Next Stop, Yale

Pandemic-related travel limitations helped two star New Haven high schoolers pick Yale over other Ivy League as the next stop in their academic careers.

The students, Daniela Flores and Ciara Ortiz Diaz, had offer letters from multiple Ivy League schools. Both decided to go to the hometown school they knew best.

Coronavirus-related closures and travel restrictions played a role in each New Haven senior’s decision. Flores already knew that she would like her peers, based on her experiences taking a few classes at Yale. Ortiz Diaz knew that she would get to stay in a city she loves.

“There were a lot of schools that I didn’t get the full picture of. I don’t think the online resources did them justice,” Flores said.

Daniela Flores

Flores, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School, did not at first think she could get into a competitive college. Her teachers and counselors, especially Julie Reinshagen, pushed her to try programs like QuestBridge and to take college courses to meet others who were the first in their families to attend college.

“I’ve always underestimated myself and never really saw any of my accomplishments as accomplishments. They were just things that I did,” Flores said.

The Fair Haven native likes everything she does outside of school so much that she has sometimes felt that schoolwork was getting in the way.

Flores has played saxophone since middle school, thanks to a scholarship at the Neighborhood Music School. She is a drum major in her school’s marching band, has a job leading tours at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, and is a peer educator on healthy sexuality with Planned Parenthood.

Access to transportation, at the times she needs, has limited how much time she could spend on these passions, she said. It was frustrating then. Now she is grateful, because it meant she had to spend more time on homework.

Flores applied to 15 schools and has received offer letters from 12, including Yale, Dartmouth and Cornell. Out of the mix, she said that Yale had the best resources for low-income and underrepresented students, from advising to cultural clubs to financial aid.

Yale has promised Flores full financial aid for tuition, room and board, food and health insurance. On top of that, her family will be able to help her move in and she will never have to worry about travel costs.

Flores was not able to visit most of the schools she was considering. By the time she had heard back from most schools, it was late March and the Covid-19 pandemic had made in-person visits impossible.

“I was kind of hoping and relying on choosing my school through the atmosphere,” she said.

She was able in February to visit the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a school she had not imagined getting into. Despite meeting 100 percent of her financial need, the school itself disappointed her. She realized this was also true of other schools she got into in the South, including Georgia Tech.

“Ultimately, something that was really clear to me was that they didn’t have the levels of diversity that I was looking for. Yale being about 50 percent students of color was important to me. It wouldn’t be as difficult to find a community,” Flores said.

Flores has taken environmental science, writing, Spanish and chemistry classes at Yale. She even stayed at the Ezra Stiles residential college at Yale one summer.

“Having had experiences with actual Yale students, I knew that the people that would probably be in my classes would have so many great perspectives,” Flores said.

Flores plans to study chemistry. She said that she likes explaining the complicated concepts through simple metaphors, like the way yeast rises in baking. Otherwise, she is not yet sure what her future holds. Will she like research and lab work? Are there other options?

Flores said that she is aware she is stepping over the line between town and gown and that one side holds more privilege than the other.

“At first, it seemed uncomfortable to make the transition. As long as I am aware of the difference, I will continue to respect the people of New Haven. I’m a person that has come from such a place affected by economic inequalities,” she said.

Ciara Ortiz Diaz

Ortiz Diaz said that she never had a dream school that she always wanted to attend. The Sound School senior had several colleges she loved. Her decision to attend Yale came down to small details, like extracurricular options and the students and alumni she spoke to.

Ortiz Diaz applied to 14 to 15 schools and got into three other Ivy Leagues: Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania and Brown. She was able to visit UPenn and Columbia but not Brown, one of her top choices.

She had to do most of her research on her own after the pandemic hit, she said. It was difficult to judge schools from virtual tours.

“It came down to my intuition. My gut told me that’s where you belong for the next four years,” Ortiz Diaz said.

Ortiz Diaz has been playing volleyball in New Haven since age 10. She moved to the city five years ago. She loves that her city’s people are friendly. She can have an interesting conversation with a stranger even while walking around downtown, she said.

“Moving to New Haven was one of the best decisions my parents ever made,” Ortiz Diaz said.

Ortiz Diaz went to a private middle school on a scholarship and struggled with being Puerto Rican there. She finally felt at home when she got to the Sound School.

“That first moment of walking onto campus and hearing kids speaking Spanish around me, that was the defining moment. I realized that people are just like me here. I’m not different,” Ortiz Diaz said.

Ortiz Diaz’s mother and father moved to the mainland from Puerto Rico at ages 14 and 5, respectively. She said that her house is full of symbols of Puerto Rico, from frogs to flags. That heritage has become increasingly important to Ortiz Diaz.

“I’m super proud about it,” she said.

Ortiz Diaz is a New Haven Promise student, so on top of receiving full financial aid, she needs to make only a minimal student contribution if she goes to a college within Connecticut.

She said that she wants to major in political science at Yale.

“I want to work at a nonprofit or work with the city of New Haven — or any city. I’m hoping in college I’ll figure it out,” she said.