Advising and Placement image

June 7, 2024

Dear parents and guardians of incoming Yale College students,

To help students with advising and placement, the Office of Undergraduate Education writes this week with resources they can start using now or very soon.

Student will soon be able and expected to schedule a session with a peer adviser, and to complete a placement survey.
Later this summer, the Office of Undergraduate Education will write again with more information about registering for fall courses.

With best wishes,

Hannah Peck
Assistant Dean of Student Affairs
Yale College
(she/her)


June 7, 2024

Dear Class of 2028,

When we wrote to you on May 24, we asked you to consider Yale’s approach to undergraduate education and explained the thinking that underlies our academic requirements. Today, we write to tell you about Yale’s advising resources and placement procedures that support you as you explore the curriculum. We also ask you to provide information, some of it required, for placement.

Advising

Before you arrive and throughout the year, you can turn to advisers to help as you think about subjects you might study, both in and beyond your first semester.

RESIDENTIAL COLLEGE-BASED ADVISING

In a few weeks, you will learn your affiliation to your residential college, which is the source of much first-year advising, including by your:

MANDATORY SUMMER PEER ADVISING PROGRAM

From June 17 to August 17, you will be asked to arrange a peer advising session with a recently graduated FroCo. The FroCos receive extensive training, have vast personal knowledge of the Yale curriculum, and can provide a useful first stop for your questions.

Advising sessions will be offered seven days a week, and at various times, to accommodate all time zones. All first-year students are required to take advantage of this opportunity.

If you have specialized questions that your peer adviser cannot answer, you may reach the academic deans in the Yale College Dean’s Office by email over the summer at advising@yale.edu.

OTHER ADVISING RESOURCES

Departmental advisers, especially the directors of undergraduate studies (DUS) in each department
Academic Fair on August 27, attended by DUSs and other departmental representatives

Placement

An important component of academic advising in your first year is obtaining appropriate placement in subjects with multiple entry points, such as math, the natural sciences, and languages.

HIGH SCHOOL MATH AND SCIENCE SURVEY

The High School Math and Science Survey, required of all first-year students, asks you to report your course history in biology, chemistry, computer science, economics, math, and physics, even if you are not planning to take courses in these subjects. These departments use your responses to issue specific course recommendations. (You can adjust your level up or down if you need to after you arrive).

PLACEMENT EXAMS

Biology, chemistry, math, and many language programs offer online placement exams over the summer.

  • Learn more: Optional but recommended Available July 1 - July 31

WRITING SURVEY

To help you consider how to strengthen your writing skills, please complete an optional, ten-minute writing survey about your habits and experience as a writer.

We will write again later this summer to explain the timeline and process for registering for courses for the fall term. In the meantime, we hope you are having an enjoyable and productive summer.

Best wishes,
The Office of Undergraduate Education


COMING DATES AND DEADLINES

June 12 - Earliest day to schedule a peer advising session, required of all first-year students.

June 26 - Earliest date to enter vaccination record information and upload all health-related documents (applies only to incoming students not participating in First-year Scholars Program or Yale Summer Session)

  • Link coming in late June.

June 30 - Deadline to upload photo ID for identification card

July 1 - Summer online placement exams begin

  • See the full list

HAVE A QUESTION? WRITE TO US