Degree requirements are designed and administered to ensure the integrity of the M.B.A. degree program. Any exception to the requirements must be approved by the faculty. The requirements fall into the following areas: Enrollment Requirement, Number of Course Units, Timing Requirement, Distribution of Courses, and the quality standard. See Academic Policies for Residential Master’s Degree Programs in the chapter Rights and Responsibilities of Students for information on the Yale School of Management grading system and definitions of the grades referenced below.

To qualify for the M.B.A. degree, a student must at all times meet the conditions to continue as a degree candidate and must meet all requirements as follows:

Enrollment Requirement

The M.B.A. must be completed in four consecutive terms of full-time study, unless a student receives advance permission from the dean of students to take a leave of absence. A student enrolled in a joint-degree program is required to maintain continuous, full-time enrollment throughout the program and to complete degree requirements within the normal period specified for the program in the appropriate joint-degree agreement, unless granted a leave of absence. Students enrolled in the Silver Scholars program are expected to complete the M.B.A. program in three consecutive years, with a one-year full-time internship after the first year of the core M.B.A. program, unless an extended internship is approved by the dean of students as a leave of absence.

The M.B.A. students’ fulfillment of the enrollment requirement is not precluded by any of the following:

• The compression of the academic calendar caused by public health directives, as long as the student completes the normal academic credit units;
• Visa delays or travel restrictions that result in enrollment from a non-U.S. location and/or the lack of F-1 visa status for a part of the academic year;
• Virtual participation in courses due to emergencies as defined by SOM academic policy, public health directives, travel restrictions, or visa delays;
• Enrollment beginning in the spring term, should the school make an allowance for this in response to national emergencies, public health directives, or travel restrictions.

Number of Course Units

A student must:

1. Achieve credit, i.e., a grade of Pass or higher, in 72 units of course work (52 units for joint-degree students), of which 30.5 are normally earned in first-year core courses. Successful completion of more than 72 units of course work does not compensate for failure to complete any other degree requirement or to meet the quality standard; and
2. Enroll in and receive a grade in a minimum of 16 units of course work in each of the first three terms. Taking a course overload in any term does not excuse a student from the 16-unit minimum in another term. Students in their fourth term may request permission from Academic Affairs and Student Life to enroll in fewer units if they will otherwise satisfy M.B.A. degree requirements.

Timing Requirement

To be permitted to enroll for the second year of the M.B.A. program, a student must have received grades in all first-year core courses.

Distribution of Courses

To graduate, a student must:

1. Achieve credit in each of the following core courses:
   • Managing Groups and Teams (1 unit)
   • Basics of Accounting (2 units)
   • Basics of Economics (2.5 units)
   • Probability Modeling and Statistics (2 units)
   • Modeling Managerial Decisions (2 units)
   • Competitor (2 units)
   • Customer (2 units)
   • Investor (2 units)
   • State and Society (2 units)
   • Introduction to Negotiation (1 unit)
   • The Workforce (2 units)
   • Operations Engine (2 units)
   • Sourcing and Managing Funds (2 units)
   • Innovator (2 units)
   • The Global Macroeconomy (2 units)
   • The Executive (2 units)
2. Complete the Leadership Distribution Requirement (courses that fulfill the requirement are listed on the SOM internal website).
3. Complete the Global Studies Requirement (as described above in M.B.A. Curriculum).
4. Achieve credit in at least 41.5 units of elective courses as necessary to meet the 72-unit course requirement, or for joint-degree students, credit unit totals as specified in requirements for the specific program.

Grades

There are five grades at Yale SOM: High Honors, Honors, Proficient, Pass, and Fail. The grade distribution that instructors use, and the policy with respect to the reporting of grades on official transcripts, are described below.

• HH: High Honors Up to top 10 percent of class. Reported on transcript.
• H: Honors Next 25 percent. Reported on transcript.
• PR: Proficient Next 55 percent. Not reported on transcript.
• P: Pass Lowest 10 percent in core courses; guideline of 5 percent in electives. Not reported on transcript.
• F: Fail An absolute standard; no minimum requirement. To the extent it is used, the F grade counts toward the 10 or 5 percent Pass category. Not reported on transcript.¹

Once grades are officially recorded, they may not be changed except in cases in which a mathematical error has been made in computing the grade or a clerical error has been made in recording it. Students seeking correction to a grading error must contact the instructor within two weeks (ten working days) from the receipt of the grade.

If a student takes a course in another school at Yale, the SOM registrar will ask the instructor to submit the grade according to the SOM grade scale.

1

F grades in core courses require remediation. The failed core course is not reflected on the official transcript until remediated. Elective courses with F grades are not reflected on the official transcript. Students must replace failed electives with other electives to meet total credit requirements for graduation.

quality standard

Failure to meet the quality standard for the M.B.A. program results in dismissal from the program. A student falls short of the quality standard if the student:

1. Accumulates Pass or Fail grades in more than 15¹ units of core courses; or
2. Accumulates a grade of Fail in more than 4 units of core courses; or
3. Accumulates Pass or Fail grades in more than 23.5 units of core and/or elective courses (more than 16.5 units for joint-degree students).

Further information on academic grounds for dismissal, the Academic Standards Committee, and appeals of academic dismissal can be found in the chapter Rights and Responsibilities of Students.

1

The acceptable unit totals of grades in core courses as stated in point 1 of the quality standard will be adjusted down by one credit unit for each core course exemption granted to the student. In particular, a student exempting from one core course falls short of the quality standard by accumulating more than fourteen units of Pass or Fail grades in core courses; a student exempting from two core courses falls short of the quality standard by accumulating more than thirteen units of Pass or Fail grades in core courses; a student exempting from three core courses falls short of the quality standard by accumulating more than twelve units of Pass or Fail grades in core courses.

Remediation of Failing Grades in Core Courses

A student who fails a core course must remediate the failing grade either by retaking the course or through alternate activity approved by the instructor. In no case will a grade higher than Pass be recorded when a failed core course is remediated.

A student is required to remediate failing grades in all core courses to graduate from the program.