Yale University: cradle of leadership

Updated on: Monday, March 15, 2010

Yale University ranks high in global rankings. It comprises of three major academic components:

Yale College (undergraduate programmes)

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences

Professional schools

In addition, Yale has a wide array of centres and programmes, libraries, museums, and administrative support offices. There are nearly 11,250 students on the rolls. The approximate numbers of the students are as follows: undergraduates - 5,250, graduate and professional students 6,200, international students1,900.

The following are the professional schools in Yale:

School of Architecture

School of Art

Divinity School

School of Drama

School of Engineering and Applied Science

School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Law School

School of Management

School of Medicine

School of Music

School of Nursing

School of Public Health

Institute of Sacred Music

This list gives an indication of the variety of academic disciplines available in this institution of excellence. The percentages of international students in some of the components are shown below, in order to get an idea of global participation.

Yale College: 9 per cent

Graduate School of Arts & Science: 31 per cent

School of Architecture: 18 per cent

School of Art:15 per cent

School of Forestry and Environmental Studies: 20 per cent

Law School: 14 per cent

School of Management: 25 per cent

School of Medicine: MD 10 per cent

If you take into account all the components, the participation of the international students is about 16 per cent. They come from 108 countries. This provides you with truly global experience through exposure to diverse cultures and traditions. Nearly 90 per cent of undergraduates live in university housing.

A brief story of Yale

Yale's roots can be traced back to the 1640s, when colonial clergymen led an effort to establish a college in New Haven to preserve the tradition of European liberal education. Yale was founded in 1701 as the Collegiate School to educate students for public employment both in Church and the Civil State.

During the three centuries since its founding, Yale has worked to educate those who would become leaders and contributors to every sector of society. Yale graduates include five Presidents of the United States, forty-five Cabinet members, and more than 500 members of the U.S. Congress, and several senior officials, judges, diplomats, and military officers to name.

In 1718 the school was renamed ‘Yale College'. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the graduate and professional schools were established, thereby making Yale a true university.

The timeline runs as follows. The Yale School of Medicine was chartered in 1810, followed by the Divinity School in 1822, the Law School in 1824, and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1847 (which, in 1861, awarded the first Ph.D. in the United States), followed by the schools of Art in 1869, Music in 1894, Forestry and Environmental Studies in 1900, Nursing in 1923, Drama in 1955, Architecture in 1972, and Management in 1974.

International students arrive at Yale since the 1830s. Now, they make up nearly 9 per cent of the undergraduates and 16 per cent of all students at the University. The portals of Yale remained closed for women for a long time. The University began admitting women students at the graduate level in 1869 and at the undergraduate level in 1969.

In the 1930s, Yale introduced the Oxford/ Cambridge style of residential colleges. The undergraduates were divided into twelve units each of 450, thereby offering the students the intimacy of a small college environment and the vast resources of a major research university.

The undergraduate school, Yale College, may be considered as the heart of the university. More than 2,000 undergraduate courses in the liberal arts and sciences are offered by over sixty-five departments and programmes, forming a curriculum of remarkable breadth and depth. A significant aspect of Yale is that eminent professors and other members of the faculty teach undergraduate students as well.

There is a stunning variety of programmes, from which anyone will be able to identify the one that most suits one's aptitude and passion. See some examples. African American Studies, anaesthesiology, anthropology, applied physics, archaeology, astronomy, biomedical engineering, biostatistics, cell biology, child study, computer science and psychology, diagnostic radiology, drama, economics, electrical engineering and computer science, experimental pathology, film studies, genetics, geology and geophysics, history of art, immunobiology, internal medicine, international relations, linguistics, management (Ph.D. programme), molecular biophysics and biochemistry, music, neurobiology, orthopaedics and rehabilitation, psychiatry, South Asian studies, statistics, Theatre Studies.

In order to get the details pertaining to any of the subjects of study, you may log on to the site www.yale.edu, and go by the links Academic programmes—departments and programmes. The full list of all the programmes in Yale will be listed on the page. You can then conveniently click on the program of your choice, and get full details of course in the graduate/ undergraduate levels, the time of admission, specific contact information of the concerned department, and so on.

You should apply directly to the school, college, or programme where the degree will be awarded: Yale College for undergraduate degrees, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences for doctoral programmes and certain Master's degrees, or one of the professional schools, as the case may be.

Yale University: cradle of leadership

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