Class of 2026,
Your initial days on campus must feel like a blur – there are still ten classes on your registration worksheet, you’re learning the difference between Morse and Ezra Stiles, you’re surrounded by more peers (and potential friends) than ever before, and you’re adjusting to life away from home. We were in your position, and we know it feels simultaneously exciting and overwhelming. We hope that as you settle into life at Yale, you’ll consider joining us at the Yale Daily News – an organization of nearly 300 Yalies who come together every night to hang out and put together a newspaper.
Yale students join us as reporters, editors, illustrators, photographers, designers, social media staffers, creative writers, business managers and videographers. There’s no application to join – instead, we have you try out a bunch of different things over the course of your first semester, and as long as you find them fun and interesting, you’re in.
We’re the oldest college daily newspaper in America, with 20 desks ranging from our magazine to our sports reporting team. There’s so many opportunities in the YDN outside of writing and it can be as much or as little of a time commitment as you’d like. We also offer financial stipends to staffers and editors who dedicate a significant amount of time to the News.
While the News provides ample opportunities to network and explore the world of professional journalism, our staff members represent every area of study and you by no means need to be looking for a reporting career to join the YDN.
At the News, we write, edit, photograph and lay out pages; but we also wolf down late night Alpha Delta (your soon-to-be-newest Pizza spot), engage in drawn-out music debates, exchange Wordle scores, have snowball fights, sing celebratory “2-room” songs once the paper’s out, and try to be Rory Gilmore and make the best newspaper hat. Everyone is welcome and if you have any questions or aren’t sure about joining, please reach out at editor@yaledailynews.com.
We don’t expect you to know anything about journalism when you join the YDN – most of our staffers hadn’t tried it at all before coming to Yale. Upon joining, you’ll work closely with an editor, who will act as a mentor and show you the ropes. The YDN also hosts weekly reporter training sessions to help you get started with journalism.
If you might be interested, fill out this form and you’ll be added to our mailing list. From there, we’ll send you updates about our first open house (and the snacks it’ll have), article pitches you can sign up for, and info on reporter training. We’ll make sure to offer you support and help and get you working on assignments as soon as possible!
Welcome Class of 2026. We’re so excited to see your faces at 202 York St. this fall!
YDN Love,
Rose Horowitch, Ryan Chiao, Owen Tucker-Smith & Natalie Kainz
Editor in Chief & Managing Editors