Graduate school is the place to
- examine life's most challenging questions
- develop as a scholar
- produce new knowledge at the cutting edge of your discipline
- join a lively, welcoming, and diverse intellectual community
- prepare for a successful career within academia or beyond
In graduate school, you will transition from being your professors' student to becoming their colleague. If this prospect excites you, please consider applying to Yale. Few places in the world can serve as a better incubator for your continued learning, growth, and potential as a scholar, independent researcher, and leader.
We offer M.S., M.A., M.A.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees in more than 50 departments and programs. The Graduate School is distinct from Yale's 12 professional schools, and each has its own programs, policies, admissions, and degree requirements. There are also joint degree programs that involve both GSAS and one of the professional schools.
Full Tuition Fellowship & Stipend for Ph.D. Students
Many prospective students are surprised to find that all doctoral students at Yale are fully funded.
All Ph.D. students at Yale receive the following financial award, typically for a minimum of five years:
- a fellowship that covers the full cost of tuition ($43,300 for 2019-2020)
- a 12-month stipend (minimum of $31,800 for 2019-2020)
- free comprehensive health insurance, including hospitalization coverage and specialty care, for students and their children
- a family support subsidy for graduate students with children under the age of 18
Many students are eligible for funding in their sixth year from GSAS or adviser's research grants, as well as supplementary financial support such as travel grants and conference funding. Additionally, a Dean's Emergency Fund is available to help doctoral students with eligible unexpected expenses.
We do not charge many of the fees common to other schools (e.g. technology fee, library fee, gym fee, student activities fee). In some cases, even the Continuing Registration Fee for advanced doctoral students is covered by the Graduate School.
As a result, doctoral students at Yale receive more than $400,000 in tuition fellowships, stipends, and health care benefits, on average, over the course of their enrollment. They can typically complete their degrees without incurring debt. We make this investment because we consider it our responsibility and privilege to educate the very best students in the world, ensuring that you have ample opportunity to complete your degree and become one of the leaders in your field.
Most students pursuing Master's degrees do not receive financial support from the Graduate School and are responsible for paying tuition, but some programs offer limited funding. Please check with the program that interests you for more information.
A Home for Your Research
A successful graduate education involves finding a program that matches your interests and faculty advisers who will help you flourish. This means you need to do some serious investigation before you apply.
To evaluate if Yale is right for you:
- Explore all the departmental and program websites that interest you.
- Learn about the faculty affiliated with each program and read their research.
- Visit campus and talk to current students of the department or program to get a sense of the culture and climate or explore Yale extensively online.
- Contact alumni to learn about their experience at Yale and the careers they are pursuing.
At Yale you will find world-class faculty members, strongly committed to both teaching and research, who will mentor and advise you. You will find a place that celebrates collaboration within and across disciplines and encourages broad intellectual exploration without boundaries.
The Epilogue: Career Prospects and Job Placement
It may be helpful to begin the process of considering graduate school by keeping the end in mind. How does a graduate degree align with your career goals?
A Ph.D. degree is the traditional prerequisite for a faculty position at colleges and universities around the world, but that is far from the only career path. Our alumni work in many other sectors as well, including business, government, law, intellectual and cultural institutions, and more.
Consider the career trajectory of recent graduates in your discipline. What types of jobs do they have now? How long did it take them to find those positions? Are they employed in academia or in other sectors? You can find this information through:
- your program or department of interest, including its website, faculty, staff, and students
- Yale's centralized database of Program Statistics, which includes an overview of employment for recent graduates in each program
- the Office of Career Strategy (OCS), which specializes in supporting Yale students who want to pursue non-academic career paths
New Haven: A Great Small City
Our campus is right in the center of one of America's most vibrant small cities: New Haven, Connecticut. It's a wonderful community, rich in history, art, theater, live music, and great restaurants.
We encourage you to visit and experience for yourself all that New Haven has to offer. You can browse the Artspace Gallery or City Wide Open Studios, see a show, movie or concert downtown, shop at major stores and local boutiques, enjoy over 400 cafés and restaurants, experience nature on the trails of East Rock Park or bike on the Farmington Trail, and so much more. Both New York and Boston are easily accessible from New Haven by train and car.
If you can't visit, here are some resources that showcase what our city has to offer:
- Washington Post, “New Haven: A long-weekend destination with lots to do, and you can leave the car at home,” March 15, 2019.
- Hartford Courant, “Study: New Haven, Danbury among America’s 50 best small cities,” June 5, 2019.
- Between Two Rocks, “5 Reasons Why New Haven is the Greatest City in America,” April 5, 2018.
- The Middletown Press, “Pelli's 50 year collaborator recalls a humble giant,” on why this architecture giant chose New Haven as home base for his office. July 23, 2019.
- Info New Haven
Furthermore, you will have easy access to Yale's extraordinary libraries, museums, and 12 professional schools, all of which are located right in New Haven. The School of Medicine, the Divinity School, the School of Architecture, the Law School, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the Yale Center for British Art, and more – with their collections, labs, and faculty – are in walking distance of Yale's central campus, making it easy to find resources and partner with collaborators.
The Next Step: Admissions and Getting In
Identifying a program that aligns well with your intellectual and professional interests is the first step in the admissions process. The faculty members who will review your application need to know if your aspirations align with their program, so be sure to explain and document why you belong at Yale.
As you prepare your application, you may want to review our Virtual Information Sessions. These webinars were designed to help prospective students learn more about the opportunities available at Yale.
We hope that you will find a place here. As former Yale historian George Pierson wrote, “Yale is at once a tradition, a company of scholars, a society of friends.” It is among the best places in the world to study, explore, conduct research, gain skills, and grow into the person you aspire to be.
To get started, please review application requirements at Ph.D./Master's Application Process, where you will find a link to the application.
