Class of 2013 Application Deadlines Announced

With the academic year coming to a close, we would like to thank everyone for their continued readership. We’ve enjoyed getting to know you through the admissions process and look forward to meeting prospective applicants around the world this fall. Our travel schedule will be posted online over the summer, so please check our web site periodically.

If you’re planning to apply this upcoming year for Yale SOM’s Class of 2013, summer is a great time to get started on your application. The deadlines for the application rounds this year are:

Round 1
Application Deadline: October 7, 2010
Decision Notification: December 16, 2010

Round 2
Application Deadline: January 6, 2011
Decision Notification: March 25, 2011

Round 3
Application Deadline: March 17, 2011
Decision Notification: May 12, 2011

For those candidates applying to SOM through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, whose mission is to enhance diversity in business education and leadership, the deadlines for that application are November 15, 2010 (Round 1) and January 5, 2011 (Round 2). For both of these Consortium rounds, the SOM decision notification date will be February 25, 2011.

We hope these dates will help you plan your admissions timeline. As you do so, we offer some additional thoughts on how to prioritize and manage your time:

Begin Studying for the GMAT/GRE

Juggling the demands of work and your personal life can make preparing for a standardized exam difficult. Starting early affords you more time to study and will help you go into the exam more confident.

Select Your Recommenders

Giving your recommenders ample time to write their letter of recommendation will insure a thoughtful and informative assessment of your strengths as an applicant. Choose people who know you well and can add specific examples to highlight your strengths and what you will bring to the SOM community.

Work on Your Essays

Although our application won’t go live until July, you can begin crafting your essays now. To help you do so, here are our essay topics for the upcoming year:

Short Answers
Please answer each of the four questions below with a short paragraph of no more than 150 words. This is an opportunity to distill your core ideas, values, goals and motivations into a set of snapshots that help tell us who you are, where you are headed, and why. (150 words maximum per question)

1. What are your professional goals immediately after you receive your MBA?
2. What are your long-term career aspirations?
3. Why are you choosing to pursue an MBA and why now? (If you plan to use your MBA experience to make a significant change in the field or nature of your career, please tell us what you have done to prepare for this transition.)
4. What attracts you specifically to the Yale School of Management’s MBA program?

Personal Statements
Choose two (2) of the following topics and answer them in essay form. Please indicate the topic numbers at the beginning of your essays. (500 words maximum per essay)

1. What achievement are you most proud of and why?
2. What is the most difficult feedback you have received from another person or the most significant weakness you have perceived in yourself? What steps have you taken to address it and how will business school contribute to this process?
3. Describe an accomplishment that exhibits your leadership style. The description should include evidence of your leadership skills, the actions you took, and the impact you had on your organization.
4. An effective leader for business and society is one who is able to hear, understand and communicate with people from all segments of society. In order to educate such leaders, Yale SOM is committed to promoting diversity and creating a community that cultivates a wealth of perspectives. In this spirit, describe an instance when, as part of a team, you played a role in bringing together individuals with different values or viewpoints to achieve a common goal.
5. For Reapplicants (answer this topic plus one (1) of the other topics): What steps have you taken to improve your candidacy since your last application?

Additional Information (Optional)
If any aspect of your candidacy needs further explanation, please provide any additional information that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. (250 words maximum)

If you have any questions as you’re completing your application, Admissions Committee members will be available to answer questions on our online message boards. We’re also planning some online events, so be sure to check our web site in the coming weeks. You can expect the next issue of our newsletter to arrive in August. Until then, we hope you have a wonderful summer.


Admissions Office
Yale School of Management
135 Prospect Street
Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
203.432.5635, Admissions Office
203.432.6380, Visitor Center
fax 203.432.7004
mba.admissions@yale.edu