Yale SOM MBA News

Get the latest MBA news from Yale SOM.

Published: April 1, 2014

April Campus Visit Dates Available at Yale School of Management

Yale School of Management (SOM) welcomes prospective applicants to come visit its New Haven campus this spring as part of its Campus Visit Program, according to a recent Admissions Corner blog post by Associate Director Kristen Shockley. “Our globe-trotting students have just returned to campus from their International Experience trips and Global Network Weeks and our campus visit program is poised to host visitors from near and far in their search for the right business school,” she writes. Read more

Published: February 24, 2014

Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Innovation Fund Awards First $100,000

A fund launched by Yale University last fall has awarded its first $100,000 to a start-up launched by Yale School of Management (SOM) students with a unique product for treating acid reflux. The Yale Entrepreneurship Institute (YEI) Innovation Fund was launched in September 2013 by Yale University, Connecticut Innovations and First Niagara Bank to provide early-stage funds to promising start-ups coming out of YEI. Startup firm Eli Nutrition, Inc., maker of a new antacid called Tummyzen, snagged the first $100,000 investment, the school announced this week. Read more

Published: February 12, 2014

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year student / On-Campus

The ADCOM prepared a full day of activities, including class visit and lunch with first year students. The atmosphere was friendly; it was clear that the interviewer was in my shoes 2 years ago. He had an A4 sheet of paper with some questions and a couple of rows to write below each question. He stated that the ADCOM had given him such forms to fill out and apologized in advance for sounding “robotic”. He stated some of the facts you point out in your interview guide: the interview is only one component of the application; I have not seen Read more

Published: December 9, 2013

Yale School of Management Expands EMBA to Include Asset Management, Sustainability Focuses

Students in Yale School of Management (SOM)’s Executive MBA (EMBA) program will soon be able to select asset management or sustainability as a focus for their studies, the school announced yesterday. Yale SOM is now enrolling students interested in either of these specialties for fall 2014. The EMBA program at Yale launched in 2005, initially targeting students from the healthcare sector. The program is designed to provide students with a strong business foundation complemented by in-depth study of a particular industry or sector. Read more

Published: November 25, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / Adcom / On-campus

My interviewer told me that the following questions were from a script he was supposed to follow: 1) How did you find and join your current employer? 2) Give an example of a time when you chose to be a team member and not a team leader. What lessons did you learn from that decision? 3) Explain how you deal with different types of people at work. 4) What is a quality that you admire in someone else that you wish you possessed yourself? 5) What do you plan to do after you earn your MBA and what steps have Read more

Published: October 7, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / Video Interview

For my Yale SOM video interview, I was asked the following questions – What accomplishment are you most proud of? Difficult professional decision and how you overcame it? As business becomes more global, culture becomes less important… Agree or disagree Read more

Published: October 7, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R1 / Video Interview

My Yale video interview consisted of the following questions: Einstein quote on knowledge vs imagination. Do you agree? Challenging work experience How would friends or coworkers describe you? Read more

Published: September 11, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Yale School of Management’s Julia Zupko

Julia Zupko joined Yale School of Management (SOM) as assistant dean and director of the Career Development Office in March 2012, bringing with her more than a decade of career services expertise honed at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. At Chicago Booth, Zupko helped expand career services into several sectors, including nonprofit and government work, and directed career management operations at Booth’s campuses in London and Singapore. In her first full year at Yale SOM, Zupko restructured the organization of the Career Development Office in an effort to improve efficiency and strengthen recruitment. Under her helm, the school’s annual SuperWeek in January drew a record 11 investment banks to campus. The overall number of companies coming to recruit Yale SOM students throughout the year also increased. Read on to learn from Zupko herself about how Yale SOM teaches “career skills for life,” how her team helps students steer clear of the “herd effect” and more. Read more

Published: July 29, 2013

Yale School of Management Debuts Two New SPOCS for Global Network Schools

The Yale School of Management (SOM) last week announced that it will offer two new virtual courses to its students as well as to students from the 22 other schools within the Global Network for Advanced Management. The courses, one in competition law and another in mobile banking opportunities, are an example of the growth of small online private courses (SPOCs), which some schools are beginning to offer instead of or in addition to massive open online courses (MOOCs). Yale SOM faculty will teach the two new digital courses, and their lectures will be streamed via the web. Participating students will collaborate on virtual project work as part of teams with students from other schools around the globe. Madrid’s IE Business School, a member of the Global Network, will provide and manage the technology platform to support the courses. Read more

Published: July 22, 2013

U.S. News Ranks 10 Full-Time MBA Programs That Lead to Highest Student Debt

As part of its Short List series, U.S. News & World Report today took a closer look at the student debt load incurred by full-time MBA students graduating from top business school programs. According to data provided by schools as part of its annual ranking, U.S. News found that full-time MBA graduates in 2012 emerged with an average of $49,619 in debt. At the 10 schools where graduates incurred the most student debt, the average per student was $97,154. Graduates of New York University’s Stern School of Business top the list in terms of average debt. There, the average graduate has a debt load of $105,782. Six figure debt is also the norm for graduates from the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, U.S. News reports. Read more

Published: June 24, 2013

Six Yale SOM Students Selected for Yale Entrepreneurial Institute Fellowships

Five current MBA students and one recent graduate of the Yale School of Management (SOM) have been selected through a competitive process to be among this summer’s fellows at the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI), the school announced earlier this month. To date, the YEI Summer Fellowship – open to students and teams throughout the university – has accelerated more than 70 Yale student business ventures, which have raised $60.5 million in outside financing and created more than 210 new jobs. Not only will this year’s six SOM students get to spend the summer developing their ventures at the YEI, they also will benefit from financial support, a work space, mentoring, entrepreneur-led workshops and opportunities to network with potential investors. Selected teams receive stipends from YEI for the summer of up to $20,000 per team, which supports living expenses and initial start-up costs, access to legal, accounting and marketing corporate partners and more. Read more

Published: June 9, 2013

Yale SOM Admissions Director Updates Clear Admit on Video Interviews, Other Application Elements

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. Read more

Published: May 22, 2013

Student-Run Fund at Yale School of Management to Support 33 Nonprofit, Public Sector Summer Internships

Continuing a tradition dating back to the earliest years of the school, students at the Yale School of Management (SOM) have raised more than $88,000 this spring to provide stipends to students who pursue summer internships in the nonprofit and public sectors, which often pay little to no salary. The monies raised by the student-run Class of 2014 Internship Fund will support 33 students this year, the school announced. This year’s fundraising campaign included several events centered around the theme of “All for SOM and SOM for All.” “We all worked together to support the fund and to create the community that is Yale SOM,” Bukky Olowude '14, co-chair of the campaign, said in a statement. Read more

Published: May 13, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Video interview

Last week, I did the video interview. Here are the questions as I remember them: What would your colleagues and friends say are your strengths and weaknesses? Please describe a creative solution that you have come up with for a problem. With businesses becoming more global, does the importance of local culture decrease or increase? Read more

Published: May 7, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Video interview

Hi, I took the Round 3 video interview. 1. What contribution did you provide for your company? 2. If you have a struggle with classmates, how will you solve it? 3. What is your biggest concern of the Admissions Committee in evaluating your application? Good luck! Read more

Published: March 3, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round2/ AdCom/ Off-campus

Conversational. Lasted for 40 mins. Very polite interviewer. He told me that he had only seen my resume, not the rest of the application, so he might be asking questions that I might have already answered in my essays and other parts of the application. 1. You have varied experience [read as job switches], can you please take me through them? (basically a resume walk) 2. What’s your long term goal, why MBA and what do you want to do after your MBA? 3. Leadership example! 4. What is that you don’t like about your job, Read more

Published: February 25, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Second-year student / On campus: Super Day

Super Day included about 150 interviewees and a full day of events. 10am breakfast 11am intro with dean 1145 ‘mind games’ a mini class with a professor lunch tour closing reception You step out whenever you have your interview. My interviewer and I actually had mutual friends, small world. The conversation was very informal. I probably ran on a bit since I was so excited/nervous about interviewing. Tell me about your current job and how you got it/there? Tell me a time when you were a leader? Tell me a time when you were behind deadline and what happened? Why Read more

Published: February 17, 2013

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-Campus

Interview off campus with Yale SOM adcom. Conversational, though I was like the 6th interview of her day so she clearly had pre-set questions. As Yale states, she definitely had not seen anything more than a quick glance at my resume prior to the interview. 1. Why Yale SOM? 2. Time you weren’t going to meet a deadline? What lessons did you learn? 3. Example of leadership and working as a team. What lessons did you learn? 4. Why business school and why now? 5. Anything you want the Admission Committee to know that we didn’t Read more

Published: December 17, 2012

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year student / On Campus

I was really excited to visit SOM and felt that it was a great fit from what I had reach/heard from former and current students. The on-campus experience unfortunately was a disappointment. We spent most of our time crammed in two rooms with nothing to do, and the class visit was a painfully boring lecture. The class visit was followed by a campus tour which was hampered by the fact that the tour guides seemed like they didn’t even like the campus or New Haven (one of our tour guides noted that there is “absolutely nothing to do in New Read more

Published: August 13, 2012

Admissions Director Q&A: Bruce DelMonico of the Yale School of Management

Our 2014 Admissions Director Q&A with Bruce DelMonico, the Admissions Director of the Yale School of Management, is now available. Yale School of Management (SOM) Admissions Director Bruce DelMonico recently took time out of his busy schedule to bring us up to speed on things in New Haven. A lawyer by training, DelMonico grew tired of sleeping in his office and traveling for weeks on end, so in October 2004 he joined Yale SOM as deputy director of admissions in his native New Haven, Connecticut. He assumed the role of admissions director in November 2006. There are lots of things to be excited about in the coming year at Yale SOM, DelMonico tells us. A new dean, Dean Edward Snyder, has been at the helm for the past year, helping to put into motion several exciting new developments, including the launch of a new Global Network for Advanced Management and the re-launch of the school’s Leadership Development Program. Construction continues, meanwhile, on a new home for the business school called Evan Hall, designed by famed architect Lord Norman Foster. Read more

Published: March 21, 2012

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / AdCom / On Campus

Hi all Pretty standard questions mostly: Explain why you choose your undergraduate school and what you did there. Explain how you got to your current job. If asked, how would your boss or client describe you? Tell me about a time you worked on a team. Questions? Good luck all ! Read more

Published: February 5, 2012

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / 2nd-year Student / On Campus

Had a really chill and nice second-year student for my R2 interview. We went through the following questions: Tell me the basics about you (in a couple of minutes) Some follow-up questions about transitions. Why did you decide to do X job after graduation? Why Y job after that? What is one of the main challenges at where you’re working now? Tell me one major strength and weakness. What were the “big take-aways” of XYZ experience? E.g. life lessons, how you changed, what you learned. What accomplishment were you most proud of in XYZ job/activity? What are your future plans Read more

Published: February 5, 2012

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 (Consortium) / 2nd-year Student / On Campus

Interviewed with a current 2nd student, blind – I actually met him prior List of interview questions: Where are you from? How was your undergraduate experience? Why an MBA? What do you want to do after your MBA? (long-term and short-term goals) What do you want to do during your internship? Name your leadership experiences Tell me about a difficult team experience. Why Yale SOM? Are there any questions that you wished I asked? Are there any questions for me (student)? Commentary: Very conversational We spent a lot of time just talking about his experience and what I wanted to Read more

Published: February 1, 2012

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / 2nd year student / On-campus

I interviewed on campus. My interviewer was friendly and took lots of notes. The questions: Please walk me through your resume. Describe how you work in a team. What do you want to do after Yale? Where do you see yourself in 20 years? What do you offer/bring to the table? Describe your perfect day/what do you do for fun? She stressed that the interview was about finding candidates with the right fit for SOM. It was more of a conversation than an interview, and we chatted a lot about her experiences. Read more

Published: April 5, 2011

Yale SOM MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Second-year Student / On-Campus

Interview with second year. More formal, little back and forth conversation until I was allowed to ask questions. Walk through the resume How did I choose my college/major/sport? Why MBA, Why SOM? What do you do for fun? What class did I sit in on during the visit/previous visit? What did I think? 5 minutes for questions for interviewer. Read more

Yale SOM

CLASS SIZE: 347

Women: 39%

Median GMAT: 730

Median GPA: 3.68

Livewire Decisionwire Interview Reports Essay Topic Analysis MBA Admissions Deadlines View Full Profile

MBA Applywire

December 4, 2024 5:13am ET

Applying: Cornell / Johnson, Duke / Fuqua, Georgetown / McDonough, Indiana / Kelley, Michigan / Ross, Notre Dame / Mendoza, Ohio State / Fisher, UNC Kenan-Flagler, UT Austin / McCombs, Vanderbilt / Owen

Pre-MBA Career: Data Engineer

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Other

GRE: 317

GPA: 3.2

Years of Work Experience: 2

Location: Wisconsin

Notes:

Will be applying when I hit 4 Years of work experience.

Undergrad: CS Engineering at Top 3 Public Uni, 3 Sport Varsity Athlete (20hrs mandatory a week August - May ), 3.2 GPA (2.8 after first two years but got my act together in the last two)

Completed three Summer Internships for Business Analytics, Software Engineering, and Data Science (last one converted to full time job I am at now )

2 Years Work Experience as a Data Engineer. No promotions but nobody in my company at this time has been either. Managed summer interns on their projects.

317 (160 Q, 157 V) GRE on first try, might be able to get up based on mocks.

Looking at going into Consulting / IB

Extra:

Volunteer at local community center with kids 3x per week

Semi-Elite Athlete in my prior sport still (wins cash/awards at local events I participate in)

December 2, 2024 8:52pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Stanford GSB

Pre-MBA Career: Student + USAF Reservist

Post-MBA Target Industry: MF, Auto, Aerospace, Entrepreneurship

GMAT: 715

GPA: 3.79

Notes:

Hey everyone! I'm thinking about applying to M7 deferred programs but would like to get a second opinion on my profile. What are my profile's strengths and weaknesses? Thank you for your help!

**Demographics:**
23M, First Gen Low-Income College, Immigrant, ORM, Serving in the Air Force

**Education:**

* (Ongoing) MS in Aerospace Engineering (4.0 GPA), focusing on Bioastronautics and Human Factors, from a state school with a T10 aerospace program. Currently taking classes online.
* (Ongoing) MS in Econ Analysis at a T5 econ program in Europe, focusing on international trade and development. Living in Europe right now.
* BS in Aerospace Engineering with a Business minor, 3.8 GPA. Same school as my MS.

**Test Scores:**
GMAT: 715 FE

**Work Experience:**

* **Space Start-Up:** Interned part-time for 9 months and full-time for 4 months. Worked on new in-space construction tech and frequently pitched to VCs.
* **T1 Space Company (think SpaceX/NASA):** Integration/Test Engineering Intern for two summers. Led cross-functional teams across sites, saving $15M+. Directed flight hardware tests, built dashboards/tools, and solved technical issues under tight timelines.
* **Mid-Sized Space Company:** Interned in spacecraft testing. Streamlined workflows and redesigned hardware, cutting testing timelines by 30%+.
* **US Air Force:** Lieutenant. Managed logistics for one of the biggest ROTC detachments, leading a team of 20+. Currently doing grad school while awaiting pilot training.

**Extracurriculars:**

* VP of a university aviation club for 3 years, organized flying events for 200+ students.
* Volunteer pilot for an animal rescue nonprofit. Flown 15k+ miles and rescued 30+ animals over 4 years.

**Post-MBA Goal:**
Start a company focused on human factors products—think astronaut peripherals or performance systems designed to enhance safety and effectiveness in extreme space environments.

**Why Deferred:**
I’m about to start Air Force flight training and will be flying for \~2.5 years before becoming a reservist. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I’m super excited to go through it. I feel like I've done a lot so far, but I could fall behind of my peers in 2 to 3 years time because I'm going to be doing military stuff.

**Dream Schools:**
Sloan, GSB, and HBS, but open to other M7s.

Thank you again!

December 2, 2024 11:25am ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Pharma, VC & Innovation consulting

Post-MBA Target Industry: Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship Companies: Andressen Horowitz , NEA

GRE: 320

GPA: N/A

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: London, United Kingdom

Notes:

Post MBA I want to run my own health tech startup or join a health focused VC team.

Have a bit of a varied background. Italian-Ivorian but have been living in London since 2010. Went to the University of Oxford for undergrad where I studied history and politics. Have an international affairs masters degree from Sciences Po in Paris.

Started my career post grad school in innovation consulting (1year and a half) before a short stint at a VC firm in Amsterdam. Left that after 6 months because of culture to join a tech startup. Landed in an innovation role at a top Pharma co in London almost 2 years ago (in that role I focused on establishing partnerships with digital health players from startups and scale-ups to health systems).

I've always have done things on the side. Started a startup in 2018 with a bunch of former colleagues I had met in South Korea in 2016 - that folded in 2019; started another startup in 2020 - an edtech marketplace and closed that up in the same year. In 2022 I co-founded a non profit focused on supporting Africa-focused emerging fund managers as they raise their first investment vehicles - I run that on the side with my Co-Founders and we now have 2 employees. Played a key role in securing $259k in funding for the non profit.

December 2, 2024 8:03am ET

Applying: Stanford GSB

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: GrowthEquity

Post-MBA Target Industry: Venture Capital Companies: Accell Partners , NEA , Sequoia Capital

GMAT: 750

GPA: 3.9

Location: U.S.

Post MBA Location: California or NYC

Notes:

Hello everyone. I'm a senior and going to apply for the Stanford, Harvard, and Wharton deferred admission programs next year. Would appreciate feedback from people here and what I should do to increase my chances

**Academic Background:**

Undergrad & major: Top Undergrad Business program @ Top State School (Think Ross/Mcintire/Mcdough/Haas level)

GPA: 3.9/4.0.

GMAT: 750

Race/nationality: Hispanic

Sex: M

**Work experience:**

\- Junior Intern & Going back full-time @ T2 Growth Equity Shop (Think Spectrum/Silversmith level)

\- Sophomore Intern @ MBB

\- T1 VC Spring Fellowship

\- 3 Consulting Projects @ different F100 Companies

\- Freshman Intern LMM @ Private Equity Shop

\- Venture Scourt @ Small VC Firm

\- Campus Growth for Series A Startup

\- Econ Research @ HYPSM

**Extracurricular:**

\-President of a large preprofessional URM organization (100+ members). Also did consulting projects for several F500 companies as part of the org.

\-Content creator (100k subs on all platforms doing career/undergrad related vlogs and podcasts)

**Future plans:**

\- Build out venture capital/entrepreneurship/tech companies in 3rd world country my family is from

\- Build out a creator economy tech company to connect the worldd

\- Build out student financing tool because of my background of being FGLI

**Goal of MBA/More info:**

\- PreMBA = Safety net to explore building or joining a renowned startup
\- During MBA = use as incubator to develop my own tech startup
\- Post MBA ideally startup becomes unicorn and I drop out but that's 99% not going to happen so go into early-stage investing at T1 VC or go to T1 GE shop

**Questions:**

Is growth equity a good differentiator compared to traditional roles like IB/Consulting

Really appreciate any advice, thank you!

December 2, 2024 3:28am ET

Applying:

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: test

Post-MBA Target Industry: Commercial Banking Companies: Citibank

GPA: test

Years of Work Experience: 1

Location: test

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MBA LiveWire

December 4, 2024 1:48pm ET

Accepted to Stanford GSB

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on December 02, 2024

GPA: 3.7

GRE: 335

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: NYC

Note:

Got the call at 3pm ET let's go!!!!

December 4, 2024 1:42pm ET

Waitlisted at Carnegie Mellon / Tepper

Round: Round 1

Received via portal December 4, 2024

GMAT: 730

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Technology

Application Location: India

December 4, 2024 1:33pm ET

Accepted to Michigan / Ross

Round: Round 1

Received via phone December 4, 2024

GPA: 3.48

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Healthcare

Application Location: Canada

Note:

Granted a 60K/year scholarship through the Forte Foundation. Posting this for anyone who is applying with a GMAT waiver and has a really clear reason why an MBA. (I wish I had this sliver of hope when I applied)
The AdCom rep highlighted that my essays and clarity came through and was the main reason I got this scholarship.
P.S. I majored in Math & Stats with a high GPA in my third and fourth year.

December 4, 2024 1:21pm ET

Accepted to Carnegie Mellon / Tepper

Round: Round 1

Received via phone December 4, 2024

GPA: 3.88

GRE: 321

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Application Location: NYC

December 4, 2024 12:58pm ET

Accepted to Michigan / Ross

Round: Round 1

Received via phone December 4, 2024

GPA: 3.8

GMAT: 675

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

Application Location: New York, NY

Note:

100% scholarship

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