Routine Matters
Endorsement of a Student's Request for Credit for Course Work Done outside Yale
Senior's Petition to Leave Yale at the End of the Fall Term
Student's Petition to Complete the Requirements of Two Majors
Student's Petition to Accelerate
Double Credit for a Single-Credit Course
Special Departmental Major
Routine matters that require the support or approval of the DUS include the following: (a) a student's request for credit for course work done at another university; (b) a senior's petition to complete the requirements for graduation at the end of a fall term; (c) a student's request to complete the requirements of two majors; (d) a student's petition to accelerate by use of acceleration credits; (e) a student's request for double credit for a single-credit course; and (f) a request that a student be designated a Special Departmental Major.
There are forms for the first five of these requests, supplied to students by their residential college deans. Explanatory observations on each of the forms, with links to sample forms, appear below, followed by a discussion of the Special Departmental Major.
Endorsement of a Student's Request for Credit for Course Work Done outside Yale. [See a sample form (PDF format) in the online appendixes to this Handbook.] A student may generally apply as many as two course credits earned at another accredited four-year college toward the requirement of thirty-six course credits for the bachelor's degree. In signing this form, the DUS in the subject of a course taken by a student at another university gives his or her judgment that the student's work is such as to justify its counting toward graduation from Yale College. As the regulations on the reverse side of the form make clear, you may request any information you need to make a decision. Such information may include a copy of the course syllabus, copies of essays or examinations written in the course, or a letter from the instructor of the course. You may on occasion choose to require the student to pass an examination in the material of the course. But usually a brief conversation with the student will answer any questions that you may have about the transcript that the student shows you.
The role of the DUS is only to pass judgment on the substance of the outside course. The student's college dean will attend to all the other requirements governing the award of outside credit. These are given in full on the reverse side of the form and in "Rules on Credit from outside Yale" in section O of the Academic Regulations, chapter III of the YCPS.
Note that you may approve a course for credit toward the 36-course-credit requirement for graduation while at the same time not approving it for credit toward the requirements of the major. Conversely, you may approve a student's work done elsewhere as counting toward the requirements of the major even though the student will not receive course credit for such work toward the 36-course-credit requirement.
Beginning with the summer of 2009, students seeking graduation credit for work done abroad during the summer will be required to apply through the Center for International Experience (CIE). The Director of Study Abroad will coordinate with the relevant DUSes for approval for credit toward the major or for credit toward the 36-course-credit requirement or both.
There is no limit on the number of courses in Yale Summer Session or the Yale Summer Program in London that a student may offer toward the requirements for the bachelor's degree. See "Courses in Yale Summer Session" and "Yale-in-London Summer Program" in section K of the Academic Regulations, chapter III of the YCPS. In every way these courses are to be treated in the same fashion as courses given at Yale in the fall and spring terms. Thus special approval from the DUS is not needed for a course in Yale Summer Session or the Yale Summer Program in London to be counted toward the requirements for graduation.
Senior's Petition to Leave Yale at the End of the Fall Term. [See a sample form (PDF format) in the online appendixes to this Handbook.] A small number of seniors each year complete their degree requirements at the end of the fall term. In signing this form, the DUS certifies that a student, if he or she passes all the courses in the major selected for the fall term, will have completed the requirements of the major by the end of the fall term. The bachelor's degree is not actually awarded to such students until Commencement in May.
The regulations governing fall-term completion of degree requirements are given on the reverse side of the form and in "Completion of Degree Requirements at the End of a Fall Term" in section K of the Academic Regulations, chapter III of the YCPS. The DUS should note in particular that in order for students to be eligible at the end of a fall term for graduation in May, they must be complete and passing by the end of the fall term in all credit-bearing courses required for the degree, including credit-bearing senior essays or senior projects. If the senior essay or senior project required by a department or program does not carry course credit, then it may be accepted during the spring term when the student is not enrolled. But Yale College discourages such an arrangement unless it is absolutely necessary. If a departmental examination is given only in the spring term, students who have otherwise completed their degree requirements may take it then. But in general the DUS is requested to see that students who complete course requirements at the end of the fall term have fulfilled all of the requirements of the major by that time.
You will want to keep a record of the names of the students for whom you have signed this form. The deadline for the student to submit the form to the residential college dean is the day on which the student's schedule is due in his or her final term of enrollment. Toward the end of the fall term, the registrar will send the DUS a major completion form for each of these students, and the DUS will be asked to certify that they have in fact completed the requirements of the major; see "How to Graduate a Senior."
Student's Petition to Complete the Requirements of Two Majors. [See a sample form (PDF format) in the online appendixes to this Handbook.] If a student wishes to fulfill the requirements of two majors, each major must be completed independently of the other, with no more than two courses overlapping. Note that the overlap may not be in the senior essay or the senior project, unless both directors of undergraduate studies certify that the essay or project represents the equivalent of the minimum essay or project requirement of the one major in addition to the minimum essay or project requirement of the other major. Prerequisites in either major are not considered to be overlapping courses. Other than such prerequisites, all courses taken in a major—including those taken in excess of the minimum requirements of the major—are counted in the consideration of overlapping courses unless such courses are in excess of the minimum requirements for both majors.
It is not possible to offer as two majors a combined major with one of its component majors. For example, a major in Economics and Mathematics cannot be joined with a second major either in Economics or in Mathematics. Similarly, a student completing a major that permits the inclusion of a concentration of courses from another major or program cannot also major in that second major or program. For example, the major in Sociology with Psychology cannot have a second major in Psychology. Furthermore, a Special Divisional major may not be offered as one of two majors.
The completion of two majors does not result in the award of two degrees; a student who completes a major that leads to the award of the B.A. degree and another major that leads to the award of the B.S. degree may choose the degree to be conferred. A petition to complete the requirements of two majors should be made only after the student's plans are definite, but no later than the due date for course schedules in the student's final term of enrollment.
See also "Two Majors" in section K of the Academic Regulations, chapter III of the YCPS. Note in particular this warning: "A student contemplating the completion of two majors should bear in mind that doing so will almost invariably limit the opportunities for a wider distribution of studies over different subjects."
Student's Petition to Accelerate. [See a sample form (PDF format) in the online appendixes to this Handbook.] When a student petitions to accelerate by one or two terms, the DUS must certify that the student has been received into the major and that the student can complete the major within the remaining terms of enrollment.
The complicated rules on acceleration are given in the Academic Regulations, section P, "Acceleration Policies," in chapter III of the YCPS. They are administered by the residential college deans and the Registrar's Office and do not directly concern the DUS, whose chief role is to make sure that the student can complete the major while earning an accelerated degree.
More students accelerate by one term than by two terms. It is useful to note that the final term of enrollment for a student accelerating by one term must be the spring term.
Double Credit for a Single-Credit Course. [See a sample form (PDF format) in the online appendixes to this Handbook.] Following is the text of the faculty legislation on this subject, voted in 1972:
Double credit for courses normally carrying single credits may be awarded to students, provided (a) the instructor, the appropriate Director of Undergraduate Studies, and the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing give permission, (b) each petitioning student makes limited use of this privilege, (c) permission is requested by midterm, and (d) the course assignments represent at least twice the normal expectations.
The procedures to be followed by students who wish to acquire double credit for a course are as follows:
(1) The student and the instructor of the course should agree on the work to be done and draw up a syllabus showing that the student will be doing twice the normal work for the course.
(2) This syllabus, along with the double-credit form signed by the instructor, should be presented to the DUS of the instructor's department.
(3) The DUS should forward the syllabus, together with the signed form of the arrangement, to the residential college dean.
The faculty legislation stipulates that all this should be done by midterm. The spirit of the faculty's intentions in setting this deadline assumes early and careful planning of the double work to be done. A later petition would partake of the nature of post facto or retroactive arrangement for credit, which the policies of Yale College do not permit.
Special Departmental Major. This rarely used arrangement allows a student to complete a senior essay or a senior project of unusual substance or length. By it a student may initiate a two-term senior project and a department or program may recommend to the committee that a student be awarded from four to six course credits for its completion. A request that a student be certified as enrolled in a Special Departmental Major should be sent by the DUS to the chair of the Committee on Honors and Academic Standing at the beginning of the student's next-to-last term of enrollment. The request should be accompanied by full and detailed supporting information, explaining clearly why multiple credit is justified. A student in a Special Departmental Major must, in addition to the senior project, complete at least three regular term courses during the last two terms of enrollment.
