Yale College Distributional Designations

<!doctype html> <html xml:lang="en" lang="en" dir="ltr"> <head> <title>Yale College Distributional Designations < Yale University</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="gVVqStu35k6xvXFdEFk4jzm-dzPPDhDIKVjUKHIQG04" /> <link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="/search/opensearch.xml" title="%publicdesc%" /> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, minimum-scale=1.0" /> <link rel="icon" sizes="228x228" href="/images/touch-icon-228.png"> <link rel="apple-touch-icon-precomposed" sizes="228x228" href="/images/touch-icon-228.png"> <link href="/favicon.ico" rel="shortcut icon" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/reset.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/courseleaf.css?v=1720795011000" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/fonts/font-awesome/font-awesome.min.css" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:400,300,400italic,500,700,500italic,700italic,300italic" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/screen.css?v=1720795011000" media="screen" /> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/css/print.css?v=1720795011000" media="print" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/jquery.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/lfjs.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/lfjs_any.js"></script> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/js/lfjs.css?v=1720795015000" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/courseleaf.js?v=1720795015000"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="/js/custom.js?v=1720795015000"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> (function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){ (i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o), m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m) })(window,document,'script','//www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js','ga'); ga('create', 'UA-43202520-1', 'yale.edu'); ga('send', 'pageview'); </script> </head> <body class="yalecollege">  <div class="accessible noscript"> <div class="accessible-menu"> <ul> <li><a href="#content">Skip to Content</a></li> <li><a href="/">Catalog Home</a></li> <li><a href="http://www.yale.edu">Institution Home</a></li> </ul> </div> </div>   <header id="header" class="clearfix"> <div class="wrap clearfix"> <div id="logo" class="logo clearfix"> <a href="https://www.yale.edu">Yale University</a> </div> <div id="hamburger"><span>Menu</span></div> <div class="search" role="search"> <form id="catalog-search" id="cl-search" action="/search/" class="clearfix" role="search"> <label for="head-name" class="sr-only">Search Bulletin</label> <input type="submit" value="Search" class="submit"><i class="fa fa-search"></i> <input type="text" name="search" size="25" placeholder="Search This Site" class="searchbox" id="head-name" title="Search This Site"> </form> </div> </div> </header>  <div class="white-container"> <div class="wrap header-wrap"> <div id="edition">  <h1>Registrar's Office Handbook for Departmental Academic Support 2025–2026</h1> </div> <nav id="navigation" aria-label="header navigation"> <div class="wrap"> <ul class="clearfix dropNav"> <li><a href="#print-dialog" id="print-btn" onclick="showPrintDialog(); return false;">Print/Download Options</a></li> <li><a href="//bulletin.yale.edu/bulletins-pdf/bulletin-archive">Bulletin Archive</a></li> </ul> </div> </nav> </div> <div id="content-wrapper" class="wrap clearfix">  <div id="breadcrumb" role="navigation" aria-label="Breadcrumb navigation"> <ul><li><a href="/">Yale University Publications</a><span class="crumbsep"> / </span></li><li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/">Registrar's Office Handbook for Departmental Academic Administrative Support</a><span class="crumbsep"> / </span></li><li><span class="active">Yale College Distributional Designations</span></li></ul> </div> <div id="nav-col"> <a id="sidebar-nav-mobile">Catalog Navigation</a>  <nav id="cl-menu" aria-label="Catalog navigation"> <ul class="nav levelone" id="/departmental_academic_support/"> <li class="bold"><a href="/departmental_academic_support/welcome/">Yale College</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/course-from-beginning-to-end/">A Course from Beginning to End</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/courseleaf/">CourseLeaf</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/inclusive_language/">Inclusive Language</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/welcome/dynamic_forms/">Dynamic Forms</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/ycs_features/">Features of Yale Course Search</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/how_to_search_ycs/">How to Search for Courses in YCS</a></li> <li class="active self"><a href="#" onclick="return false;">Yale College Distributional Designations</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/using_attributes/">Using Course Attributes</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/registration_add_drop/">Registration & Add/Drop Periods</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/classroom_scheduling/">Classroom Scheduling</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/graduate_professional_courses/">Graduate and Professional School Courses</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/submitting_grades/">Grade Submission</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/degree_audit/">Degree Audit</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/student_profile/">Student Profile</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/ferpa/">FERPA</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/yale_hub/">Yale Hub</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/calendar/">Calendar</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/resources/">Resources</a></li> <li class="bold"><a href="/departmental_academic_support/four-digit-numbers/">Transitioning to 4 digit course numbers</a></li> <li class="bold"><a href="/departmental_academic_support/department_registrar_access/">Systems Access </a></li> <li class="bold"><a href="/departmental_academic_support/table_of_contentsgsas/">Table of Contents: Graduate School of Arts & Sciences</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/course-from-beginning-to-end_gsas/">GSAS Course from Beginning to End</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/registration_gsas/">How Graduate Students Register for Courses</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/registration_gsas/directed_studies/">Creating Directed Studies/Independent Studies Courses</a></li> <li><a href="/departmental_academic_support/appxtender/">Navigating AppXtender</a></li> </ul> </nav>  </div> <div id="content-col"> <div id="content" role="main"> <h1>Yale College Distributional Designations</h1> <div id="textcontainer" class="tab_content"> <p>Yale College does not have a core curriculum but ensures breadth of study through distributional requirements.聽New courses may be assigned distributional designations as part of the approval process; the DUS and/or the instructor should propose designations for new courses when submitting the course proposal.</p> <p>Yale College students are required to take 2 Humanities courses, 2 Social Sciences courses, 2 Language courses, typically (but not always) at the L5 level, 2 Quantitative Reasoning courses, 2 Science courses, and 2 Writing courses. For more information about these requirements, see YCPS, <a href="/ycps/academic-regulations/requirements-for-ba-bs-degree/" target="_blank">Section A, Requirements for the B.A. or B.S. Degree</a></p> <h5>Humanities and Arts Courses and Social Science Courses</h5> <p>The Course of Study Committee is responsible for certifying courses as meeting the humanities and arts requirement and the social science requirement.聽In very rare cases, a course may carry both Hu and So designations, but only if it is fully interdisciplinary in nature. For more information, see the<a href="/dus/distributional-requirements/humanities-arts-social-science-courses/" target="_blank"> DUS Handbook</a>.</p> <h5>Language Courses</h5> <p>The Language Study Committee is responsible for certifying courses as meeting the language requirement. For further information, contact the聽<a href="mailto:cls@yale.edu" target="_blank">Center for Language Study.</a></p> <h5>Quantitative Reasoning Courses</h5> <p>The Science and Quantitative Education Office is responsible for certifying courses as meeting the quantitative reasoning requirement. For further information, contact聽<a href="mailto:s.chang@yale.edu" target="_blank">A</a><a href="mailto:alexia.belperron@yale.edu" target="_blank">ssociate Dean Alexia Belperron</a>.聽A course proposal for a potential QR course should be accompanied by a description of the course requirements鈥攖he number of exams, number of problem sets, etc.鈥攁s well as examples of exercises to be included in the problem sets and exams. For courses with assigned projects, a description of expectations as to the QR component of the project should be included.</p> <h5>Science Courses</h5> <p>The Science and Quantitative Reasoning Education Office is responsible for certifying courses as meeting the science requirement. For further information, contact聽<a href="mailto:s.chang@yale.edu" target="_blank">A</a><a href="mailto:alexia.belperron@yale.edu" target="_blank">ssociate Dean Alexia Belperron</a>.聽Examples of problem sets and exam questions should accompany course proposals for potential SC courses. For courses with assigned projects, a description of expectations as to the science component of the project should be included.</p> <h5>Writing Courses</h5> <p>The Writing Center Advisory Committee is responsible for certifying courses to meet the writing requirement. No course may offer WR sections without the approval of this committee. For further information, contact聽<a href="mailto:alfred.guy@yale.edu" target="_blank">Dean Alfred Guy.</a></p> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <footer id="footer"> <div class="wrap clearfix"> <div class="footer-logo"><a href="http://www.yale.edu">Yale</a></div> <p class="copyright"> <a href="https://usability.yale.edu/web-accessibility/accessibility-yale">Accessibility at Yale</a> <i class="fa fa-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> <a title="Yale Privacy policy" href="https://www.yale.edu/privacy-policy">Privacy policy</a> <br/>Copyright ©2025 Yale University <i class="fa fa-circle" aria-hidden="true"></i> All rights reserved <br/> <a href="mailto:courseleaf@yale.edu">Contact Us</a> </p> <ul class="menu"> <li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/YaleUniversity"><i class="fa fa-facebook-square"></i><span class="sr-only">Facebook</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.twitter.com/YalePrinter"><i class="fa fa-twitter"></i><span class="sr-only">Twitter</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/yale"><i class="fa fa-youtube-play"></i><span class="sr-only">YouTube</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://weibo.com/yaleuniversity"><i class="fa fa-weibo"></i><span class="sr-only">Sina Weibo</span></a></li> <li><a href="http://yaleuniversity.tumblr.com"><i class="fa fa-tumblr-square"></i><span class="sr-only">Tumblr</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </footer> <div id="print-dialog" aria-labelledby="dialog-title" class="screen" role="dialog"> <div class="print-header"> <button onclick="hidePrintDialog(); return false;" aria-controls="#print-dialog"> <span class="sr-only">Close this window</span> </button> <h2 id="dialog-title">Print Options</h2> </div> <div class="print-body"> <ul> <li> <p><a class="option-name" href="#" role="button" onclick="hidePrintDialog();window.print();return false">Send Page to Printer</a></p> <p class="option-desc">Print this page.</p> </li> <li><p><a class="option-name" href="/departmental_academic_support/courseleaf/cim/distributional-designation/distributional-designation.pdf" role="button">Download Page (PDF)</a></p><p class="option-desc">The PDF will include all information unique to this page.</p></li> </ul> </div> </div> </body> <script async src="https://siteimproveanalytics.com/js/siteanalyze_66356571.js"></script> </html>

CINXE.COM

Yale College Distributional Designations < Yale University