Terminal MA/MS Admissions

All applications for admission should be submitted online directly to the Yale Graduate School Office of Admissions.

GRE scores are no longer required but may be submitted; a GRE subject test is not required. For persons whose native language is not English, TOEFL scores are required (unless you obtained your undergraduate degree with at least 3-years in residence at an English-language program).

Almost all students in these programs are self-supported, either by personal funds or by outside fellowships.  Although some students serve as Research Assistants or Teaching Fellows, this is unusual, not guaranteed, and only a small portion of the cost of the program.

Unlike at some universities, there is no automatic admission into the Ph.D. program for students who complete the terminal M.A./M.S. degrees; a completely new application is required.

In deciding the number of applicants to be admitted to the terminal M.A./M.S. programs, we focus on several important questions:

  • How strong is the applicant pool?
  • How big can a class be before faculty are unable to give students the individual academic attention that is a feature of a Yale education?
  • Recommendations for admission are based solely on academic grounds: factors such as the potential for a student to successfully complete the course work, past academic record and work experience, letters of recommendation, standardized test scores, and motivation for studying Statistics.

We are now seeing close to 1000 applications for our terminal M.A./M.S. programs. Of those, about about 40 are offered admission, which yields 15-20 M.A./M.S. students each year. Because of this selectivity, many well-qualified students are not offered admission.  Students may apply to either program (there is no advantage or consideration given), and may change between the programs during their course of study using the Departmental Transfer Form.

Tuition and Living Costs

Application requirements and guidelines