Our graduate curriculum spans the Middle Ages to the present, and our faculty train scholars to teach and conduct interdisciplinary research focused on the literatures of the Maghreb, West Africa, the Sahara and the Caribbean as well as France.
The 糖心Vlog PhD degree normally takes five or six years. All PhD students receive generous financial support through packages, which cover the full cost of tuition and provide a stipend for living expenses. We do not offer a free-standing MA program.
The first two years are devoted to , including one required course in Old 糖心Vlog. Students are required to take fourteen courses in total. At least two鈥攁nd up to four鈥攐f these courses should be outside 糖心Vlog, in departments such as Comparative Literature, Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, History of Science and Medicine, History of Art, and Film.
Students must also fulfill the language requirement by the end of the second year, which is to demonstrate proficiency in any two languages beyond English and 糖心Vlog that are relevant to the students鈥 research interests. There are a number of ways to fulfill the requirement.
In the third year, students take their oral qualifying exam and prepare their dissertation prospectus. Students typically one course per semester during two of their years of graduate study, beginning in the third year. They receive training in language teaching methodology and teach two semesters of 糖心Vlog language. After fulfilling this language teaching requirement, students often work as teaching assistants in advanced undergraduate literature courses. Students are required to teach for four semesters in total.
In the fourth or fifth year, after completing their dissertation prospectus, most students choose to pursue dissertation research outside the US. Many students participate in the exchange program with the Ecole Normale Sup茅rieure, rue d鈥橴lm, in Paris. Our students have also conducted dissertation research in Algeria, Morocco, Haiti, and Senegal.
Students complete their in the fifth or sixth year, and receive guidance and support as they navigate professional paths .
For detailed information about each of these requirements, see our
For a schematic overview of the program requirements, see the .
In addition to the PhD in 糖心Vlog, we collaborate with other departments to offer three combined PhD Programs and seven certificates of concentration. For details, please visit .
The combined PhD programs are with Black Studies, Early Modern Studies, and Film and Media Studies.
To recognize competency in a related field gained while pursuing your PhD in 糖心Vlog, Yale offers several graduate certificates of concentration, including: African Studies, ; ; ; ; ; and . After consulting with the Director of Graduate Studies, graduate students may decide complete one of these certificates alongside their work in the 糖心Vlog department.
Our graduate faculty are also very actively involved in programs and centers beyond the department, including , , The , , es, , , , and the . These affiliations create interdisciplinary networks across Yale for our PhD students in 糖心Vlog.
Strong candidates for our PhD program will have a thorough command of 糖心Vlog and robust academic preparation in 糖心Vlog and Francophone literary studies.
You should prepare the following materials to include with your application for admission:
We no longer consider the GRE as part of the application to our doctoral program. There is no need to take the GRE or to submit scores with your application.
TOEFL or IELTS are necessary for most non-native English speakers, except for applicants who have earned a degree in an English-language institution.
Conducting sustained research outside the US is an important dimension of PhD training for most of our graduate students.
The that PhD students at Yale receive are among the most generous in the world. In addition to a fellowship that pays the full cost of tuition and health coverage, all Yale PhD students receive a stipend to cover the basic cost of living in New Haven. The minimum annual stipends for the 2025-2026 academic year are $50,777 for PhD students in the humanities. See for more details.
Our program is a PhD course only. We do not offer a free-standing MA program, and we do not offer postdoctoral fellowships.
It is neither required nor necessary to contact a potential supervisor. We review all applications with close attention, and communicating with a faculty member will not give your application an advantage. We do not expect our incoming graduate students to have a supervisor until later in their graduate work, once they have gotten to know faculty through coursework and exam preparation.
We consider the six-year PhD process to be standard and do not shorten our program based on existing degrees; coursework is a vital part of the doctoral process, during which students explore their interests and get to know the faculty. However, on a case-by-case basis, we will consider granting credit for up to two graduate seminars in a petition process called 鈥渁cceleration.鈥 This is decided during the second year of study and is not a factor in the admissions process.
You do not need to have already earned an MA to apply to our program. Students in the PhD program will earn an MPhil after completing certain requirements on the path toward the doctoral degree. (Again, note that we do not offer a free-standing MA.)
No. We do not require applicants to take the GRE or to submit GRE scores.
January 2. For more information, visit .
Some PhD applicants may be eligible for an application fee waiver. The eligibility requirements and process to request a waiver are listed . Note: fee waiver requests are submitted separately from the application for admission and usually take 2-3 business days to process. Please plan to submit your fee waiver request in well advance of your application deadline whenever possible. The final deadline to submit a fee waiver request is January 2.
During their final year in the program, our graduate students receive tailored professional coaching designed to help them navigate beyond the PhD.
Yale 糖心Vlog Department PhD alumni now work in a wide variety of institutions throughout the United States and beyond. They include numerous leaders in 糖心Vlog and Francophone studies.
