Eli Whitney Students Program
ApplicationThe Eli Whitney Students Program has been conceived with the same mission as that for Yale College as a whole: the education of leaders who will make contributions to society and to the world. As a distinct program in Yale College, the Eli Whitney experience has been designed to serve men and women who have faced challenges that prevented them from beginning or completing a college degree in the traditional manner. Anyone who holds a high school or GED diploma is eligible to apply. Applicants to the Eli Whitney Students Program must present an official record of all secondary school and college or university study and three letters of recommendation. Results of the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) are also usually required for admission. An interview is also required for admission, and an interview will be offered to selected candidates after a preliminary review of the application. In addition to these qualifications, the standards for admission to the degree-granting Eli Whitney program will be equivalent to those applied to candidates for regular admission to Yale College, which involve expectations of both exceptional achievement and exceptional promise. In assessing more mature candidates, relatively more weight is given to achievement, including engagement with career and community, than potential. In considering candidates for admission, the selection committee will also weigh evidence that an applicant displays competence across disciplines, particularly in writing and quantitative reasoning, at the level of typical Yale freshmen. Residential College AffiliationDegree candidates are affiliated with Residential Colleges, are advised by the Residential College Deans, and may participate in the many activities which take place in the colleges. However, they are not eligible to live in the Residential Colleges or in University housing. |
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Tuition, Financial Aid, Facilities, and Services
Eli Whitney students may arrange their schedules differently each term with respect to part-time or full-time attendance. So though tuition is the same as for other Yale College students, it is pro-rated based on current enrollment status. For students admitted to the fall term of 2007, tuition was charged at $3,837 per course credit.
Eli Whitney students are entitled to use the library system, all laboratories and other spaces required for course work, and the services of the Undergraduate Career Services center. Eli Whitney students are also entitled to purchase gymnasium memberships and medical coverage with the Yale Health Plan. Though Eli Whitney students are not eligible for housing in the residential colleges, they may at their option purchase a university dining plan.
Beginning with students matriculating in the program for the 2007-08 academic year, Yale is making available generous financial aid, awarded solely on the basis of financial need. For full details on tuition, fees and applying for financial aid, go to Yale’s financial aid web site.
Yale employees are entitled to a tuition reduction as determined by the Office of Human Resources.
Academic Requirements
The Eli Whitney Student Program is designed for either part-time or full-time attendance, which will depend on the circumstances of the individual student. Students entering in the fall of 2007 and thereafter may choose to take up to nine course credits each year, and must take at least three course credits each year to remain in good standing.
To earn a Yale undergraduate degree, a student must successfully complete a total of thirty-six term courses. At least eighteen of them must be earned at Yale while enrolled as a student in the Eli Whitney Students Program. As many as eighteen course credits earned at another college or university may be transferred toward the requirement for the degree. Credit will be awarded for academic courses that were taken at an accredited post-secondary institution and that were similar in content to Yale College courses. Grades of A or B are expected. No more than one-quarter of courses accepted for transfer toward the requirements for the degree may have grades of C. Students in the Eli Whitney Students Program are governed by the Academic Regulations of Yale College and by the rules explained in the publication Undergraduate Regulations.
Degree candidates have two options for a Yale degree: B.A. or B.S. Students typically select one of the two degree options after taking at least two courses in each of the four Distributional Groups and after consultation with the Director of the Eli Whitney Students Program.
Students pursuing the B.A. or B.S. will typically take between eleven and fourteen courses in their major and must meet the Distributional Requirements of Yale College. The thirty-six course credits taken at Yale or elsewhere by Degree candidates must include at least three term courses in each of the four Distributional Groups. In Group IV, at least two of the three course credits must be in the natural sciences.
Group I includes courses in English and foreign languages and literatures, ancient and modern. Group II includes courses in architecture, art, classical civilization, film, history of medicine, history of science, humanities, music, philosophy, and religious studies. Group III includes courses in anthropology, archaeology, economics, history, linguistics, political science, psychology, and sociology. Group IV includes courses in astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering, forestry and environmental studies, geology and geophysics, mathematics, molecular biophysics and biochemistry, physics and statistics.
In addition to completing courses in these disciplinary areas, students must fulfill skills requirements by taking two course credits in quantitative reasoning, two course credits in writing, and courses to further their foreign language proficiency. Some courses that fulfill distribution requirements will also fulfill the quantitative reasoning and writing requirements. Depending on their level of accomplishment in foreign languages at matriculation, students may fulfill the language requirement with one, two, or three courses or by a combination of course work and approved study abroad.
Advising
Assistance in the selection of courses and academic counseling is provided by the director of the Eli Whitney Students program, a member of the Yale College Dean's Office. A student's primary academic adivsor is his or her residential college dean.
Yale College Programs of Study
The Yale College Programs of Study (which can be consulted online at YCPS) contains a detailed description of the courses offered in Yale College as well as the Academic Regulations of Yale College. The YCPS also contains a chapter on the Eli Whitney program which should be read by all interested candidates: www.yale.edu/yalecollege/publications/ycps/chapter_iii/eli.html
