Eli Whitney Students Program - Details

The Eli Whitney Students Program (EWSP) is a small undergraduate program designed specifically for adult students. The program offers a more flexible route to pursue a traditional Yale undergraduate education full or part time. Eli Whitney students receive the same Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees as other Yale undergraduates, attend in-person classes, have access to the same classes and majors, and participate in the full range of campus extracurricular activities. Eli Whitney students come from all walks of life. They are military veterans, entrepreneurs, community and social activists and artists. Others have devoted themselves to raising families. Yale’s generous need-based financial aid makes the EWSP affordable for everyone. 

Eligibility

Students are eligible to apply to the Eli Whitney Students Program if they do not currently hold a bachelor’s degree and have been out of high school for five or more years by the time of their intended enrollment at Yale.

About Yale College

All Eli Whitney students enroll in Yale College, the single undergraduate liberal arts college that sits at the heart of Yale University. Yale College enrolls approximately 6,200 undergraduates and is surrounded by Yale’s 14 graduate and professional schools. Eli Whitney students have access to Yale College’s nearly 2,000 undergraduate courses and 80 majors. Nearly 75% of courses enroll fewer than twenty students and the student to faculty ratio is 6:1. Yale is home to the second largest university library system in the United States and more than 1,200 laboratories.  Yale students graduate prepared for positions of leadership in every imaginable field.

Academic Program

The Eli Whitney Students Program offers a flexible path to fulfill the standard requirements of a Yale College bachelor’s degree. All students complete 36 course credits; most semester courses at Yale carry one credit. Eli Whitney students may earn these credits through full- or part-time enrollment, and may take up to seven years to complete a degree. Eli Whitney students complete the same distributional requirements, as all undergraduates, which include courses in humanities and arts, sciences, social sciences, quantitative reasoning, writing, and foreign language. Courses that fulfill these requirements will amount to about one-third of a student’s undergraduate coursework. Another third of the total coursework – typically between eleven and fourteen courses – will be within a student’s declared major.

Review the Yale College Programs of Study for detailed descriptions of courses, majors, academic regulations, and more details about the Eli Whitney Students Program.

Transfer of Credit

Incoming Eli Whitney students may transfer up to 18 course credits earned at another college or university and must complete a minimum of 18 course credits at Yale. For a non-Yale course to count toward the Yale degree, it must be completed at an accredited post-secondary institution and its content must be be similar to a Yale College course. The student must earn a grade of A or B in at least three-quarters of their non-Yale courses, and no lower than a grade of C in the remainder. Yale does not award transferable credit for Advanced Placement (AP) results, International Baccalaureate (IB) results, College Level Placement Exams (CLEP), or college credits earned while enrolled in high school.

Online courses from other institutions may be eligible for Yale credit under limited conditions. The online courses must include regular, synchronous interaction with the instructor, as well as regular feedback. Online courses may not be applied towards a distributional requirement. Pending review by the director of the transfer program, up to two asynchronous online course credits may be approved for credit as part of the transfer process.

The Yale College Dean’s Office evaluates transcripts for all admitted Eli Whitney students to determine course transferability. Admitted students will receive an estimate of their transferable credits before replying to Yale’s offer of admission.

Given the sequential nature of the several engineering curricula, prospective students with transferable credit looking to major in engineering are advised to complete a full sequence of college-level single-variable calculus (or higher) and a full sequence of college-level introductory physics.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition for Eli Whitney students is charged per course credit. Most semester courses are worth one credit. Tuition for the upcoming academic year is listed in the Yale College Programs of Study. 

Yale offers generous need-based financial aid to eligible EWSP students. As a Yellow Ribbon participant, Yale is especially affordable for U.S. military veterans. 

Housing and Meals

On-campus undergraduate housing is not available to Eli Whitney students, and most choose to rent apartments in New Haven. Incoming Eli Whitney students may apply for a limited number of graduate housing units. The cost of housing and meals is factored into the need-based financial aid awards for Eli Whitney students with demonsrated financial need. 

Although Eli Whitney students do not live in the 14 undergraduate residential colleges, each is assigned to a college and receives access to its facilities, resources, and activities. 

Applying through the Eli Whitney Program or the Transfer Program

Some students who are eligible to apply to the Eli Whitney Students Program are also eligible to apply to Yale through the Transfer Admissions Program. The chart below details some of the key differences between the two programs. Candidates may apply to either the Transfer Program or the Eli Whitney Students Program. They may not apply to both simultaneously.

EWSP Virtual Session, Recorded December 2022