Students are required to take no fewer than two course credits in the humanities and arts, two course credits in the sciences, and two course credits in the social sciences. In addition to taking courses in these disciplinary areas, students must fulfill skills requirements by completing two course credits in quantitative reasoning, two course credits in writing, and courses to further their language competence. Depending on their initial level of accomplishment in languages, students may fulfill this last requirement with one, two, or three courses or by a combination of coursework and approved study abroad.

Courses that fulfill the distributional requirements are designated in Yale Course Search by the abbreviations Hu, So, SC, QR, WR, and, for the language requirement, L1, L2, L3, L4, or L5. These designations are assigned to courses by committees appointed by the Dean of Yale College.

New courses may be assigned distributional designations as part of the approval process; the DUS should propose designations for new courses when submitting the course proposal. For courses returning to the curriculum after an absence, the DUS should submit proposed designations as a course change in CourseLeaf CIM.

Distributional designations may not be added to a course if registration for the course in question has been opened; however, if approved by the appropriate committee or contact, they can be added for the next time the course is offered. Questions regarding distributional designations should be directed to the appropriate committee or committee contact listed below.

Humanities and Arts: Dawn Shirak

Science: Alexia Belperron

Social Science: Dawn Shirak

Language: Fernando Rubio

Quantitative Reasoning: Alexia Belperron

Writing: Alfred Guy