Directed Studies (DS), a selective program for first-year students, is an interdisciplinary introduction to influential texts of Western and some Near Eastern cultures from ancient Greece to the twentieth century.

The First-Year Seminar program offers first-year students small-sized classes taught by some of Yale's most distinguished faculty members. These seminars, covering a wide range of subjects across many departments, are designed to provide first-year students the opportunity to work closely with faculty members and peers. Over seventy-five seminars are offered annually across a wide range of departments and programs.

The Yale Education Studies Program is an interdisciplinary community that empowers students to critically reimagine and collectively reshape the education landscape through research, policy and practice. It encourages the study of education across the liberal arts curriculum with courses spanning nearly a dozen departments. Students may take courses through the Education Studies program and may participate in one of two pathways: the Education Studies Scholars Multidisciplinary Academic Program and the Education Studies certificate.

The Energy Studies Program prepares selected undergraduates for advanced studies and leadership in energy-related fields. Students explore the intersection of energy science with technology, the natural environment, and societal issues. The program equips students with the knowledge and skills to effectively lead the transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy systems.

The Global Health Studies program prepares students to engage critically with global health and its multifaceted issues in present-day societies. Students complete interdisciplinary coursework to gain a broad understanding of global health research, practice, and leadership. They develop a sophisticated understanding of the roles of politics, history, and economics; engage with the insights of anthropology, ethics, law, and sociology; and relate this knowledge to public health and the biomedical sciences. Students who apply in their sophomore year become Global Health Scholars.

The Human Rights Studies provides students with the analytical and practical skills necessary for human rights study and human rights-related careers. Sponsored by the Yale Law School’s Schell Center for International Human Rights, the program supports a diverse community of undergraduate scholars coming from a wide range of majors. Students in the program receive support for research projects and internship opportunities as well as guidance on human rights careers and graduate study.

The Eli Whitney Students Program offers non-traditional-age students of high academic potential the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree at Yale College. Students in this program may take up to seven years to complete a bachelor’s degree and may also study part-time. Eli Whitney students must complete a minimum of eighteen course credits at Yale.

The Non-Degree Students Program allows non-matriculated and non-resident students to take Yale College courses to achieve specific academic goals that would best be fulfilled at Yale in particular. The program enrolls three to eight students each term.

The Transfer Student Program allows a small number of students of high academic achievement the opportunity to transfer to Yale College. Students may enroll during either the sophomore or junior year and must remain at Yale for a minimum of four terms and complete a minimum eighteen course credits at Yale to qualify for a bachelor’s degree. Students may transfer from fully accredited two- or four-year institutions.

Employees, spouses of current employees, faculty members (both current and emeritus), students, postdoctoral fellows, and postdoctoral associates may audit Yale undergraduate courses at no cost.

Yale alumni and their spouses may audit Yale undergraduate courses for a fee.

Central to the mission of Yale College is ensuring a broad education rooted in the liberal arts. That education should provide both breadth and depth across a wide array of disciplines, and it should be responsive to the shifting landscape of those disciplines and their interrelationships. To encourage students to engage within and across departmental and disciplinary boundaries, Yale College offers both disciplines-based and skills-based certificates. A certificate is not a smaller version of a major; instead, it offers opportunities for students to deepen a skill or to bring disparate elements into focus. There are three types of certificates offered in Yale College: Advanced Language Certificates, Skills-Based Certificates, and Interdisciplinary Certificates.

Yale is host to Air Force and Naval ROTC units through which Yale undergraduates may pursue their liberal arts degrees while preparing for leadership in the military services. (Students interested in Army ROTC may participate in a cross-town arrangement at the University of New Haven.) Regardless of financial need, participating students receive significant help in meeting the costs of a Yale education. While most students receive an ROTC scholarship before coming to Yale, currently enrolled students are also eligible to join these programs and apply for a scholarship.

The Residential College Seminar program offers innovative courses that fall outside traditional departmental structures. While some seminars are taught by Yale faculty, others are led by people who reside outside academic life, including writers, artists, journalists, and politicians.

The Science, Technology and Research Scholars (STARS) Program supports historically underrepresented students in the sciences, engineering, and mathematics. To improve student performance and retention rates in STEM disciplines, STARS offers peer-mentor groups, one-on-one advising, professional development, seminars, and research support.

For Yale students who wish to study abroad, Yale’s Study Abroad Office, part of the Center for International and Professional Experience (CIPE), offers individual student advising, a broad range of information, and a searchable database of international programs through which students may earn Yale course credits.

On the farm, in the classroom, and around the world, the Yale Sustainable Food Program (YSFP) grows food-literate leaders. The YSFP serves as a hub for critical and creative work that engages with contemporary and historical food and agricultural concepts and controversies spanning all academic disciplines and levels of study. The YSFP is home to the Yale Farm, a one-acre, intensive, mixed farm located on Science Hill that offers a unique experiential learning environment and research space. In addition to hosting a continually changing lineup of courses, paid and volunteer work opportunities, and local and international fellowships and internships, the YSFP also collaborates with, and supports, a range of community-based food and farming initiatives in New Haven.