Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Your EVST concentration courses can be courses from your second major, subject to the two-credit limit on overlapping courses. Common EVST double majors inlcude Economics, Political Science, Urban Studies, Ethnicity, Race and Migration, History, and Engineering - but with good planning you can make almost any major work!
Read more about Yale College’s policy for double majors here.
Read about what EVST majors have accomplished after graduating here.
Courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences: Undergraduates may enroll in an unlimited number of courses in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and most graduate courses are open to undergraduates with permission of the instructor and the director of graduate studies. Students simply enter a graduate course on their registration worksheet.
Courses is Professional Schools: Students may receive four course credits from professional schools. Students should enter the course on their registration worksheet for zero credit, then during the Add/Drop period complete a Request to Enroll in a Professional School Course (Blue Form) to receive permission of the instructor and professional school. If approved, the University Registrar’s Office will award appropriate course credit.
Courses in SOM require an additional request form found on the SOM website. Details can be found here.
Note: The award of course credit in professional schools differs from the graduate school and not all courses in professional schools yield a full course credit in Yale College. See Special Academic Problems under The Committee on Honors and Academic Standing. For a list of graduate and professional school courses not approved for Yale College credit, refer to the University Registrar’s website.
The Yale course catalog lists more than 2,000 courses. Yale faculty may add, switch, or modify their courses each academic year. The BA and BS checklists are updated annually in response to changes in course offerings – discontinued courses are removed and new ones are added that fill core requirements. The checklists always show more courses than offered in a given semester or academic year, but students can be confident that every course (or an approved substitute) will be offered at least once during their four-year academic career at Yale.
Some half-credit professional school courses earn half-credit in Yale College. Other courses may not earn any credit, but may be recorded on your transcript. Credit awarded for professional school courses can be found here. If a course is not listed, it has not previously been reviewed to determine Yale College course credit value.
Per Yale College academic regulations, students can offer a maximum of four credits of professional school study towards the Yale College degree. Any courses they take beyond that will still count towards the GPA but will not count towards the 36-credit requirement.
It is the discretion of the DUS to determine what courses apply towards the EVST major. As long as the course is on the student’s Yale College transcript, it’s available for use towards the EVST major.
To begin, students should read about each concentration and consult the respective lists of suggested courses here.
Course offerings change each year, so searching the Yale College Program of Study and Course Search is always a good idea. If a suggested course is no longer offered, students may contact the course instructor for help finding an appropriate replacement course or to find out if the course will be offered in the near future.
No, students can draw from courses offered in academic departments from all around the university. Just be sure that you are fulfilling the requirements within your EVST track.
Yes, and many EVST majors do. More frequently, students find that the established concentrations provide useful guideposts for selecting courses suited to their particular academic or professional goals in broad fields of study.
For both the BA and BS degree program, courses that are listed as EVST seminars and assigned a writing (WR) credit typically fulfill this requirement, such as EVST 212, EVST 215, EVST 224, EVST 324, EVST 350, and EVST 422. Other departments or major programs also offer advanced seminars with substantial environmental content and significant research and writing emphasis. Subject to a test of relevance to your concentration or senior essay, such courses may fulfill the advanced seminar requirement.
A major objective of this research and writing emphasis is to develop the skills that help with writing the EVST senior essay. Therefore, a student might fulfill this requirement with seminars in other social sciences or humanities departments in Yale College or at YSE, taken within the context of their concentration, if the seminar has significant research and writing content. For example: Environmental Justice in Modern South Asia (EVST 324) introduces and requires students to gain familiarity with ethnographic and other anthropological research methods and contains a very substantial writing requirement.
Please consult with the DUS if you have questions.
The Environmental Studies program strongly encourages studying abroad! Keep in mind that one course/transfer credit per semester abroad can be counted towards your EVST concentration.
Read more about how to coordinate your study abroad experience with your EVST major here.
In addition to the prerequisites, the BS degree requires at least twelve course credits, consisting of the core requirements, the concentration, and the two-term senior essay requirement. Students who place out of the prerequisites may proceed with fulfilling the other remaining degree requirements.
The BA degree requires at least thirteen course credits, consisting of the core requirements, the concentration, and the senior essay requirement. Students who place out of introductory math or science classes may substitute another course from the same group of core courses or a higher level course in the same field. For example, a student who places out of Math 112 (single variable calculus) may take S&DS 101 or ENV 510 or above or Math 115 or above.
EVST core courses are selected to be broadly representative of their respective fields of study in their manner of engaging environmental challenges. Relatively few courses meet that requirement and so substituting a course for one of the core requirements must meet a high bar for approval. Students wishing to propose a substitute for a core course should talk to the DUS.
For all students, the EVST major leads to the completion of a senior essay that is a capstone project requiring significant independent research and study. EVST faculty and staff direct advising and supervisory capacity to supporting seniors writing senior essays in one or two terms of EVST 496 Senior Research Project and Colloquium. The EVST major will present opportunities for amazing experiences or insights. When it happens to you, save those moments and use them to develop a great topic for your senior essay.