Important Information for Students Considering Postponed Matriculation

If you are considering postponing matriculation for a year, please read the following information carefully.
  1. 1. As a newly admitted first-year or transfer student, you may postpone matriculation for one year. If you request postponed matriculation and we approve your plans for the year, our agreement to hold a place for you will be based upon our understanding that you intend to matriculate at Yale one year from your original entry term.* If you postpone your matriculation, you may not also hold a place at another institution, nor may you apply to other colleges during the course of the year. Your doing so would lead us to withdraw our guarantee of your ability to matriculate.

    *Occasionally students need to request a two-year postponement. We will consider such requests on a case-by-case basis.
     
  2. You will be required to complete the work of your current school year satisfactorily. We also expect that during your year of postponement you will be constructively occupied and that you will maintain a satisfactory standard of conduct.
     
  3. If you are a U.S. citizen or permanent resident applying for financial aid, you will reapply in the year you will matriculate. If you are an international student, you will not need to reapply unless your family's financial circumstances have changed and you would like to request a reevaluation. Although we do not expect any changes to Yale’s commitment to meeting the full demonstrated financial need of all families, changes in Yale’s policies and fees or your family’s financial circumstances may cause your offer to differ from the original estimate you received.
     
  4. If you are considering pursuing any academic work during your year off, please bear in mind that there is no guarantee that Yale will accept any course credits you earn. Work done after graduation from a secondary school but before matriculation at Yale may be accepted on recommendation from the appropriate Director of Undergraduate Studies. Enrolled Yale students may apply up to two course credits (the equivalent of two semester-long courses) earned at another college or university toward the Yale degree. (No credit is given for college courses taken prior to high school graduation, unless those courses were taken at Yale.) Please note that during your year off you may not enroll full-time in a degree-granting program at another institution, even if you have no intention of transferring credits from that program to Yale.
     
  5. During the year prior to entering Yale, admitted students who postpone matriculation are not eligible to enroll in Yale's Non-Degree Students Program, nor are they normally eligible to enroll in a graduate or professional school program at Yale. They may, however, apply for admission to Yale Summer Programs and apply course credits earned there toward the requirements of the bachelor's degree.
     
  6. If you request postponed matriculation we will ask that you provide us with a brief statement about your plans for the upcoming year, which will need to be approved. It is very rare that a plan is not approved.