36 Hours in New Haven (and for some this week, a few hours more)

Each Sunday the New York Times Travel section profiles "36 Hours" in a different city. This past Sunday, that city was New Haven. The Times' profile highlighted some classic New Haven destinations like Union League Cafe, Long Wharf Theatre, Caseus, Anchor Restaurant, Yale University Art Gallery, and others. It also hit on some lesser-known gems like Zuppardi's Apizza, Cafe Nine, Bella's, Cask Republic, and Liuzzi Gourmet Market. In all, the Times' piece was a nice introduction to a very lively and livable city. For some people this week, 36 hours turned into 72 hours or more. Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast early this week, causing Yale University to take the nearly unprecedented step of closing on Monday and Tuesday. In an unfortunate convergence, this week is the first of our interview weeks for Round 1 candidates, so we had many applicants who arrived in town over the weekend for their Monday interview only to have the University closed and interviews cancelled on Monday -- and then again on Tuesday. Fortunately, most of them were able to reschedule their interview for today or tomorrow. It was a real pleasure to welcome them and others to campus today. And in true Yale SOM spirit, they universally approached this situation with an abundance of grace and good humor. Many even used the time to re-connect with friends at SOM or elsewhere at Yale, or to explore downtown. To the latter, I offered a few of my own additions to the Times' suggestions -- including the mashed potato and bacon pizza at Bar (a personal favorite, which I had last night) or the hamburgers at Louis' Lunch, where the hamburger was invented. Of course, there are infinitely more options in the city to cover as many hours as you have in New Haven.