The Yale School of Management (SOM) will formally incorporate a brief video interview as part of its application process in upcoming admission seasons, Assistant Dean and Director of MBA Admissions Bruce DelMonico shared with the Clear Admit team recently. He also provided more detail about the tests Yale SOM has been using to assess the emotional intelligence of its applicants and shared that his team will eliminate the English-language test requirement that has until now been required of some applicants.
Some Round 3 applicants to Yale SOM in the most recent application season reported that they were asked to respond to an interview question via video. In an effort to learn more about this development, we reached out to DelMonico directly, who shared the following details with us.
Yale SOM piloted the video question format two years ago, in 2011, and then put it on hold last year, re-introducing it as part of Round 3 this year, he said. The school plans to incorporate video questions fully into the application process going forward, he added.
“The motivation behind them is that the ability to think and speak in the moment is an important skill but one that is measured inconsistently in the current application process, so we are looking for a mechanism that will help us evaluate these qualities more consistently and effectively,” he told us. “We believe that video questions are a step in this direction, but by no means the end point.”
DelMonico also elaborated on the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), which Yale SOM asked applicants to take on a voluntary basis as part of the most recent application season, according to an article last month in the Wall Street Journal. Unrelated to the video questions, the 141-item MSCEIT is one of a range of non-cognitive assessments his team has been evaluating, DelMonico told us. “We’ve been looking at a number of different assessments over the last 3 to 4 years and feel as though we’re starting to get a feel for what may be worth folding into the process,” he said. But so far, no such test has affected admissions decisions.
“One other thing you may be interested to know is that we will eliminate the English-language test requirement (TOEFL, IELTS, PTE, etc.) this upcoming application season,” he shared. Until now, Yale SOM has required this test for applicants whose undergraduate degree was from a program not taught in English, but future applicants will not face that requirement, DelMonico said.
