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What Does Yale SOM Look For In Candidates?


The Yale School of Management, or Yale SOM, has increasingly been attracting interest from MBA candidates in recent years, and is typically considered to be a top 10 MBA program.  If you are planning to apply to Yale SOM, we strongly urge you to take some time to understand what the MBA program values in its students.

 

On its website, Yale SOM states that “our mission is to educate leaders for business and society. That mission is deeply wound into all of our activities, from classroom pedagogy to the choices we make in managing our campus.”  Below, we delve into this sentiment as well as the other characteristics that Yale SOM seeks in applicants.

Impact in personal and professional life

One aspect that Yale SOM considers when it evaluates a candidate is the impact that he/she has had in personal endeavors (such as extracurricular activities) as well as professional ones.  Take some time to think about this; the impact that you have had in your life can be on both a larger scale, such as organizational impact, or on a smaller scale, such as one-on-one impact.  Why is this so important?  Simply put, Yale SOM wants to create a class of students who are doers – people who take action in all spheres of life with the goal of having positive results.  Being able to demonstrate leadership is strongly connected to do this; we go into this in the next section.


Leadership

Every top business school values leadership; therefore, it is not surprising that this is the case for Yale SOM also.  Think about your own experiences; through projects and initiatives that you have led, both in the workplace and through your extracurricular activities, how have you positively made a difference to people and organizations?  Additionally, how do you plan to make a difference in the future as a leader?  As with very other top MBA program, Yale SOM will draw upon examples of leadership throughout your application (such as your essays and recommendation letters) to determine whether you will be an impactful leader as a student and as you pursue your post-MBA goals. 


Intellectual curiosity


Given the rich learning environment at Yale SOM, the Admissions Committee wants to see your intellectual curiosity coming through in your application.  While your undergraduate GPA and GMAT/GRE score play into this equation, this quality encompasses much more than that.  It is about demonstrating a curiosity to learn more and taking the initiative to do so.  This can come through in both your professional and extracurricular endeavors.  For example, when there is not a clear cut answer, do you seek out knowledge to learn more?  Are you able to creatively solve problems?  These are just some questions to think about as it pertains to intellectual curiosity.

 

In addition, unique to Yale SOM is the “raw” case approach.  As Yale SOM describes on its website, “Raw cases replicate the way that individuals access and use information in the real world: management dilemmas do not manifest themselves in neat 10–15 page narratives, but rely on an individual’s ability to synthesize information from a variety of channels. The web-based platform also allows students to view, search, absorb, and analyze the material in a non-linear manner. Determining what information is relevant and how it relates to the questions at hand is part of the learning experience.”  Demonstrating intellectual curiosity gives Yale SOM confidence that an applicant will be able to handle the rigor of the program’s curriculum.


Collaboration


With a class size of ~350 students, Yale boasts a very tight-knit and supportive student body.  Being a team player and having the ability to collaborate with others is a key quality that Yale SOM seeks in candidates.  Here are some questions to think about as it pertains to collaboration: How do you go about interacting with others?  Are you respectful of others?  Are you able to work with others to arrive at a desired outcome? 

 

With your unique, authentic story as the backdrop, keeping these qualities in mind as well will help you craft the strongest application possible for Yale SOM!


About Ivy Groupe:

Ivy Groupe is a boutique MBA admissions consulting company founded by Shaifali Aggarwal, who has been recognized as a top MBA admissions consultant by Business Insider and Poets & Quants. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and undergraduate degree from Princeton University. Shaifali’s philosophy focuses on authenticity and storytelling to help clients craft compelling and differentiated applications that stand out. With this approach, Shaifali’s clients have gained admission to top-tier MBA programs such as Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT, Columbia, Booth, Tuck, and Yale, among others.

Click on the links to learn more about our company and how you can work with us to maximize your chances of gaining admission to the MBA programs of your choice.


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