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.
- Schedule a session: Required June 17 - August 17
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).
- Take the survey: Required Deadline: July 31
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.
- Take the survey: Optional but requested Available July 1 - July 31
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