From the Assistant Dean for Admissions: Answering Some FAQs about the Upcoming Application Season

Although we are still a few months away from the start of the fall semester, I know that many of you are already beginning to think about the upcoming application season. Given these very uncertain times, many of you have expressed concern about what the season will look like, so I thought I would take a few moments to share my perspective on some of the more common questions I’ve been hearing as you think about planning and next steps in the application process.

1. Will the application deadlines for the upcoming year be the same, or will they be pushed back? I am very confident that the application deadlines for the upcoming year will be similar to those of past years. Some schools have started to announce their 2020-2021 application deadlines—and we will do so ourselves shortly—and it is clear that we are all planning to maintain the same application schedule as in the past. Although current circumstances feel very uncertain, our every hope and expectation is that they will be much more settled by fall 2021, so we are planning with that expectation in mind. It would not serve us well to alter our deadlines, timeframes, or processes dramatically.
2. Won’t the class already be full before the start of the application season? I’ve heard a good deal of concern that if students—especially those from outside the United States—are unable to begin school this fall, many of them will defer to next year and there will be no spaces available for next year’s applicants. This is not a concern that should deter you from applying to business school if that is what you aspire to do. Good candidates always have a strong chance of being admitted, and even if some students defer to next year (which itself is a decision accompanied by uncertainty and does not ensure that they will take a seat), we will do everything available to us to keep next year’s class as open as possible. So, I would focus on your candidacy and not on what the class may look like next fall.
3. With travel suspended and in-person events not taking place this summer, what’s the best way to learn more about Yale SOM? Like other business schools—and schools and businesses more generally—we’ve had to change how we connect with current and potential members of our community. Without the ability to meet you in person either here on campus or in cities around the globe, we’ve built out a full range of online opportunities to allow you to learn more about the distinctive aspects of our MBA program. Between student summer socials, Q&A sessions with admissions officers, a faculty speaker series,  online receptions, and other means (such as a chat with our student ambassadors), there are many ways to engage with our community! We hope you take advantage of as many as possible.

I hope this information is helpful as you think about applying to business school this upcoming year. As I mentioned above, we will announce our application deadlines shortly, with an eye toward the application going live next month. (Although I can let you know now that our essay question—“Describe your biggest commitment”—will remain the same, if you want to get a head start on working on it!) And as I’ve mentioned in other contexts, now more than ever the world needs thoughtful, principled, strategic leaders to help navigate what is an immensely challenging time in our history. We believe that Yale SOM is uniquely positioned to educate this kind of leader, and we hope our approach to leadership education resonates with you as you learn more about the school.