The University's 11 graduate and professional schools also welcomed new students at the beginning of the 1997-98 school year.
The Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences -- the nation's oldest graduate school -- marked the beginning of its 151st year with the arrival of 2,300 students in the humanities, social sciences, biological and physical sciences, and engineering.
Included among that number are 480 new students, who vied with 5,700 applicants from every state and more than 50 foreign countries for places in the school's masters and doctoral degree programs.
The central mission of the Graduate School is preparing students to teach, conduct advanced research, and provide intellectual leadership at universities and institutes around the world.
Graduate School Dean Thomas Appelquist welcomed students back to campus, noting the opening of the new McDougal Center in the Hall of Graduate Studies, which was created with a grant from Yale alumnus Alfred McDougal and his wife, Nancy Lauter. Completed in August, the McDougal Center serves the professional, intellectual, social and cultural interests of Yale graduate students. It provides a Professional Development Center with graduate career services, a resource library, and a peer teacher training program, as well as Student Services and Activities Centers.
"Upon completing their professional training, Yale graduate students will go on to become creators of new knowledge and experts at transmitting ideas to others," said Dean Appelquist. Noting the importance of the Graduate School within the University, he added, "Yale's ability to attract the world's best teachers and researchers depends on the strength of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences."
Yale provides approximately $30 million each year in financial aid to graduate students. Tuition for academic year 1997-98 is $21,200, although nearly all students are awarded financial aid that covers the cost of tuition. They also receive stipends to help meet living expenses. Over the course of study, a Yale graduate student typically receives $130,000 in financial support.
Dean Appelquist noted that, "Financial aid this year is at the best levels ever, and we are determined to increase aid to even higher levels in the coming years."
Other graduate and professional schools. At the School of Medicine, 101 students hailing from five continents were formally welcomed to Yale by Dr. David A. Kessler, dean of the school, at the White Jacket Ceremony held on Aug. 27. When they graduate in four years, the students will be the medical school's first class of physicians in the 21st century.
Each first-year medical student was presented with a white jacket, symbolizing his or her entry into a life of service to others.
"You will be a healer," Dean Kessler told the students, "when you understand that the amount of health that you can actually promote is relatively small when weighed on the scale of human mortality. And you will be a healer when you throw away that scale and fight for every inch of health, against the odds, as if immortality were imbedded in your fingertips."
The medical school's department of epidemiology and public health also welcomed 117 new first-year students this year.
The number of new students welcomed at Yale's other graduate and professional schools follows: School of Architecture, 47; School of Art, 64; Divinity School, 137; School of Drama, 66; School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, 106; Law School, 654; School of Management, 225; School of Music, 98; and School of Nursing, 90.