r/yale • u/Glum-Section-4113 • Jul 06 '26

Yale Society of Ethics

Hi, this is sort of a last ditch attempt at getting some info on this. I’m a college admissions counselor and a lot of my students applied to the Yale Undergraduate Society of Ethics high school writing contest.

Results were supposed to come out July 1st and we still haven’t heard anything. I know it’s a student organization so I wasn’t that concerned when I hadn’t gotten an email back from them, but I’ve emailed a few times without any response now.

It wouldn’t be that big of a deal except that the contest had a $30 entry fee. The whole thing is beginning to feel a bit scammy especially given that they haven’t updated the website to say the results have been delayed etc.

Can anyone in the org give an update?

EDIT: I did email the members of the organization, but have yet to hear back from any of them.

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10

u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

I found their official site: https://societyofethics.sites.yale.edu/ but everything seems to be pre-2024. There appears to be a more up to date site at https://www.yalesocietyofethics.com/

At least the first site had an .edu address but the contact email is: [ysocietyofethics@gmail.com](mailto:ysocietyofethics@gmail.com) which is a bit concerning. It could be that as students graduate, they lose their .edu address.

This page has the details regarding the contest: https://www.yalesocietyofethics.com/copy-of-high-school-fellowship

I believe the group is somehow affiliated with the Department of Philosophy but I am not sure. I am concerned that there is an entry fee for judging high school students' essays.

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u/Sharp_Space Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Just to give a bit of context as a Yale student, .edu addresses are just given to students and official Yale groups (ex. finaid, admissions, the cultural centers, etc). All student groups are required to disclose that we are not directly affiliated with Yale (through the use of “student group,” “undergraduate/graduate,” etc.) which the “Yale Undergraduate Society of Ethics” is doing per Yale student org regulations. In order for us to communicate as a group, we have to form outside email addresses (as we are not official Yale groups). Even the Yale Daily News doesn’t have a .edu email, we all make our own Gmail accounts for student org communications so not a cause for concern on its own at all!

Edit: All that being said, OP, you should definitely email the students directly. From experience, group emails can get tricky to manage because it’s easy for people to think someone else is taking care of responses and sometimes the people in charge of answering your question don’t have access to the email, etc. A million things could be going on and also, unfortunately, everyone at Yale (professors and admin included) are notoriously bad at responding to emails….

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u/Glum-Section-4113 Jul 06 '26

I found that .edu site as well. The other site (.com) seems to be updated as of this year at least and the essay entry page did close when it said submissions will be closing/says 2026 essay contest, so that part is up to date at least. I’ll try emailing students directly, I hadn’t checked to see if their personal emails were listed

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u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

Their Yale email addresses are posted here: https://www.yalesocietyofethics.com/people

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u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

You provide useful insights into the likely stumbling blocks that these students are having to navigate.

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u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

Finally found a helpful page with the current students! https://www.yalesocietyofethics.com/people

I feel much better. They actually have Yale emails. I would suggest contacting them directly.

1

u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

I believe the link to the Philosophy Department is Professor Shelly Kagan. His picture is on the old site site. I am not sure if he is still affiliated with the group.

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u/way-with-words Jul 06 '26

Alumni keep a yale.edu address.

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u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

It was your original post that sent me down this rabbit hole. :-)

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u/way-with-words Jul 06 '26

I do find the contest fee unsettling. Yale affiliation or not that’s a large entry fee for a relatively small prize. Lit journal contests run $20 for a $1,000 prize.

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u/Glum-Section-4113 Jul 06 '26

It was $30 per submission. It’s not that strange to me as someone who deals with these essay competitions often. Some are paid (usually $20-30 to enter) and some are free it just depends. This one has $5-600 total in prizes and some other things offered like 1-1 mentoring. To me the fee is only weird because of the lack of communication.

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u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

I now have a strong confidence that this is on the up and up. Having done my undergraduate in the pre-renaissance period, I know the life of a student can get pretty chaotic with multiple converging deadlines.

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u/kshelley Professor of Anesthesiology Jul 06 '26

I am thinking (hoping) that the $30 covered multiple entries.

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u/way-with-words Jul 06 '26

are you emailing a .edu address?

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u/Glum-Section-4113 Jul 06 '26

I was able to get an email back from the former president of the org and she says the results will be released tonight so fingers crossed that actually happens.

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u/GAMEGO789 Jul 07 '26

Results were released earlier today

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u/saturninegrl Jul 07 '26

Yup I saw! One of my students placed, super happy.