YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

At Yale, not only admissions officers visit high schools. Yale’s admissions ambassadors program, started almost 20 years ago, takes a student-led approach to outreach at high schools, letting students know that Yale might be a viable option for them. 

The program is designed to increase outreach and help students consider Yale as a part of their college list, spreading awareness about Yale’s financial aid and chipping away at information gaps that Yale is not affordable.

“Yale student ambassadors dramatically increase our reach into hundreds of high schools across the country and connect with thousands of prospective students who may not otherwise consider Yale because of an assumption that it is financially out of reach,” said Mark Dunn ’07, senior associate director for outreach and recruitment.

Students apply to be admissions ambassadors and are usually selected based on geographic need. For example, the admissions office works with the Rural Students Alliance at Yale to send more emails encouraging students to apply to be an ambassador in rural areas, where fewer Yale students may be from. 

Once the students are selected, they undergo training and schedule visits with high schools close to their hometowns during fall, winter and spring breaks, unlike admissions officers who primarily conduct outreach in the fall.

Students visit high schools that meet the following criteria to be eligible: public, with some indication of students from lower income households at the school.

“We encourage ambassadors to speak candidly about their Yale experiences and to share authentic insights about their own journey from their local community to Yale. I think ambassadors can make an even more powerful and lasting impression on prospective students than an admissions officer in a similar setting can, because of their “near peer” status,” Dunn wrote.

Since the program began, ambassadors have visited high schools in all 50 states and have engaged with tens of thousands of high-achieving high school students, according to Dunn.

Phoenix Boggs ’26 visited schools near their hometown in Florida to inform students about the affordability of Yale during their time as an admissions ambassador. 

“It is important in my hometown because I think people generally know little about out of state schools,” Boggs said.

Boggs added that the most important information to share about Yale is the financial aid offered to admitted students. 

“I was happy to be able to share more about financial aid,” Boggs shared. “I think a lot of kids, they go online and they google ‘Yale price’ and the sticker price will come up which as we all know is absolutely staggering, and they will say ‘okay I could never hope to pay that so I should not apply to Yale.’”

According to Yale’s Financial Aid website, Yale awards undergraduate financial aid based on financial need, and Yale meets 100 percent of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students regardless of citizenship or immigration status. 

Although Yale does offer significant tuition assistance, some students have experienced challenges with their financial aid packages and communications with Yale’s Financial Aid department.

Victoria Vilton ’26 applied to be an admissions ambassador because she “supported the mission” of going to high schools with “underrepresented populations” in the Yale student body. 

“This is especially true for me, coming from New York City, where the majority of our output into Yale is from elite public and private schools,” Vilton wrote to the News. “I’m happy that the program was willing to extend resources towards public high schools in New York City.”

Vilton explained that the schools she contacted to visit called assembly meetings where she shared a PowerPoint presentation that detailed her experience at Yale, with “special emphasis” on the “generous” financial aid policies. 

“I hope the students see that it really is possible for them to go to Yale, and finances should not be the greatest barrier to entry. It is also really important to me that I establish myself as a point-of-contact to Yale, who they can email with questions if they have them,” Vilton wrote. 

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions is located at 38 Hillhouse Ave.