Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University, one of the eight schools in the Ivy League. Yale offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees in a wide range of disciplines.
Students pursuing B.S. or B.A. degrees in the sciences must declare their majors in the first-term of their sophomore year. Students B.A.s in a non-science disciplines must declare their majors during the first-term of their junior year. Students may switch majors at any time.
Unlike MIT, Yale does not have a required core, or set of courses. However, Yale does have a set of distribution requirements. Students must complete at least: 2 course credits in the humanities and arts, 2 course credits in the sciences, 2 course credits in the social sciences, 2 course credits in quantitative reasoning, 2 course credits in writing, and 1 course credit in a foreign language (study abroad experiences can fulfill this requirement).
Location: New Haven, CT
Freshman Enrolled Each Year: ~1.4k*
Total Students: ~12.4k
Undergraduate Students: ~5.5k
Graduate & Professional Students: ~6.9k
Faculty: ~4.5k
Institution Category: Private, Ivy League
For additional information, see Yale Facts
The following are noteworthy programs that differ from MIT practices. Unless otherwise stated, assumptions should not be made about the effectiveness of these programs.
One of the most noteworthy aspects of first-year advising at Yale is the fact that all first-year students have three advisors:
In addition to the three assigned advisors described above, first-year students have access to several other types of advisors and advising resources.
Online Experiences for Yale Scholars (ONEXYS)
This online Bridge Program for math/quantitative study provides a cohort of ~65 incoming Yale students with the opportunity to refresh and/or relearn a range quantitative concepts and skills necessary for their success at Yale - in disciplines such as Math, Chemistry, Economics, Physics and Political Science. It also provides an opportunity for incoming students to connect to each other and to faculty and student mentors. The program is built around a set of videos created by a Yale faculty member in Math. Students complete online problem sets, quizzes and other assessments and participate in synchronous discussions/sessions with other ONEXYS students and coaches. Coaches are current, upper-class Yale students who act as mentors and TAs.
Yale also offers a standard, on-campus bridge program (see Other Programs, below).
Prior to arriving on campus each 1st year student is assigned to one of 14 residential colleges. First-year students are assigned rooms in first-year dormitories and suites associated with their assigned residential college. Students remain affiliated with these residential colleges throughout their entire undergraduate experience. Each college has its own Head, and Dean. Students usually eat their meals within the dining room in their residence hall (but they are not obliged to). All first-year students register for a full meal plan (21 meals/week).
The first ten days of each semester are known as Shopping Period (Brown, Harvard, Brandeis and Penn State also have their own version of a shopping period for classes). During Shopping Period students are expected to sit-in on classes to get a better sense of the expectations, format, style, class dynamics and content of the course. There is no limit to the number of classes a student can visit.
The Yale College First-Year Summer Research Fellowship in Science and Engineering provides support and funding for first-year students who wish to engage in independent research at Yale during the summer following their first year. The research experiences are similar in scope to those available to MIT students through the UROP.
Although Yale does not offer a specific, first-year writing course, first-year students must enroll for one course credit in two of the three required skills categories: Writing, Quantitative Reasoning, Foreign Language .
The following programs are structured and implemented in a manner similar to those at MIT.
Yale’s residential bridge program - First-Year Scholars at Yale (FSY) – is 5-week, invitation only program for students during the summer prior to their first year. It is similar the Interphase Edge program at MIT in terms of structure and purpose. For information on Yale’s new online Bridge Program, see the Bridge Programs entry under First-Year Programs of Note, above.
As part of the Freshman Seminar Program, Yale offers approximately 70 academic seminars covering a wide range of subjects each year. First-year students select seminars and are assigned through a lottery. Seminar size is limited to <20 students. The First-Year Seminar program was created in 2003 to facilitate and improve faculty-student connections prior to students declaring a major.
Similar to MIT, Yale has a Center for International and Professional Experience whose mission is to provide students with support for international learning experiences and career options.
Yale’s first-year orientation program begins ~5 days before the start of classes for the fall-term. Attendance is mandatory. In addition. Yale also offers a significant number of pre-orientation programs which begin ~ 1 week before Orientation.
Yale has a wide range of opportunities for service and community-based learning.
* All student data refer to full-time students, only.