UPDATE: This article was originally posted on September 14, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below.
With curricular flexibility that allows students to take classes across Yale’s many faculties (not just the business school!), Yale SOM is a top choice for engaged, globally-minded leaders who seek to make a meaningful difference in the world, all while benefiting from an Ivy League education.
However, getting admitted to Yale’s’ small MBA class is harder than ever.
That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to help you use your Yale SOM admissions essays to stand out. We’ve rounded up our best tips and links to Yale SOM MBA sample essays to ensure you give your Yale SOM application your best shot.
1. Who is Yale SOM looking for?
Source: @yalesom on Instagram
“The Yale School of Management embraces diversity. We believe that effective leaders are those that understand and benefit from the perspectives of people with different backgrounds, and that a commitment to building a diverse community is a key element of our mission of educating leaders for business and society.” Yale SOM Admissions
Every year, Yale reads through thousands of applications to hand-pick slightly less than 350 students to take part in their prestigious MBA program.
With a strong emphasis on diversity (19% of Yale’s Class of 2024 came from humanities backgrounds), there is no “standard” student at Yale, yet the median GMAT score for the current class was 725, slightly down from 730 last year. The median GRE score for the class was 164 Verbal, 166 Quant. Furthermore, Yale’s class included a whopping 48% of international passport-holding students!
In addition to diversity, Yale is extremely dedicated to leadership development and has numerous resources on campus to ensure that diverse students not only grow at Yale but that they also have all the tools and support they need to reach their personal and professional goals on a global scale.
If this sounds like a community in which you’d be right at home, you’ll first have to prove you’ve got what it takes by successfully answering Yale’s notoriously challenging admissions essay question.
2. How should I answer the Yale SOM essay questions?
2.1. Essay 1 Tips
Please respond to one (1) of the three essay prompts below. The word limit (though not necessarily the goal!) is 500 words.
1) Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made.
Why is this commitment meaningful to you and what actions have you taken to support it?
2) Describe the community that has been most meaningful to you.
What is the most valuable thing you have gained from being a part of this community and what is the most important thing you have contributed to this community?
3) Describe the most significant challenge you have faced.
How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?
Before starting on your essays, we suggest you read Yale’s application guide, which outlines the admissions committee’s tips on how to prepare a successful Yale SOM application.
Let’s break these down one by one.
First, let’s discuss the biggest commitment option.
1) Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made.
Why is this commitment meaningful to you and what actions have you taken to support it?
Like Stanford’s “What Matters Most to you, and Why?” this question is deceptively simple.
However, there is much more to this question than it appears.
Developed in conjunction with one of SOM’s organizational behavior professors, the question has remained Yale’s only essay question for several years now. According to an interview with admissions director Bruce DelMonico:
“We don’t have a preference for professional or personal accomplishments. . . . We are not making value judgments about what that commitment is, but it is more about how you approach that commitment, how you have demonstrated that commitment, and what sorts of behaviors underlie that commitment.”
To answer this question, you first want to think about your scope. Though you can certainly talk about a single story or achievement or your commitment to a single cause, the question is broad enough for you to explore a theme in your life.
For example, one of our clients wrote about his commitment to a certain type of leadership, then used his essay to provide examples showing this type of leadership in action, before ending with a small statement on where he hopes to take this commitment in the future. As such, feel free to choose an idea or value as your theme for your essay and choose related examples that give the Yale SOM admissions committee a greater picture of who you are and what you bring to the table.
No matter which approach you take to describe your commitment, you should make sure that you are fully presenting stories and examples that support your theme.
Finally, make sure you include enough analysis of your example(s) to ensure that your reader can see why you made the commitment and how you achieved results along the way.
Remember that the outcome here is not your main focus — rather, your focus should be on the how and why you acted as you did.
Second, let’s discuss the community option.
2) Describe the community that has been most meaningful to you.
What is the most valuable thing you have gained from being a part of this community and what is the most important thing you have contributed to this community?
In the MBA admissions process, one of the most important aspects of analyzing an applicant’s profile is seeing if they will be a good fit for that school’s community. Each school has a unique and vibrant community, so the schools want to make sure that admits will seamlessly integrate into their culture.
In this question, Yale’s adcom seeks to determine both if a candidate is a good fit with their community and what they will contribute to it. Furthermore, since all business schools want to see candidates who are involved in their communities, this question offers the chance for applicants to demonstrate their active, meaningful participation as a member in some particular community.
A slightly more open-ended question, this prompt gives you the chance to talk about any community you are part of (as long as you can show how and why it’s meaningful to you!). I personally think this is an excellent question, as it gives you the chance to talk about contributing to a diversity initiative if you want to, but could just as easily be written about a religious community, sports team, or professional team you are part of. In general, though, I’d avoid choosing your family or friend group here.
You can also explore communities you have been or were part of for a long time or communities you were engaged in for a shorter period of time recently or a longer period of time ago.
Considering how broad “community” can be defined here, I think it’s important to first define which one you want to explore in your answer. When considering this question, however, make sure you think in depth about three things.
First, how specifically did you contribute to this community? Just being a member of a women’s group and attending monthly meetings isn’t going to cut it here, so choose something that shows an active, clear contribution. If you can also demonstrate leadership in your choice, that is a plus!
Second, how did belonging to this community impact you? You want to make sure you share the most meaningful thing you’ve gained from being a member of this community in the essay, so limit yourself to communities that have shaped you in some concrete way.
Finally, how does your involvement in this community align with Yale’s values and culture? Ideally, your answer should show fit with Yale. If you haven’t done your research and aren’t able to clearly articulate what Yale’s community is all about, it’s time to reach out to current students and alumni, visit campus if you can, read Yale’s website in depth, and engage with their social media.
After brainstorming, make sure you limit yourself to one clear community and one or two clear ways you’ve contributed to this community. I highly, highly recommend you choose a STAR format story here to highlight your participation, ending the essay with how you were enriched by your participation in this community.
If you have space and it seems natural in your essay, you can write a sentence or two that draws a high-level parallel between Yale’s community and your experience. This should not turn into a Why Yale, essay, however.
Finally, let’s discuss the challenge option.
3) Describe the most significant challenge you have faced.
How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?
Before starting your essay, we suggest you start thinking about the greatest challenges you’ve faced in your life. As Yale doesn’t specify a preference, you can choose to write about a personal or professional experience in this essay.
Regardless of which option you choose, the key to this question is “How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?”
That means you want to choose one story with a clear impact and tell it in STAR format.
This means avoiding general descriptions of challenges you’ve had at your company and focusing on a single experience that packs a serious punch when it comes to generating a clear impact (the R of your STAR story). Most importantly, consider what you want Yale to learn about you. Yale’s application is short and sweet, which means that you won’t show off the best you have to offer unless you make sure every word counts.
So, when brainstorming your stories, first, make sure you choose a story that has a clear result that means something to you. This can be overcoming a personal hardship, delivering a difficult project at work, or even confronting a challenge in your extracurricular activities.
Once you’ve made this list, filter it for examples that specifically shaped you as a person in some key way. In general, make sure the story also includes you facing some sort of conflict or overcoming a very specific challenge. In this essay, unlike many others, being affected by external factors, such as an economic downturn or being conscripted into military service, would work perfectly well as your challenge here.
With this in mind, it’s time to start drafting. As mentioned above here, following the STAR method is essential here. You want to make sure that when showing the Situation, you adequately express the challenge. You also want to make sure that you show how the challenge was fully overcome in a clear, detailed manner. Statements like, “I worked hard to overcome the challenge,” aren’t going to suffice here.
Finally, make sure that you end the essay with a clear expression of how facing this challenge helped make you the person you are today. You might also want to include a brief statement that shows how you’ve put this into practice. For example, if facing the challenge made you more empathetic, you might want to mention how acting with more empathy has shaped you since then.
So which option should you choose?
There is no “right” answer or “best” question here. Considering how much room you have across the application to share information about yourself, it’s essential to think about what you want the admissions committee to know about you and choose the prompt that allows you to discuss this. After all, you’ll only have this one shot to demonstrate what you bring to the table.
Need more guidance?
Our MBA Resource Center has dozens of Yale SOM MBA essays that worked to get our clients admitted to help you plan out a winning Yale SOM essay. Our library also includes guides for all top global MBA programs, detailed essay brainstorms, interview tips and mocks, CV templates, and recommendation letter guides. Click to join!
2.2. Career Essay Tips
How did you arrive at your career interests? How have you or how will you position yourself to pursue them? (150 words maximum)
After selecting your short-term and long-term career interests from a drop-down menu in the application (see screenshot below), you are asked to provide a short essay to further clarify and contextualize your goals.
Source: Yale SOM Application
Often overlooked by applicants, goals essays are incredibly important, as they give the admissions committee your most important argument — why do you need an MBA from their school and what are you going to do with it?
For all goals essays, you should first begin with context, as goals without context often lack clarity or impact. You may want to include one mini-story or several small anecdotes to provide this context.
Then, after you set the stage, clearly present your goals to the admissions committee. The section on your goals should include clear short-term and long-term goals, meaning you should list the job title and industry for each. Furthermore, stating the motivation you have for wanting these goals and the impact you envision generating while pursuing them is an excellent way to take your essay from good to great.
TOP TIP: If you’re not sure how to define your goals, check out this post to help plan out your MBA goals.
Finally, if you have room, end with a small section on how Yale’s MBA program can help you continue to grow to reach your goals.
You will first need to research the Yale experience in-depth. We suggest you consider much more than which classes you plan to take. Instead, show how you are going to take advantage of Yale’s diverse offerings to become a more high-potential, driven professional who leaves a meaningful legacy behind. Doing this well means connecting how Yale can help you grow with specific outcomes tied to your goals.
TOP TIP: We have written extensively on how to ensure you master 250-word essays. Though short, this is one of the most important essays you will write for Yale SOM, so make sure every word counts!
2.3. Optional/Reapplicant Essay Tips
For Re-applicants: If you have applied to the Yale School of Management in the last two years, you must complete both the required essay and the re-applicant essay. (200 words maximum)
For Everyone: If any aspect of your application requires additional explanation, you can address it in the Optional Information section below. Please note, you should use the specific prompts provided in the Work Experience section to address gaps in work experience or choice of recommender. The Optional Information section is truly optional – if no aspect of your application requires further explanation, you should leave this section blank. (200 words maximum)
Given the word count, make sure you are clear and concise in your answer.
Keep in mind that this essay may not apply to you and that it is not a mistake to leave it blank if your profile does not have any extenuating circumstances.
We have written extensively on how to expertly approach optional and reapplicant essays here.
2.4. Optional Background Essay Tips
If you would like to elaborate on any of your responses within this section, or any other aspect of your background, we encourage you to do so here.
In this section, the admissions committee asks several questions to understand more about your background. In their words, “All questions in this section are optional. The Admissions Committee seeks to understand elements of your personal background that may provide context to the choices and opportunities available to you throughout your academic, professional, and personal experiences. If you would like to provide additional information about your background or to expand on your responses to any of these questions, please do so in the “Supplemental Detail” section below.”
The focus of the question here is clear: explain any relevant circumstances you feel the admissions committee must know to fairly evaluate your profile.
Do not include another essay you wrote for another school and truly consider if you need to submit this essay at all, as it will not apply to all applicants. If you do feel that sharing additional information about your family background or economic situation would be helpful context for the admissions committee to have!
Looking for Yale SOM MBA essay examples?
Check out our real sample essays that got our clients admitted here.
3. We Make Your Story Shine
One of the most common mistakes we see in MBA essays is that candidates fail to tell compelling stories. This is important because if your stories are not compelling, they will not be persuasive. At the same time, they must be backed by strong examples that establish a track record of success and prove to the admissions committees why you belong at their school.
Striking this balance between content and creativity can be tough, however, as succeeding means not only choosing the right stories but ensuring they are told in an optimal manner.
This is why our iterative developmental feedback process here at Ellin Lolis Consulting helps you mold your message through the application of our storytelling expertise until it reflects exactly what makes your profile stand out and show fit with your target program.
That’s the approach we took with Ana, who was admitted to Yale with a scholarship.
In her words, “I am very excited to go to Yale SOM and meet incredible people truly committed to impact businesses and society while I myself grow as a leader.
I am very grateful for Ellin’s support during the whole process of application. She has a personalized approach to help each person and a very attentive and responsive team. She gave me access to the best material and was intentional in understanding my story in order to help me tell it the best way. She also helped me negotiate my scholarship to double my original amount! I would definitely recommend her work.”
Not only can you take advantage of our editing expertise through multiple edits – you can also benefit from it after a single review! If your budget is tight, our editors will be happy to help polish your text as much as possible and leave “bonus comments” so you can keep working on it on your own!
No matter how long we work with you, we will always ensure your essays shine. Sign up to work with our team of storytelling experts and get accepted.
4. Yale SOM Deadlines
Here are the deadlines for the 2023-2024 season. You can access the Yale SOM application here.
Real MBA Essays That Got People In
School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted
