Yale SOM vs. Re-apply

Question

Hi all,

Profile:
25-year old
Asian Male
Transferred from a top 50 undergrad (3.9GPA) to a top 10 undergrad (3.4GPA),- definitely does not help my story
Graduated in 2015
3.4 GPA
331 GRE (168Q 163V)
3 years work experience
worked at hedge fund project management/middle office out of college, with some IM internships in college

Short term: Looking to break into IB
Long term: return to Asia to grow family's bank

I started my application for Fall 2018 during October 2017. I applied to R2 to 3 schools:
- LBS - Ding without interview
- Tuck - Ding, had student-initiated interview
- Yale - accepted, no $

My role paid well but I was not too interested in making a career out of it, and wanted a more client-facing, strategy, and results driven industry.

I didn't apply to M7 schools as I thought I was (1) too young and my (2) work experience was not attractive, and (3) GPA is a blimp. The ding from Tuck and LBS somewhat confirms this.

I got into Yale for a 2018 start, but now I am wondering whether I should have at least tried for Booth/CBS/Kellogg(went here for undergrad).

Thoughts on:
1.) Trying to defer Yale (I know, its a gamble that might backfire)
2.) Going to Yale this year
3.) Letting go of Yale, hoping for better schools.

Considerations:
1.) Yale is good enough for short term goals. Banks recruit and they have good yield. I've spoke to several alums/current students + Yale employment report supports this.\

2.) I went to a good undergrad, but not quite top 5. Yale SOM seems to be similar where it is good, but not among the best. Part of me really wants to pedigree myself with a top school, and B-School may be my last chance to do so. Even if I get into IB through Yale in 2 years. having a Columbia/Booth MBA might carry greater weight in 10 years. Am I being irrational here?

3) If I apply next year, I might have 0 schools. A bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush.

Open to everyone's thoughts!

Thank you!

arcticTO · Answer

You should go for SOM, no guarantee you'd recruit better next year (not that much room to improve)

2020outlook · Answer

I was in your spot with a T15 school accept (young applicant, etc) a few weeks ago. Felt the risk of not getting an accept next year far outweighed the "regret" of not ending up at a higher ranked school - but I definitely was thinking pretty irrationally for awhile. When I went to admitted student's weekend I felt right at home and all of those similar hesitations I had were gone.

In your case, Yale checks off both your short and long term goals. Not sure if you plan to be in Asia in 10 years, but I would think Yale's brand is more than capable abroad compared to M7 and wouldn't hold you back from achieving what you would want to do compared to your cited schools of Columbia/Booth. I'd go for it and not look back - just my two cents.

timdlgd · Answer

2020outlook  - Thanks. I agree - it's a sizable risk. I only applied to 3 schools because, at that time, I thought I would be content with any of these 3 and applying to more schools would dilute my time and effort. I think it's more of that "what if / grass is greener" mind set.

If not Stern, where would you have wanted to go, and did you apply to any school this year that you didn't get into but would have picked over Stern?

timdlgd · Answer

arcticTO  - wouldn't 2 more years of new W/E, some volunteer management skills, and maybe a promotion (getting me to 5 years prior to matriculation) improve these chances?

Wilch · Answer

I wouldn't say it's irrational, I can understand the appeal of higher ranked schools, but it's also important to ask yourself what the cost is and what you'll get out of it. To use an analogy, I'm a pretty tame driver. I don't hit the race tracks, drive at high speeds, or really care about making any kind of "statements". Yet when I can pay $35,000 for a fully loaded Camry (which satisfies all my needs), I'm inclined to spend another $15,000 more for a BMW 3 series.

What you said in (1) is correct, reaching your short term goal shouldn't be much of a problem given your strong finance background. If you think a CBS or Booth MBA will carry more weight in 10 years, you have to ask yourself what exactly those things are and how much tangible value it provides you. I find it easier to just lay everything out on a spreadsheet and assigning explicit values to compare.

One thing I'll add here is that Yale's brand is really strong in Asia and the greater Yale University alumni are also generally helpful.

timdlgd · Answer

Wilch  - did you ever find yourself wishing you were in a better school? And, what do you think is the impact of Dean Snyder leaving? Will Yale go back down in ranking, and reputation?

Wilch · Answer

When you say "better school", I'll assume you mean higher ranked. To be completely honest, I think I was much more ranking sensitive before entering the school. As such, I had those thoughts at the time for sure; "what if I got into Stanford" or "maybe I should have also applied to Wharton" type question. After spending almost 2 years in school and keeping in touch with friends from CBS, Kellogg, Booth, Sloan, etc., here are some of my thoughts:

(1) Student quality across schools:  The quality of student at Yale is more or less in line with the M7s and programs that frequent the top 10 with lower acceptance rates of ~20% or lower (e.g. Haas, Tuck, Yale, etc). This is not ~20% of the general population, this is ~20% of the people who likely had a GMAT/GPA in line with the middle 80% of each school & had respectable work experience. When you're in a group of well accomplished, career-driven type A people looking to dive heard first into doing 70-100 hour work weeks, you're pretty much already looking at the top 0.x% achievers. We also have a pretty significant number of classmates who turned down offers from higher ranked schools (in my learning team alone, we have folks who turned down Booth, Wharton, Haas) and dual degree folks (Yale JD/MD) who are easily HBS/GSB caliber. As such, you will be intellectually stimulated and challenged no matter which school you pick.

(2) Ted Snyder:  He has been a fantastic dean and his reputation precedes him. He's done a great job and will be leaving Yale SOM with some very capable and humble folks around to run the school. I believe Yale will seek out a replacement for him, but we're in good hands right now with Anjani Jain and David Bach running the show - they've been holding town halls and taking our feedback very seriously.

(3) Ranking:  To answer your question, I think given that Yale SOM traditionally sends a larger proportion of its students to non-profit and social enterprise, it'll be difficult for us to crack the top 5 in the foreseeable future, if ever, due to the metrics being used by most rankings (median salary). I think Yale will likely hover between 8-12 in the next little while, unless the school makes drastic changes in admissions and/or if MBA rankings change their ranking methodology in Yale's favor (not penalize schools for sending students into non-profit/social).

(4) Higher ranked school:  Like I said earlier, I was much more ranking sensitive before starting school. Now, I will say that I've gotten lucky and was assigned to a fantastic learning team & reached the somewhat lofty post-MBA goals I set out for myself. As such, I'm pretty ranking agnostic now. With that said, I think people who got unlucky in these two aspects will have more self doubt.

Hope that was helpful.

superbogner · Answer

Wilch  - i agree wholeheartedly with points 1 and 4. At the end of the day, if you get into one of these top business schools, you will have every opportunity to succeed and reap the dividends (whether its HSW or top 10, etc.).

At a certain point, you need to realize that the onus is more on you (rather than the school) to find the success you want after you graduate.

Yale SOM vs. Re-apply

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