Yale has a full-day of programming for their interview days, which they schedule on Fridays. I had my interview in the morning. There was a breakfast session, followed by a tour of SOM, lunch + lecture, a tour of Yale, and meeting clubs.
It was a VERY long but really fun day. I personally loved meeting my potential future classmates and I felt that it gave me a really good feel for the kind of people SOM is looking for. We had an address by the Dean, which was personally very inspiring as he discussed the school’s mission – you could tell how passionate and serious he was about SOM’s broader mission. (Hint: I would seriously look at this and consider how it fits in with your preparation).
Ahead of the day, you had the option of marking if you were interested in any special groups. I am a woman, so I noted that I would be interested in speaking with a member of WIM (Women in Management). The group set me up with a member of WIM and ahead of my interview (actually the day before) I spoke with her for an hour and it was incredibly helpful and gave me even more perspective on SOM.
The interview itself…
Is very strict, timing-wise – 30 minutes on the dot. I met with a second-year student. She noted that she had a list of questions she had to ask and she had a piece of paper that noted them out in a chart.
- Why MBA? Why Yale?
- Tell me about a professional success
- Tell me about a professional failure
- What are you looking to do post MBA
You have about one minute to ask them questions at the end – I really only squeezed in one (so make sure to make it a good one!)
Conclusion
Overall, the interview is not stressful (the only thing that I found a bit annoying was how constrained and strict it was, but I understand that to be more a function of the AdCom wanting consistency) – I really loved SOM so of course I could have chatted for much longer.
I thought the day was really great – I would recommend scheduling your interview early if you’re planning on staying the rest of the day (which I also recommend!) as it will allow you to relax and really enjoy getting to know Yale for the rest of the day.
Preparing for an upcoming Yale MBA interview? Click here to get the Clear Admit Yale SOM Interview Guide.
After your interview, be sure to add your first-hand interview report to the Clear Admit Interview Archive.
