Admissions Eligibility: Three Pathways
You may be eligible to apply to Yale College through more than one pathway listed below, but you may not apply to more than one pathway in the same academic year. If you are uncertain which pathway is the best for you, email patricia.wei@yale.edu.
You are eligible to apply to the Eli Whitney Students Program (EWSP) if you will have been out of high school for at least five years by the time you would enroll at Yale and do not have a bachelor’s degree. For admissions eligibility, there is no minimum or maximum number of transferable credits. Most adult students find that the EWSP is the right pathway for them.
- Eli Whitney students have the flexibility of taking classes full or part time and have 7 years to complete their degree.
- Eli Whitney students are not offered undergraduate housing. Most live in New Haven within walking distance of campus.
- Many EWSP advisors have experience guiding adult students and military veterans who have different needs from traditional-aged students.
You are eligible to apply as a transfer student if you will have completed a minimum of two terms (or three quarters,) of college-level enrollment and have earned at least one term’s worth of transferable postsecondary credit before entering Yale College.
- Transfer students must take classes full time.
- On-campus housing for transfer students is available and is required for all first-year and sophomore students who are younger than 21.
You are eligible to apply as a first-year student if you have attended college for less than one academic year (one semester or two quarters).
- Students entering as first-years must take classes full time.
- On-campus housing is available and is required for all first-year and sophomore students who are younger than 21.
Academic Program
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 6,750 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 students graduate prepared for positions of leadership in every imaginable field.
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
Eli Whitney applicants receive an estimate of their transferable credits at the time of admission, and Yale does not conduct transfer credit reviews before an applicant is admitted. Yale students must complete 36 course credits to receive their bachelor’s degree, and most Yale College semester courses count as 1 course credit. Incoming Eli Whitney students may transfer up to the equivalent of 18 Yale course credits earned at one or more colleges and must complete a minimum of 18 course credits at Yale.
Completed college courses that are similar to those offered at Yale in subjects taught in Yale College are usually transferable. Many courses in English, math (statistics, calculus I and above), psychology, biology, computer science, physics, history, economics, political science, chemistry, non-English languages, and philosophy are usually transferable for Yale course credit. Courses in subjects not offered at Yale—such as communications, criminal justice, business, nursing, and military fields—are not transferable.
Online courses from other institutions may be eligible for Yale credit. Transferable online courses must include regular, synchronous interaction with the instructor, as well as regular feedback. Pending review by the director of the Eli Whitney Students Program, up to two asynchronous online course credits may be approved for credit as part of the transfer process.
Tuition and Financial Aid
All undergraduate financial aid at Yale is awarded on the basis of financial need with the goal of making a Yale education affordable to all students. Yale’s financial aid resources meet the full demonstrated need of every Eli Whitney student. For eligible undergraduate students, a Yale Scholarship can vary from a few hundred dollars to over $70,000 per year with the average need-based scholarship being over $50,000. Eligible veterans of the U.S. military may choose to use their veteran education benefits and Yale’s need-based financial aid.
Eli Whitney students are charged on a full-time or half-time basis depending on the number of credits enrolled. The full tuition rate is assessed for students taking 3 or more Yale credits in a semester, while half of the full tuition rate will be assessed to any Eli Whitney student taking between 1 and 2.5 credits in a semester. Students must be enrolled in at least 1.5 credits in a semester to be eligible for financial aid. Tuition for the academic year and the estimated total cost of attendance is listed on the website of the Office of Undergraduate Financial Aid.
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 demonstrated 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.