Application is closed
Citizens Thinkers Writers is a tuition-free two-week summer residential program for students from New Haven public schools who are interested in exploring fundamental human questions in a college setting. In small discussion seminars led by Yale professors, they gain experience in close reading, analytic writing, and college-level discussion, along with support as they apply to college.
Citizens Thinkers Writers offers rising seniors from New Haven public schools a tuition-free opportunity to explore fundamental moral and political questions in a college setting. Students live together in Yale housing for two weeks during the summer and continue to meet as CTW Fellows throughout their senior year of high school. In small discussion seminars led by professors, they gain experience in close reading, analytic writing, and college-level discussion, along with support as they apply to college. They are encouraged to see themselves as active participants in the long-running philosophical conversation that dates back to ancient Greece and Rome, and to link this conversation to issues of justice that arise for them today as citizens of twenty-first-century New Haven. Students bring a wide variety of political perspectives into the program and learn to turn their disagreements into civil and productive conversations. The program gives preference to students who would be the first in their immediate families to graduate from a four-year college.
The residential program aims to foster a small community of intellectually ambitious students that will outlast the two weeks of the seminar. After completing the summer program, students become CTW Fellows and continue to meet with the faculty, residential teaching assistants, and coordinator throughout the academic year. Students also receive support in the process of applying to college.
• A tuition-free two-week residential program at Yale, followed by a year-long fellowship program with monthly meetings
• Small seminars with professors and undergraduate & graduate mentors
• A chance to explore great books and the questions they raise
• An additional source of support through the college application process in the fall
• Students live on campus Sunday evening through Friday and go home for the weekend.
CTW allows you to build community within your cohort while learning more about the community you live in and experience every day. It also exposes you to content that’s seen as much older philosophy, but is still relevant to today’s social climate in more ways than one
Tiana Hill
Jun 2022
Citizen Thinkers Writers could teach me what my primary education couldn’t—a hands-on approach that provided a deep study of the classics while relating it to today’s current political climate
Ashaleigh Carrington
Jul 2022
If you enjoy being challenged mentally and emotionally, and you’re willing to see what comes out of that, then this program is for you. You will definitely come out a better person. I unequivocally would not be the person I am today without CTW. It rerouted me
Henry Seyue
Apr 2022
• Rising seniors who love to read and discuss big questions
• Aspiring college students from New Haven public schools
• Preference to students who would be first in their immediate families to attend college
• Application Form
• Short Answer Questions:
1. Why have you chosen to apply to the Citizens Thinkers Writers program? What would you bring to the program and what do you hope to gain?
2. List of activities
3. List any honors and awards received
• Essay Question, 500 words: Tell us about a character in a book that you have read during the last year that made a strong impression on you. How and why did this character stand out in your mind?
• Current High School Transcript
• Parent/ Guardian Consent Form
• Two Recommendation Forms from a teacher or librarian (to be submitted by the recommender)
Applications for summer 2022 program were due on March 21th. Deadline for summer 2023 will be released in December.
The program is tuition-free.
Application is closed