Demonstrated reading knowledge of French and German is required of all students. Competence in at least one is expected for admission; any deficiencies must be made good before admission to the second year of study. The Department also requires a GRE score and, for students whose native language is not English, a TOEFL score. Foreign students can arrange to take these tests through the American Embassy in their respective countries.

All applicants for the Ph.D. program are considered for Graduate School financial aid as part of the admissions procedure. No financial aid is available for the Masters program. The Department has no fellowship funds of its own, but post-doctoral fellowships in Semitics (Kohut Fellowship) and Egyptology may be available through the Department.

Candidates for admission should request an application package, which will include information on financial aid, directly from the Yale University Office of Graduate Admissions, P. O. Box 208236, New Haven, CT 06520-8236. Downloadable and on-line applications to the Graduate School are also available. Both applications can be accessed at http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/admissions/. In addition, the Graduate School's home page contains links to these materials at http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/.

Candidates should state in their applications the field within the Department in which they wish to concentrate. Prospective students are encouraged whenever possible to visit the Department in order to discuss their interests directly with the appropriate faculty.