the summer, you’d go to Columbia for the spring or Brown for the fall. 

Now don’t get me wrong: I love Yale, and I think many of the students here love it as well. But wouldn’t it be cool to live in Philadelphia for a while? To take Food Science classes at Cornell? To check out the Princeton eating clubs? To experience the Dartmouth community? College is about so much more than getting a degree — it’s why Yale requires students to live on campus for at least two years — and that special, experiential aspect of these four years could only be enhanced by spending time at another university.

I, for one, would cherish the opportunity to make friends and learn amidst a different student body. The personality of each university is so different; encountering and embracing those differences seems nothing less than enriching. During college, we’re learning and growing, and a greater diversity of experience could only be a positive. Plus, who wouldn’t want a second or third set of college friends?

On a technical level, I propose this program to function on a semester-by-semester basis, with students being allowed to spend a maximum of two semesters away from their home school. Students could either enroll for two semesters at the same university, or one semester at two different universities. How this would work in conjunction with other study abroad programs would likely need to be left to the discretion of individual schools, since I’m sure opinions will vary on how many semesters away is ultimately acceptable. 

Additionally, it would depend on demand, but a one-to-one exchange system could make this program quite practical. If a Yale student wants to go to Princeton for a semester while a Princeton student wants to go to Yale for a semester, for instance, why not have them literally switch rooms? If their roommates were willing as well, of course. That could eliminate any issues involving where the exchange students would live, especially at colleges like Yale which use a residential college system.

This exchange program doesn’t have to be confined to the Ivy League either — I simply suggest the Ivy League as a starting point since connections between those schools already exist. And this type of program wouldn’t be totally new either: some schools have cross-registration programs in place between them and nearby universities — MIT and Harvard have one such program — but I say the distance between schools need not limit the possibility for exchange. A full-blown exchange program including room and board and taking classes exclusively at one’s exchange university could open the doors to a whole new world of opportunities.

I think most people are happy with the college they chose, but there are always trade-offs when making that fateful decision senior year of high school. Each university has things that make it unique, and getting to experience those specialties without committing to a whole degree seems like the best possible deal.