Registration Questions
- Commit. Consider your schedule. Do you have enough time to commit to building an organization? Keep in mind, for most groups, creating a new organization means thinking through your mission, recruiting others, planning for and leading meetings, and organizing events.
- Plan. If you believe strongly in your idea and are ready for the commitment of creating a new group, it’s time to create the skeleton of your organization and get others on board. Make sure you read through the registration and onboarding webpages to understand the requirements and process for starting a new student group.
- Register. In order to access space, recruit at the Student Organizations Bazaar, and apply for university funds, student organizations must register with the Yale College Dean’s Office. Beginning in 23-24, the Yale College Dean’s Office will only accept applications for new groups in the Spring. For exact registration dates, visit this website. Registration takes place through Yale Connect. If you’ve missed the deadline, you will need to wait until the next year to register your group. In the meantime, consider partnering with other organizations to host events.
- Affiliate. After you’ve registered your organization with the YCDO, you are free to connect with any relevant campus centers. Campus centers include, but are not limited to, the Cultural Centers, OISS, Dwight Hall, the Chaplain’s Office, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute. Affiliation with a campus center may allow you access to additional resources, including funding and space. Each affiliation process is unique and varies in formality, so reach out directly to the center if you have questions about affiliation.
- Onboard. For the first semester of your organization’s existence, you will go through the onboarding process. During the onboarding process, you will meet with your Student Organizations Consultant at least three times. Click here to learn more about the onboarding process. Note: if your organization chooses to become a Dwight Hall Member Group, you will not go through YCDO Onboarding and will instead complete Dwight Hall’s New Member process.
- Update. The Onboarding Process culminates in a brief summary shared with the Student Organization Review Committee. The Committee will decide whether your group becomes a fully recognized organization or whether you need to complete further onboarding.
Sure! To access the intent to register form, click here.
Please note, this link is only to show the questions currently asked on the application. You will need to complete and submit the form via Yale Connect in order to submit your intent to register application. This application is only available during the student organization registration dates.
Registration for all current student organizations will remain active until the Fall registration deadline. If your group will continue to be active in the upcoming academic year, you are required to re-register annually via Yale Connect.
You must be an Officer of your organization’s Yale Connect portal in order to re-register your organization. If you are an Officer, during the registration period, you can re-register your organization via Yale Connect.
If your organization has not yet re-registered for the academic year, you will notice a blue box that says “Requires Re-Registration” on your Yale Connect portal.
If you do not see the blue re-registration button, you may not be listed as an Officer on Yale Connect.
Yes! All student organizations are required to send at least one representative to an annual training. You will receive more details as they become available.
Please ensure that you are properly listed as an officer in your group’s portal in order to receive all notices from our office.
If you believe your group would be more of a student organization, email student.organizations@yale.edu.
If you believe your group is more likely a potential club sport, call the Club Sports Office at (203)432-2492 or stop by the office at 521 Payne Whitney Gymnasium.
Either office can help guide you with information about where to register.
For more on Club Sports, click here.
Unfortunately, if you missed the re-registration deadline in the fall, your group will have to wait until the following academic year to register again.
Yes. If you are interested in accessing the privileges of YCDO registered organizations, including access to classroom spaces and UOFC funding, you will need to register separately with the YCDO and continue to re-register every year.
Registration with Dwight Hall does not automatically register your group with the YCDO.
No, you will need at least 5 active members to register your organization.
If you would like some assistance thinking through recruiting members prior to registering, reach out to student.organizations@yale.edu, and we’ll connect you to a Student Organizations Consultant who is happy to serve as a sounding board.
The YCDO only registers undergraduate organizations. Undergraduate organizations are defined as groups whose membership is majority undergraduate and entire executive board is undergraduate.
This means that no graduate or professional school student may serve as a President or Treasurer for a group registered with the Yale College Dean’s Office. However, you are welcome and encouraged to have graduate or professional school members, as they will often bring a variety of experiences to your organization. The important thing is that the group remains majority undergraduate.
If your organization has shifted and is now majority graduate or professional school students, reach out to the Secretary’s Office to register your organization. For more on that process, click here.
All organizations are required to re-register with the Yale College Dean’s Office every year for continued access to all the privileges of registration.
If your organization’s registration lapsed for more than one year, you will need to provide information to the Student Organization Review Committee. Depending on how long it has been since your organization last registered with the Yale College Dean’s Office, you may also need to complete the Onboarding Process for one semester.
If you have questions about your organization’s specific obligations, email student.organizations@yale.edu.
When an organization goes through the registration process, it is granted approval to use the name and acronym submitted in the registration form. If an organization would like to request to change its officially registered name name, it may submit an Organization Name and/or Category Change Request Form, which can be found in the Yale College Organization Officers portal. Name change requests must follow the requirements as outlined by Yale Trademark Licensing Office. Depending on the time of year, it may take up to 3 weeks to receive a decision for the request.