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Requirements for the Ph.D.

The requirements for the Ph. D. degree in Chemistry at Yale are summarized below.

Admission Requirements
Applicants are expected to have completed or be completing a standard undergraduate chemistry major including a year of elementary organic chemistry with laboratory and a year of elementary physical chemistry. Other majors are acceptable if the above requirements are met. Undergraduate research experience is strongly recommended. We require the GRE General Test and the Chemistry Advanced Test. These should be taken no later than December of your application year. Students whose native language is not English are required to take borh the Test of English as a Foreign Language and the Test of Spoken English.

Course and Examination Requirements for the Ph. D. Degree
A foreign language is not required, and qualifying examinations are not administered. Three term courses are required in each of the first two terms of residence, and participation in additional courses is encouraged in subsequent terms. Courses are chosen according to the student's background and area of research interest. A complete listing of courses offered by the Chemistry Department may be found in the bulletin of the Graduate School. The graduate school grading scheme is Honors (H), High Pass (HP), Pass (P). To be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree a student must: (1) receive at least two term grades of Honors, (2) pass either three cumulative examinations and one oral examination (organic and inorganic students) or two oral examinations (physical and biophysical students) by the end of the second year of study, and (3) submit a thesis prospectus no later than the end of the third year of study. Remaining degree requirements include completing eight cumulative examinations (organic and inorganic students), a written thesis describing the research, and an oral defense of the thesis. In addition, all students are required to teach two afternoons per week, or the equivalent, for at least two semesters.

Research
Following the first term of formal course study, students choose a research group, and by the end of the second term begin fulfilling the remainder of the Ph.D. requirements by performing original and independent research. To assist students in choosing a research group, the students and faculty, in the early fall, present a series of brief seminars about their research. Following these presentations incoming students select three or four research groups of interest and for a period of three (non-biophysical students) or ten (biophysical students) weeks participate in these groups' activities. These rotations provide informal and easy interactions with several research groups and enable the incoming student to make an informed choice of a research group.

Financial Aid
All graduate students in the Department receive financial aid. Entering students who do not have outside fellowships receive a financial package from the University which covers tuition and provides a stipend composed of fellowship money and remuneration for teaching. The details of this support are clearly explained in the letter of admission.

Last modified: June 7, 2005 (kp)