Overview

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

First-Year Programs of Note

The following are noteworthy programs that differ from MIT practices. Unless otherwise stated, assumptions should not be made about the effectiveness of these programs.

Advising & Mentoring

One of the most noteworthy aspects of first-year advising at Yale is the fact that all first-year students have three advisors:

• A primary academic adviser who is the dean of their residential college (see First-Year Housing, below). These deans live in and have offices in the residential college;
• A college adviser who is a Yale faculty or staff member and who is affiliated with the residential college;
• A first-year (peer) counselor (FroCo) who is a senior undergraduate student who lives in their residence hall. Peer counselors provide advice and mentorship that is complementary to that offered by other advisors. Each residence college is assigned a Peer Advising Team – the size of which is scaled to fit the size of the residence (the target ratio of FroCos to first-year students is 1:14). FroCos are expected to be available on a daily basis, but Yale requires that at least 2 FroCos from each advising team are “on-duty” (in their dorm rooms and available) between 10PM and 2AM on Friday and Saturday nights. All peer counselors undergo a 3-day training in the spring and a 6-day training in the fall. They receive compensation which is designed to offset the cost of room and board for the year. Interested Seniors must apply for and be selected to be FroCos.

In addition to the three assigned advisors described above, first-year students have access to several other types of advisors and advising resources.

• The Peer Liaisons Program Peer Liaisons are upperclassmen help connect first-year students to support and programming in offices across the Yale campus, including: the LGBTQ Resource Center; the University Chaplain’s Office; the Office of International Students and Scholars; the Afro-American Cultural Center; the Asian American Cultural Center; the La Casa Latino Cultural Center, and the Native American Cultural Center.
• Old Campus Fellows (OCFs) and the Student Affairs Fellow (SAF) Programs. SAFs and OCFs work with the heads of the residential colleges, deans, and freshman counselors to provide supervision and support for students living on the Old Campus (where most of 1^st-year students at Yale live). The Student Affairs Fellow (SAF) is a full-time staff member who lives on the Old Campus and works closely with the residence-based advising team (see above). They develop and provide non-clinical programs and services to undergraduates with the goal of reducing the risks associated with the use of drugs and alcohol. Old Campus Fellows (OCFs) are full-time staff members who live on the Old Campus and are affiliated with specific residential halls. Their primary role is to promote the safety and well-being of the first-year students who live on Old Campus. They help to enforce undergraduate rules and regulations and can provide support during emergencies.

Bridge Programs

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).

First-year Housing

Prior to arriving on campus each 1^st 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).

Shopping Period

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.

Undergraduate Research Experiences

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.

Writing-Intensive Courses

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 .

Other Programs

The following programs are structured and implemented in a manner similar to those at MIT.

Bridge Programs

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.

First-Year Seminars and Experiences

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.

Global Learning

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.

Orientation

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.

Service Learning, Community-Based Learning

Yale has a wide range of opportunities for service and community-based learning.

* All student data refer to full-time students, only.