Alternative Academic Pathways
Yale Summer Session courses are rigorous by design, and we hope that they offer our students a unique and welcome challenge. It is very common, then, for students to have questions about course material and to ask us about strategies for success. We encourage students to review the information about academic resources, including STEM and writing tutoring, on our website and to reach out to their instructors to seek feedback on their performance in class and, if relevant, guidance for how to improve.
In rare cases where a student has been advised that they do not have a pathway to successfully complete a course, they should reach out promptly to YSS staff to discuss their options. Most students in this situation will be advised to take advantage of the Credit/D/Fail option or to withdraw from the course, if permissible.
For international and high school students who are required to maintain full-time enrollment due to visa or residential regulations, withdrawing from a course may not be an option. In such cases, we offer two non-credit courses during Session B – SUMR S003 Writing for Cross Cultural Understanding and SUMR S004 Strategies for Academic Success – which allow eligible students to withdraw from a credit-bearing course and exceptionally enroll in a non-credit alternative, where they may develop skills related to college success on a Pass/Fail basis. A student may enroll in only one of these two non-credit courses, maintaining enrollment in at least one credit-bearing course.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
[FAQ] What is covered in these courses?
SUMR S003 - Writing for Cross-Cultural Understanding: Designed primarily for students who seek to increase proficiency in their academic English language skills, this non-credit course emphasizes analytical reading and writing as processes that result in compositions appropriate for academic study and cross-cultural communication. Assignments will include critical readings, academic writing exercises, and the systematic study of the process of creating formal essays, complete with MLA documentation. Course objectives include practice with writing grammatical structures, paragraphs, and formal papers, including work with vocabulary, punctuation, usage, and sentence structure skills needed by writers. Emphasis will be placed on the communication of each writer’s ideas.
SUMR S004 - Strategies for Academic Success: This non-credit course is designed to equip students with the skills for academic and personal success in college. Topics covered include navigating American higher education and learning strategies, ways to engage in the academy, and major and career exploration, as well as academic planning to achieve students' goals.
[FAQ] Who is eligible to take these courses?
These non-credit courses are intended for students who, in close consultation with the instructor and YSS staff, do not have a pathway to successfully complete a course and are not able to take advantage of the Credit/D/Fail or course withdrawal options, but who are required to maintain full-time enrollment. These courses do not earn Yale credit, but they are otherwise equivalent to a standard one-credit course in their classroom contact hours and expectations.
SUMR S003 - Intended for international high school and college students for whom English is their second language.
SUMR S004 - Intended for domestic high school and college students or international college students who are native English speakers.
[FAQ] How much do these non-credit courses cost?
Students are not charged extra tuition for these non-credit courses, but in enrolling in a non-credit course, they are not eligible for a refund, full or partial, for the credit-bearing course from which they withdraw, regardless of the date of the withdrawal. The total tuition charged to the student will remain the same.
[FAQ] When do these courses meet?
These courses meet in-person during Session B only, starting in the second week. SUMR S003 meets M/W 1-4:15pm and SUMR S004 meets T/Th 1-4:15pm.
With permission, students may add a non-credit course up until the start of the fourth week of Session B: by Monday, July 21, 2025, at 9:00am. If approved to take this course, students must immediately begin attending the course and are expected to attend all class meetings as part of the requirements to pass the course.
[FAQ] How is this course graded and will it appear on my transcript?
This course is graded on a Pass/Fail basis rather than as a letter grade. This course is non-credit but will still appear on students' Yale transcripts under the summer term.
[FAQ] How can I add this course?
Instructors may express concerns about a student's performance. In addition, students may be concerned with their own ability to successfully pass a course. In either case, for more information, instructors and students should contact Dr. Sara Spear (sara.spear@yale.edu). Requests to enroll in a non-credit course can be made only after the first week of classes in Session B (after Friday, July 4, 2025) and no later than the deadline of Monday, July 21, 2025, at 9:00am. These non-credit courses are no longer options after this deadline.
Requests will be reviewed, and if approved, the student will be directed to fill out the Change Request Form so that these changes can be officially made in the student's record.