Application Guide 2022-2023

The Admissions Committee seeks to understand elements of your personal background that may provide context for the choices and opportunities that have shaped your academic, professional, and personal experiences. If you would like to provide additional information to expand on your responses to any of these questions, please do so in the “Optional Information” section under the “Essay” menu.

MBA applicants tend to put a lot of emphasis on test scores, but remember that they are just one piece of a larger picture. They give us some sense of your level of preparation for the core curriculum, but we consider all parts of your application when evaluating your candidacy.

We accept both the GMAT and the GRE including the online versions of the exams. The Admissions Committee has no preference between the two exams, and we’re well versed in evaluating scores from each. When completing this section of your application, list your self-reported scores for every GMAT and GRE exam you have taken. Should you be admitted, we will ask you to send us official test scores from ETS, GMAC or ETS to verify and match your self-reported scores. Please complete this section carefully by entering the correct sub-scores and percentages. Only report official scores you have achieved in a full exam. Do not report practice exam scores. We do not require non-native English speakers to submit an English language test such as the TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE.

All test scores must be less than five years old, measured from the date you submit your application. For example, if you are applying with a test score from December 15, 2017, you can submit your application using this test score until December 14, 2022, but you also need to order those official scores to be sent to SOM before December 14, 2022. If you took the exam within the past five years and have designated Yale SOM as a score report recipient, we will have access to all of your GMAT and/or GRE scores from that period. If your score will soon become five years old, you may not be able to send your scores to us after you are admitted. Please send your scores to us well before your scores become five years old using the codes below.  

You are welcome to send your official GMAT scores anytime through www.mba.com (code 3TJ-BX-45). Send your official GRE scores through www.ets.org (code 3986). Note: Yale SOM has multiple GMAT and GRE codes. Be sure to send your scores to the codes above, which correspond to the Yale SOM full-time MBA program.

GMAC now allows you to only share one score rather than  your entire test score history. Nevertheless, we encourage you to share your test score history. Although we evaluate your candidacy based on the highest overall score achieved, it’s helpful to see the scores for all of the tests you have taken. Retaking the test demonstrates your commitment to improvement, and previous tests may include higher individual subsection scores.

Sometimes applicants have a scheduled GMAT or GRE exam very near or just after an application deadline. We can’t guarantee that we will be able to review scores from exams taken after the application date, so plan to have all of your testing done in advance of the application deadline. If you do end up retaking a test after the application deadline, you will be able to enter the new score on your applicant status page. 

When we say we have no preference between the GMAT and GRE, we really mean it. Take whatever exam you feel most comfortable with. I also recommend being a bit strategic. If you know you’ll want to apply for a joint degree, maybe the GRE would be best for you since you can likely use that score to apply to both programs. If you’re thinking about a career in consulting or investment banking, keep in mind some firms are generally looking for a GMAT score on candidates’ resumes. If you’ve tried taking one of the exams a couple of times and aren’t attaining the score you’re hoping for, maybe it would be a good idea to try the other exam to see if that’s a better test for you.” 

—Amy Voth, Senior Associate Director of Admissions

As with your entire application, we are very interested in the whole picture. What was the progression? Did you have an opportunity to take courses outside of your major? Were you working a job in undergrad to pay for your education? There are so many other factors that weigh into this picture.”

—Kate Botelho, Senior Associate Director of Admissions
 

Your resume is a great place to ground your application. It’s a quick and easy way for the committee to see what you’ve been doing throughout your life and career in a chronological way. Simple stuff: Proof-read it and spell-check it!”

—Rebekah Melville, Managing Director of Financial Aid and Admissions Committee member

We ask for two letters of recommendation. Recommendations are a way for us to gain additional perspective on your candidacy from people who have worked with you and who know you well.

Unless you are applying as an undergraduate student*, your two recommendations should be professional in nature. Many candidates ask us who the best people are to write their recommendations. Our answer is that they should be people who know your work well and preferably who are senior to you, not peers or subordinates.

Ideally one of your recommendations will be from your current supervisor. However, sometimes this is not possible. Maybe that person is a family member, or maybe you’re an entrepreneur, or maybe you haven’t told your supervisor you are considering leaving to earn your MBA. In these cases, we would suggest you look to your most recent former supervisor. Entrepreneurs may consider getting recommendations from board members or VC funders. In general, we care about the quality of the recommendation, not the title of the recommender.

The more insight your recommenders can provide in their evaluations, the better we’re able to understand your story and gauge your potential.

We encourage you to reach out to your recommenders in advance and schedule some time to talk with them about your desire to earn an MBA – maybe even reflect together on some of the growth experiences you’ve had and how you expect to add value to an MBA community. This can be great preparation for them to write you a thoughtful and comprehensive recommendation.

We do suggest, however, that you do not send your recommenders your essays or other written materials because they may incorporate them into their recommendations. Seeing the same language in your essays and recommendations may raise concerns to us about the independence of the recommendations, even if you were only trying to be helpful to your recommenders.

Finally, please note that we are allowing recommenders to submit their recommendations in Mandarin or Spanish. Our hope is that this change will make the process easier for recommenders who do not speak English and will give you more options in your choice of recommenders.

*If you are a current undergraduate student applying for the Silver Scholars Program we ask you to submit one professional recommendation and one academic recommendation.

We have one essay question: “Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made.” We developed this question in collaboration with Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor of organizational behavior at Yale SOM. Your time in business school, and the choices you make thereafter, represent significant commitments. In asking this question, the Admissions Committee is seeking to learn about how you have approached a commitment of importance in your life.

When it comes to choosing a topic, be genuine. We want to hear about something that is meaningful and distinctive to you in your own voice. Your commitment can be personal, specific or expansive. We receive outstanding, insightful essays covering a wide range of topics.

The content of your essay is every bit as important as the topic. Regardless of the commitment that you choose, the most effective essays do a great job of describing how you approached your commitment. Point to the specific actions that you have taken over time to bolster your commitment. This is especially important if you have chosen a broad topic, such as an ideal or a belief. Don’t just explain why a commitment is important to you; we want to understand how your behaviors have demonstrated and supported your commitment.

The first thing that may come to mind about our essay question is, ‘Why is it phrased so broadly?’ That’s intentional. We don’t want candidates to think that we are trying to steer them towards a particular kind of commitment, either in nature or scope. The question is meant to elicit self-reflection and result in you describing a commitment that is truly meaningful to you.”

—Maria Derlipanska, Senior Associate Director of Admissions

The optional information section is not an additional essay. In most cases, we get all the information we need from the various components of your application and there is no need to complete this section. However, if you think the Admissions Committee would benefit from a brief explanation regarding any aspect of your application, you may provide it in the optional information section. Here are some examples: Consider providing additional context if it will allow us to better understand your academic performance, work continuity, or opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities outside of school or work. If you would like to provide additional details to expand on any information provided in the Background Information section, you are welcome to do so here. You may want to provide a brief explanation if you do not have a recommendation from a current supervisor. Or, if you’ve taken concrete steps to mitigate a weaker element of your application or have an accomplishment that does not fit anywhere else in the application, you might include that here.

Yale SOM is committed to continuous innovation in the ways we identify future members of our community.  The newest component of our application process is the Behavioral Assessment, although we’ve been working on it behind the scenes for many years. The Behavioral Assessment might be the most unique component of the Yale SOM application.

The Behavioral Assessment is an online exercise administered by ETS, the testing service behind the GRE. But unlike the GMAT or GRE, which are tests of certain cognitive abilities, the Behavioral Assessment is a non-cognitive instrument that measures a set of inter- and intrapersonal competencies that are associated with academic success in business school. We look at it alongside, and sometimes as a counterpoint to, traditional academic metrics. And much like any other piece of the application, the Behavioral Assessment will never be the deciding factor for admission, but will instead be used in combination with the rest of a candidate’s profile.

The exercise itself should take about 20 minutes to complete and uses a forced-choice format, meaning you’ll be given 130 pairs of statements and must select the ones that best match your own behaviors. The assessment is adaptive, so no two candidates will receive the exact same set of statements.

I hope it will put applicants at ease to know that our use of this assessment is geared towards allowing the committee to take more chances on candidates whose traditional metrics may not be the best predictors of success. To truly fulfill Yale SOM’s mission of educating leaders for business and society, we need a community of students whose backgrounds, experiences, and interests are diverse and expansive. If we limit ourselves to applicants who perform best on traditional academic measures like GMAT, GRE, or undergraduate GPA, we may miss out on candidates with extraordinary professional experience or personal backgrounds that would add vital perspectives to the classroom. At the same time, it’s our responsibility to ensure we bring students into the program who will succeed in the classroom—we don’t want to set up students for failure. The Behavioral Assessment gives us an additional piece of information to use in assessing who will perform effectively in the curriculum, specifically by helping us predict who will perform better than their academic history would suggest. So, it will allow us to take more chances on candidates without the strongest academic or testing profiles, but who nonetheless have what it takes to succeed in the classroom and who undoubtedly will make significant contributions to our community because of their experience and perspective.”

—Laurel Grodman, Managing Director of Admissions

You will receive access to the video questions after you submit your application and pay your application fee. The video questions are not a substitute for the interview. Instead, they provide a unique way for us to assess your communication skills and your ability to think on your feet, and enable us to create a more dynamic, multi-dimensional profile of each candidate.

Every candidate will receive a set of randomized, previously recorded questions asked by an admissions team member. No two applicants will have the same set of questions. The questions asked are similar to typical interview questions, and there are no “trick questions.” We are not trying to stump you.

Here are a few tips on the video exercise. First, know you’re going to be great! This is not a deal breaker or maker. It doesn’t require any preparation beyond the practice tool you can access before you start your recordings. Don’t stress; we aim to set you up for success. One piece of advice for the recorded responses is to familiarize yourself with the 60-90 second time frame. You don’t want to feel rushed in your answer, and you also don’t want to only utilize 10 seconds. And finally, be sure you have a good internet connection and a quiet, private space. You’d be surprised how many ‘bloopers’ we see in the video questions due to an unexpected colleague, partner, or pet joining your session!

—Kristen Mercuri, Director of Admissions

Interviews are offered by invitation on a rolling basis throughout each round. Don’t be concerned if your invitation to interview does not come until later in the round; it takes a considerable amount of time for the Admissions Committee to review all of the applications we receive, and we don’t begin our review until after each application deadline.

If you receive an invitation, it will be an offer to participate in a 30-minute interview conducted by a current second-year student, recent alum, or an admissions committee member. The interview is blind, meaning your interviewer will only know what they see on your resume.

You may be placed on the waitlist without having been interviewed. As the Admissions Committee revisits waitlisted candidates throughout the application cycle, an invitation to interview can be offered at any time.