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Yale University is ranked as one of the best 15 schools in the world, but you don’t need to get into the 6.1% of accepted applicants in order to take one of its courses.
You can take Yale’s classes online without paying a cent — including The Science of Well-Being, an adaptation of the school’s most popular on-campus course ever. Barriers typically associated with Ivy Leagues (exclusivity, cost, location) don’t factor into massive open online courses (MOOCs).
Below, you’ll find a handful of free Yale courses from Coursera as well as Yale’s own Open Yale Courses platform. You can pay to upgrade for graded homework and certificates of completion through Coursera, but Open Yale Courses only gives you access to free lectures and readings.
Free to enroll
Length: 19 hours
Based on the most popular course in Yale’s history, this class combines positive psychology with behavioral science to increase your own happiness using concrete, productive habits.
Read our full review of The Science of Well-Being course here. For more tips on how to improve your happiness, read our interview with Laurie Santos, the course’s professor, here.
Free to enroll
Length: 27 hours
Taught by Yale economics professor Robert Shiller, this course is an introduction to risk management and behavioral finance principles so students can better understand securities, insurance, and banking industries in the real world.
The class places an emphasis on “financially-savvy leadership skills” and is structured around the goal of using these industries effectively and in the service of a better society.
Free to enroll
Length: 15 hours
This intro class (and the most popular psychology course on Coursera) provides students with a comprehensive overview of the scientific study of thought and behavior. Course topics include perception, communication, learning, memory, decision-making, persuasion, emotions, and social behavior.
Students look at how these aspects are affected by variables like development and illness while grappling with tough questions like “What makes us happy?”
Read our full review of the course here.
Free to enroll
Length: 31 hours
Designed to help students build a framework for analyzing and structuring negotiations, this class includes real-world opportunities to negotiate with other students using case studies that are based on common business and life situations.
Course topics range from negotiation preparation to making ultimatums, and students can receive feedback on their performance, as well as compare their arguments to those of their peers. The course also offers insight into more complex situations, such as negotiating when you have no power, negotiating over email, and the role of gender differences in negotiation.
Free to enroll
Length: 45 hours
“When do governments deserve our allegiance, and when should they be denied it?”
Ian Shapiro, a Yale political science professor, delves into how the modern West has responded to this question. Students survey the major political theories of the Enlightenment, as well as the later rejection of Enlightenment political thinking. The class also covers how democratic politics relate to Enlightenment and Anti-Enlightenment political thinking.
Students consider the practical implications of the diverse theories through debates on concrete problems such as economic inequality, affirmative action, the distribution of healthcare, and more.
Free to enroll
Length: 21 hours
In this course, Dr. Alan E. Kazdin, Professor of Psychology and Child Psychiatry, offers step-by-step instructions for building ideal behaviors in children and adolescents. He also addresses common parenting misconceptions and ineffective strategies.
Among many other techniques, students learn that simple modifications to tone of voice and phrasing can be highly effective.
Free to enroll
Length: 16 hours
Good for both aspiring law students in search of an advantage and advanced law students looking for a refresher, this class goes over foundational topics like terminology, concepts, and tools that lawyers and legal academics use to make their arguments.
Free to enroll
Length: 64 hours
Timothy F. Geithner, former US Secretary of the Treasury, and Yale professor Andrew Metrick examine the causes, events, policy responses, and aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, discussing lessons we’ve learned to any future crises.
Topics include housing and mortgages; safe assets and the global savings glut; anxiety, and more.
Free to enroll
Length: 24 hours
This course delves into the psychological foundations of our moral lives. Topics include compassion, the origins of morality, how different cultures influence moral thought and action, and more. The class ends by exploring the paradox of being a moral agent when studies show that our moral behavior is powerfully influenced by the situations we find ourselves in.
Free to enroll
Length: 10 hours
Developed by the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, this course is designed to educate school staff in the science and impact of stress as well as offer strategies for helping students to identify and manage their emotions.
Free to enroll
Length: 70 hours
Essentials of Global Health is designed to be a comprehensive introduction to global health. The class has a particular emphasis on low- and middle-income countries, the health of the poor, health disparities, and how health matters in the context of global interdependence.
Much of the course focuses on investigating five key questions. What do people get sick, disabled, and die from? Why do they suffer from these conditions? Which people are most affected? Why should we care about such concerns? What can be done to address key health issues as quickly as possible, and in sustainable ways?
Free to audit; free with 7-day trial
Length: 24 hours
“Journey of the Universe” draws on the Emmy-award-winning film, “Journey of the Universe,” and the book one of its instructors (Mary Evelyn Tucker) created to tell the story of evolution that also investigates implications for humans and our ecological future. Students watch history, philosophy, art, and religion coalesce into an epic narrative “rather than a series of facts separated by scientific disciplines.” By integrating humans so firmly, the course’s designers hope students will see themselves as integral to this great cosmic narrative.
Free to audit; free with 7-day trial
Length: 15 hours
This course was designed to get critical information on climate change into the hands of people who can take concrete steps to address its threat, including health and environmental professionals, changemakers, and the general public.
Robert Dubrow, a Yale epidemiology professor, covers the science of climate change with an emphasis on health equity. Students learn how climate change affects human health and how measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can both limit future climate change and provide immediate health “co-benefits.”
Free to enroll
Length: 15 hours
Not everyone makes rational decisions about their health. Why? This course delves into the social, psychological, and behavioral factors that contribute to health decisions and behaviors, with the goal of improving public health efforts.
Students also learn how to apply what they learned to their own lives from their instructor, Marney White, a professor of public health and epidemiology and of psychiatry.
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in Audit Mode, you can see most course material for free. To access graded assignments and earn a certificate, you need to purchase the Certificate Experience, either during or after your audit.
If you don’t see the audit option:
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