Yale Class of 2016 Calling all applicants!

PSA for the last weekend before the R1 deadline:

Proofread your essays. Make sure your essay says "Yale" and not some other program's name. Remind your recommenders to submit their letters if they haven't done so already.

And most importantly, take a moment to breathe. You'll all get through this!

Happy to answer any last minute questions or be a sounding board for any happiness, sadness, or stress coming from the application submitting process.

*Note: I am in no way connected to adcom. Anything I say or advice I happen to offer is just my opinion and bears zero weight in your chances of being admitted, waitlisted, or dinged.

Hey all - I've been sorely remiss in updating my blog, but I finally have a new post. It's a pretty brief overview of the past month of school, but hopefully now that I'm catching up on life, I'll be posting more regularly!

Hope to see many of you when you come for interviews over the next few months!

The video portion is new this year for R1, and I would wait until the adcom reaches out to you to set it up. I don't know specific dates, but if you are worried about it, just call the admissions office to ask. They will at least give you a better sense of what to expect.

Based on what adcom told me during my class visit, some applicants will get interview invites starting today....most likely folks with very strong "data points"....3.8+/750+. Good Luck all.

Also, P&Q had an interview with Bruce this month. It's amazing how transparent he is about the whole process - loved his interview. Bruce is simply awesome...
https://poetsandquants.com/2013/09/05/th ... anagement/

Just completed the video interviews. To echo others, it is a little awkward talking to a computer in a room by yourself. I kept convincing myself that I was rambling and to slow down. Overall, pretty straight forward. Definitely makes you realize how important something as simple as a person nodding their head and making eye contact with you is to keeping your thoughts organized.

Now we play the waiting game...

I always thought I was a good presenter... but if any of the Yale adcom visits this site, please take some of our feedbacks seriously... Don't roll out something that is not technologically mature...

So, I took the video interviews... the first two were choppy, but I could at least get the questions... the third one was so choppy that the cutoffs totally ruined my mood, and added up the stress level...

Talked to the support, and they claimed that I had a choppy connection... but I was quite sure my connection worked like a charm. The streaming was fast, but the video played like crap... anyways, I completed my videos, and no more complaints...

One tip to all of you, there are texts of the questions during the 20 sec waiting time in case the videos are choppy, which I totally missed it cz' I concentrated on what to talk about...

I submitted my video questions today. I think I did fairly well. I knew the webcam aspect would generate some nerves so I prepared by having a friend ask me random popular interview questions while I recorded my responses via webcam. Today I warmed up with a few more interview questions and jumped right into the Yale interview. Since my mind was accustomed to the random question element as well as the time constraint I knew I'd at least avoid being stumped by the awkwardness of the moment.

The questions were fairly straightforward and the first one was actually really fun. When I visited Yale, a member of the adcom addressed the video question section. His advice was to stay away from canned generic answers that aren't indicative of your personality and to really give them a glimpse into who you really are (obviously you must stay professional). Good luck to all!!!!

Just finished my interview and I agree with some of the comments above. It was weird trying to get the right camera angle, not trying to look at the timer but being aware of it, and not having anyone to make eye contact with.
Lucky for me though I didnt have any issues with the connection...was surprised I managed to stay within 90s for 2 questions but sort of had to rush through 1 question to wrap up at the end.
The questions themselves were very straightforward, I'm not gonna post them cos no one else has and not sure if that breaks any rules of the forum but i can tell you they throw no curve balls. The last one which was a random question was just your opinion on a topic so dont stress too much about it. Good luck to everyone thats done it and a few who are yet to complete it...just stay calm and you'll be fine

I'm with you mate, I'm just trying hard not to think about my responses right now. In hindsight, I feel like I should've paced myself better, or wrapped up a response differently...but yeh I think I would interview much better if it were with a real person.
I feel like there may be a few delays in the decision days atleast for R1 if every adcom member has to evaluate the video component combined with the rest of the application...u know what that means-- more time to obsess over things we cant control:?

Not much time to go before the video interview deadline. I have to say I enjoyed this experience quite a bit. Some feedback below.

a) Do not leave it till the end to complete. You could run into technical issues.
b) 90 secs is a lot of time, so do not panic.
c) Do not forget to switch off your mobile and put it somewhere else .

Takeaway for me - It is much less stressful than we imagine in our minds it would be. Just apply your wits and you will be fine.

Good Luck to those who are yet to complete it!

Bruce just posted details on what happens to your application once you hit "submit". Hopefully you guys get the golden ticket soon!

https://som.yale.edu/director-admissions ... pplication

Just got invited to interview!!! Anyone else going to campus for it?? So excited!

I just got invited too, it feels great.

Most interviews for SOM are conducted during the week, since the visit includes not just your interview, but also a class visit, campus tour, etc. The only exceptions I've heard of are some "super days" during R2 to accommodate the sheer volume of applicants/interviewees.

If you cannot make any of the available dates open to you in the scheduling system, reach out to admissions. They are more than happy to accommodate with Skype interviews if you have situations that make it difficult for you to come to campus. And fear not, if you elect to interview over the internet, it will not impact your chance of acceptance ---- just make sure, you have a real reason for not coming to campus and are not just trying to make it easier on yourself (not directed at you panda, just a general statement). Interviewing on-campus gives you a really great sense of the campus and the community you will be joining, and I think it helps a lot when it comes time to make the actual decision of which school to attend!

No pattern at all. I know it's hard not to but try not to read into it. There's no rhyme or reason...an invite is an invite and that's all there is to it. Once you get that ticket, just be sure to wow them!

Good luck with the wait. It's really hard now but once that email comes (and it will), you'll know the wait was worth it.

Just got my interview invite for next week! Very relieved to finally hear something :D

I'm an international applicant & SOM is having an admissions info event in my city next week, so it looks like the adcom members are also conducting interviews while they're in town.

This is really early for this question, so I think you're trying to hedge your bets with other R1 schools or even R2 schools

Last year, I believe R1 deposts were due March 1st. We heard back December 13/14 or so and there was a welcome weekend for admitted students in late January or early February. Not sure if the date will stay the same this year, so look out for more details once you get the call!