Yale Class of 2016 Calling all applicants!

Yay R1s are here! Weird to think a year ago now this whole journey was just starting ... Good luck this year!

You guys might want to bookmark this link to keep track of any upcoming events in your area (updated throughout the summer and winter): https://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/events.asp

And this one for deadlines & the application: https://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/appl ... ndex.shtml

I think the updated application/essays were posted sometime in mid-June last year, so keep checking back over the next weeks!


***EDIT: As of 6/8, some summer socials have been posted for New York, Atlanta, Mexico City, New Delhi, Cincinnati, Nepal, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and more.
Go check it out & sign up!

https://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/events.asp

Have any current, prospective, or former students gone to one of these summer socials? What has everyone's experience been like? Is it just an informal information session led by students? Just signed up for the one in Philly at the end of July!

They're a lot of fun, and very informal. I'm hosting the one in Brooklyn and will probably show up to the one in New York. Keep checking back often, as we'll continue to post others in cities with over-subscribed events. https://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/events.asp

Who all like to be on camera?

Changes to this year's app

Anyone else notice deadlines are up? R1 is pretty early, September 25!

Round 1: September 25, 2013
Round 2: January 9, 2014
Round 3: April 24, 2014

The video response should be pretty interesting.

Posted from my mobile device

Question regarding summer social...Does the student host contact those registered for the event prior to? Or do you just show up? The reason I ask, I am scheduled to attend one next week and have not received any info other than date/time of event. Thanks!

If there's no specific location listed already, the student host/admissions should clarify via email soon. I didn't attend the summer social in my area last year, but I did attend a coffee chat and the student host sent out detailed info -- reservation info, personal contact info, what people were/will be wearing, etc -- about the day or two before hand.

You should be hearing from the hosts a few days prior - Admissions typically waits to get all of the registrants on board before they send the lists to the hosts, so that we don't have to send multiple e-mails.

See you soon!

Application Update: Yale SOM eliminating TOEFL requirement for students graduating from NON-English speaking universities!!

https://blogs.som.yale.edu/2013/06/appli ... ore-toefl/


Will this encourage more international students to apply? Does the new video portion of the application give adcom enough information to assess English capability (for the classroom, recruiting, etc)?

Does this change anything beyond alleviating some stress & potentially giving you more money back in your wallet? Internationals, please do weigh in with your thoughts! I'm not sure if this is akin to eliminating the GMAT requirwment or writing 1 fewer essay in the grand scheme of things.

Almost all top 15 schools (except Haas, I think) waive the requirement for candidates who had English as the medium of instruction in their UG. I believe that covers a lot of internationals. But, yea, kudos to Yale. I think it is pretty much an unnecessary requirement (and another piece in the already grueling admissions process) when they get a chance to evaluate candidates by their GMAT and their interviews.

On your second question: I think the video interview, combined with the written application, would be a much better indicator of true spoken English proficiency in the way that you would need it for business school - ability to speak coherently at a moment's notice about a topic you haven't had much time to prepare for, full comprehension of the question, etc. I've interviewed international applicants for fellowship positions and have seen a lot of great written applications accompanied by not so great in-person interviews; I also think it is possible to get a great test score after studying for a long period of time and then have your skills decline significantly over the two years that those scores are valid because you are no longer studying or using the language consistently.

I actually think this helps set all applicants equal to each other, in a way - if all other things are equal and a non-native speaker aces the video interview but a native English speaker does terribly, I know who I would rank more highly.

Just saw the Admissions Newsletter. It seems Yale will be doing admission events between July-August which probably got filled up real quick! They don't have any seats at the New Delhi thing (July 5). Was wondering if anyone's attending? Please do share your experience on the event!

And TOEFL/IELTS's out?! *strange* but it makes it one less test to take

And now the essays are out. If you thought Yale's application was short (word count-wise) last year, it's even shorter this year!!

From Bruce DelMonico (https://blogs.som.yale.edu/2013/06/appli ... questions/):

=====================================================
JUNE 20, 2013
Application updates, Part 2: Essays . . . and video questions

Yesterday I provided a preview of our application for the Class of 2016 by announcing the application deadlines and the fact that we are eliminating the TOEFL requirement. Today I want to highlight another, very important element of the application by announcing the essay questions for this upcoming year. They are:


Essay 1

What motivates your decision to pursue an MBA? (300 words maximum)

Essay 2

The Yale School of Management provides leadership education for broad-minded, rigorous, 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 motivates you to apply to the Yale School of Management for your MBA? What will you contribute to Yale and Yale SOM? (450 words maximum)


Those of you comparing these questions to this past year’s application will notice that we cut the number of essays in half, from four to two. We also made the questions, I believe, a little more open-ended. We did so to make sure you have the opportunity to tell us in your own words what matters most to you.

We also did so to make room for a new element in the process: video questions. You may already have read in Bloomberg Businessweek or U.S. News or elsewhere about our plan to introduce video questions into the application process. We have experimented with them for the last few years and we do indeed plan to roll them out fully this upcoming year. We are doing so because we feel that video questions will give us a more complete sense of you as an applicant. Admissions professionals tend to say that essays are a way for an applicant to “speak directly to us.” The best way for you to speak to us, though, is for you to speak to us. In the past we’ve only had the chance to hear from a fraction of you — those applicants we interview. Now we have technology that allows us to hear directly from every applicant. I believe that video questions will give you the opportunity to really tell us about yourself and give us a fuller sense of your candidacy.

We’re looking forward to the upcoming application season!
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Hey there,

Let me see if we can possibly add another in New Delhi. Hopefully will hear soon.

Thanks OhDenny! Please do lemme know if you hear something about open slots for the event. I'd love to attend it, even though I might have to catch a quick flight for it

any thoughts on how the video questions will be implemented? I actually quite like this element to the application but its really gonna be hard to tell your 'story' in 2 300-400 word essays...hopefully the videos will give us an opportunity to fill in the gaps or add some 'color' to the rest of the application. Stern's got a multimedia question too but I'm assuming SOM's video question will have more of an interview-like feel to it?