Yale SOM 2013 - Calling All Applicants

We can always hope they're being cautious about committing to dates. I think Ross (or maybe it was UMich's Law School) had a 'soft launch' where the students started attending classes in the new building a full semester before the building officially 'opened'. I hope this is the case for us, but am not banking on it.

I wrote to som for feedback and received an email today from them. The response has been mostly a non answer as far as feedback goes. But I want to check with some other folks on this forum if this is a canned response or did they dig up my app and reviewed the reasons for denial.

The feedback email in essence says that after reviewing my file they couldn't find a particular weakness to point out and that they had a very strong applicant pool this year. This has left me wondering even more whether to reapply.

Please pm if you have also obtained or given feedback or would like to know details.

Might they increase the number of people they admit this year, given that they will have a larger building next year?

I believe it's very possible that they'll increase the total #. Our class ('14) is likely 10-15 students larger than the class before us.

I saw the photos that SOM posted on Facebook yesterday of the Orientation opening remarks and smiled when I realized you were in that picture. Hope it has been a great experience so far! Thanks for sharing your really inspiring story and sticking around to help the potential 2013 class stay motivated as we head into application season. Yale is lucky to have you!

Thanks, and I'm glad to help out! There are a couple of us on this forum, and I'm going to take a break this week to let my bud PD2012 do some of the lifting. Please feel free to ask us anything about our experience so far, or the application process!

Has anyone been able to find the recommender questions? Is it just a letter or do they have specific questions?

You may have seen this in another post about letters of rec, but the very wise Cheetarah1980 suggested creating a dummy email/recommender so you can get access to the questions and then deleting that recommender once you're ready to list the real ones.

I'm in for R1! Thanks to everyone for the information so far.

Thanks, great call! I did it and here they are for others:


Please write an assessment of the applicant that addresses the prompts below. We are looking for your candid and accurate assessment of the applicant's potential to be a successful leader and what specific traits the applicant possesses that evidence this potential. Please be as specific as possible and use concrete examples where applicable. Do not incorporate anything drafted by the candidate in your recommendation or have the candidate submit the recommendation on your behalf.
• Please comment on the context of your interaction with the applicant. How long have you known the applicant and in what connection? If applicable, briefly describe the applicant's role in your organization. (250 words)
• Please describe the most important piece of constructive feedback you have given the applicant. Please detail the circumstances and the applicant's response. (250 words)
• How does the applicant's performance compare to other well-qualified individuals in similar roles? (250 words)
• Please make additional statements about the applicant's performance, potential or personal qualities you believe would be helpful to the admissions committee. (250 words)

Are you really sure? Harvard Business School seems to have the same recommendation prompt. Check out hbs.edu/mba/admissions/writtenapplication.html towards the bottom. If the prompts are the same for both schools, then the recommender could simply upload the same document at both places

Just attended a Yale prospective student event, which was really awesome. The alumni were SO enthusiastic about their experiences. I'm even more excited about Yale SOM now!

Awesome post, thank you! For some reason I'm having a hard time commenting on the post (probably my old dinosaur of a computer...will try tomorrow on my pretty new MacBook ), but what a great experience! I am scheduled for a Yale visit in December, which feels like a long time away. I'm just in NYC so it wouldn't be hard for me to sneak up there for a day, but my fall schedule is so packed I'm just not sure it will happen. But your summary is super helpful, and I love that you saw so much enthusiasm! I know a lot of people knock Yale because it is such a young program and doesn't have a deep network, but I kind of feel like what they lack in quantity, they make up for in quality!

Yale SOM is definitely my first choice, and everything you said just reinforces the fit. This will help motivate me to keep slogging through my GMAT prep

Thanks guys for answering our questions, makes a ton of difference to get some guidance

Just read your blog post about attending the prospective student event and I can confirm (as a west coast transplant who would never experience such otherwise) - ice hockey club is awesome!

Any current Yale 1st or 2nd years have 10 minutes to chat on the phone about the program? I live in Texas and don't have time to travel up there to see the school prior to submitting my app. PM me if you are available. Thanks!

For the first question what does "when" mean? Is it asking a specific situation where I thought I should have had an mba and therefore ruling out the possibility of the thought bieng developed over time.
Can I say how I developed my LT goal (X); to achieve X it is essential I do Y (my ST goal) and to achieve Y I need an MBA.. I have probably turned it into a standard why mba why now question. Any suggestions?

Posted from my mobile device

Hi..For the current Yale students who have worked on the response for:

If you have a graduate degree, how, if at all, does pursuing an MBA relate to your previous graduate studies?

Could you share any guidance for how career changers should approach this question.

I noticed this too and thought it was unique because I haven't seen any other school ask for a specific moment when you thought you needed an MBA.

I think the question is looking ideally for an "a-ha" moment when you needed it. In your situation, I would think about how you thought of your goals, what led you to coming up with those goals. Maybe you saw decisions being made around you and you knew you wanted to participate but didn't have enough skills? Or maybe it was during recruiting for a new job, and you realized you were being passed down because of lack of skills that an MBA would give you? Those are just some ideas, but yes, I think they are asking for a specific time. Also, especially since the word count is so low for that essay, I think they want you to just get to the point and describe a specific situation, rather than an progression of events.