Admissions
YSE students do not think small. They want to make a bold impact.
Explore what YSE can offer you and what you can offer the world.
On This Page
Master’s Degree Admissions
Ready to have an impact? Whether it is at the local or global level, we help students develop the skills, knowledge, and perspective to navigate complex global environmental issues and help build a sustainable future. Learn more about the admissions process for two-year master’s degrees and joint degree programs with other schools at Yale and external institutions.
Doctoral Degree Admissions
Our doctoral program offers scholars from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to pursue a highly individualized area of inquiry under the mentorship of a YSE faculty member. The research conducted by YSE PhD candidates spans global and disciplinary boundaries — and what’s more, it is fully funded. Learn more about how to join this vibrant and dynamic intellectual community.
Earn a Non-Degree Certificate at YSE
Earn a Yale non-degree certificate in topics vital to the addressing the climate emergency and achieving a sustainable future. We offer two programs that will build your credibility as a highly skilled and well-connected professional. Learn more about admissions for our certificate programs in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy, and in Tropical Forest Landscapes: Conservation, Restoration & Sustainable Use.
Student and Alumni Impacts
Restoring Belize’s Landscapes
Ki’ila Salas ’19 MF returned to her home country of Belize to participate in its first landscape restoration initiative, helping to develop its National Landscape Restoration Strategy for the Belize Forest Department. The project is part of the country’s national restoration commitment to the Bonn Challenge, which has a global goal to bring 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes into restoration by 2030.
“The project gave me great pride and joy in guiding the process of how the restoration strategies should be accomplished,” Salas says.
Working to Make the Midwest Greener and Cleaner
As the climate solutions director at Clean Wisconsin, a nonprofit whose mission is to fight for clean air and water in the state, Chelsea Chandler ’10 MEM is working to protect one of Wisconsin’s most effective programs: Focus on Energy, the statewide energy efficiency program.
By helping people buy efficient lightbulbs or tune up their grain dryers, Focus on Energy has been an enormous success, and Chandler says that evaluations of the program have consistently shown huge returns for the investments.
Preserving China’s Biodiversity
As the executive director of the Shan Shui Conservation Center in China, Irene Xiangying Shi ’13 MESC is helping conservation efforts in the Tibetan Plateau and southern regions. The Center focuses its work on urban ecosystems and endangered species, such as giant pandas and snow leopards.
“If we have the right incentives,” she says, “people will conserve nature in the best way." Her efforts have helped build a biodiversity conservation alliance, an information sharing platform on biodiversity, and long-term funding mechanisms to continue work on these issues.
Mapping Panama’s Sustainable Farmlands
A researcher for the Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative, Cecilia Rogers ’22 MFS is mapping the success of ELTI’s Panama program that helps cattle ranchers incorporate sustainable practices, such as the use of forested pastureland, into their land management.
Working with fellow students, she found that the amount of sustainably managed farmland had significantly increased from 4% in 2011 to 66% in 2020.
Rehabilitating Ghana’s Forests
After a decade as director of operations for Ghana’s Forestry Commission, overseeing the country’s commercial forest plantation development and land restoration, Hugh Brown ’10 MF was named executive director of the Commission's Forest Services Division in 2022.
The Commission has begun the restoration of more than 450,000 hectares of degraded forests and planted millions of new trees under Brown's leadership — part of a major reforestation initiative by the Ghanaian government to contribute to global climate action.
Keeping Bhutan Carbon Neutral
To make good on its constitutional mandate to be the first carbon neutral country for its entire existence, Bhutan relies heavily on its forest cover. Dechen Dorji ’01 MEM led the Bhutan for Life initiative, which raised more than $40 million to finance the protection of the country’s pristine network of protected areas.
Dorji continues to work on land preservation and protection of endangered species as the World Wildlife Fund’s senior director for the Asian Wildlife Program.
YSE knows we need everyone at the table to build a better world.”
Why choose the Yale School of the Environment?
Experiential Learning
At YSE, education and training extend well beyond the classroom. Participate in our unique summer orientation program, MODs; travel widely for field research and internships; attend global conferences and climate talks such as the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 26).
Acclaimed Faculty
Working closely with some of the top experts in their fields is one of the advantages of a YSE graduate degree. Our faculty are committed to mentoring the next generation of environmental leaders to tackle the world’s most urgent problems.
Our Commitment to Diversity
YSE is committed to the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including increasing the diversity of our faculty, student body, and staff; increasing access and affordability for underrepresented students; and taking conscious steps to combat racism and other forms of discrimination.