Fulfilling Requirements With Outside Study Abroad Credit
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Fulfilling Major and Distributional Requirements With Outside Study Abroad Credit
Using outside courses abroad to fulfill major and/or distributional requirements is a separate process that is awarded at the discretion of the relevant department or office.
Major Requirements
The Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) of the relevant department determines whether courses outside of Yale may fulfill major requirements. The DUS generally asks for evidence of work completed before approving the use of courses toward the major.
Before enrolling in the course:
Talk with your DUS before enrolling in the course(s) to ensure that you understand the departmental approval process.
Some majors have requirements that include courses offered in a different Yale department. If you would like to use an outside course to fulfill such a requirement, then you will need to get approval from both Directors of Undergraduate Studies: the DUS of your major department and the DUS of the department in which the course is offered.
After the course has ended:
Once you complete your approved study abroad and Yale Study Abroad has received an official transcript from your program or university, we will send credit transfer paperwork to the Yale Registrar's office. You will receive a notification when this happens. After your approved study abroad courses appear on your Degree Audit, bring your academic record and any graded coursework to the DUS for review.
Distributional Requirements
The course review process varies by requirement. Please refer to the specific requirement you would like to fulfill, below, so that you know the steps to take before you leave and once you have returned.
Language (L1-L5)
Humanities & Arts (Hu)
Social Sciences (So)
Sciences (Sc)
Quantitative Reasoning (QR)
Writing (WR)
Language Requirement
Before enrolling in the course:
If you hope to apply language coursework to your language requirement, or if you wish to place into the next level of a language, you should meet with the relevant language department director or DUS before taking the course. Such courses may only be used to fulfill the language requirement at the discretion of the relevant language department.
Email the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) of the relevant language for more information about this process and the documents (e.g., transcripts, syllabi, etc.) you may need to provide upon completing the course. Where there is no corresponding DUS for the language, email the Center for Language Study for assistance. Guidance is limited, and Yale does not preapprove credit; you must first complete the course and subsequently submit course materials for final review and approval (see below).
After the course has ended:
After completing the course, you may need to take a placement exam or other assessment. Keep the course syllabus and all other relevant course materials until the final review at Yale has been completed.
Note: Once Yale confirms that your transcript has been received, visit the University Registrar's Office Forms webpage and click on the Outside Credit: Petition to Add Distributional Designation or Language Level (Yale College) form to request the course(s) from outside Yale be counted toward your distributional requirement.
Humanities & Arts (Hu) Requirement
Social Sciences (So) Requirement
Before enrolling in the course:
You may seek guidance on whether a particular course might fulfill an Hu or So distributional credit requirement before taking the course by sending Joel Silverman (j.silverman@yale.edu) a course syllabus and/or course description. Note: Yale does not preapprove credit; you must first complete the course and submit a request to apply outside credit toward your Yale distributional requirements for review.
After the course has ended:
The next step is to complete the Outside Credit: Petition to Add Distributional Designation or Language Level (Yale College) form so that your work may be evaluated. Keep the course syllabus and all other relevant course materials until the final review at Yale has been completed. (You do not need to resubmit material to Dean Silverman at this point as completing the form will send the necessary information on for evaluation.)
Note:Once Yale confirms that your transcript has been received, visit the University Registrar's Office Forms webpage and click on the Outside Credit: Petition to Add Distributional Designation or Language Level (Yale College) form to request the course(s) from outside Yale be counted toward your distributional requirement.
Sciences (Sc) Requirement
Quantitative Reasoning (QR) Requirement
Additional information about Sc and QR requirements is available here.
Before enrolling in the course:
Students should send Dean Alexia Belperron (alexia.belperron@yale.edu) a course syllabus and/or course description and ask whether the course might earn credit towards the Sc or QR distributional requirements. Guidance is limited, and Yale does not preapprove credit; you must first complete the course and submit course materials for review before Dean Belperron can approve it for credit towards your distributional requirements (see below).
When writing Dean Belperron, be sure to indicate the type of distributional credit being sought (Sc or QR) and include the name(s) of the course(s) for which you seek distributional credit.
After the course has ended:
Keep the course syllabus and all other relevant course materials until the final review at Yale has been completed.
Note:Once Yale confirms that your transcript has been received, visit the University Registrar's Office Forms webpage and click on the Outside Credit: Petition to Add Distributional Designation or Language Level (Yale College) form to request the course(s) from outside Yale be counted toward your distributional requirement.
Writing (WR) Requirement
Additional information about WR requirements is available here.
Before enrolling in the course:
The courses that are easiest to approve are those that have “writing” or “composition” in the course title. If you send the original course description to Dean Alfred Guy (alfred.guy@yale.edu), he can tell you if the course will count toward the WR requirement. If the course description does not mention writing skills, you may want to include the syllabus if you have it. In that message, be sure to include your full name, your residential college, and your class year. Note that Yale does not preapprove credit; you must first complete the course and submit course materials for review before Dean Guy can approve it for credit towards your distributional requirements.
Pin:Creative writing courses are ineligible for the WR requirement.
Writing courses must be taught in English to be eligible for the WR requirement.
After the course has ended:
Keep the course syllabus and all other relevant course materials until the final review at Yale has been completed. If the course description does not indicate a clear focus on writing skills, you may be asked for materials that show how writing was taught (e.g., whether you wrote multiple drafts; how you received feedback; if you workshopped drafts with other students, etc.). It does no good to describe these features in an email—they must be listed in the syllabus or other published materials from the course.
Note:Once Yale confirms that your transcript has been received, visit the University Registrar's Office Forms webpage and click on the Outside Credit: Petition to Add Distributional Designation or Language Level (Yale College) form to request the course(s) from outside Yale be counted toward your distributional requirement.