Yale-NUS College welcomes inaugural class exceeding 150 students

Highly selective admissions process yields a class of extremely accomplished students

157 top students from 26 countries will form the inaugural class of Yale-NUS College, Singapore’s first liberal arts college. The College’s highly selective and competitive admissions process yielded a class of extremely accomplished students with diverse talents and backgrounds.

In all, Yale-NUS attracted over 11,400 applications from over 130 countries. The acceptance rate of the inaugural class is under 4 percent.  The overall yield rate is 52 percent, similar to the most competitive liberal arts colleges around the world. The College employs a holistic approach in evaluating applicants: while academic achievement as reflected in examinations grades is a primary consideration, interviews, recommendations, essays and extracurricular accomplishments are also given significant weight in the process. Yale-NUS is planning to grow its class size to 250 students over the next few years, leveraging on the immense interest and high caliber of the applicant pool.

Students of the College’s inaugural class possess stellar academic credentials. At the class’s 75th percentile, the SAT critical reading score is projected to be 760, with the 75th percentile for math being 780. The median SAT score is projected to be 1440 on the 1600 scale.

Yale-NUS’ Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, Kristin Greene, says, “We are delighted that so many outstanding students from Singapore and across the world are keen to be part of this historic opportunity. Students with opportunities at Ivy League schools and leading universities throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and Singapore chose Yale-NUS College. Most importantly, they’ve chosen to blaze their own trail and be part of shaping a setting of academic excellence and innovative community for generations of students to come.”

The 157 students who will form the inaugural class come from 77 schools on 6 different continents. 97 members of the inaugural class will be Singaporean (62%). 13 students come from the United States and 4 from Canada. 32 of the students hail from Asia, Australia and New Zealand, while another 11 are from Europe, the United Kingdom, Africa, or South America.  In addition to the inaugural class, 63 Singaporeans have committed to start at Yale-NUS in the next two years after they finish their national service. Classes will begin in August 2013.

Students responded positively to the new and innovative approach of Yale-NUS College and the benefits of a liberal arts education.  New Zealander Michael Moore-Jones (Class of 2017) says, “If I went to a liberal arts college in the US, I would lose the perspective of Asia, and if I went to a university in Asia, I wouldn’t be able to do the liberal arts. Yale-NUS is the perfect bridge between these two things that I find so important, and because of this, there wasn’t really any true alternative to Yale-NUS for me.” Singaporean Anthea Tjoa (Class of 2017) says, “The chance to study at Yale-NUS is an opportunity not to be missed.  Its type of education is one that is unprecedented in Singapore, and is one that will use my experiences as a ‘third culture kid’ as a strength to build the College.”

Students at the College will be taught by leading educators and distinguished researchers from around the world. The 50-strong inaugural faculty has collectively shaped the unique Yale-NUS Common Curriculum, along with the Majors, which span the arts and sciences, and   innovative elective courses. The Common Curriculum, together with the residential college system, is designed to provide Yale-NUS students with a living and learning environment that fosters the ability to analyse issues, reflect critically, solve problems and communicate effectively.

“We are writing a new chapter in the history of liberal arts and science education for an increasingly complex and interconnected world. Our inaugural class will experience a distinctive, international education in a community of learning that provides a microcosm of our globally networked society”, says Yale-NUS’ Founding President Pericles Lewis.

Yale-NUS College Class of 2017 at a glance: