About Us
The Transitional Year Program (TYP) is part of the Office of Academic Services at Brandeis University and admits 20 outstanding students in a year-long academic program. Students selected have talents and native skills that exceed the resources available in their home communities to cultivate them. The guiding principles for the program draw upon Brandeis' founding and enduring commitment and action toward the achievement of social justice. While in the program, students take a core of exclusive classes in the Humanities, Mathematics, and Social, Physical and Computer Sciences as well as undergraduate courses. These students become part of the Brandeis community upon joining the program and many stay at the University beyond the transitional year.
About the Students
The TYP selects students from two broad categories with respect to background that in many cases overlap. The first group is comprised of students whose secondary schooling experiences and/or home communities may have lacked the resources to foster adequate preparation for success at elite colleges like Brandeis. Many times, their high schools do not offer AP or honors courses nor high quality laboratory experiences. Despite the absence of such opportunities, students have excelled in the curricula offered by their schools.
The second group of students contains those whose life circumstances have created formidable challenges that required focus, energy, and skills that otherwise would have been devoted to academic pursuits. Some have served as heads of their households, others have worked full-time while attending high school full-time, and others have shown leadership in other ways.
These two groups of students constitute a powerful force once they join the campus community. Including the current class, there are 70 TYP students and alumni on Brandeis' campus. These students, along with the hundreds of students graduated since 1968, constitute living testimonies of true ambition, dedication, strength, intelligence, and courage.
Program Components
Once students arrive at Brandeis, they enroll in a year-long academic program consisting of exclusive courses in the Humanities, Writing, Math, Science, Social Science, and Computer Science. In addition to taking four exclusive classes per semester, each student in the program also takes one undergraduate course each semester. The selection of the undergraduate course, as well as other considerations pertinent to their academic and social experience at Brandeis is discussed with the Program Director in one-on-one semi-monthly advising meetings.
TYP Community
Part of what makes the TYP a special experience is the community created by the students, alumni of the program, program instructors, committed faculty, and generous donors.