tinkered
If I can just add, the news about the grading policy change was sent to incoming Class of 2016 students on 27 Feb. This was very close to the R1 28 Feb deposit deadline, and I'm guessing most people (like me) would've already put in their deposit in advance. I'm pretty sure that for most people, this change wouldn't have affected our decision to attend Yale. But it would've been nice to have all the information in advance.
Thanks for mentioning this, tinkered. From what I understand from the Administration/Faculty, part of the reason the communications went out in a relatively abrupt manner was that they wanted all admitted students to know about changes before the deadline passed. Though I agree that it takes more time to process it and, in fact, to learn all of the details of what the changes are.
For more on the general matter - I have had several meetings with student leadership and with the Dean's office, and it has been a very busy month since the changes were announced. From our conversations with the Deans, there are still some steps to be taken, and we are not yet ready to publicly state what the final changes (both policy and normative) will be. I feel very strongly that there were some steps of the process that I'd like to clarify for the admitted and prospective student populations, but I'm going to have to be more deliberative about that.
That said - I'm going to take an opportunity to come out of the closet on something: I am largely in favor of the changes. Not all of them, but most of them. Do I think there was an error in student engagement and in process? Yes, but that's not what I'm discussing here. I'm stating my support for the changes because I think the loudest voices in and outside of the student community have been those firmly opposed to the changes. I also wanted to give voice to the significant minority of students who feel similarly, or the even more significant number of students who are neutral on the issue. Not saying that I represent all of them, but that they are there, and perhaps have not yet made their voices heard. Part of the wonder of SOM is being able to have a wide diversity of opinion while remaining congenial and inclusive.
I'm going to try to have some more updates in the future, and all of these updates will be neutral in terms of describing what the changes are and what the process was. We strive to be a very transparent organization (both within administration and student leadership) and this is a true example of what that is important to the culture of SOM. That said, please don't take my word as gospel. I cannot claim to represent the feelings of each student at SOM, and I certainly can't claim to be a representative of the administration or faculty. If you are worried about the changes, talk to Admissions, talk to current students, talk to the Career Office. Or, if you are not worried, you can continue to focus on doing all of the pre-MBA stuff that you'll need to do (if admitted), or preparing yourself for admissions (if prospective).
As always, please feel free to PM me if you have specific questions, (likewise any of my other current student colleagues), and good luck to everyone ahead of the R2 decision!