posted on Sep, 5 2007 @ 09:57 AM
reply to post by Skyfloating
Several of Harvard's "Final clubs" can boast prominent members and elaborate (sometimes silly) ritual elements. Most notable are probably the
Porcellian Club, the Owl Club and the Fly Club. These clubs all pale to Skull and Bones.
More families with very old money are affiliated with Yale than with Harvard. Despite claims that Skull and Bones membership is a meritocracy, the
vast majority of Bonesmen are from families that are not just wealthy but have been wealthy for a very long time. If you trace these family lines
down through Burke's Peerage and Gentry, Skull and Bones has the bluest blood of any society not affiliated with Oxford or Cambridge. As I've
mentioned elsewhere, Bonesmen are generally "pre-tapped' before they ever get to Yale, at one of the three or four most exclusive boarding schools
(Exeter, Andover, Choate and sometimes Deerfield). Many Bonesmen also used to be tapped out of Groton Prep School, but for whatever reason that is
becoming less and less common.
Porcellian can boast some Rockefellers and some Roosevelts. I believe the Owl Club can count a number of Kennedys among its membership (though Teddy
Kennedy resigned some time ago). Franklin Roosevelt was actually turned down by Porcellian and had to settle for punching Fly Club.
Really the three most exclusive societies at Yale (Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, Wolf's Head) are all more prestigious and better connected than
any other society at any college in the US.