Expanded Multicultural Open House attracts students from across the U.S.

The admissions office welcomed more than 900 visitors to its annual open house, including 50 prospective students through its new “fly-in” program.

Yale’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions welcomed more than 900 visitors to campus on Oct. 5 for its Multicultural Open House (MOH), an annual event, created in 1992, that introduces prospective students to undergraduate academic opportunities, residential colleges, and campus communities including Yale’s four cultural centers.

The day-long program included campus tours, performances by student groups, and a series of panel discussions on research experiences, student life, and resource centers on campus, including the Yale LGBTQ Center, the Chaplain’s Office, and the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning. Visitors also met with staff and students during open houses at the Afro-American Cultural Center, Asian American Cultural Center, La Casa Cultural, the Middle Eastern and North African Cultural Suite, and the Native American Cultural Center.

Yale is looking for talented students with high aspirations from every background, with every kind of talent, from every kind of high school, every religion, every ethnicity, every family income, and every possible outlook and perspective,” Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions at Yale, told the visiting high school students in his welcome address.

The expanded multicultural open house is one of several initiatives designed to expand Yale’s outreach to prospective students in response to the June 2023 Supreme Court ruling on the consideration of race in admissions. These initiatives — which were detailed in a September 2023 message to the Yale community from Quinlan and Pericles Lewis, dean of Yale College — include the hiring of two new staff members to oversee partnership programming and student-focused outreach and the creation of a new program to provide travel support and overnight stays to a group of prospective students attending the MOH event.

In their new roles, Jorge Anaya ’19, senior assistant director for student access programming, and Samantha O’Brien, senior assistant director for partnership programming, built two new programs to expand the MOH’s reach and impact.

Counselor MOHvernight,” a program directed by O’Brien, allows professionals working in community-based and college-access organizations — and who serve students who have been historically underrepresented in higher education — to participate in the MOH event. Twenty selected counselors received support from Yale to travel to New Haven, where they participated in a series of panels and Q&A sessions with admissions and financial aid staff on Friday evening. They also joined the Multicultural Open House programming on Saturday and shared lunch with Quinlan.

Anaya oversaw “Yale in MOHtion,” the admissions office’s first-ever fly-in program for prospective students who otherwise would be unable to attend the MOH because of the distance from their home and the cost of traveling to New Haven. The 50 inaugural participants, who were selected from more than 1,700 applicants, received travel support to fly to New Haven from 15 home states, including Hawaii, Wisconsin, Texas, and South Dakota. Dozens of Yale College students volunteered to host the visitors in residential college suites.

Beginning Friday evening, the students participated in a faculty panel, a college essay workshop with admissions officers, and a casual event in the Silliman buttery. After participating in MOH programming on Saturday, the students joined a financial aid workshop with Kari DiFonzo, director of undergraduate financial aid, and a mixer with peer liaisons, first-year counselors, and student ambassadors.

For many of the Yale in MOHtion attendees, this weekend was their first time experiencing life on a college campus, and, for some, the event was their first trip to the northeast,” said Anaya. “It was exciting to see the participants sharing common interests and experiences with Yale students, faculty, and staff, as well as with each other. After more than a year of planning, seeing the new program come together, and how much all the participants enjoyed exploring Yale, was very rewarding.”

The MOH is always a special opportunity for visitors to connect with the spaces and people that make Yale such a welcoming and supportive environment for students of all backgrounds,” added Dara Norwood, the admissions office’s director of multicultural recruitment, who has overseen the Multicultural Open House for several years. “I am delighted that the new programming brings the MOH experience to more people and highlights our community’s values.”

In addition to the Multicultural Open House, the admissions office recently hosted 25 high school counselors from small towns and rural areas as part of a northeast college tour coordinated through the Small Town and Rural Students (STARS) network. This fall, admissions officers have been traveling the country, visiting more than 500 high schools in 35 states and a dozen countries. Over the course of the calendar year, the admissions office and Yale Visitor Center will welcome more than 40,000 visitors for campus tours.

Share this with Facebook Share this with X Share this with LinkedIn Share this with Email Print this