Yale SOM 2012 - Calling All Applicants (Class of 2014)

Hi, thanks so much for your reply!

TWO minutes, really? I feel like that's long enough for me to talk about just one job, maybe! Not my whole life. I guess I should skip all background/college activities and jump straight to the most relevant work experiences? Or did you try to cover everything chronologically and more broadly and then narrow down with work examples during the subsequent questions?

My interview started with the "walk me through" along with the note that they're most interested in transitions, why you made the choices you did, etc. In essence, they want to hear about the white space in between each position on your resume. Rather than a recitation of your resume like "at company X I achieved Y in Z, which boosted A by B percent," they're looking more for "After working at Company X for a couple of years, I found myself getting really interested in Y, so I began to look for opportunities to orient my career toward Z."

After that part, which had a couple minor follow-up questions but was mainly me telling the story, I got the "why MBA" question and the "what have you done to prepare for an MBA" question (that one is legit because I come from a Humanities undergrad). Though it's a blind interview, the interviewer had clearly been given some areas to zoom in on. For example, I currently work in a family business in a somewhat niche industry. Post-MBA I'd like to come back to that industry in a different capacity at a different level. My interviewer probed a bit further on "Why MBA" than she would have in most cases because it's a good question: my industry isn't one where an MBA is compulsory, so can't I just basically network my way up? Why an MBA, and specifically why a Yale MBA? Solid question, and it gave me a chance to tag some of my "why Yale" bases (SOM happens to be exceedingly well-suited to my niche industry). She also asked me for an anecdote involving teamwork, since there's a lot of leadership and personal drive stuff on my resume but fewer examples highlighting how I work in a group. All this indicates to me that she had some notes in front of her written by someone who had been through my file, even if she hadn't read it herself.

Also, I don't think my interviewer timed me, or if she did she was very discreet about it. I do remember noticing that we ran a bit long (35 or 40 minutes, when everything I had read was that on-campus interviews are 30 minutes on the dot), though we did spend at least 5 minutes at the end chit-chatting about life in New Haven.

congrats on your invites guys! Does anyone know what the status changes to, if at all, if someone's rejected without an interview? thanks

Similar question.. before you were invited to interview, did your status change from "submitted" to something like "received" or "under review"? Mine still says "submitted".

I agree with JoelCairo in that it's really about your transitions. I'm giving 2 minutes as a benchmark, but it's very possible to discuss your history in that span of time. The 4 essays that go career history -> short term -> long term -> Why Yale? are only 150 words each, so you could probably take 2-3 key sentences from each and talk about your entire story back to front. This question is so that they can draw a logical line from your background to SOM to your post-MBA career goals. You may want to keep the larger picture in mind when you are answering your resume questions, because your answers there should and will naturally lead you to the answers later in the interview. (Don't spend time babbling or reiterating stuff. That's typically toxic to interviewers.)

Joel, thanks for your insights. Did you think there was anything (or is anything) specifically related to Yale SOM that absolutely needs to be tied into answers? I'm interviewing here in the next week so I'm hoping you can shed some light. Thanks.

At the end of the day, it's all about fit. This is true of all interviews for all schools (or jobs for that matter). Very little of what you say makes or breaks the interview, it's mostly a gut thing on the interviewer's part. Substance is on your app already, so the interview is about style. Just make sure to project the right vibe. Eye-contact. Body language. Be engaging. Don't be a weirdo. Don't come off like a savant with no social skills or a gunner who everybody hates when he opens his mouth in class, etc. The basic question an interviewer has in mind while you're in the room is "would I want this person in a study group with me?" The answer to that question makes up about 80% of the interview's outcome.

That said, for specific tips, make sure you know your "why Yale" answers, and how to pepper those answers into your response to whatever question you are nominally being asked. As someone else on this board once said, if you can manage to bring up multiple specific characteristics you love about the school (stuff you can't learn from the website of course), your interview was a success. This is your mission. I noticed after the fact that there was no point at which the interview explicitly asked me the "why Yale" question, so I was glad that I worked it in to other answers. These interviews go fast, so you have to make your own opportunities. I ended a couple different answers with "which ties back into why I'm so interested in SOM in particular..." If I'd waited to be prompted for "why Yale" stuff, the interview could well have been over before I could show off how deeply I'd researched the school and without my underscoring all of those crucial "fit" intangibles.

Thanks Joel.

I think Yale is good at keeping applicants posted - but those prints and newsletters I received after the submission made me even more agitated.

I know right, you get an email from Yale and your heart skips a beat.

You're thinking this is it. You know an invite will give you almost 60% chance of admission.

Then you realize, Jesus it's a newsletter!

Haha, I feel you both.
I looked like the Nintendo 64 kid on Christmas morning just a few hours ago when the email popped up on my phone "Yale SOM - Admissions ..."
only to open it up and read the rest of the subject line: "... newsletter.

->

haha that one basically forced me to register today. completely caught me off guard when i saw my inbox and saw the word "admissions" right there. hopefully will get an invite soon. gl to everyone else.

btw, is there a color guide for all the schools somewhere on the site? i assume red is ding and green is in...but not sure what everything else is.

i havent seen anything official but from what i've observed, i think:
Admitted
Rejected
Wait List
Interviewed
Invited to interview
Applied
Thinking of applying

...someone correct me if i'm wrong

I think Interviewed is actually purple, but you're correct on all others. When you update the 'schools' section of your profile, the color of your school automatically updates.

you're right denny, it is purple, maybe my font size is a little small on the computer.
I must have nothing better to do because i just went to my profile, selected every admission option, then pulled up the page source to see what the colors are...

haha, I was pretty curious myself :D
anyway, here are the official colors for everything:

color:#005784 Researching/Writing essays
color:#000000 Application Submitted
color:#005784 Invited to Interview
color:#4E3768 Interviewed
color:#FF0000 Denied Without Interview
color:#FF0000 Denied With Interview
color:#FFA500 Waitlisted With Interview
color:#FFA500 Waitlisted Without Interview
color:#008000 Admitted
color:#000000 Admitted From WL
color:#0000FF Matriculating

i didnt realize that "admitted from WL" is black, that seems kind of odd...

Hey guys,

This is an excerpt from an article in the Yale newsletter:

Interviews
We’ve begun sending out interview invitations, and will be sending more in the coming weeks. We invite applicants to interview throughout the round, so it’s important to check your email on a regular basis. We interview about a third of our applicant pool. Although an interview invitation is certainly a positive sign, remember that we admit roughly 60% of the applicants we interview.

Admissions decisions
We will notify all second-round candidates of their decisions by March 22. Although we may release some decisions before that date, we can’t guarantee that you will receive your decision before the end of the round. Applications are reviewed in random order, so the timing of an interview invitation or decision isn’t indicative of the strength of an application.


Here is the full article by the Director of Admissions:
https://mba.yale.edu/news_events/CMS/Articles/7530.shtml

Hope this helped.

Thank you to everyone for the interview tips!

Do you think the above notice implies that people will be getting calls about their admissions decisions on a rolling basis (or maybe just admits), before Mar. 22?