1. Ask them what residential college they’re in. People love being asked what residential college they’re in. It makes them remember how lucky they are to be a part of Yale’s residential college system.
2. Remind them of your own residential college. People love learning what residential college you live in. It reminds them that you, too, are part of Yale’s residential college system.
3. Ask them where they’re from. People love being from somewhere and letting you know about it.
4. Ask them if they know those other people from their state that you met yesterday. People love making connections with strangers by acknowledging that they both know people from a state.
5. Ask them if they were home that time you were in their state. People love making connections over missed connections.
6. Ask them what their favorite restaurant is. People love realizing that you know there are restaurants in their hometown.
7. Ask them if they ever saw you while you were watching their house. People love realizing that you cared enough to perform a 48 hour stake-out.
8. Ask them if they’d like to see their home. People love watching their family through those video cameras you set up two years ago in every room of their house.
9. Ask them if they’d rather be your friend or never see their parents again. People love having to make tough choices, especially when the stakes are so high.
10. Bake them cookies. People love cookies.
–N. Ewing-Crystal
