UNDERGRADUATE MAJOR
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Clint Jukkala
Yale College, the undergraduate division of Yale University, offers a Bachelor of Arts degree program with a major in art. Undergraduate applicants wishing to major in art at Yale must apply to Yale College directly. Please contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, PO Box 208234, 38 Hillhouse Avenue, New Haven CT 06520-8234, 203.432.9300 (www.yale.edu/admit/).
The program in art offers courses that, through work in a variety of media, provide an experience in the visual arts as part of a liberal education as well as preparation for graduate study and professional work. Courses at the 100 level stress the fundamental aspects of visual formulation and articulation. Courses numbered 200 through 499 offer increasingly intensive study leading to greater specialization in one or more of the visual disciplines such as graphic design, painting/printmaking, photography, and sculpture.
The prerequisites for acceptance into the major are a Sophomore Review, which is an evaluation of work from studio courses taken at Yale School of Art, and five terms of introductory (100-level) courses. Three must be completed at the time of the Sophomore Review. Visual Thinking (Art 111a or b) and Basic Drawing (Art 114a or b) are mandatory. At the time of the review, the student should be enrolled in the fourth and, ideally, the fifth 100-level courses. In exceptional cases, arrangements for a special review during the junior year may be made with the director of undergraduate studies in art.
For graduation as an art major, a total of fourteen [14] course credits in the major field is required. These fourteen course credits must include the following: (1) five prerequisite courses at the 100 level (including Visual Thinking and Basic Drawing); (2) five 200-level and above courses; (3) a Junior Major Seminar (Art 395a); (4) the Senior Project (Art 495a or b); and (5) two courses in the History of Art. Suggested program guidelines and specific requirements for the various areas of concentration are available from the director of undergraduate studies. A suggested program guideline is as follows:
Freshman Year: Studio courses, two terms
Sophomore Year: Studio courses, three terms
Art history, one term
Junior Year: Studio courses, three terms including the Junior Major Seminar
Art history, one term
Senior Year: Studio courses, four terms including the Senior Project
*Permission of instructor required in all art courses.
Graduate courses may be elected by advanced undergraduate art majors who have completed all undergraduate courses in a particular area of study and who have permission of the director of undergraduate studies as well as the course instructor.
Undergraduates are normally limited to credit for four terms of graduate- or professional-level courses (courses numbered 500 and above). Please refer to the section on Academic Regulations in Yale College Programs of Study for further pertinent details.