Essays

This year’s application contains four essay questions. The first question has a maximum response length of 150 words; the other three have maximum response lengths of 300 words. Applicants must respond to all four questions. The questions are:

1. What prompted your decision to get an MBA? When did you realize that this was a step you wanted – or needed – to take? (150 words maximum)
2. Describe a difficult professional decision you had to make. What were the consequences, and what, if anything, did you learn? Would you make the same decision again? (300 words maximum)
3. The Yale School of Management provides a leadership education characterized by broad-minded and intellectually curious students with diverse backgrounds, a distinctive integrated curriculum, connections to one of the great research universities in the world, and the broad reach of an innovative and expanding global network of top business schools. What will you contribute to the Yale SOM community, and how will being part of it help you extend your professional vision? (300 words maximum)
4. What do you consider to be your most significant accomplishment? Why? (300 words maximum)

Reapplicant:
If you are a reapplicant, you must answer three essay questions: Question 1., Question 4., and then a response to the question “What steps have you taken to improve your candidacy since your last application? (300 words maximum).”

Class Profile - Class of 2014

Average GMAT score - 717
80% Range of GMAT scores - 660-760
Average GRE Quant score - 760*
80% Range of GRE Quant scores - 730-790*
Average GRE Verbal score - 660*
80% Range of GRE Verbal scores - 570-710*
Average Undergraduate GPA - 3.55
80% Range of Undergraduate GPA - 3.18-3.87
Enrollment - 249
Women - 35%
International - 27%
U.S. Minorities - 25%
U.S. Under-Represented Minorities - 11%

Geographic Representation
Asia - 16%
Europe - 3%
The Caribbean, Central and South America - 3%
Africa/Middle East/Pacific - 3%
North America - 75%

Undergraduate Majors
Business - 20%
Economics - 19%
Engineering - 12%
Humanities - 33%
Information Systems & Computer Science - 3%
Mathematics and Physical Sciences - 11%
Other - 1%

* GRE data from the Class of 2013

Wow, I can't believe how excited I am to see this thread! I am in, hopefully for R1.

Hello! What round did you apply? How quickly did you get invited interview after applying? (and after interview, about acceptance?)
_________________

The only way to atone for being occasionally a little over-dressed is by being always absolutely over-educated.
Oscar Wilde

Count me in as well. I like their essay structures, where they want 5 mini essays rather than 2 or 3 long ones.

I am definitely in. A convenient/easy visit to New Haven from NYC!

Thanks. From what I understand, Yale seems to push very hard to improve their IBD placements and the likes, but in terms of corporate ties, it still lags behind Johnson, Stern, Ross, Fuqua, etc. Is it because the school is way too young and its alumni network is very small? Is it safe to assume that one would be better off attending a more established school in the T16 than Yale if one's goal is to enter the corporate world (not going to IBD or NPO)?

That's gonna be a question for the CDO (Career Development Office), who'll have a much more specific sense of stats. I'm going the entrepreneurial track, so I didn't research placements too heavily. (Yale has an excellent entrepreneurial track, for those who are interested.) From what I understand, the school does lag a bit behind, say, Ross and Fuqua, primarily because, as you noted, the network is small, and the class size itself is also small. However, I wouldn't say that it is drastically behind other schools, and though it is younger than, say, Harvard and Wharton, the name Yale seems to carry a lot of weight with Yale College/Law/Medicine/other schools alums, and has generally good name recognition worldwide. As for corporate placements, all of the usual suspects (at least for the Northeast AND Silicon Valley/Seattle) recruit at SOM. Maybe they don't recruit as heavily, because the pool is smaller, but you can see all of the orgs that hire here: http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/careers/employm ... ions.shtml, (at least one person in the last 2 years has gotten hired for either a summer position, a full-time offer, or both). The other thing is that the corporate placements from Yale may be a bit less competitive internally - lots of folks are going non-traditional paths, whether that is entrepreneurship, start-ups, NGO's, Central Banking, or social venture funds - so you may not have to jostle as heavily to get a slot at DuPont, L'Oreal, Amazon, or MTV Networks. If what you care most about is the sheer number of people who get placed at a specific company, say, Google, Ross or Fuqua may be a better choice. But also make sure you look at the percentages. If 15 people from Ross and 7 from Yale went to Google, it's pretty much a wash, as Ross's class size is about twice that of SOM.

I applied last year and was dinged without interview. I'd like to apply again but I'm unsure about the reasons for the ding. I believed that I had a strong application that included work as a founder of a non profit. What may be an avenue to identify the ding reasons?

Zirconium,

I kind of like the schools in the Northeast to be honest, and they are some of the better ones. I am not a fan of NYc so I didnt want to try NYU or Columbia. I probably will toss out Dartmouth and end up applying to MIT/Chicago, so they wont all be Ivy's.

I also see the Ivy's as some sort of validation (even tho they arent). I never really applied myself out of high school and thought those schools were better than me at the time. So kind of the second time around, I am not trying to sell myself short. But yeah, I understand it was silly to only consider Ivy's, all the schools in the top 20 are great for various reasons and fit obviously should come before any brand.

-Dbalks

Out of curiosity, has Yale finished building the new MBA complex?