Admissions Deans Share Their Best Pieces of Advice for Applicants

“The main thing is we’re looking to bring together a diverse class of students, and the way to stand out [in the application process] is by not trying to stand out. Don’t try and predict what we’re looking for because we’re looking for so many different things, and it’s not any one thing. Don’t try and game it by thinking to yourself that you will stand a better chance if you present this profile or this background. Stick to who you are. They key of being successful is emphasizing your strengths, what you will bring to the program. As a corollary to that, don’t ignore your weaknesses. Everybody has strengths and weaknesses, and there is no such thing as a perfect candidate. A lot of times, the more successful applicants are ones that incorporate weaknesses into the application and help us understand how they have overcome them and maybe why that informs what you want to do as an MBA student.”
—Bruce DelMonico
Assistant Dean for Admissions

“What we are looking for isn’t unknowable. We’re looking for your academic potential, your professional impact, and we’re looking at what kind of a community member you are. There is no extremely specific profile you need to fit or present. Keep it simple—those are the basic things that everything we ask within our application is trying to get at, and telling your story and not overthinking it on those fronts is going to give us everything that we need in order to make a decision. Don’t tie yourself in knots trying to figure out how to present yourself in some perfect way. There isn’t a perfect way. There are lots of really excellent profiles that make their way into the Yale SOM class every year.”
—Laurel Grodman
Assistant Dean of Admissions Strategy