Yale SOM Hub

Interviewer was very friendly. 20 minutes for questions followed by “What questions do you have for me?” -Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a conflict. -Tell me about an accomplishment you’re proud of and why it was meaningful to you. -Why did you pick the quote you submitted? -What research did you do before applying to business school? -How would you contribute to the Yale SOM community? -Is there anything you wish I’d asked?

Yale has said it likes to keep these formulaic to reduce bias, and they definitely did so. 30 minutes on the dot, with pretty much the same exact questions that everyone else says that they’ve been asked. – Greatest accomplishment? – TMAT had a disagreement with co-worker. – Post-MBA goals? – Research that led you to choose MBA? – Contribution to Yale? – Submitted quote? – Anything else? – Questions for interviewer? Very friendly, enjoyed getting my interviewer’s perspective on the school.

1. What has motivated you to do an MBA now? 2. ⁠Why is now the right time to do an MBA? 3. ⁠tell us about a time where you prevented a problem from occurring 4. ⁠paraphrasing here: Yale has a tradition of drinking from xyz cup after a win. What is your favourite tradition?

Interviewed on campus including full day of programming. Experience was just like others debriefs explained. Interview was very warm and conversational with no curve balls. Most questions were standard tell me about a time and why mba / Yale SOM. The day also included a "mini class", student panel, and tours. Overall really good experience and a good way to meet your potential future classmates. One really cool thing they did was give a 15-20 minute presentation about the folks being interviewed (you can tell they spent a lot of time really reviewing folks' background) - as you can imagine, it was an ridiculous group of people with some crazy backgrounds and life experiences! Another thing I noted was that out of the 70 people there, I didn't meet a single person that had the same work background as someone else. For anyone else trying to figure out post interview odds, I read a quote from a year or two ago that said they try to accept ~60% of people they interview...so it's still a toss up.

Had an interview with an alumnus, the interview was very conversational and chill. The interviewer made a lot of questions though. The interview lasted 35 minutes. Some questions: 1) I've read your resume, so tell me about the professional experience that make you the most proud. 2) Tell me about a time you had to listen and consider the perspective of another person and how it affected the results of your work. 3) What are your goals? Why MBA? 4) Which classes you would like to take, why? Which clubs would you like to join? 5) What are your plans from now until going to business school? 6) Interviewer read my quote. What this quote means to you and how it connects to the contribution you would like to make at Yale SOM during MBA? 7) If there's something that was not asked, or that's not in my resumé that I wanted her to consider. 8) Any questions? I enjoyed the experience a lot!

Interview for Silver Scholars. 30 minute interview, went ~5 minutes over time. 1. Interviewer had CV in front of them, asked me to highlight my top 1-2 experiences. 2. Discuss motivations for getting an MBA. 3. Why Silver Scholars (specifically unique timeline compared to other deferred programs)? 4. Read quote from Dean, question was how would you build diversity at Yale and within yourself? 5. Questions for interviewer.

Hi, I had my interview online with a Yale SOM 2020 alum. It was very conversational yet to the point. It ended in 32 minutes. Following major questions were asked and then there were follow up questions on my answers. 1. Your biggest professional achievement 2. Time when you dealt with conflict 3. How will you contribute to the diversity of thought at Yale 4. Why MBA 5. LT and ST goals and what inspired them 6. The quote you submitted, what does it mean to you 7. Your biggest strength Wishing everyone the very best! :)

I have the interview on 20 February. Only a few questions: 1. Tell me about yourself 2. Special achievement 3. When you encountered someone with a different perspective 4. What would you do after accepting the offer if offered 5. LT and ST 6. Anything you’d like to add 7. Questions for the interviewer Lasted 45 mins. I gave the interview on 20 February No questions about Why MBA, Why Yale, or the quote. I feel the conversational style of the interview went on and that’s why we lost track of the time

Started off with some small talk and jumped in: "I have your resume in front of me, but I'm not going to ask you to walk me through it. Tell me about a meaningful professional experience and why? "Tell me about a professional experience where someone had a different perspective than you and how did that perspective change the outcome, if at all?" "What are your goals? And, why an MBA?" "How can Yale SOM help you get to your goals?" "You were asked to consider a quote by Dean Kerwin Charles. How will you contribute to the diversity at Yale SOM?" "Tell me about the quote you selected and why?" "Is there anything else that you would like to add?" Then let me ask questions. I think I asked 3 questions. The interview went to about 35 minutes.

Interview with second-year student and it was very conversational but very fast. It was not stiff as we inserted a few jokes here and there. Personally, it was a very interesting 30 minutes and I learned a lot from her. 1. I read your resume. In 1-2 minutes, can you share a professional achievement that you are proudest of? 2. Time you listened and had to consider perspective of other. Follow-up: Were there a different perspective that you brought into the discussion 3. ST/ LT career goals 4. Why MBA 5. Why Yale SOM 6. What does your quote mean to you and how does that tie to your professional interest? 7. (Read Dean's quote) How would you contribute to the diversity of the community and to yourself 8. Any questions for me?

Interview with second-year student. Was very fast-paced and to-the-point (not very conversational). Had a chance to ask two questions at the end, where the interviewer really came to light when sharing his experience. 1. Proudest accomplishment. Follow-up: challenges that you faced + what you learned 2. Time where you listened and had to consider perspectives of others. Follow-up: if/how your mind was changed and how that changed the outcome 3. ST/LT career goals 4. Why Yale SOM 5. How will you contribute to Yale SOM 6. What does your quote mean to you and how has it shaped you 7. Any questions for me

Conducted by a 2Y student through Zoom. Very casual but structured, lasted a minute about the 30-minute mark. He told me that the questions are predetermined. 1. I won't ask you to go through the whole resume, maybe choose one professional experience where you succeeded at something and talk about what the outcome was. 2. Next question that I have for you is around broad-mindedness. So, a lot of the recruiters often tell us that SOM graduates lead by knowing not only when to speak, but also by knowing when to listen. So if you could tell me about a professional experience when you consider the perspective of someone who's different from you. And how did that perspective, inform the outcome if at all. 2a. Followup to the previous one: Are there other applications of what you learn from that conversation that you apply to your job. So did that change your perspective at all? Were you change how you worked. 3. What your post-MBA goals are and what inspired you to pursue those? 3a. Followup to the previous question: How does MBA really fit into your career. A lot of people do a lot of research and preparation to understand how the MBA fits what kind of preparation, have you done to make sure that the MBA is the next best step for you? 4. How can Yale help you on this journey. What are some of the resources are things you're looking forward to. 5. I'm going to read you a quote from our Dean Kerwin Charles. And he said that preeminent universities disseminate and produce new knowledge, and some of the best ideas are right for revisiting. However, this demands different perspectives, genders backgrounds races orientations, and points of view. So the question is, how will you contribute to the diversity and open-mindedness at Yale for yourself and others. 6. Do you mind talking about what the quote you submitted means to you, and in the context also of like what kind of contribution you'll make to the SOM community. 7. Anything else that you want to add in terms of your candidacy we're through the questions that I've got to ask you, but there's anything else you want to add that you can. 8. If I have any questions for him.

For all those that are anxious at all about online interviews, let me assure you that the Yale SOM interview was one of the most pleasant experiences I have had. It was 30 minutes long and with a second year Yale SOM student. Similar to the experiences of others, most of the questions are standard and it is a blind interview - the interviewer only has access to the your resume and nothing apart from this. The interviewer introduced himself and straight away got into questions about my resume and work experience for the first 15 minutes, followed by the more behavioural questions. Questions were as follows:- 1. Difficult situation 2. Disagreement with colleague 3. Proudest achievement 4. Why Yale, why MBA? 5. ST/LT Goals 6. Anything else that would strengthen your candidacy that you would like to add? Hope this helps! Good luck!

The interviewer did not ask me to introduce myself or walk her through my resume- she jumped straight into the behavioral questions 1. Tell me about a time when you handled a difficult situation at work (in a leadership position) 2. Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your team/supervisor 3. Walk me through your short and long term goals 4. Why MBA and why Yale SOM? 5. The quote that you submitted is "xyz". Why did you select this quote and what does it mean to you? 6. What contribution do you plan to make to Yale SOM, if admitted? 7. Anything else you would like to share?

1. A lot about my resume (not about college) 2. Biggest success 3. Biggest failures 4. Quote 5. Why MBA, Why Yale 6. Questions for me 7. How would I get involved in Yale Very warm, chill interview.

- Yale Executive MBA Interview - I was interviewed last week. It was pretty straight forward. There was a half hour interview with a member of the admissions team, a half hour interview with an alumn, and an hour group discussion with the dean, an alumn, and about 10 prospective student. The interview with the admissions person was very lair back and mostly about work history and what brought you to seeking an emba, why Yale. The interview with the alumn was very conversational and focused on what you can bring to Yale. The group discussion was just that. All prospective students are handed a news article to read and then the article was discussed at length. After these various segments prospective students had lunch with current students in each prospective area of focus: susustainablity, healthcare, and asset management. After lunch prospective students were able to attend a class in their area of focus. The entire day was pretty laid back and a very friendly and supportive atmosphere. Best of luck all.

Interview format: Skype with 2nd year student Duration: 30 minutes Interviewer started by introducing themselves, and then the following questions in this order: 1. Biggest achievement 2. Why were you able to achieve what you discussed in 1 3. Why MBA? Why now? 4. Walk through of resume 5. A failure and what did you learn from it? (I talked about a team failure, and learning the importance of planning and prioritization. Interviewer didn't seem satisfied with my answer, and inquired if that is all I learnt.) 6. Significance of the quote I submitted pre-interview and how it would influence my contribution to SOM community? 7. Any thing we didn't cover? (To which I mentioned that we didn't talk about why SOM specifically interests me, so they asked me to go ahead and talk about that) 8. Any other questions? Overall, I do not have a great feeling about how the interview went. The order of the questions kind of threw me off guard. We talked about my background much later in the interview. I should have been better prepared to handle the "sequence" of the questions. I felt 30 minutes was too short for the depth that the interviewer was expecting me to go into. They were furiously taking notes the whole time - which is totally understandable as they have to report it back to the AdCom.

Yale has a full-day of programming for their interview days, which they schedule on Fridays. I had my interview in the morning. There was a breakfast session, followed by a tour of SOM, lunch + lecture, a tour of Yale, and meeting clubs. It was a VERY long but really fun day. I personally loved meeting my potential future classmates and I felt that it gave me a really good feel for the kind of people SOM is looking for. We had an address by the Dean, which was personally very inspiring as he discussed the school's mission - you could tell how passionate and serious he was about SOM's broader mission. (Hint: I would seriously look at this and consider how it fits in with your preparation). Ahead of the day, you had the option of marking if you were interested in any special groups. I am a woman, so I noted that I would be interested in speaking with a member of WIM (Women in Management). The group set me up with a member of WIM and ahead of my interview (actually the day before) I spoke with her for an hour and it was incredibly helpful and gave me even more perspective on SOM. The interview itself... Is very strict, timing-wise - 30 minutes on the dot. I met with a second-year student. She noted that she had a list of questions she had to ask and she had a piece of paper that noted them out in a chart. - Why MBA? Why Yale? - Tell me about a professional success - Tell me about a professional failure - What are you looking to do post MBA You have about one minute to ask them questions at the end - I really only squeezed in one (so make sure to make it a good one!) Overall, the interview is not stressful (the only thing that I found a bit annoying was how constrained and strict it was, but I understand that to be more a function of the AdCom wanting consistency) - I really loved SOM so of course I could have chatted for much longer. I thought the day was really great - I would recommend scheduling your interview early if you're planning on staying the rest of the day (which I also recommend!) as it will allow you to relax and really enjoy getting to know Yale for the rest of the day.

I had interview last Saturday. As mentioned above, there were two personal interviews - one is with admission committee representative and one is with alumni (second was a bit fast for my taste - too many question in a short period of time). The group discussion was with professor and admission committee member - watch video, has a short paragraph with summary/ It a sort of discussion where everybody has a chance to have a say, but professor leads and directs. No hard data - only opinions.

I interviewed last week with a current student on campus and really enjoyed the whole experience. Nothing surprising or any brain teaser questions. Be prepared to talk about your current role, job transitions, and pretty much anything you put on your resume. There are also the typical behavioral questions, "tell me about an accomplishment you're proud of...", "tell me about a time you failed...", etc. Try not to stress too much, it really is designed to get to know you better and very relaxed.