If you are an international student, you must hold student visa status to attend Yale, even in the Non-Degree Students Program. To maintain that status, you must register as a full-time student - which means that you must take a minimum of three courses per semester. Individuals with tourist status (B1/B2 or visa waiver status) will not be able to enroll.
All international students coming to Yale, including those in the Non-Degree Students Program, must consult with the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS). Use the contact information at oiss.yale.edu/about/connect-with-oiss to connect with an OISS staff member.
International candidates must have the proper examining agencies send official copies of any external examination results (such as GCSEs or O-level equivalents, A-levels, and IBs) directly to the Yale College admissions office. We will also accept copies of test results that your secondary school sends.
Be sure that official translations accompany any documents that are not written in English.
Please note that neither financial aid nor on-campus housing is available to non-degree students.
Testing for Non-Native English Speakers
Students at Yale must be able to express themselves fluently in spoken and written American English. If you are not a native English speaker and you haven’t received at least two years of secondary or university education in an English-medium curriculum, Yale strongly recommends that you take any one of the following tests for non-native English speakers.
The following minimum scores are required:
- 100 on the internet-based TOEFL
- 600 on the paper-based TOEFL
- 250 on the computer-based TOEFL
Be sure to include Yale’s CEEB code (No. 3987) on all test registrations.
You may submit the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) test in lieu of the TOEFL. The minimum accepted score is 7.
You may submit the Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic in lieu of the TOEFL or IELTS. The minimum accepted score is 70.