Yale MBA Program

Yale School of Management

The Yale School of Management (SOM) aims to produce leaders who will make a difference both within their organizations and in their communities. The school’s stated mission is to educate leaders “for business and society.” While nearly two-thirds of each class go into finance or consulting (like most other business schools), there is a much greater emphasis on nonprofit and public sector lessons and opportunities at Yale than at most other schools. No matter what their career goals are, the candidates who most appeal to the admissions committee are the ones who demonstrate a broad perspective and an understanding of the importance of contributing to society at large.

Fittingly, Yale has one of the best-known non-profit programs in the United States. The school offers extensive elective options in nonprofit and public sector management, and also provides students with a variety of opportunities for getting involved in their communities outside of class. Yale’s Internship Fund, established in 1979, provides financial assistance to students who take on non- or low-paying jobs in the nonprofit or public sector. Funds are raised from contributions from the Yale SOM community, and approximately 20% of the class receives some amount of funding in any given year. Even if you don’t plan on pursuing a nonprofit job after school, demonstrating enthusiasm for getting involved in this type of program can help further show your fit with the school.

Entrepreneurship is also a focus at Yale, and students have several opportunities to get involved in building a business. Yale is one of the key partner schools in the Haas-led Global Social Venture Competition, giving students the chance to combine their entrepreneurial chops and their desire to do good in a competition vs. students from across the globe. The school’s Program on Social Enterprise (PSE) provides additional support and opportunities for students who are interested in the intersection between business and positive social impact.

Yale stresses the importance of understanding the interaction between the private sector and public sector, so you want to demonstrate a “big picture” view and a willingness to learn about how one affects the other, no matter what your career interest is. Yale especially looks for people who are comfortable with having their thinking challenged and are willing to take intellectual risks. The more you can demonstrate a willingness to “think outside of the box” both on the job and in your extracurricular activities, the better off you will be. Additionally, the school looks for applicants with integrity, so think about how you can demonstrate this as part of the maturity dimension in your application.

Further, Yale is looking for business-minded people who are just as comfortable talking about world politics as they are building an asset pricing model. You can show a fit with the program by demonstrating your knowledge of current events and a natural desire to get involved in you’re your community. While Yale’s application no longer features an essay question that hits this head-on, the school still looks for people who are aware of the world around them and want to make a positive impact. No need to force it and promise that you’re out to cure world hunger when you’re not, but keep this in mind if you’re serious about applying to Yale SOM.

Spend some time familiarizing yourself with Yale SOM’s innovative new core curriculum. While many business schools these days are talking the talk about multidisciplinary approaches to problem solving, Yale is really walking the walk with its new program. The new curriculum eliminates the traditional core courses of Finance, Marketing, Strategy, etc., in favor of eight courses (called “Organization Perspectives”) that each correspond to a certain role or stakeholder in an organization. Examples include the employee, the customer, the innovator, and the investor. The traditional management disciplines are still present and accounted for, but are taught together in the context of those eight organizational roles. Other additions to the core curriculum include the International Experience, a mandatory two-week trip abroad for all first-year students, making Yale the first top U.S. business school to make overseas study a required part of the curriculum. The changes to Yale’s core curriculum are significant. Make sure that you understand them as you develop your Yale application strategy.

• Harvard Business School
• University of California at Berkeley (Haas)

1. Please describe your short and long term goals and how your previous experience and an MBA will help you to achieve these goals. (500 words maximum.)


2. Describe a situation in which your leadership and/or teamwork had a significant impact. (500 words maximum.)


3. Please develop a question/topic of your choice and answer it in essay form. Please state the question/topic at the beginning of your essay. (500 words maximum.)


4. (Optional) If any aspect of your candidacy needs further explanation, please provide any additional information that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. (200 words maximum.)

This and dozens of other top business schools are covered in detail in Your MBA Game Plan, the definitive guide on MBA admissions, now in its second edition.