D. Promotion and Good Standing

Requirements for Promotion

  1. To be promoted to sophomore standing after two terms of enrollment, a student must have earned at least eight course credits or the equivalent and have fulfilled the distributional requirements for the first year.
  2. To be promoted to junior standing after four terms of enrollment, a student must have earned at least sixteen course credits or the equivalent and is expected to have fulfilled the distributional requirements for the sophomore year.
  3. To be promoted to senior standing after six terms of enrollment, a student must have earned at least twenty-six course credits or the equivalent and is expected to have fulfilled the distributional requirements for the junior year.

Requirements for Academic Good Standing

At the conclusion of each term of enrollment, a student must have earned enough course credits to be in academic good standing.

  1. At the end of the first term at Yale, a student must have earned at least four course credits.
  2. At the end of the second term, a student must have earned at least eight course credits.
  3. At the end of the third term, a student must have earned at least twelve course credits.
  4. At the end of the fourth term, a student must have earned at least sixteen course credits.
  5. At the end of the fifth term, a student must have earned at least twenty-one course credits.
  6. At the end of the sixth term, a student must have earned at least twenty-six course credits.
  7. At the end of the seventh term, a student must have earned at least thirty-one course credits.

Regardless of the number of credits accumulated, a student is not in academic good standing if the student’s record shows three grades of F in a term or over two or three successive terms. “Successive terms” means successive terms in which the student enrolls, whether or not broken by a withdrawal or by a leave of absence. See section I, Academic Penalties and Restrictions, “Dismissal for Academic Reasons” and “Makeup of Course Deficiencies for Promotion or Academic Good Standing.” The term in which a student takes a medical leave of absence is not counted as a term of enrollment under this policy.

Updated August 2023.