mbaMission’s Insider’s Guide

Yale School of Management

Yale University
New Haven, CT

2019–2020

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mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 4

Introduction from mbaMission

After more than a decade helping MBA applicants get into top business schools, we have learned what can compel an
admissions committee to send that coveted letter of acceptance. Selecting the right MBA program for your needs and
developing a true understanding of and familiarity with that program are crucial in crafting a successful application.
We have therefore invested hundreds of hours into researching and examining the leading business schools—including
speaking with students, alumni, and other representatives—to construct these guides, with the express goal of helping
applicants like you make informed decisions about this important step in your education and career.

We hope you enjoy this guide and encourage you to visit us at www.mbamission.com for complete and detailed analysis
of the leading schools’ essay questions, weekly essay-writing tips, MBA news and trends, and other valuable free in-
formation and resources. And for any advice you may need on applying to business school, please contact us for a free
30-minute consultation. Our consultants are extensively trained to help applicants present themselves in the most inter-
esting and compelling way and take advantage of every opportunity that might increase their chances of being admitted
to their target MBA program.

Jeremy Shinewald
President/Founder
mbaMission

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 5

Introduction from Poets&Quants

Over the past ten years, Poets&Quants has become the foremost authority on the top business schools. Our mission has
always been to help young professionals with one of the most important—and potentially most expensive—decisions of
their lives: whether to pursue an MBA.

We are pleased to offer these guides to our readers as part of our editorial partnership between Poets&Quants and
mbaMission, the world’s leading MBA admissions consulting firm. We closely evaluated all such guides currently on the
market, and are confident that you will not find a more thorough analysis of an MBA program than mbaMission’s. These
in-depth reports are well researched and well written, offering the detail and examination applicants need to really under-
stand a school’s culture, offerings, and outcomes. We are thrilled to offer these guides to our readers for free, thanks to
our new partnership.

Moreover, the guides are a great complement to the daily coverage of MBA news, students, programs, and admissions
practices on PoetsandQuants.com. We hope you will visit our site often to stay informed about the programs that interest
you and the one you ultimately attend. We will continue to provide the most relevant and current resources on the MBA
world to help you make the best possible decisions on your path from school selection to career advancement.

I wish you the best of luck on your journey to what will undoubtedly be a transformational experience.

John A. Byrne
Founder & Editor-In-Chief
Poets&Quants

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 6

Free Resources from mbaMission
The following guides are also available from mbaMission (online at www.mbamission.com/guides), and
more are being added regularly:

Admissions Guides Insider’s Guides

ƒƒ Complete Start-to-Finish MBA Admissions Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to Columbia Business School
ƒƒ Brainstorming Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson
ƒƒ Essay Writing Guide Graduate School of Management
ƒƒ Fundamentals of an MBA Candidacy Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business
ƒƒ Interview Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Haas School of Business at the University
ƒƒ Letters of Recommendation Guide of California-Berkeley
ƒƒ Long-Term Planning Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to Harvard Business School
ƒƒ Optional Essays Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to INSEAD
ƒƒ Personal Statement Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Kellogg School of Management at
ƒƒ Resume Guide Northwestern University
ƒƒ Selecting Your Target MBA Program E-Book ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the MIT Sloan School of Management
ƒƒ Social Media Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to New York University’s Leonard N. Stern
ƒƒ Waitlist Guide School of Business
ƒƒ MBA Student Loan Reduction Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Stanford Graduate School of Business
ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at
the University of Michigan
International Program Guides ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth
ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the UCLA Anderson School of Management
ƒƒ Cambridge Judge Business School Program Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the University of Chicago Booth School of
ƒƒ ESADE Program Guide Business
ƒƒ HEC Paris Program Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the University of Virginia’s Darden School of
ƒƒ HKUST Program Guide Business Administration
ƒƒ IE Business School Program Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Wharton School of the University of
ƒƒ IESE Business School Program Guide Pennsylvania
ƒƒ INSEAD Program Guide ƒƒ Insider’s Guide to the Yale School of Management
ƒƒ Ivey Business School Program Guide
ƒƒ London Business School Program Guide
ƒƒ Rotman School of Management Program Guide
ƒƒ Saïd Business School Program Guide

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 7

Interview Guides Career Guides

ƒƒ Chicago Booth School of Business Interview Guide ƒƒ Asset Management Career Guide
ƒƒ Columbia Business School Interview Guide ƒƒ Consulting Career Guide
ƒƒ Dartmouth Tuck Interview Guide ƒƒ Hedge Fund Career Guide
ƒƒ Duke Fuqua Interview Guide ƒƒ Investment Banking Career Guide
ƒƒ Haas School of Business Interview Guide ƒƒ Marketing Career Guide
ƒƒ Harvard Business School Interview Guide ƒƒ Private Equity Career Guide
ƒƒ INSEAD Interview Guide ƒƒ Real Estate Investment & Development Career Guide
ƒƒ London Business School Interview Guide ƒƒ Tech Career Guide
ƒƒ Michigan Ross Interview Guide ƒƒ Venture Capital Career Guide
ƒƒ MIT Sloan School of Management Interview Guide
ƒƒ Northwestern Kellogg Interview Guide
ƒƒ NYU Stern School of Business Interview Guide
ƒƒ Stanford GSB Interview Guide
ƒƒ Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania Interview
Guide
ƒƒ UCLA Anderson Interview Guide
ƒƒ UVA Darden Interview Guide
ƒƒ Yale School of Management Interview Guide

The mbaMission blog is updated daily and offers a plethora of MBA admissions tips, business school news,
company updates, event listings, and other valuable information. Be sure to also follow us on Twitter (@
mbaMission), Facebook, and Instagram (@mbaMission)!

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 8

Table of Contents

10 The MBA Program in Context: Choosing the Yale SOM

11 Location: Urban Campus Versus College Town
13 Class Size: Smaller Versus Larger
16 Curriculum: Flexible Versus Mandatory Core
19 Pedagogy: Lecture Versus Case Method
21 Academic Specializations/Recruitment Focus: Resources and Employers
23 Alumni Base: Opportunities to Engage
25 Facilities: Shaping the Academic/Social Experience
26 Rankings and Reputation: Important Metrics or Arbitrary Measures?

30 The Yale School of Management

30 Summary
31 The Dean
33 Professional Specializations
33 Consulting
34 Entrepreneurship, Private Equity, and Venture Capital
37 Finance
39 General Management
40 Health Care and Biotechnology
42 International Business
44 Marketing
45 Nonprofit/Social Entrepreneurship
49 Real Estate
50 Notable Professors and Unsung Heroes
52 Social/Community Life
53 Academic Summary
55 Admissions Basics
58 Yale School of Management Essay Analysis, 2019–2020
60 mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Yale School of Management’s Admissions Director Bruce DelMonico

68 Appendix: Yale SOM Facts and Figures

68 Basics
68 Class Profile (Class of 2020)
68 Employment Statistics (Class of 2018)

70 Bibliography
The MBA Program in Context:
Choosing the Yale SOM

Over the years, we have met many aspiring MBA students who have tried to identify their target
schools and quickly become overwhelmed, wondering, “How are the top MBA programs really differ-
ent?” and “How do I choose the one that is right for me?”
You may not find a
Frustrated, some applicants ultimately choose schools based simply on rankings or the opinions of
single program that
friends or alumni. Although these inputs have a place in your evaluative process, you should also do meets all your needs
the necessary research to find the program that is truly best for your personality and professional and preferences, but
needs. In doing so, you will find significant differences between, for example, programs that have you should be able to
a class size in the low 200s and those that have classes of more than 900 students. As you are un- identify ones that fulfill
doubtedly already aware, an MBA is a significant investment in the short term and a lifetime connec- the factors that are
tion to an institution in the long term. We therefore strongly encourage you to take time now to think
most important to you.
long and hard about this decision and thoroughly consider your options. We hope this guide will prove
helpful to you in doing just that.

At mbaMission, we advise candidates evaluating their potential target schools to consider the following eight specific
characteristics (in no particular order) that shape MBA programs:

1. Location: Urban Campus Versus College Town

2. Class Size: Smaller Versus Larger
3. Curriculum: Flexible Versus Mandatory Core
4. Pedagogy: Lecture Versus Case Method
5. Academic Specializations/Recruitment Focus: Resources and Employers
6. Alumni Base: Opportunities to Engage
7. Facilities: Shaping the Academic/Social Experience
8. Rankings and Reputation: Important Metrics or Arbitrary Measures?

You will not likely find a single MBA program that meets all your needs and preferences across these eight criteria, but
you should be able to identify schools that fulfill the factors that are most important to you. Although this guide is in-
tended to familiarize you on a deeper level with this particular school, nothing will prove more valuable in your decision
making than visiting the programs that appeal to you and experiencing them firsthand. Inevitably, no matter what your
research may reveal, some schools will simply “click” with you, and others will not.

Note: The authors and editors at mbaMission have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the informa-
tion included in this guide. However, some discrepancies may exist or develop over time between what is presented here and
what appears in the school’s official materials, as well as what may be offered by other content providers in print or online.
For the most up-to-date information, always check with your target school directly. The opinions expressed by the people

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 10

interviewed are those of the attributed individuals only and may not necessarily represent the opinion of mbaMission or any
of its affiliates.

We also wish to thank the students, alumni, faculty members, and administrators who gave generously of their time to pro-
vide valuable input for this guide.

1. Location: Urban Campus Versus College Town

Pursuing an MBA can be quite intense, and the environment and community surrounding the campus
can profoundly affect and even shape your MBA experience. For example, imagine stepping out of a
class at New York University’s (NYU’s) Stern School of Business and into the energetic bustle of New The environment
York City’s West Village. Now imagine walking outside after a course at the Tuck School of Business and community
at Dartmouth and being surrounded by the tranquility and natural beauty of New Hampshire’s Upper
surrounding your
Valley. Neither scenario is necessarily “better” than the other, but one might appeal to you more.
chosen school can
An urban campus can undoubtedly offer social and cultural opportunities that a college town simply
profoundly affect
cannot match. This is not to suggest, however, that college towns are devoid of culture—indeed, in- and shape your MBA
tense intellectual and cultural programs exist in college towns precisely because the academic insti- experience.
tution is at the core of the community.

While schools in college towns tout their close-knit atmosphere and the tight bonds classmates form in such a setting,
this environment can be welcoming for some students and overwhelming for others. In contrast, urban campuses are
more decentralized, with students often living in various parts of a city and even in the surrounding suburbs. Someone
who has a greater need for privacy or personal space might therefore prefer an urban environment. In addition, in major
urban centers, some students—particularly those who lived in the city before enrolling in business school—may already
have well-developed social groups, and this scenario may again be better for those who find an academically and socially
all-encompassing environment less attractive.

One aspect of the MBA experience that candidates often fail to consider when evaluating their school options is weather.
Although factoring climate into your school choice may initially seem superficial, if you know you cannot comfortably
manage frigid conditions or soaring temperatures, certain programs should be stricken from your list. We encounter
many applicants each year who wisely stave off a potentially miserable experience by choosing to not apply to certain
schools in locations they just do not feel are “livable” for them.

In addition, housing costs are one expense that Urban Campus Schools Urban/College Hybrid Schools College Town Schools

many applicants do not stop to consider before Chicago Booth Northwestern Kellogg Cornell Johnson
choosing a school to target. By researching real Columbia Business School Stanford GSB Dartmouth Tuck
estate prices at the top programs, we found that Harvard Business School UC Berkeley Haas Duke Fuqua
the cost differential between renting a one-bed- MIT Sloan UCLA Anderson Michigan Ross
NYU Stern Yale SOM UVA Darden
room apartment in a Midwestern college town
UPenn Wharton
and renting one in New York City, for example,

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 11

can be quite significant—adding up to tens Average Monthly Rent for a One-Bedroom Apartment
of thousands of dollars on a cumulative ba-
NYU Stern New York, NY $3,259 within .33 mile radius of campus
sis across two years. This is an important
factor to include as you weigh your options MIT Sloan Cambridge, MA $3,219 within .50 mile radius of campus

and calculate your projected budget. Columbia Business School New York, NY $2,767 within .50 mile radius of campus

Stanford GSB Stanford, CA $2,655 within 1.50 mile radius of campus

In summary, a college town can be appeal-
ing for some candidates because its small- UCLA Anderson Los Angeles, CA $2,555 within .75 mile radius of campus

er size tends to create strong bonds within Harvard Business School Cambridge, MA $2,378 within .33 mile radius of campus
the business school’s community, though
UC Berkeley Haas Berkeley, CA $2,191 within .75 mile radius of campus
for others, the lack of privacy could be un-
UPenn Wharton Philadelphia, PA $1,681 within .50 mile radius of campus
desired or overwhelming. Furthermore,
some find a slower pace of life calming and Yale SOM New Haven, CT $1,494 within .50 mile radius of campus
comfortable, whereas others crave the
Dartmouth Tuck Hanover, NH $1,397 within 5.0 mile radius of campus
energy and bustle of a city. If you strongly
Northwestern Kellogg Evanston, IL $1,291 within 1.0 mile radius of campus
prefer one or the other, you should be able
to quickly eliminate certain schools from Chicago Booth Chicago, IL $1,228 within 1.0 mile radius of campus
your list.
Michigan Ross Ann Arbor, MI $1,144 within .50 mile radius of campus

Cornell Johnson Ithaca, NY $1,042 within .75 mile radius of campus

The city of New Haven, Connecti-
cut, is home to Yale University, UVA Darden Charlottesville, VA $995 within 1.0 mile radius of campus

which is both the city’s largest em- Duke Fuqua Durham, NC $921 within 1.5 mile radius of campus
ployer (nearly 14,000 people) and
biggest tourist attraction, report- According to Rentometer.com, accessed June 2019.

edly drawing more than 550,000

visitors a year. Located approximately 80 miles from New York City (a trip of approximately an hour and 45
minutes to two hours via the Metropolitan Transportation Authority) and 135 miles from Boston (an approxi-
mately two and a half hour trip on Acela Express), New Haven is well situated for accessing the attractions of
either vibrant urban environment.

This city of roughly 130,000 residents can be considered dynamic in its own right, howev-
er, offering both natural and cultural diversions. The Yale University Art Gallery features
masterpieces from artists such as Van Gogh and Rubens, and regional theater is prominent Yale’s access to NYC
in New Haven. The Chapel Street Historic District, a bustling area several blocks south of makes it a great option
the Yale School of Management (SOM), is home to shops and restaurants and adjacent to
for those looking to go
the New Haven Green. Outdoor enthusiasts have many opportunities to enjoy nature in and
into finance post-MBA.
around New Haven: picnic in New Haven Green, hike the summit in East Rock Park for views
of Long Island Sound, or travel further afield to the White Mountains of New Hampshire to
 Susan Kaplan, mbaMission Senior
mountain bike or hike in summer or ski in winter. The beach is only 15 minutes away, perfect
Consultant and SOM Alumna
for a clambake on a sunny day.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 12

 New Haven has an active nightlife, with SOM students frequenting bars and restaurants along Chapel Street
or meeting up at Gryphon’s Pub, a social club where a small annual fee can eliminate the nightly cover charge.
(See more about Gryphon’s in the Social/Community Life section.) Yale students also have many ethnic variet-
ies of food from which to choose in New Haven, from French to Indian, Korean, and Cuban. However, “Yalies”
appear to take pizza most seriously. Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, known simply as Pepe’s and located in
New Haven, has earned a reputation as one of the country’s top pizzerias, and, in 2013, was recognized by Za-
gat for having Connecticut’s best pizza. Still, other options are also available throughout New Haven, including
Pepe’s longtime rival Sally’s, as well as Est, Est, Est and Modern Apizza, all close to the SOM.

“New Haven gets a bad rap,” said a first-year student with whom mbaMission spoke, “but I love it! It’s a great
college town with plenty going on. It’s close-knit; you see your classmates on the street. You can get to the
beach or hiking. It’s my favorite place I’ve ever lived.”

Although graduate student housing is available, the majority of SOM students (an estimated 95%, according
to a first year we interviewed) live off campus in the neighborhoods surrounding the university. The East Rock
area, also known as “graduate student ghetto” or “Grad Haven,” is on the Yale Shuttle line and has rents averag-
ing approximately $1,500 per month for a two-bedroom apartment. A first-year student told mbaMission that
one housing complex popular with SOM students is Mansfield, which constitutes of five buildings a block from
campus and less than five minutes from the school. The Yale graduate housing website highlights the resi-
dences as particularly suitable for roommates, couples, and families. Some students do have cars, and others
walk, but New Haven is generally not considered bike-friendly, in part because of its harsh winters.

2. Class Size: Smaller Versus Larger

Another element that affects the character of a school’s MBA experience is class size. You might
want to reflect on your high school, college, and work environments to help you determine whether
you would be more comfortable in a larger class or a smaller one—or whether this is even a consider-
ation for you at all. Reflect on your past
academic and work
Students at smaller schools (which we define as having approximately 350 students or fewer per
environments to
class) tend to interact with most of their peers and professors at some point during the typical two-
determine whether
year MBA period. Thus, the smaller schools are generally considered more “knowable,” and their com-
munities tend to be quite closely knit. Also, consider that assuming a leadership position is easier in
you would be more
a smaller environment, because, for example, the Finance Club may have only one president at both comfortable in a larger
a small school and a large school, but competition for such a position would obviously be greater in or smaller class—or
the larger program. whether this is a
consideration for you
Some individuals might prefer to be at a larger school where they can better maintain their anonymity at all.
if they so choose. A student at a school with close to 900 people or more in each class will not likely
get to know each and every one of their classmates by the end of the program, and some people
might prefer this. Further, advocates of larger classes tout the advantage of being able to interact

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 13

 Most Common Undergraduate Major for Incoming Students (Class of 2020) Class Size

Chicago Booth Economics 25% 900 to 1,000 Harvard Business School

Columbia Business School Business 29% 800 to 900 UPenn Wharton

Cornell Johnson Business 29% 700 to 800 Columbia Business School1

Dartmouth Tuck Arts / Humanities / Social Sciences 51% 500 to 600 Chicago Booth

Duke Fuqua NA NA 400 to 500 Northwestern Kellogg

Duke Fuqua
Harvard Business School Economics / Business 46%
Michigan Ross
Michigan Ross Economics / Business 42% Stanford GSB
MIT Sloan
MIT Sloan Engineering 31%
300 to 400 NYU Stern
Northwestern Kellogg Economics / Business 50%
UCLA Anderson
NYU Stern Business 27% Yale SOM
UVA Darden
Stanford GSB Humanities / Social Sciences 48%
200 to 300 UC Berkeley Haas
UC Berkeley Haas Economics 21%
Dartmouth Tuck
UCLA Anderson Business 26% Cornell Johnson

UPenn Wharton Humanities 45%

Schools are listed in order from largest class to smallest within
UVA Darden NA NA
each category.

Yale SOM Humanities and Social Sciences 29% 1

Includes J-Term students.

with more people during one’s MBA experience—and to thereby develop a broader and more robust network of peers.
Note that many schools divide students into smaller groups—called “sections,” “clusters,” “cohorts,” or even “oceans”—in
which approximately 60–90 students take certain classes together, and this approach can help foster a stronger sense
of community within the larger programs.

The Yale SOM is on the smaller side for a business school, admitting only 347 students in its Class of 2020.
However, this number has been rising over recent years from a historical figure of approximately 230, with 323
for the Class of 2016, 326 for the Class of 2017, 334 for the Class of 2018, and 348 for the Class of 2019. “While
other business schools have been stagnant or declining in applications, SOM has enjoyed a steady growth over
recent years,” remarked an associate dean of the school in a January 2014 Yale Daily News article. Despite its
comparatively smaller size, the SOM boasts a diverse student body, which for the Class of 2020 includes 43%
women, 45% international students, and 27% U.S. minority students (12% U.S. underrepresented minorities).

At orientation, the incoming first-year class is divided into a handful of color-coded cohorts. The multiday
event allows incoming students bond with the other students in their cohort via a number of social events,
which in recent years have included a Chili Cookoff competition and the Cohort Cup competition. During the
Cohort Cup, students compete in such events as tug-of-war and a dizzy bat race to “determine which cohort
reigns supreme,” wrote a first-year student on the SOM community blog. The Cohort Cup culminates in the Co-
hort Olympics, where the winning cohort of the year is announced. “The cohort experience at SOM reaches far

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 14

 Year-Over-Year Class Profile Class of Class of Class of Class of Class of Class of Class of Class of Class of
Data: Yale SOM 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012

Class Size 347 348 334 326 323 291 249 228 231

Median GMAT 730 730 730 720 720 714 717 719 722

GMAT Range (Middle 80%) 690–760 690–760 690–760 690–760 680–760 690–740 660–760 680–770 680–770

Median GPA 3.71 3.69 3.65 3.63 3.56 3.57 3.55 3.51 3.52

GPA Range (Middle 80%) 3.36– 3.38– 3.31– 3.28– 3.17– 3.36– 3.18– 3.08– 3.12–
3.92 3.94 3.91 3.88 3.87 3.80 3.87 3.87 3.95

Female Students 43% 43% 43% 40% 37% 39% 35% 36% 37%

U.S. Students of Color1 27% 27% 28% 22% 25% 22% 25% 25% 20%

Underrepresented U.S. 12% 12% 13% 10% 10% 11% NA NA NA

Students of Color 2

International Passport Holders 45% 45% 46% 40% 32% 27% 32% 26% 26%

1
Listed before Class of 2020 as U.S. Minorities.
2
Listed before Class of 2020 as Underrepresented U.S. Minorities.

beyond the classroom in its ability to shape the larger Yale SOM experience,” commented
another first year on the school’s website.

Yale’s class size has

Students take all core courses with their cohort throughout the first year, and each student grown significantly
is assigned to a seven- or eight-person learning team. Learning teams are designed to be
with the new building,
diverse, both professionally and personally. “On my own learning team, there are students
which has been a
from Brazil, China, Turkey, and the West and East Coasts of the [United States] with back-
grounds in consulting, nonprofit, engineering, education, finance, and government,” noted
great opportunity
a first-year student on the school’s website, adding, “We spend time together outside of for more students to
class working on assignments, but every now and then we get together for dinner to relax take advantage of the
and learn more about one another outside the classroom.” program. At the same
time, the program
From what we learned in our research for this guide, the environment at the Yale SOM is in- requirements have
timate and close-knit. Many students seem to choose the school for just this reason, citing
become even more
the smaller community and welcoming environment. A first-year student told mbaMission
competitive.
that the “advantages of the small class, the brand name, and how close it [the school] is to
New York City” numbered among his top reasons for choosing the SOM. Students generally
 Susan Kaplan, mbaMission Senior
get to know everyone on campus. Small class size does not necessarily translate into lim-
Consultant and SOM Alumna
ited opportunities, however. With more than 50 clubs available, prospects for leadership
are numerous.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 15

 In addition, smaller class size typically trans- School (Class of 2020) Women International Minorities

lates to professor availability. The Yale SOM has Chicago Booth 42% 30% 31%
more than 170 faculty members, and such a low
Columbia Business School 39% 42% 33%1
student-to-teacher ratio typically means that
professors are readily accessible. A second- Cornell Johnson 33% 27% 32%1

year student we interviewed described the Dartmouth Tuck 45% 36%2,3 20%1
school’s professors as “very approachable.”
Duke Fuqua 42% 38% 16%

Coinciding with the 2014 inauguration of a larg- Harvard Business School 41% 37%2 26%1,2

er building (see the Facilities section for details Michigan Ross 43% 32% 23%1
on this development), the SOM announced plans
MIT Sloan 42% 38% NA
to increase its class size to approximately 300
students by 2017. With the most recent incom- Northwestern Kellogg 46% 34% 27%1

ing class (the Class of 2020) numbering 347, NYU Stern 35% 39%2,3 29%1,2
the program has clearly attained this goal. The
Stanford GSB 41% 42%2,3 27%1
SOM Dean at the time, Edward “Ted” Snyder, de-
UC Berkeley Haas 43% 43%2,3 38%1,2
scribed the intended changes to the class size
in a March 2012 Yale Daily News article, noting UCLA Anderson 34% 33% 29%
that the SOM planned to preserve the intimate
UPenn Wharton 43% 33% 33%1
feel it is known for by increasing faculty size
UVA Darden 38% 31% 18%1
along with the class size. Moreover, the experi-
ence of the first-year core curriculum would not Yale SOM 43% 45%2,3 27%1,2
change, because the school planned to simply
add a section rather than adding more students 1
Specified as U.S. minorities.

to existing sections. Assistant Dean and Direc- 2

Includes permanent U.S. residents.

tor of Admissions Bruce DelMonico explained 3

Includes dual citizens.

in a February 2012 SOM News article, “This in-

crease will help in a number of areas, such as making the school even more attractive to recruiters and ex-
panding [students’] future network, but it is small enough to preserve the culture and connectivity that make
the Yale MBA experience distinctive.”

3. Curriculum: Flexible Versus Mandatory Core

Many business schools have a “core” curriculum—a standard series of courses that all students must
take. However, these core requirements can vary tremendously from one program to the next. For
example, one school may teach its required curriculum for the entire first year, meaning that stu- The rigidity or flexibility
dents will not take any elective courses until their second year, whereas another MBA program may of a school’s first-year
stipulate only one or two required courses.
curriculum affects
students’ education
The rigidity or flexibility of a school’s required curriculum affects students’ education and social-
ization. Regardless of their professional experience, students at a school with a rigid core curricu-
and socialization.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 16

lum must all take the same classes. At some schools, for example, Can Waive/ Cannot Waive/

even CPAs must take the required foundational accounting course, Test Out of Classes Test Out of Classes

whereas at others, students can waive selected classes if they can Chicago Booth Harvard Business School
prove a certain level of proficiency. Again, both approaches have Cornell Johnson MIT Sloan
pros and cons, and what those are depends on your perspective. Columbia Business School Stanford GSB
Dartmouth Tuck UVA Darden
Duke Fuqua Yale SOM
Proponents of a rigid core curriculum would argue that academics
Michigan Ross
understand what skills students need to become true managers and
Northwestern Kellogg
that when students “overspecialize” in one area, their overall busi- NYU Stern
ness education can ultimately suffer. A significant body of academic UC Berkeley Haas
writing has been devoted to critiquing programs that give students UCLA Anderson
a narrow view of business, notably Henry Mintzberg’s Managers Not UPenn Wharton

MBAs: A Hard Look at the Soft Practice of Managing and Management

Development (Berrett-Koehler, 2004) and Rakesh Khurana’s From
Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unful- Average GMAT of Incoming
Students (Class of 2020)
filled Promise of Management as a Profession (Princeton University Press, 2007).
Chicago Booth 731
Advocates of the core curriculum approach would also argue that having all students take the same
Columbia Business School 732
classes creates a common language and discussion among the classmates because of the shared ex-
Cornell Johnson 699
perience. In addition, proponents contend that a rigid core curriculum facilitates learning, because
students who have applicable direct experience bring that knowledge and insight into the classroom Dartmouth Tuck 722

and can thereby help teach others. Finally, schools with mandatory cores generally keep students Duke Fuqua NA
together in their sections for several months, if not an entire academic year, and students who inter-
Harvard Business School1 730
act every day in this way ultimately forge strong bonds. This sustained contact and connection can
create a deep sense of community among the students. Michigan Ross 720

MIT Sloan 728

In contrast, those who would argue in favor of a more flexible curriculum feel that students benefit
Northwestern Kellogg 732
from the opportunity to specialize immediately—that time is short, and students need power and
choice in preparing for their desired careers. So if, for example, a student intended to enter the world NYU Stern 716

of finance, an advocate of flexibility would argue that the student should be able to study finance in Stanford GSB 732
depth throughout the MBA program, possibly even from day one, so as to gain as much experience
UC Berkeley Haas 726
as possible in this area—especially before interviewing for a summer internship. Furthermore, pro-
ponents for flexible curricula caution that experienced students could end up “wasting” hours tak- UCLA Anderson 719

ing courses in subjects in which they already have expertise. Finally, they would assert that a flex- UPenn Wharton 732
ible schedule allows students the opportunity to meet a greater number and wider variety of their
UVA Darden 717
classmates.
Yale SOM1 730

In 2006, the Yale SOM completely revamped its MBA curriculum. The revised curriculum,
as Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions Bruce DelMonico stated in a 2009 Bloom- 1
Represents median rather than average.

berg Businessweek online interview, “reimagined what an MBA education is all about. We
replaced the traditional functionally discrete silo courses with a more multidisciplinary integrated MBA pro-
gram.” And in a 2011 article on the Yale SOM News web page (“Ten Questions from Prospective Students”), Del-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 17

Monico further describes the SOM’s integrated curriculum as “designed to help [students] see whole problems
and draw on all the resources necessary to solve them. The perspectives-based approach prepares Yale SOM
students to look across functions within a particular organization, as well as across organizations, industries,
and sectors, when making strategic decisions.”

First-year students at the Yale SOM take a series of core courses over four seven-week quarters, which are
designated as Fall 1 and 2 and Spring 1 and 2. The first years gain a common framework and language for their
MBA experience in the Orientation to Management series during the Fall 1 quarter. Among the eight total cours-
es in this series are “Basics of Economics,” “Introduction to Negotiation,” and “Managing Groups and Teams.”
Orientation to Management introduces concepts that will be broadly explored in subsequent courses. In addi-
tion, students begin to explore their career goals during this time.

In Fall 2, students reach what the SOM refers to in its published materials as “the heart of the first-year cur-
riculum” with the Organizational Perspectives series. This series of ten multidisciplinary courses is designed
to explore internal and external managerial roles as they interact rather than as discrete functions, such as
finance or strategy. Among the courses offered during Organizational Perspectives is “Investor,” in which stu-
dents explore the impact of behavioral research on the general comprehension of market dynamics. Within
the series, students examine the inner workings and external aspects of businesses through courses such
as “Innovator,” “The Global Macroeconomy,” “Competitor,” and “State and Society.” (See the Academic Sum-
mary section for a full listing of all core courses.) All students are required to fulfill the Leadership Distribution
Requirement by taking an elective course that “focuses on leadership in a particular industry or looks at the
major ethical and societal challenges that leaders must address,” the SOM website states.

With the implementation of the SOM’s integrated curriculum in 2006, students were no longer permitted to
waive core courses. DelMonico explained this decision to mbaMission, saying, “We want everyone to go
through the same shared experience here at Yale SOM. If people are able to pick and choose which courses
they take from the outset—as they can at other schools—then that detracts from the community-building na-
ture of the experience; it just devolves into a bunch of people on their own tracks doing their own things. And
that’s not what we’re about.”

In addition, DelMonico pointed out that given that the Organizational Perspectives series is built on the com-
mon knowledge students gain in Orientation to Management, “having everyone take all the core classes en-
sures that everyone is on the same page as we go into the Organizational Perspectives classes, which rely on
common understanding and shared knowledge to be effective. It really amplifies the learning.” The added ben-
efit, DelMonico noted, is that the required core “sets the tone for the peer-to-peer learning that we expect will
take place throughout people’s time here at Yale and beyond as they move through their post-MBA careers.”

Students begin taking electives in the spring of their first year and can either choose exclusively from SOM
course offerings or look further afield to the university’s law, architecture, environmental studies, and other
departments to expand their knowledge base. A second-year student stressed to mbaMission that the value
of these opportunities could not be overstated, noting, “almost everybody takes advantage of the large re-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 18

 source available in Yale University.” In the second half of the first year (Spring 1 and Spring 2), students take
four units of electives, and the second year of the MBA program is made up entirely of electives.

The 2006 curriculum restructuring also added an international component, so the school now specifies inter-
national travel as a requirement of graduation—and was the first MBA program in the United States to do so.
Called the Global Studies Requirement, this facet of the school’s integrated curriculum is intended, explains
the SOM’s site, to help students “gain a meaningful exposure to complex issues facing business and society in
different regions of the world.” (Learn more about this component of the integrated curriculum in the Interna-
tional Business section under Professional Specializations.)

4. Pedagogy: Lecture Versus Case Method

Students will likely encounter multiple styles of learning while in business school—including partici-
pating in simulations, listening to guest speakers, and partaking in hands-on projects—but the two
most common MBA learning styles are case method and lecture. Students will encounter
many different styles
Pioneered by HBS, the case method, or case-based learning, requires students to read the story
of learning during
(called a “case”) of either a hypothetical or a real protagonist who is facing a managerial dilemma. As
their time at business
the student reads, the student explores the protagonist’s dilemma and has access to various quan-
titative and qualitative data points meant to facilitate further analysis. (Cases can vary in length but
school, but the two
are typically 10–20 pages long.) After reading and studying the entire case, the student generally un- most common are case
derstands the profundity of the problem and is typically asked a simple question: “What would you method and lecture.
do?” In other words, how would the student act or react if they were in the protagonist’s place? What
decision(s) would the student make?

After completing their independent analysis of the case, the student typically meets with the members of their study
group or learning team (if the school in question assigns such teams) for further evaluation. Together, the group/team
members explore and critique one another’s ideas and help those students who may have had difficulty understanding
particular aspects of the issue or progressing as far on their own. Often, though not always, the team will establish a
consensus regarding the actions they would take in the protagonist’s place. Then, in class, the professor acts as facilita-
tor and manages a discussion of the case. Class discussions can often become quite lively, and the professor will guide
students toward resolving the dilemma. Sometimes, the professor will ultimately reveal the protagonist’s decision and
the subsequent results—or even bring the actual protagonist into the classroom to share and discuss the case’s progres-
sion and outcomes in person.

In short, the case method focuses primarily on the analytical process and illustrates that the problems presented have no
clear-cut right or wrong responses. For a student to disagree with the protagonist’s chosen path—even after it has proved
to be successful—is not unusual. After all, another approach (or even inaction) may have produced an even better result.

Note that case-based learning is not specific to one academic discipline. Cases are available in finance, strategy, opera-
tions, accounting, marketing, and still other areas. Further, many cases are interdisciplinary, meaning that they address

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 19

more than one area at a time, such as requiring students to think about how a financial decision might
Average GPA of Incoming Students
affect the operations of a manufacturing company or the ways in which a marketing decision might
(Class of 2020)
involve significant financial considerations. Importantly, students in case environments are often
Chicago Booth 3.60
graded on their “contribution” to the class discussion (measured by the level of one’s participation in
discussions and analysis, not on the frequency with which one offers “correct” answers), so the case Columbia Business School 3.60
method is not for those who are uncomfortable speaking in class. However, it can be incredibly help-
Cornell Johnson 3.40
ful for those who want or need to practice and build confidence speaking publicly.
Dartmouth Tuck 3.49

Lecture is the method of learning that is familiar to most people—the professor stands in front of Duke Fuqua NA
the class and explores a theory or event, facilitating discussion and emphasizing and explaining
Harvard Business School 3.71
key learning points. Often, students have read chapters of a textbook beforehand and have come to
Michigan Ross 3.50
class with a foundation in the specific area to be examined that day. Although the case method gives
students a context for a problem, those who favor lecture tend to believe that the case method is MIT Sloan 3.48
too situation specific and therefore prefer a methodical exploration of theory that they feel can be
Northwestern Kellogg 3.60
broadly applied across situations. In lecture classes, the professor and their research or theory are
NYU Stern 3.45
technically paramount, though students still participate, challenge ideas, and debate issues.
Stanford GSB1 3.73

Note that at some schools, professors may alternate between cases and lectures within a single se- UC Berkeley Haas 3.66
mester of classes.
UCLA Anderson NA

Yale SOM uses a variety of teaching methods, including case study, lecture, and experien- UPenn Wharton 3.60

tial methods. The school makes much on its website of its development of the “raw” case UVA Darden 3.50
method—versus traditional “cooked” cases. Cooked cases are “short documents that pres-
Yale SOM2 3.71
ent a business problem in a neatly packaged, single point of view narrative with a sure an-
swer,” explained a 2008 Yale Daily News article. In contrast, the SOM’s raw cases are deliv- 1
U.S. schools, 4.0 scale only.

ered via the Internet, using such sources as media reports, 10-K filings, expert analysis, 2
Median GPA listed.

and faculty notes.

The school further differentiates its raw case format from cooked cases by noting on its website that while
the latter involves “boiling a complex situation down to a ten-page narrative and a single decision point, raw
cases present you with extensive data about a real situation, often including video interviews with some of the
key actors.” The school’s raw format culls from original documents to look at multiple points of view. Notes
are available alongside—rather than separate from—the data. In addition, instead of the approximately six-
month lag that is typically required to bring a cooked case from event to production, the Yale SOM’s cases are
presented in real time.

In looking at SEC documents and interviews with company principles, with information sometimes reaching
into the thousands of pages of raw data, students must not only work through complicated organizational
perspectives but also develop the time management skills to do so effectively and efficiently. A second-year
student we interviewed felt that the raw format worked especially well with the integrated curriculum at the
SOM, stating, “Done in isolation, it may not work as well.” This student went on to say that despite the down-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 20

 sides of working in the raw format (“It takes lots of time, and you can’t do it alone”), he felt that this approach
better prepared him to face real-life business issues.

5. Academic Specializations/Recruitment Focus: Resources and Employers

Schools’ brands and reputations develop over time and tend to endure, even when the programs
make efforts to change them. For example, many applicants still feel that Kellogg is only a marketing
school and that Chicago Booth is only for people interested in finance, even though both programs
boast strengths in many other areas. Indeed, this is the exact reason mbaMission started producing Do not merely accept
these guides in 2008—we wanted applicants to see beyond these superficial “market” perceptions. stereotypes but truly
Make sure you are not merely accepting stereotypes but are truly considering the breadth and depth
consider the breadth
of resources available at each school.
and depth of resources
We have dedicated the majority of this guide to exploring the principal professional specializations
available at each
for which resources are available at this particular school, and we encourage you to fully consider school.
whether the MBA program meets your personal academic needs by supplementing the information
here with additional context from the school’s career services office, by connecting with the heads of
relevant clubs on campus, and perhaps even by reaching out to alumni in your target industry.

The school’s innovative, integrated curriculum is “carefully planned to build [students’] understanding of the
whole organization, eventually building to big questions of business’s impact on society,” claims the SOM web-
site. Rather than focusing on a particular set of skills, this comprehensive approach to studying business is
meant to fulfill the school’s founding mission of “educating leaders for business and society.”

A large percentage of 2018 SOM graduates entered consulting (46.3% by function, 34.9% by industry) and a
significant portion entered positions in the finance industry (23.1%) or with a finance/accounting function
(24.3%). The technology industry claimed 14.9% of the school’s 2018 MBAs. In the past, the SOM has perhaps
been best known as a “finance school,” but the school’s employment reports paint a different picture—in fact,
in six out of the last nine years, consulting has been the most popular industry. Overall, the median starting
salary for SOM graduates in 2018 was $130,000 domestically, $112,691 abroad.

The school’s mission—“Educating leaders for business and society”—seems to hint that ethics is a significant
area of focus at the SOM. For the last three years, U.S. News & World Report specialty rankings of the country’s
MBA programs has placed the SOM at number one in the nation for nonprofit. In addition, a first-year student
told mbaMission, “Ethics [is] integrated into every class” and claimed that many Yale SOM students consider
nonprofit when deciding on their career goals.

In fact, 1.2% of the SOM’s Class of 2018 joined a nonprofit after graduation (5.2% in 2017, 4.6% in 2016, 4.4% in
2015, 5.7% in 2014, and 7.5% in 2013). While the percentage is certainly down for 2018, the overall percentage
decline since 2013 does not necessarily reflect a decline in absolute numbers, given that enrollment has been
increasing since 2013. It is also worth noting that a relatively high percentage (7.6%) of the Class of 2019 chose

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 21

 Most Common Pre-MBA Industry (Class of 2020) School Top Industry for % Entering
2018 Graduates the Industry
Chicago Booth Consulting 24%
Chicago Booth Financial Services 31.6%
Columbia Business School Financial Services 25%
Columbia Business School Consulting 33.6%
Cornell Johnson Finance 23%
Cornell Johnson Financial Services 29.0%
Dartmouth Tuck Financial Services 26%
Dartmouth Tuck Consulting 30.0%
Duke Fuqua Consulting 24%
Duke Fuqua Consulting 32.0%
Harvard Business School Tie: Consulting; High Tech / 16%
Communications; Venture Harvard Business School Financial Services 29.0%
Capital / Private Equity
Michigan Ross Consulting 30.1%
Michigan Ross Tie: Finance, Consulting 16%
MIT Sloan Consulting 31.6%
MIT Sloan Consulting 21%
Northwestern Kellogg Consulting 30.1%
Northwestern Kellogg Consulting 24%
NYU Stern Consulting 28.4%
NYU Stern Financial Services 25%
Stanford GSB Technology 33.0%
Stanford GSB Investment Management / 21%
UC Berkeley Haas Technology 31.7%
Private Equity / Venture
Capital UCLA Anderson Technology 29.5%

UC Berkeley Haas Consulting 24% UPenn Wharton Financial Services 36.9%

UCLA Anderson Finance 26% UVA Darden Consulting 32.0%

UPenn Wharton Consulting 27% Yale SOM Consulting 34.9%

UVA Darden NA NA

Yale SOM Consulting 20%

Top Industries: Yale SOM 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010

Consulting 34.9% 35.9% 30.8% 29.3% 26.0% 22.0% 25.6% 23.0% 16.0%

Finance 23.1% 21.8% 19.6% 24.5% 25.5% 25.4% 25.0% 39.0% 30.0%

Technology 14.9% 14.1% 11.7% 14.2% 10.4% 16.8% 8.9% 7.0% 9.0%

Consumer Packaged Goods/Retail1 9.8% 8.8% 12.1% 8.9% 9.4% 8.7% 11.3% 6.0% 7.0%

Nonprofit2 1.2% 5.2% 4.6% 4.4% 5.7% 7.5% 5.4% 9.0% 11.0%

1
In 2015 the SOM began reporting Consumer Packaged Goods and Retail (previously listed as “Consumer Products/Retail”) separately. We combine data from 2015 onward in order to allow

for year-to-year comparison.

2
Nonprofit was not in the top five in 2018, however we include it for comparison with previous years in which it was higher. Four areas tied just above Nonprofit, at 2.0%: Energy, Manu-

facturing, Media/Entertainment, and Law.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 22

 to join a nonprofit organization for their summer internship. The SOM’s Internship Fund is designed to encour-
age students to consider low- or non-paying internships (such as those with nonprofits) during the summer
between their first and second years. (Learn more about the Internship Fund in the Nonprofit/Social Entrepre-
neurship section under Professional Specializations.)

The school’s Career Development Office (CDO) works closely with SOM students to help them define and meet
their career goals. Partnership Managers within the office assist students in navigating the job and internship
placement process. For four fairly recent years (2015, 2014, 2013, 2012), The Economist ranked the SOM first in
the world for “diversity of recruiters” (in the most recent—i.e., 2018—ranking the school is ranked 41st).

Part of the SOM’s placement success can likely be attributed to the broader alumni base of Yale University. A
first-year student reported to mbaMission that SOM graduates often leverage Yale University alumni for posi-
tions, especially those in finance firms, noting, for example, that through alumni connections, “anyone who
wants IB [investment banking] will pretty much get IB.” SOM alumni seeking a new job can also take advantage
of CDO resources to assist them in their search.

In 2017, the SOM hired a new assistant dean for career development for its CDO, with an emphasis on strength-
ening the school’s international career connections. In a news article on the school’s website about the new
appointment, the new assistant dean commented: “We have a very unique opportunity here to further develop
the Global Network for Advanced Management on the career front. Through its member schools, the network
has already built out a very solid foundation academically. The question now is ‘How can we create a career
component?’”

6. Alumni Base: Opportunities to Engage

The size and depth of a school’s alumni base may be important to you as you seek to break into a
specific field or region/country. Some MBA programs have had large classes for many years and can
therefore boast sizeable alumni networks, whereas other schools may have pockets of strength in Some schools boast
particular parts of the world or in certain industries—or can claim a smaller but tighter-knit and more sizeable alumni
dedicated alumni network overall. For example, Dartmouth Tuck has a smaller absolute number of
networks, while others
alumni than most top U.S. schools but has repeatedly been touted as having the highest rate of an-
have pockets of
nual alumni giving, thanks to its very dedicated graduates.
strength in particular
Although acquiring detailed breakdowns of a school’s alumni base is sometimes difficult, you may regions or industries.
want to consider whether the school you are targeting has alumni clubs in your chosen professional
area (i.e., some schools have industry-specific alumni groups) or preferred post-MBA location. Fur-
thermore, if you are determined to live in a particular city/country/region after graduating, then earning your MBA in or
near that area, if possible, may be a good idea, so that you can more easily connect with local alumni while you are in
school—particularly if you want to pursue a niche professional area and do not expect to participate in on-grounds re-
cruiting. Of course, technological developments have greatly facilitated outreach, meaning that alumni are no longer a
flight or long drive away, but are now just a phone call, email, text, or even Skype session away.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 23

 Alumni Base
Schools are listed in order from largest alumni base to smallest within each category.

NYU Stern, UPenn Wharton, Harvard Business School 75,000 to 110,000

Northwestern Kellogg, Chicago Booth 50,000 to 75,000

Michigan Ross, Columbia, UCLA Anderson, UC Berkeley Haas, Stanford GSB 25,000 to 50,000

MIT Sloan, Duke Fuqua

Cornell Johnson, UVA Darden 10,000 to 25,000
Dartmouth Tuck

Yale SOM 10,000 or fewer

0 25,000 50,000 75,000 100,000 125,000

Note: Some schools include MBA program graduates only in their alumni total; other schools may also include alumni from their part-time, executive, doctoral, and/or other programs,

so totals may not be directly comparable.

Considering that the SOM is just over 40 years old and that for many years, the school’s average class size hov-
ered in the 200s, the school’s alumni base is understandably small. At just over 8,000, the living alumni base for
the school should not be compared with that of much larger schools.

The SOM alumni pool has regional chapters in 16 cities in the United States (plus state clubs in Colorado, Con-
necticut, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan, and Minnesota) and more than 30 international chapter locations, includ-
ing Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Mexico, Israel, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom. Graduates
are automatically enrolled in a chapter if one is located near their place of work. Regional chapters are both
social and professional outlets and may feature a happy hour meet-up one week and a book discussion the
next. Alumni events can focus on careers and networking, such as a conversation with the Surgeon General
of the United States, an alumnae breakfast in New York City, an evening with Dean Snyder in Mexico City, and
a happy hour in DC; or on sports, with events ranging from a Harvard versus Yale hockey game at Madison
Square Garden to an alumni ski day. Events in 2018–2019 included a holiday luncheon in Chicago, a happy hour
in New Delhi with the senior associate dean for development and alumni relations, a dinner in Shanghai, and an
alumni award banquet in New York City. A list of upcoming SOMAA events can be found on the alumni website
at http://alumni.som.yale.edu/events.

Yale Insights (formerly known as Qn) is an official Yale SOM web publication that poses questions exploring sig-
nificant business and societal issues. In addition, the Yale Insights website features webinars with SOM alumni

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 24

 and faculty. Webinars have covered such topics as “What’s at Stake in the Healthcare Debate?,” “When Should
CEOs Take a Political Stand?,” and “How Do You Spot a Financial Bubble?”

Another factor to consider is the much larger and broader Yale University alumni network. Students with whom
mbaMission spoke felt that the “Yale brand” alone will open doors with regard to recruiting (both nationally and
internationally) as well as personal and professional networking. A first year we interviewed remarked, “Many
of my classmates have reached out to Yale College alumni.”

7. Facilities: Shaping the Academic/Social Experience

When contemplating an MBA program, do not overlook the school’s facilities. Renovations, upgrades,
and new construction are all regular occurrences on school campuses these days, as some programs
increase their square footage while others unify disparate areas or refresh existing spaces. Some If a school has not
schools boast on-campus housing or elite athletic facilities, others have established new green updated its facilities in
spaces and meeting rooms, and still others have refurbished or added classrooms, theaters, librar-
recent years, perhaps
ies, and other such resources.
none were needed or
Keep in mind, though, that just because a school has not updated or added to its facilities in recent
the school has invested
years, this does not mean that its offerings are outdated or subpar; the lack of updates may simply be in other aspects of its
because none have been needed or the school has invested in other aspects of its program instead. A program instead.
campus visit is always the best way to evaluate firsthand what a school has to offer, but we nonethe-
less dedicate this space to a discussion of the facilities available at this particular program.

After two years of construction and several years of planning, the SOM opened the doors
to its brand new, glass-clad facility—Edward P. Evans Hall—in January 2014. The need for a
new building appears to have been among the school’s top priorities over the past several A client of mine told
years, as then-Dean Ted Snyder suggested to the Yale Daily News in January 2010: “SOM is me they really love the
competing against the world’s best business schools. And all of the world’s best business
fact that Evans Hall
schools have great facilities.” Previously housed in a complex consisting of both modern
is shaped around a
buildings and 19th century Gothic mansions at the center of the Yale University campus, the
SOM’s inside spaces did not, as former Yale University President Richard Levin noted in an
courtyard, and since it
August 2010 Bloomberg Businessweek article, “look and feel like a business school.” is all glass, it enables
many unplanned
The decision to build the new facility was also informed by pedagogical needs. Former Yale interactions with
University Provost (and current university President) Peter Salovey stated in a September friends, professors,
2010 Yale Daily News article, “The future of our School of Management really depends on the and staff throughout
fact that that building will allow us to teach the curriculum.”
the day.
Despite what turned out to be the poor timing of the SOM’s original proposal to construct a
 Kate Richardson, mbaMission
new facility—which took shape in 2006, just two years before the economic downturn—the Senior Consultant
school managed to raise an initial $110M from various alumni and donors. These fundrais-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 25

 ing efforts were followed by a series of record contributions, including $8,888,888 from Lei Zhang (MBA ’02) in
January 2010 (its largest gift ever from an SOM alumnus), $10M from Wilbur Ross (YC ’59) in November 2010, and
$50M from the facility’s eponymous donor, the late Edward “Ned” P. Evans (YC ’64), in December 2010. The total
cost of the new campus—which had originally been estimated at $190M—ultimately rose to $243M, affording
the addition of such technological amenities as cutting-edge classroom computers and high-definition video
conferencing.

Designed by Lord Norman Foster, a 1962 graduate of Yale’s School of Architecture and a Pritzker Architecture
Prize Laureate, the 242,000-square-foot Evans Hall is intended to be a physical manifestation of the school’s
integrated curriculum. Foster + Partners developed four main functions for the complex: classroom interac-
tion, teamwork, flexible study environments, and community events. From the open layout to the lounge ar-
eas outside classrooms to collaborative “Huddle” study rooms, specific features of the planned space are de-
signed to encourage interaction among students and faculty and to optimize spontaneous social encounters
between classes. Evans Hall also incorporates sustainable materials and construction practices, making use
of water-efficient plumbing, repurposed steel and concrete, high-performance windows, and native vegeta-
tion. The overall design is intended to place the SOM campus on a level with that of other top business schools
while preserving the university’s architectural history.

Evans Hall’s design is perhaps most notable, however, for its glass façade, which wraps around a sprawling
central courtyard and lends transparency to the entire layout. “One of the things that Dean Snyder talks about
is that managers need an extended line of sight,” remarked SOM Senior Associate Dean (currently Deputy Dean
for Academic Programs) David Bach in a 2014 Yale Daily News article, adding, “The building actually has an ex-
tended line of sight. You can actually see [in] the building through glass.” While the transparent layout creates
“a unifying effect, a sense that activities throughout the building are interconnected,” the campus courtyard
“acts as the heart of the school, providing outdoor space to study and socialize,” explains the SOM site.

The new campus also features 16 classrooms, a student gym, a library, a 350-seat auditorium, an outdoor ter-
race lecture hall/entertainment space, a coffee shop, a landscaped garden, and a dining commons where pro-
fessors and students can share meals together. In July 2014, Architectural Digest chose Evans Hall as one of the
nine best university buildings in the world. That same year, the building received the Connecticut AIA Design
Award, the New York Design Award for Digital Signage and Data Visualization, and the Global Design Award.

“I think of this as a high point event in the school’s history,” said Dean Snyder in the aforementioned Yale Daily
News article, referring to the construction of the new facility. “High point events give an institution a sense of
what it is and what it can be.”

8. Rankings and Reputation: Important Metrics or Arbitrary Measures?

MBA rankings should always be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism, given that they can fluctuate dramatically from
year to year and from publication to publication. For example, if you had relied on the Financial Times’ rankings to choose
the Yale School of Management as your business school in 2011 because of the program’s position at number seven, you

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 26

probably would have been disappointed to see the school then slide down to number 12 just one year
later before rebounding to number nine the following year. Similarly, if you had selected UC Berkeley
Haas in 2004, when it was number 17 in Bloomberg Businessweek’s ranking, you would have been de- The various surveys
lighted to see the program rise to number eight in 2010 before it slipped out of the top ten again to should and will provide
number 13 in 2012.
some context for your
decision, but resist the
Can an MBA program—which is made up of so many moving parts—really change so much in just one
or two years? Furthermore, how can one reconcile that MIT Sloan is ranked in the top five on the most
temptation to choose
recent Bloomberg Businessweek, Financial Times, and U.S. News & World Report rankings but is listed a school based on
at 14th by The Economist? Or that Stanford GSB holds the fifth position in The Economist survey but rankings alone.
is ranked first by Bloomberg Businessweek and the Financial Times? Or that Northwestern Kellogg is
ranked number eight by Bloomberg Businessweek and nine by the Financial Times but holds the num-
ber two slot in The Economist’s survey?

An MBA ranking that appears to be gaining in popularity, according to feedback we have received from candidates in
recent years, is from Poets&Quants, which aggregates what it considers the top five MBA surveys—Bloomberg Business-
week, The Economist, the Financial Times, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes—to create a composite ranking.

Of course, the various surveys should and likely will provide some context for your decision, but resist the temptation to
choose a school based on rankings alone, because rankings may ultimately betray you—possibly even before you graduate.

One thing to keep in mind, particularly for international students, is that a school’s reputation domestically can be quite
different from its reputation abroad. Years ago, mbaMission worked with an international candidate who was accepted
into the MBA programs at Cornell Johnson and Dartmouth Tuck. When this individual shared the good news with his man-
ager, his manager said, “I thought you would have gone to an Ivy League school like Princeton!” Of course, Dartmouth and
Cornell are in fact Ivy League institutions, and Princeton does not even have an MBA program—the manager’s reaction
illustrates how possible misconceptions can arise. So, after considering an MBA program’s strengths, you might factor
in that some schools have greater brand power in certain parts of the world, especially if you plan to live and work abroad
after you complete your studies.

We advise you to consider your MBA a long-term investment that will pay dividends throughout your life, and such an in-
vestment should be based on more than a one-time ranking. In fact, most MBAs who are five to ten years out of school are
not even aware of what their school is now ranked. Perhaps more importantly, if you were to ask one whether the school’s
position in the rankings has any effect on their career, the response would certainly be an impassioned “No!”

Given Dean Snyder’s success in terms of both fundraising and rankings when he was dean of Chicago Booth
(the school was number ten in the Bloomberg Businessweek rankings when Snyder first took over the deanship
in 2001; the school subsequently rose in 2002 to the number two spot, and then in 2006 to the number one posi-
tion, where it stood throughout his deanship), his hiring as the SOM’s dean seems to suggest that this small and
relatively young business school takes its challenges in both areas seriously. Though the SOM has traditionally
found the top ten a tough nut to crack in many of the more popular MBA rankings, a 2012 article in the Yale Daily

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 27

 U.S. Ranking: Yale SOM 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009

Poets&Quants NA NA 11 10 10 10 12 17 15 14 14 NA

U.S. News & World Report 9 11 9 8 13 13 13 10 10 11 10 NA

Bloomberg Businessweek1 NA NA 11 16 14 11 6 [21] 21 [21] 21 NA

Financial Times NA 8 9 9 9 9 7 9 12 7 9 9

The Economist NA NA 12 11 11 13 14 17 17 16 14 NA

1
Until 2015, Bloomberg Businessweek released rankings every two years (in November), so numbers in brackets represent carryover from the previous year’s ranking.

News reported that a goal of Snyder’s is “to have SOM rank consistently in the top ten business schools within
the next four years, and in the top five within the next decade.”

Although Snyder did not meet his goal fully during his tenure as dean, the SOM has done quite well in recent
rankings. The school rose five spots to 11th in Bloomberg Businessweek’s 2018 domestic ranking, and landed
12th on Bloomberg’s international list. The program was ranked at number eight domestically and 11th inter-
nationally in the Financial Times’ 2019 survey, up one and four spots, respectively, from the previous year. The
school came in at 11th in the 2018 Poets&Quants ranking, down one place from its position in 2017.

The school fell one spot to 12th place within the United States in The Economist’s 2018 rankings, where it also
fell to 14th place internationally from the previous year’s 11th place. And in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020
rankings, the school rose from 11th to 9th in the country. The SOM also appears in the top 20 of several U.S.
News specialty rankings lists, where it is ranked number one in the nonprofit category, 11th for management,
12th for international (tied with two other schools), and 20th for executive MBA (tied with two other schools).
In addition, the Princeton Review’s 2019 evaluation of 251 MBA programs named the SOM third for Best Green
MBA, number five for Toughest to Get Into, number nine for Best MBA for Management, and number ten for Best
MBA for Nonprofit.

Snyder, who assumed his responsibilities as dean in the summer of 2011, told the Wall Street Journal in 2010
that he wants the business school to be perceived as “rigorous, well-regarded, and highly ranked.” Later, in
July 2011, he expressed his general opinion of rankings on his personal website, saying, “The question of busi-
ness school rankings often yields long and tortured answers from business school Deans. The short answer
from me is (a) rankings are an important part of the competitive landscape, and (b) moving up is more fun than
moving down.”

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 Poets&Quants (2018) U.S. News & World Report (2020) Bloomberg Businessweek (2018) 1 Financial Times (2019) 2,3 The Economist (2018) 2,4

1 Harvard Business School 1 UPenn Wharton 1 Stanford GSB 1 Stanford GSB 1 Chicago Booth

1 UPenn Wharton 2 Stanford GSB 2 UPenn Wharton 2 Harvard Business School 2 Northwestern Kellogg

3 Stanford GSB 3 Chicago Booth 3 Harvard Business School 3 UPenn Wharton 3 Harvard Business School

4 Chicago Booth 3 Harvard Business School 4 MIT Sloan 4 Chicago Booth 4 UPenn Wharton

5 Northwestern Kellogg 3 MIT Sloan 5 Chicago Booth 5 MIT Sloan 5 Stanford GSB

6 MIT Sloan 6 Columbia Business School 6 UC Berkeley Haas 6 Columbia Business School 6 Michigan Ross

7 Columbia Business School 6 Northwestern Kellogg 7 Columbia Business School 7 UC Berkeley Haas 7 UCLA Anderson

8 UC Berkeley Haas 6 UC Berkeley Haas 8 Northwestern Kellogg 8 Yale SOM 8 UVA Darden

9 Dartmouth Tuck 9 Yale SOM 9 UVA Darden 9 Northwestern Kellogg 9 Columbia Business School

10 Michigan Ross 10 Duke Fuqua 10 Cornell Johnson 10 Dartmouth Tuck 10 UC Berkeley Haas

11 Yale SOM 10 Michigan Ross 11 Yale SOM 11 Duke Fuqua 11 Dartmouth Tuck

12 UVA Darden 12 Dartmouth Tuck 12 Carnegie Mellon Tepper 12 UVA Darden 12 Yale SOM

13 Cornell Johnson 12 NYU Stern 13 NYU Stern 13 NYU Stern 13 Duke Fuqua

14 Duke Fuqua 12 UVA Darden 13 USC Marshall 14 UCLA Anderson 14 MIT Sloan

15 UCLA Anderson 15 Cornell Johnson 15 Duke Fuqua 15 Cornell Johnson 15 NYU Stern

16 NYU Stern 16 UCLA Anderson 16 Washington Foster 16 Michigan Ross 16 Cornell Johnson

17 Carnegie Mellon Tepper 17 Carnegie Mellon Tepper 17 UCLA Anderson 17 Georgetown McDonough 17 UF Warrington

18 UT Austin McCombs 17 USC Marshall 18 Michigan Ross 18 Carnegie Mellon Tepper 18 UW Foster

19 UNC-Chapel Hill Kenan- 19 UNC-Chapel Hill Kenan- 19 Dartmouth Tuck 19 UTA McCombs 19 UTA McCombs
Flagler Flagler
20 Georgetown McDonough 20 Emory Goizueta 20 Vanderbilt Owen
20 Emory Goizueta 19 UT Austin McCombs

1
Bloomberg Businessweek ranks Yale SOM 12 internationally.
2
This list reranks U.S. schools from international ranking.
3
Financial Times ranks Yale SOM 11 internationally.
4
The Economist ranks Yale SOM 14 internationally.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 29

Yale University
The Yale School of Management

Summary

Founded in 1974, with its first students entering in 1976, the Yale SOM is not only the youngest of Yale University’s ten pro-
fessional schools but also the youngest business school among the Ivies. The MBA school has an intimate, collegial, and
family-like atmosphere, and although the class size has been growing in recent years, classmates seem able to easily get
to know one another in addition to many people across campus. Like all Yale University students, SOM students are called
“Yalies” or “Elis” (after Elihu Yale), and given that they are permitted to take electives from throughout Yale University,
the two-year experience at this school appears to be as much about being part of Yale University as about being simply
an MBA candidate at the SOM. A second-year student told mbaMission that the opportunity for his spouse to also take
courses at the university or to drop by a [College] Tea on campus “turned Yale [SOM] into a college environment” (offered
by Yale College, College Teas are intimate gatherings with notable men and women, such as politicians and journalists).

With the unveiling of the Yale SOM’s revised curriculum in 2006, the school seemed to completely change the way it ap-
proached its MBA program. Wanting to move away from the “silo effect” of having students study marketing, strategy, or
finance as standalone concepts or functions, the SOM created an innovative integrated curriculum. The first year of the
MBA program at the school concentrates on students’ required core courses (described in more detail in the Curriculum:
Flexible Versus Mandatory Core section). This cohesive approach, which views management issues from both internal
and external perspectives, “is unique in how it ties together the pieces of a business school education into a meaningful
whole,” asserts the school’s website.

The school’s use of the “raw” case format (discussed more fully in the Pedagogy: Lecture Versus Case Format section)
appears to be at the heart of the Yale SOM experience. By having students use original materials, source information on
cases, and real-time data, the SOM faculty feel that their aspiring MBAs learn to effectively process “messy” information
in the way they will need to as future managers.

With its stated mission of “Educating leaders for business and society,” the Yale SOM seeks to expose students to leader-
ship models and experiences both inside and outside the classroom. One way it works to accomplish this goal is through
its Leaders Forum Lecture Series, which brings industry experts to campus to discuss topics of global importance.
Among the series’ speakers in 2018–2019 was the president and CEO of Ethan Allen Interiors. In 2017–2018, the series in-
vited such speakers as a former president of Pakistan and the former CEO of Ford Motor Company. Speakers in 2016–2017
included a member of the board of governors at the Federal Reserve System and the chairman and CEO of PepsiCo, Inc.

The Yale SOM was the first business school in the United States to require an international component for graduation,
and many first-year students travel abroad between Spring 1 and Spring 2 on an International Experience course to fulfill
the school’s Global Studies Requirement (see the International Business section). In addition to completing their regular

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 30

course work, students prepare intensely for this trip in the preceding fall by researching their destinations and learning
from experts on the region. After returning, the students make a presentation about their travels.

Among the International Experiences destinations offered in 2019 were the Balkans, Peru, and New Zealand. In 2018,
destinations included India, Japan, Israel, South Africa, and China. The 2017 Experiences included a trip to Serbia and
Croatia, where students visited such companies as Gazprom, Nordeus, and Fiat. In 2016, one of the destinations offered
was China, where students toured the offices of the New Development Bank and had a One on One chat with the founder
and CEO of Green Apple Health. One group of students visited Japan in 2015 to visit such companies as Panasonic Corpo-
ration and Nissan Motor Company. Other past trips have involved visits to Chile, Brazil, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates,
South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia, Bangladesh/Vietnam, and Hungary/Russia.

The Dean

When Edward “Ted” Snyder was appointed dean of the SOM in July 2011, he faced both great challenges and great ex-
pectations. Transforming a school to contend with the nation’s most rigorous and highly ranked institutions is not an
unfamiliar goal for Snyder. He is often considered, as a 2012 Poets&Quants article states, “something of a business school
physician” for having “worked magic” in his previous appointments. After successful tenures at both the University of
Chicago’s Booth School of Business and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business Administration, in addi-
tion to serving as an associate dean at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, Snyder has earned an incon-
testable reputation for his leadership skills. Under Snyder’s guidance, Chicago Booth received a $300M gift—the largest
in business school history—and saw its position in the Bloomberg Businessweek rankings jump from tenth to first in just
five years. Richard C. Levin, who was president of Yale University at the time, stated in a 2010 Yale news article, “Ted Sny-
der is widely regarded as the most successful business school dean in the nation.”

Upon replacing Sharon M. Oster as the SOM’s dean, Snyder made a statement highlighting the school’s potential going
forward, saying, “I first became interested in coming to the Yale School of Management because I think this school is
phenomenally well positioned to train the kinds of leaders the world needs for the balance of this century.” Snyder also
identified what he saw as some of the defining characteristics of this potential, adding that the integrated curriculum,
introduced in 2006, “has been refined and made more robust. … The sense of community has never been stronger.”

Snyder also expressed interest in highlighting the global aspects of the SOM’s program. In a 2014 Fortune article, he de-
scribed the SOM as “the most distinctively global U.S. business school” and expressed a hope that prospective students
would be drawn to the program for that reason. In a 2011 interview with the Financial Times conducted shortly after his
appointment, Snyder described his overall vision for the school, saying, “We want Yale SOM to be the most connected, the
most involved with the university [of any business school]. I think it’s important who you attract. If we get the position-
ing right, we’ll get these extraordinarily bright people who are slightly different from the usual draw. … There are a lot of
enterprises who will look and say ‘this is exactly the kind of [MBA] profile that I want’.” While Snyder’s ambitions were not
without obstacles—Poets&Quants reported Snyder as saying the school is “under-funded and under-marketed”—he re-
portedly hoped to enhance the school’s brand and the scale of its educational experience by improving the SOM’s global
outreach, drawing on the larger university network, and slightly increasing the student-to-faculty ratio while maintain-
ing the school’s intimate culture.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 31

After Poets&Quants chose Snyder as Dean of the Year in late 2015, the publication highlighted the recent notable boost
in the school’s application volume—nearly 25% in 2014 and 29% in 2015—as one of his biggest accomplishments. “What’s
driving the increase is the clarity of our strategy, the new building, better rankings and job placement, but also the acti-
vation of the global network,” Snyder commented in the article.

Although changes were anticipated at the SOM under his deanship, the school assured incoming students on its website,
“Dean Snyder is arguably the most experienced and successful business school dean in the world, and he will no doubt
put his stamp on the school. … But there are some key ways in which Dean Snyder’s arrival will not change the school.
Yale SOM’s mission has always been to educate leaders for business and society, and it has drawn a community of people
who take this mission very seriously.” In the comments section of the 2012 Poets&Quants article, a student in the Class of
2014 stated, “I can say that there is a real sense that the school is on the up-and-up. … There is a palpable sense of this
on campus,” and another from the same class wrote, “Aside from just moving up the rankings, I really believe that Yale is
on the verge of revolutionizing the MBA experience.” In the 2015 Poets&Quants article highlighting Snyder as dean of the
year, one comment read: “I am a proud [member of the Class of] 2015. Can’t find words to thank Mr. Snyder’s and David
Bach’s hard work and commitment, building one of the strongest [business schools] in the world. A strong mission, a
clear strategy and a true passion for excellence are paying off.”

In March 2018, Yale University President Peter Salovey announced that Snyder would step down from his role as dean
at the end of the 2018–2019 academic year and return to teaching at the school. Salovey praised Snyder’s time as the
dean in the announcement and emphasized his accomplishments in the international side of the SOM. “Under [Snyder’s]
leadership, the School of Management has reached and exceeded several significant milestones, emerging as one of the
country’s most forward-looking business schools,” Salovey said. “Because of Ted’s vision and initiative, SOM is the most
international of all American business schools, preparing our students for the challenges and opportunities of a complex
global world.” Snyder had previously taken a sabbatical during the 2017–2018 academic year while Anjani Jain, the senior
associate dean for the MBA program, served as the acting dean.

In March 2019, one year after the announcement of Snyder’s departure from his role as the dean, the SOM announced that
economist Kerwin Charles will step into the role beginning on July 1st. Charles will join the SOM after having served as a
professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy since 2005. In addition to his position at that school
as the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor, Charles has held such appointments as deputy
dean and interim dean. “[At Harris, Charles] demonstrated a remarkable ability to work with faculty, staff, and students
to advance the goals of the school, while being a sought-after collaborator for colleagues across the university and the
broader academic community,” University President Salovey said in the announcement regarding Charles’s appointment.

Prior to joining the Harris School of Public Policy, Charles was a faculty member in the Gerard R. Ford School of Public
Policy and the Department of Economics at the University of Michigan. He has been a member of the National Bureau of
Economic Research for nearly two decades and serves on its board, in addition to serving on such editorial boards as the
Journal of Labor Economics and the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. He is also a member of the Federal Economic
Statistics Advisory Committee. Charles’s research and study interest topics include conspicuous consumption, the in-
tergenerational transmission of economic status, and earnings and wealth inequality. “[Charles] is widely admired for
his strong program of research and his willingness to tackle difficult challenges—in economics and in the community,”
Catherine Bond Hill, a senior trustee of the Yale board of trustees said in the news release. “I am thrilled,” Hill continued,

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 32

“that he will be leading SOM, and I look forward to seeing him build on all that Ted [Snyder] has accomplished and create
new avenues to ‘educate leaders for business and society.’” Salovey expressed similar enthusiasm for Charles’s appoint-
ment, stating, “I am confident that Professor Charles, a renowned economist and award-winning educator, will advance
SOM’s role as a global center for the study of business and prepare our students for the challenges and opportunities of
a complex interconnected world.”

Professional Specializations

Consulting

Drawing on the broad professional skills taught in the school’s integrated curriculum, along with career support offered
by the Consulting Club, many SOM graduates choose to enter the field of consulting. In fact, consulting services was the
most common industry that SOM graduates entered in 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015, with 34.9%, 35.9%, 30.8%, and 29.3% of
the school’s MBAs accepting positions in the field, respectively.

Given that consulting typically involves an emphasis on strategy and management, those aspiring to this profession
might be drawn to such SOM courses as “Strategic Market Measurement” and “Problem Framing.” In “Strategic Market
Measurement,” students gain a better understanding of strategy consulting via a hands-on approach in which students
use a statistical analysis program throughout the course. In “Problem Framing,” students explore the importance of an-
ticipating and properly approaching management problems.

The Consulting Club organizes events throughout the year that focus on students interested in this industry and their
unique needs. According to our research for this guide, the high point for first years looking toward a career in consulting
has traditionally been the annual Yale SOM Net Impact Case Competition. Hosted by the school’s Net Impact chapter (the
Consulting Club and the Human Capital Club have co-hosted in past years), this event is an opportunity for first years to
gain experience both in a consulting case competition and with business problems related to social responsibility. A first
year involved in planning the competition told mbaMission that the clubs’ goal is to create an inclusive competition that’s
easy for everyone to be part of. “It’s a fun night,” he said. “We want to make it part of SOM culture.”

Deloitte Human Capital Consulting Services has sponsored the event in recent years, while The Boston Consulting Group
has sponsored previous events. Teams compete in a case concerning human capital and social impact, while Deloitte
representatives acted as judges, and the winners received cash prizes. Participating teams are given a case, which they
work on for a set period of time, then submit a PowerPoint presentation of their initial recommendations to a panel of
judges. The case used in the competition always involves a social element, and first prize is awarded based on both the
content and the quality of a team’s PowerPoint presentation. Because the competition is geared toward first years and
takes place relatively early in the academic year, the first-year student with whom we spoke noted that everyone who
participates in it has a chance to “meet new people and work with people you may not have worked with before.”

In 2013, the SOM launched the first annual Integrated Leadership Case Competition, another opportunity that might in-
terest prospective consultants. According to a school press release, the student-run competition is “inspired by Yale
SOM’s integrated curriculum and Leadership Development Program” and requires student teams with members from

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 33

various disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate on an interactive “raw” case, which for the inaugural event involved
business ethics. Teams from the SOM, NYU’s Stern School of Business, Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, and the
Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania presented their case strategies to a panel of expert judges, and the
team from Wharton ultimately claimed first place. The SOM’s 2012–2013 Student Government president is quoted in the
press release as saying, “This competition encompasses many of the key components we love about Yale SOM: small
group work, data-rich raw cases, and complex problems that require comprehensive, creative solutions.”

The 6th annual competition was held in April 2018 with 14 finalist teams. A team from Saïd Business School at the Uni-
versity of Oxford took home the first prize, with the Fudan University School of Management in second place and the
University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business in third place.

The 2017 competition was held in April, with 12 finalist teams hailing from ten countries. The team from Hong Kong Uni-
versity of Science and Technology was chosen as the winner, while the National University of Singapore came in second
and INCAE Business School finished third. In 2016, teams from 15 schools came to campus from around the world to com-
pete, with the team from the Asian Institute of Management claiming the $3,000 first-place prize, while the USC Marshall
School of Business took second-place and $1,000. The 2015 competition featured 15 participating business schools from
nine countries. Hong Kong University of Science and Technology received the first-place $3,000 prize, and a group from
South Korea’s Yonsei University School of Business was runner up. “Business is no longer U.S.-only,” remarked a second-
year student and organizer of the event in a 2014 Yale SOM news article. “You have to interact with different players.
Competitors come from around the world, and just having different teams with different ideas and approaches helps us
to realize that we live in a more competitive world.”

Accenture; A.T. Kearney, Inc.; McKinsey & Company; Bain & Company, Inc.; L.E.K. Consulting; the Boston Consulting
Group; PriceWaterhouseCoopers; Strategy&; EY-Parthenon; and Deloitte LLP number among the firms that hired Yale
SOM students for internships and full-time consulting positions in recent years.

Entrepreneurship, Private Equity, and Venture Capital

Within the Yale SOM core, first years all take the “Innovator” course, which builds students’ skills as creative managers
while teaching them to work in innovative environments. According to the description on the school’s website, the course
“studies issues of idea generation, idea evaluation and development, creative projects, and fostering and sustaining inno-
vation in organizations.” Electives that center on entrepreneurship include “International Entrepreneurship,” “Entrepre-
neurial and New Ventures,” “Contemporary Principles for Successful Entrepreneurship,” and “Entrepreneurial Finance.”

The importance of innovation to the entrepreneurial spirit is a concept seen in many of the SOM’s entrepreneurship elec-
tives. Jonathan Feinstein, the John G. Searle Professor of Economics and Management who teaches such courses as
“Probability Modeling and Statistics” and “Creativity and Innovation,” notes on the SOM website that innovation involves a
process. “Most people think of an idea as a light bulb moment,” he says, “but that moment of insight is just the beginning.
An idea has to work in the marketplace—otherwise, even the best idea will fall flat. So it’s crucial to learn to play around.”

Many resources outside the classroom are also available for SOM students interested in entrepreneurship. The school’s
Entrepreneurship Club is grounded in the belief that all MBA students, even those who do not intend to be entrepreneurs,

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 34

can benefit from the skills they learn from entrepreneurial thinkers, and the club has student and alumni leaders as well
as faculty advisors. The club describes its mission on its website as four-fold: “[to] create opportunities for SOM to in-
teract with entrepreneurs; uncover professional opportunities for SOM students; work closely with Yale Entrepreneurial
Society (YES); and integrate with related [clubs].” Members of the Entrepreneurship Club participate in several business
plan competitions each year.

Offered by the Center for Business and the Environment at Yale is the Sabin Sustainable Venture Prize (formerly the
Sabin Environmental Venture Prize), which has been awarded since 2009 and “supports Yale’s most innovative ideas for
businesses that advance a more sustainable way of life,” states the center’s website. Competition for the Sabin Prize,
which features cash prizes of $25,000, is open to any Yale student or faculty member, as an individual or as part of a team.
No restriction is placed on the number of members a team may have, so long as at least one person on the team is affili-
ated with Yale University (not just the SOM).

Competition for the Sabin Sustainable Venture Prize begins in January, when participants have the option of submitting
a mentorship application to the center that includes, in addition to the name of the proposed venture, a description of the
environmental problem to be addressed, a description of the submitted idea, and an overview of the market. In March,
teams/individuals submit an application and an entry agreement outlining the status and stage of the venture, another
assessment of the market, next steps to be taken in the venture, and a budget for one year. In addition, participants are
required to submit a canvas describing the business model, and a link to a three-minute video of the pitch. The judging
panel—known as “The Bulldog’s Den,” after the Yale mascot—evaluates the submitted ventures based on criteria such
as market assessment, environmental benefit, financials, and feasibility. In April, finalists take part in a pitch-off event
called Startup Yale, where the winners are subsequently revealed. The Sabin Prize competition also includes workshops
throughout to assist contestants, covering such topics in 2018–2019 as “Sustainable Product Design” and “Marketing and
Communications Strategy for Responsible Ventures” in a workshop series titled “Skills for Sustainable Innovation.”

A speaker series has in the past been offered in conjunction with the competition. In 2016, the series was themed “Bright
Lights, Green Sights,” featuring such speakers as the founder of an artisanal tofu supplier, the founder of an environmen-
tally conscious fashion brand, and the founder of a beauty product company selling homemade products. In 2015, speak-
ers included the co-founder and CEO of Green Coast Enterprises, who discussed establishing a sustainable real estate
company in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The four finalist teams in the 2018 Sabin Prize competition pitched their ideas at the Startup Yale event in April, and
the winner was Concha Aquaponic Solutions, which is developing a saltwater aquaponic system for more sustainable
beef and seafood production. Four teams also competed for the 2017 Sabin Prize. Powerhouse, a start-up that creates
electricity measurement software for households, took home the $25,000 first prize. Plant-based frozen meal provider
Kitchen Table received the Audience’s Choice award, while the other finalists included Turboarcjet, an electric jet engine
developer, and Alectro LLC, which creates solar projects.

The April 2016 Sabin Prize included four teams in the finals. The winner was Renewal Mill, a sustainable food system that
utilizes food materials that would otherwise be discarded. The other finalists were Hugo & Hoby, a sustainably sourced
furniture ecommerce company; Appalachian Roots – Hemp 2.0, which aims to reintroduce historically significant crops
to Eastern Kentucky; and Smart Air Filters, which makes air-purifying HEPA filters for household fans. Of the four teams

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that competed in the 2015 Sabin Prize finals, Poda Foods, which offers a perhaps surprising source of protein in bar
form: crickets, ultimately claimed the top spot. Other finalist ventures that year were Grovio, a crop surveillance drone
intended to reduce fertilizer use; Tuckerman & Co, which produces organic and sustainable clothing; and homE, which
created a sustainable battery backup alternative to diesel generators.

According to a program coordinator with whom we spoke, the Office of Cooperative Research (Yale’s technology trans-
fer office) originally formed the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute (YEI) in 2007 as a ten-week summer program in response
to demands for such an offering from students interested in entrepreneurial endeavors. YEI has since expanded into a
year-round university department focused on student business ventures, and in 2017 was complemented with the launch
of the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (CITY)—the two remain separate entities that work with each other. YEI
and CITY projects can be “in the works,” meaning the ventures are in the initial phases of investment conversations, or
“in business,” meaning they have already raised initial capital or drawn customers. An administrator mbaMission inter-
viewed noted that SOM students typically participate via a summer fellowship program or as academic-year associates.

Offering such resources as a summer fellowship, a mentor program, and affordable office space for qualified student
start-ups (through its incubator program), the YEI and CITY work to foster innovation and encourage entrepreneurship
among Yale SOM students. Live ventures that have received assistance through the YEI include Prepwork, a personal re-
search assistant for meetings founded by a member of the Class of 2013 (and later acquired by HubSpot); Ancera, a tech-
nology venture for pathogen diagnosis co-founded by a Class of 2012 graduate; Checked Twice, an online gift exchange
organizer founded by a Class of 2011 MBA; and The Green Bride Guide, a premier directory for eco-conscious weddings,
co-founded by a SOM graduate from the Class of 2008.

Of the 23.1% of 2017 SOM graduates who accepted roles in the finance industry after graduation, 2.0% went into private
equity/venture capital (2.4% in 2017, 1.7% in 2016, 2.2% in 2015, and 3.1% in 2014). Students can choose electives specific
to careers in these areas, such as “Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments,” which is open to second years only.
Incorporating a variety of teaching methods, the course relies heavily on case analysis, teamwork, presentations, lec-
tures, and role-playing.

The Private Equity & Venture Capital Club at the SOM claims the dual mission of gaining exposure for the school within the
private equity field and offering students opportunities to interact with professionals. In March 2019, the club sponsored
the 19th Annual Private Equity and Venture Capital Symposium, which welcomed as keynote speakers the co-founder,
CEO, and chairman of Revolution and the founder and managing partner of DBL Partners. Nine discussion panels were
offered, covering topics ranging from “Sustainable Energy Investing” and “Investing in Healthcare and Life Sciences” to
“Accelerators, Incubators, and Startup Studios: Hands-On Early Stage Investing” and “Reflections with Entrepreneurs:
Raising Venture Capital and Collaborating with Investors.” The event concluded with a networking reception.

The 2018 Symposium was held in April with keynote talks delivered by a managing director of The Carlyle Group, a vice
chairman of WL Ross & Co., and a general partner at New Enterprise Associates. There were nine discussion panels ex-
ploring such topics as “Venture Investing in Emerging Platforms,” “State of Growth Equity Investing,” “Value Creation in
PE,” and “ESG Factors in PE Portfolio Management.”

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The March 2017 Symposium featured keynotes from a co-chairman of Bain Capital, the president and chief operating of-
ficer of Blackstone, and the chairman of the board of Shared-X. The event’s six panel discussions covered such topics as
“Geopolitical Trends in the Business Environment,” “Search Funds,” “Private Equity Real Estate,” and “Emerging Markets
Private Equity: Latin America.”

The 2016 Symposium keynotes were delivered by the founder and managing partner of Greycoft Partners and a manag-
ing partner of Leonard Green & Partners. Four discussion panels explored “Debt in Private Equity,” “Future of FINTECH,”
“Impact Venture Investing,” and “Emerging Markets: Private Equity.” In addition, a Venture Capital Pitch Competition,
based on the television show Shark Tank, allowed participants to present venture ideas to practicing entrepreneurs and
professionals in the venture capital space. The 2015 event featured as keynote speakers the chairman of Aurora Capital
Group and the former CEO of AlliedSignal (now Honeywell). Panel discussions explored such themes as “Private Equity:
The Dealmaking Environment,” “Venture Capital: Are VCs Investing in the Wrong Stuff?,” and “Treatment of Carried Inter-
est: A VC, PE, and Hedge Fund Debate.” The event concluded with a pitch competition and a networking reception.

The Yale SOM has roughly 20 electives devoted to entrepreneurship, private equity, and venture capital and the school’s
website lists approximately ten faculty members who have expertise in these areas. Firms that have hired SOM students
for internships and full-time positions in the areas of private equity, entrepreneurship, and venture capital in recent
years include DBL Investors: Double Bottom Line Venture Capital, Encourage Capital LLC, Legend Capital, and Inspiring
Capital. In addition, the school’s 2018 employment report notes that four graduates (1.2% of the graduating class) started
their own businesses rather than joining an outside firm (19 students, or 5.9%, in 2017).

Finance

In an interview with mbaMission, Director of Admissions Bruce DelMonico identified the caliber of the school’s faculty
as a reason for the SOM’s strong reputation in finance, saying, “Pound for pound, I think we have among the top finance
faculty anywhere in the United States.” The school has approximately 20 faculty members associated with its finance
department, including Nicholas Barberis (specialist in behavioral finance), Gary B. Gorton (banking), and Andrew Metrick
(regulation of the financial system).

The Yale SOM offers more than 40 finance-related electives, including “Corporate Finance,” “Behavioral Finance,” “In-
vestment Management,” and “Speculation and Hedging in Financial Markets.” The “World Financial History” elective,
taught by William Goetzmann—the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies and director of
the International Center for Finance at the Yale SOM (described later in this section)—examines finance and capitalism
from antiquity to modern times. The course initially focuses on finance in Babylon, Athens, Egypt, China, and Rome and
the origins of money before shifting to early European banking, modern corporations, and globalization. Robert Shiller
(see the Notable Professors and Unsung Heroes section) teaches “Behavioral and Institutional Economics” (not available
during the 2018–2019 academic year), which explores such topics as herd behavior, poverty, involuntary unemployment,
attitudes toward risk, and risk management.

Students can get an early overview of the world of finance through “Accounting and Finance Boot Camp,” which first
launched in 2008 and is sponsored in part by the school’s Finance Club. This 80-minute lecture reportedly draws both
first- and second-year students. According to a 2010 Yale SOM News article, the boot camp is a fast-paced “tour of the

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 37

world of finance,” and Frank Fabozzi, a former Yale SOM professor who originally developed the boot camp, notes, “Even
for students who may have worked in one layer of the industry, this [lecture] gives them a broad perspective and a sense
of where the opportunities are and how to match skill sets, course work, and personalities with those areas.”

Also central to the study of finance at the Yale SOM is the International Center for Finance, which was established in 1999
to support research in the area of finance. In 2017, the center presented its twelfth annual Behavioral Science Confer-
ence (we could not locate information about a conference in 2018). In the past, the conference has featured professors
from the University of London, Union College, Harvard University, and the University of California, San Diego. “While
there are other academic conferences that focus only on behavioral decision-making, or only on behavioral finance, or
only on behavioral economics,” the center’s website notes, “the unique feature of this conference is that it brings to-
gether researchers from all three fields.”

The Behavioral Science Conference is held in conjunction with the annual Whitebox Advisors Graduate Student Confer-
ence, at which doctoral students in the fields of behavioral economics, behavioral finance, and behavioral marketing
present research on a variety of topics. The 2018 event’s 11 research paper presentations included such titles as “Temp-
tation, Commitment, and Hand-to-Mouth Consumers,” “Ineffective Altruism: Giving Less When Donations Do More,” and
“It’s Always Sunny in Finland: Investment and Extrapolation from Cash Flow Growth.” In 2017, the 15 featured presenta-
tions ranged from “The Role of Feedback in Sequential Search” and “Costly Mistakes in Credit Markets: Evidence from
Consumer Loans” to “Macro News, Micro News, and Stock Prices” and “Decision-Making Under the Hot-Hand Fallacy.”

The 2016 event offered 16 research paper presentations, among them “Falling Behind: Time and Expectations-Based
Reference Dependence,” “The Dynamic Effect of Incentives on Post-Reward Task Engagement,” “Duration and Key Mo-
ments,” and “In the Red: How Color Affects Investors and Financial Markets.” In 2015, the 13 research topics explored via
the conference included “Reference Points, Subjective Impact, and the Dynamic Effects of Goal Specificity,” “Cognitive
Reflection and (the Limits of) Strategic Thinking in a Market Choice Game,” and “Excusing Selfishness in Charitable Giv-
ing: The Role of Risk.”

In addition, weekly center-sponsored seminars have hosted speakers such as business professors from Columbia Busi-
ness School, economics professors from Harvard University, and professors of finance from the Chicago Booth School
of Business, the Kellogg School of Management, and the UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business. Speakers during the
2018–2019 academic year included professors from such schools as the MIT Sloan School of Management, the Swedish
House of Finance, the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, and the Wharton School of the University
of Pennsylvania.

The virtual Museum of Money and Financial Institutions is an offshoot of the center. The museum states on its site that its
primary goal is “to increase economic literacy for people of all ages,” and it offers virtual exhibits such as “Silver Slippers
on a Golden Road,” “A Brief History of Money and Religion,” and “The IFC Collection of Historical Securities.”

However, DelMonico emphasized in his interview with mbaMission that finance is just one of the school’s strengths, say-
ing, “Our finance expertise is one piece in a larger educational puzzle at SOM.” Similarly, when we asked a second-year
student we interviewed what had drawn him to the Yale SOM, he explained, “I was looking for a school that was strong in

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 38

finance and strong in leadership. At HBS, with 900 grads, you can’t all be leaders. I want to go to business school where I
learn leadership and finance. At Yale, I get that.”

As noted, in 2018, 23.1% of the Yale SOM’s graduates entered positions in the financial services indus-
try, similar to the 21.8%, 19.6%, and 24.5% who did so in 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively. Firms in
this industry that hired SOM students for internships and full-time positions in recent years include My finance applicants
Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Citi; Morgan Stanley; Barclays PLC; JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Credit interested in value
Suisse Group; UBS AG; Wells Fargo; Vanguard; and the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
investing are
particularly attracted
General Management
to Yale SOM because
Through the foundational management courses of its integrated curriculum, the Yale SOM “teaches of the chance to work
you the skills and language you will need in any career in business and management,” asserts the with David Swensen,
school’s website. Beginning with the integrated core curriculum, which is designed to develop lead- given his legendary
ership skills as they relate to various organizational roles rather than to discrete disciplinary topics, success building Yale’s
the SOM provides an overall general management education. Indeed, 11.0 % of the school’s graduates endowment.
entered positions with a general management function in 2018; up from the 7.7%, 10.4%, and 8.0%
that did so in 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively, though these recent figures represent a significant  Katharine Lewis, mbaMission
drop from previous years, such as in 2011 and 2010, when the numbers were 22.0% and 27.0%, re- Senior Consultant
spectively. Still, consulting and finance/accounting were the only functional areas to claim higher
percentages of the class (46.3% and 24.3%, respectively).

With courses such as “Modeling Managerial Decisions” and “Managing Groups and Teams,” the initial seven-week core
series Orientation to Management provides a foundation of concepts and problem-solving skills as well as interpersonal
communication strategies within groups that will prove necessary for students not only throughout the rest of the SOM
curriculum but also as they move into their post-MBA careers. General management skills are further honed in the core
during the ten-course Organizational Perspectives series. Each of the Organizational Perspectives courses, which all
begin in Fall 2, “look at how organizations really work with their many constituencies. Drawing on expertise from all the
traditional business school disciplines, these courses teach you what you need to know to lead a thriving organization,”
explains the school’s site.

Beyond the core, approximately 20 electives with a general management focus are available. Examples include “Strate-
gic Communication: Delivering Effective Presentations,” where students work on their presentation skills both in teams
and individually, and “Business Ethics” (formerly “Leading Business and Society”), a half-term course that examines com-
mon leadership issues.

The school has approximately ten faculty members focused on management who draw from such disciplines as opera-
tions, organizational behavior, strategy, finance, and consulting to provide students with a broad grounding in the various
aspects involved in management. “Yale SOM graduates take on management challenges with a nuanced understanding
of how markets, organizations, and the global economy work,” says former Dean Snyder on the school’s website. “With
this elevated understanding of leadership, they anticipate change and drive innovation, make decisions empirically, and
constantly seek opportunity. In short, they lead and manage people to create value for their organizations and for soci-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 39

ety.” And DelMonico described the Yale SOM to mbaMission as “very much a general management school,” adding, “All our
students have broad interests and take classes in a range of areas—not just a single discipline.”

Companies known to hire for general management positions that employed SOM students and graduates in recent years
include Liberty Mutual, Sears Holding Corporation, and General Motors Company.

Health Care and Biotechnology

Seven faculty members with specific expertise in health care are listed on the SOM website, and even
though the school offers just seven elective courses in this study area per academic year, the SOM’s
flexible elective policy allows students to pursue their health care interests at other schools within I’ve worked with several
the university system as well, such as the School of Public Health. clients interested in
health care who have
Health care electives at the SOM include “Healthcare Operations,” “Health Care Strategy,” and
been drawn to Yale
“Healthcare Policy, Finance, and Economics.” In addition, a “Healthcare Management Colloquium”
is offered to joint degree candidates, physicians, and other interested students, with the consent
because of its excellent
of the course director. “Healthcare Operations,” which focuses on ways to improve implementation, medical center and
involves a group project as well as a visit to a New Haven emergency room. In “Healthcare Strategy,” accessible medical
students approach the health care field from a strategic standpoint, focusing on such issues as the community.
medical device market, competition in health care, and efficiency of the U.S. health care system
within a global context.  Katharine Lewis, mbaMission
Senior Consultant

In 2010, the school’s Healthcare Club and the Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Society merged to
form the greater university’s interdisciplinary Yale Healthcare and Life Sciences Club (YHLC), which
boasts more than 400 members. The YHLC works to increase students’ exposure to the fields of health care and life
sciences while also assisting with job searches in these areas. Benefits of club membership include opportunities to
attend conferences, programs, and job treks to such cities as San Francisco, Boston, and New York. In addition, the club
hosts an annual health care conference, a pharmaceutical case competition, health care primers and panels, and other
networking events.

Inaugurated in 2001 and hosted by the YHLC, the Yale Healthcare Conference is held each spring. This combined venture
between the SOM and the university’s health-related professional schools (such as the School of Public Health and the
School of Medicine) reportedly draws more than 450 participants, including academics, students, and members of the
health care profession.

The 2019 Yale Healthcare Conference, which was held in April, was titled “Reimagining Healthcare: Changing Perspec-
tives on Delivery and Disparities” and featured the chief medical officer of CareMore Health and the founding director
of the Office of Research on Women’s Health at the National Institutes of Health as the keynote speakers. Two breakout
panel sessions covered a range of discussion topics, including “Equity in Healthcare: Aligning Incentives to Increase
Access to New Technology,” “Adapting to Meet Demand: Expanding Primary Care Beyond Physicians,” and “Improving
the Patient Experience: From Prenatal to Palliative Care.” The event also featured a networking lunch and a concluding
cocktail reception.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 40

The April 2018 Yale Healthcare Conference, themed “Improving Healthcare Access: Benefits and Solutions for Business
and Society,” welcomed as keynote speakers the CEO of the Yale New Haven Hospital and the Yale New Haven Health
System and the executive director of Covered California. Among the several topics covered by the event’s two pan discus-
sions were “Healthcare Policy and the Employee: The Future of Employer-Sponsored Healthcare Coverage,” “When Ac-
cess Should be Limited: Combating Waste and Overutilization in US Healthcare,” and “Frontiers of Healthcare Technology:
The Role of Telemedicine and Patient-Centered Innovation.” The event concluded with a networking cocktail reception.

The 2017 event was themed “Improving Health and Healthcare: Bridging Society and Industry Interests.” Keynote
speeches were delivered by the founder and CEO of PureTech Health and the chief medical officer, deputy administrator,
and director of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The event’s two breakout panel sessions explored several
topics, including “Educating and Employing the Next Generation of Healthcare Leaders,” “Health Policy and the Trump
Administration,” “The Promise and Challenges of Remote Patient Monitoring,” and “What VCs are Funding: The Next Big
Thing in Healthcare.” Two networking opportunities were also offered.

The April 2016 conference was themed “Creating Value and Sustaining Gains: The Next Decade in Healthcare” and wel-
comed as keynote speakers the president and CEO of Cleveland Clinic and the president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group.
Two breakout panel sessions covered such topics as “Predictive Analytics in Population Health,” “Specialty Pharmaceu-
ticals and Biosimilars,” “The Comprehensive Care Riddle: Knitting Together Social Services With Acute Patient Care,”
and “Evolving Scope of Practice: Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Pharmacists.” Two networking opportuni-
ties were also offered.

In 2015 the event was themed “Optimizing Healthcare Outcomes” and featured the CEO and president of Cigna and a car-
diologist and health care researcher as keynotes. The conference offered breakout sessions on such topics as “Building
on Bedrock or Quicksand? How Payment Models Are Shifting Post ACA,” “From Palm Reading to Watson: How Big Data
Is Enabling Predictive Medicine,” “Innovation Through Collaboration: The Next 100 Years in Public Health,” and “Can You
Hear Me Now? Giving Power to the Voices of Patients.” A networking cocktail session concluded the day’s activities.

A course that stood out to us at mbaMission as possibly having particular appeal for students with both an interest in
health care and an entrepreneurial drive is a three-day, noncredit seminar offered through the YHLC called “Business
of Biotech.” Taught by Yale MBA Constance McKee (’86), this program covers the key components of starting a biotech
company, from developing business plans to identifying financing strategies.

In addition, the Yale SOM offers both a joint MBA/MPH (Master’s of Public Health) degree with the Yale School of Public
Health and a joint MBA/MD with the Yale School of Medicine. Students in the three-year MBA/MPH program must com-
plete the entire set of core graduation requirements for both schools. After spending the first two years of the program
within either the SOM or the School of Public Health (first one, then the other, in either order), students use the third year
to complete a mix of electives from both schools. The joint MBA/MD program spans five years—three and a half are spent
in the School of Medicine, and a full year plus one semester are spent at the SOM. At the culmination of the five years,
students receive both an MBA and a Doctor of Medicine degree.

In 2018, 3.5% of the SOM’s graduates accepted jobs in the health care/pharmaceuticals industry areas (1.6% in 2017, 5.0%
in 2016, 4.9% in 2015, and 3.6% in 2014). Johnson & Johnson, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc., Kaiser Permanente,

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 41

CIGNA Corp., Medtronic, and Perkin Elmer are listed as having hired SOM students for internships and full-time positions
in this field in recent years.

International Business

“Yale’s MBA program requires students to gain a meaningful exposure to complex issues facing business and society in
different regions of the world,” declares the SOM on its site. Five professors in the SOM faculty directory are identified as
having expertise in some form of international business (including globalization and international trade), and the school
offers approximately ten electives in this study area. When the school’s revised integrated curriculum launched in 2006,
the SOM became the first U.S. business school to stipulate an international element as a requirement for graduation,
called the Global Studies Requirement. All students must therefore participate in one of the following international op-
portunities during their two years in the program:

ƒƒ Global Network Courses

ƒƒ Global Network Weeks
ƒƒ Global Social Entrepreneurship courses
ƒƒ International Experience
ƒƒ Semester-long international exchange with a partner school

In the International Experience, first-year SOM students take a ten-day trip to an international location—such as Chile,
India, Israel, or Japan—to visit corporations, business leaders, nongovernmental organizations, and politicians while
experiencing the area’s culture. The trips are led by faculty members and typically involve groups of 20 students.

In the fall of their first year, students prepare for their International Experience trip by studying area industries, attend-
ing lectures given by experts on the regions the students will visit, and preparing presentations on their destination.
Students rank their destination preferences from one to ten, and according to a first year we interviewed, “You should
get one of your top three.” Trips in 2018–2019 involved such destinations as the Balkans, Peru, and New Zealand, while
2017–2018 destinations included South Africa, China, India, Croatia, and Serbia. In 2016–2017, students traveled to such
countries as Indonesia, Japan, and Israel. Students on the Indonesia trip visited non-profit and for-profit companies,
governmental institutions, and NGOs, all the while learning about the local culture. Those who traveled to Japan con-
centrated on the sustainability in the country and were able to meet with local political leaders, in addition to visiting
company offices.

Trip destinations in 2015 included Serbia and Croatia, while 2014 trips included Switzerland, Brazil, and Japan. In 2013,
students traveled to Japan, South Africa, Indonesia, Brazil, South Korea, Myanmar, and South Africa. A first year who
went on a Japan trip—led by Professor Arthur Swersey—described his tour of the JFE Steel plant on the school’s website
by saying, “It was one of the coolest experience I’ve ever had … [it] helped me reframe my world view to see supply chain
and manufacturing in a new light.”

Upon their return, participating students write and present a research paper about the experience as part of the spring
core course “State and Society.” Each trip “serves as a case study in learning about the complexities of a business en-
vironment from a leader’s point of view,” asserts the school’s site, adding, “The course gives you an enhanced ability to

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 42

think globally that will be valuable for the rest of your time at Yale and beyond.” The cost of students’ International Experi-
ence trips is included in tuition.

The SOM is a founding member of the Global Network for Advanced Management, a worldwide educational consortium
of 30 business schools in 27 countries. Member institutions include Fudan University School of Management in China,
the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore in India, the National University of Singapore Business School, SDA Boc-
coni School of Management in Italy, HEC Paris in France, and Renmin University of China School of Business. Students
have the option of fulfilling the Global Studies Requirement by participating in one of the school’s Global Network Weeks,
which take place in the fall, spring, and summer. In its seventh year in 2018–2019, this program places SOM students in
weeklong mini courses hosted by other network schools, thereby giving the students the opportunity to “attend classes,
tour local businesses, and meet with experts focused on current business problems,” explains the network’s website. In
2019, host schools included INCAE Business School in Costa Rica, University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business
in South Africa, and the Asian Institute of Management in the Philippines.

In addition, several SOM electives focus on international business, such as “America’s Future Role in the Global Economy,”
“International Entrepreneurship,” “Managing Global Catastrophes,” and “Global Social Entrepreneurship: India.”

The class “Managing Global Catastrophes” examines such crises as Hurricane Katrina, the SARS and Ebola epidemics,
and the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger shuttle disaster to help students develop an understanding of crisis management
in difficult and intense circumstances. Class speakers include representatives from the Federal Emergency Manage-
ment Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard, and World Bank.

Through the SOM’s International Exchange Program, students can spend the fall of their second year at one of five part-
ner schools outside the United States:

ƒƒ HEC Paris, France

ƒƒ IESE Business School, Barcelona, Spain
ƒƒ London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom
ƒƒ National University of Singapore Business School, Singapore
ƒƒ Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management, Beijing, China

By doing so, these students can fulfill their Global Studies Requirement, but for students who want to meet this require-
ment without venturing abroad, the school offers Global Network Courses. These small, virtual courses connect student
teams from across seven Global Network member institutions to “take advantage of the global nature of the student body
to enhance lessons and deepen cross-cultural understanding, a key to succeeding in 21st century business,” explains
the school’s site. Global Network Courses offered in recent years include “International Management and Organizational
Structures,” “Analysis of Competition Law and Enforcement Across Countries,” “Natural Capital: Risks and Opportunities
in Global Resource Systems,” and “Mobile Banking Opportunities Across Countries.” These online courses are designed
to provide students the experience of working across time zones and cultural barriers.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 43

In addition, students can choose from among several clubs that focus on international business and the cultures of other
countries, such as the Greater China Club, the Japan Club, the Korea Club, the Association of Hispanic and Latin Ameri-
can Students, the South Asia Club, and the Southeast Asia Club.

In 2018, 11.8% of the SOM’s graduates accepted international positions (19.0% in 2017, 15.4% in 2016, 14.2% in 2015, 8.9%
in 2014, and 13.4% in 2013). SOM graduates in recent years have accepted international positions with such firms and
organizations as BNP Baripas, China International Capital Corporation Limited, Ministry of Production of Peru, Instituto
Mexicano para la Competitividad A.C., and Minsait.

Marketing

Marketing education at the SOM begins in the core with a course called “Customer,” one of the nine Organizational Per-
spective classes. Approximately 20 SOM electives emphasize marketing, including “Customer Insights and Applications,”
“Mastering Influence and Persuasion,” “Strategic Communication; Delivering Effective Presentations,” “Listening to the
Customer,” “Digital Strategy,” “Strategic Market Measurement,” and “Marketing Strategy.” In the project-based “Customer
Insights and Applications,” taught by Ravi Dhar, the George Rogers Clark Professor of Management and Marketing, stu-
dents work in teams to solve real marketing challenges that affiliates of the school’s Center for Customer Insights (de-
scribed later in this section) face. Dhar, who is one of 16 marketing professors at the SOM, is director of the center and
a professor of psychology at Yale University, as well as an expert in consumer behavior. The spring course “Mastering
Influence and Persuasion” is described on the SOM website as teaching students what makes others “want to follow you
[and] want to say yes.”

The mission of the Marketing Club at the SOM is both internal and external. Internally, the club encourages marketing
as an educational option to students and seeks to offer professional development opportunities to those interested
in pursuing a career in the field. The club’s mission, as stated on the school’s website, is to “encourage marketing as an
educational focus, assist students with their professional development … [to] enhance the overall reputation of SOM
marketing students, and to provide a forum for interaction between marketing students, faculty, alumni, and marketing
professionals.” Resources offered by the club include resume reviews, talks and panels by second years on their intern-
ship experiences in the field of marketing, and treks to companies within the industry.

The Yale Center for Customer Insights (YCCI), founded in 2005, works closely with the Marketing Club and explores con-
sumer behavior and marketing in depth, focusing primarily on research designed to provide insight into customers’
mind-sets. Through academic research, programs with corporations, conferences, and other events, the center targets
the three main areas of behavioral economics, predictive analytics, and social media. The center organizes various con-
ferences and seminars throughout the academic year.

As part of its Colloquium Speaker Series, the YCCI hosts presentations by top executives across a variety of industries.
Seminar speakers the center has brought to the SOM in recent years include the president of Hasbro Brands, who spoke
about transforming his company into a global “Branded Play” organization; a partner and managing director with the Bos-
ton Consulting Group, who discussed marketing leadership; and the retired chairman and CEO of the Procter and Gamble
Company, who reviewed his 40-year career with the company.

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The center’s May 2019 Customer Insights Conference featured such speakers as the chief marketing officer of the New
York Times, the president of marketing at AMC Networks, and a former chief marketing officer at Spotify. Session topics
included “Insights on Factors that Influence Consumer Behavior,” “Elevating the Role of Consumer Insights,” “Strategic
Marketing: Perspectives from Leading CMOs,” and “Using Innovative Technology to Connect with Consumers.” Such in-
stitutions as Yale Law School, the University of Arizona, Northeastern University, and Columbia Business School were
represented among the speakers.

The 2018 Customer Insights Conference was held in may and featured such keynote speakers as the chief consumer
officer of L’Oréal, the chief marketing officer of Keds, the president of customer development at Unilever, and the head
of data science at Warby Parker. Keynote speakers at the May 2017 conference included chief marketing officer of the
Boston Red Sox, a former CEO of Chanel, and the head of global integrated marketing at Hershey Company. Academic
speakers represented such schools as Columbia Business School, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania,
and the Harvard Business School.

The May 2016 event offered panel sessions with such topics as “Millenials Growing Up, Gen Z Coming Up,” “Experience,
Not Things,” and “Harnessing the Power of Story.” Speakers included the chief marketing officer of Johnson & Johnson,
the chief creative officer of REI, and the director of global brand strategy at Spotify. The 2015 conference involved such
speakers as the chief marketing officer of Istation, the senior director of Visa Inc., and the director of global agency
development at Facebook. Panel sessions covered themes such as “Sustaining Relevance in Physical + Virtual Worlds,”
“Advertising & Promotions,” “Marketing Strategy,” and “Driving Growth Through Customer Understanding.” The confer-
ence also featured a number of networking events, including a cocktail reception.

The SOM’s employment statistics show that 7.8% of the school’s 2018 graduates chose to enter positions with a market-
ing/sales function (down from 10.1% in 2017, 7.9% in 2016, 13.4% in 2015, and 11.4% in 2014). Students accepted internships
or full-time positions in recent years with companies such as Amazon.com, PepsiCo, Philips, the Coca-Cola Company,
and Mattel.

Nonprofit/Social Entrepreneurship

The Yale SOM’s nonprofit management program was ranked number one among business schools in the U.S. News &
World Report survey each year from 2011 to 2015, and again in 2019. In 2018, 1.2% of the school’s graduates began their
post-MBA careers in the nonprofit industry (down from 5.2% in 2017, 4.6% in 2016, 4.4% in 2015, and 10.3% in 2014).

Yale SOM students interested in nonprofit have roughly 12 electives in this study area from which to choose. Through
a combination of lecture and team projects, “Global Social Entrepreneurship,” for example, introduces students to the
complexities facing socially driven entrepreneurs. The course combines academic content with practical application and
connects Yale SOM students, working in teams, with social enterprises in such countries as Indonesia and India. At the cul-
mination of the course, students issue recommendations to their assigned social enterprise based on a set of challenges
identified during the class. Other elective opportunities for students interested in nonprofit include “Strategic Manage-
ment of Nonprofit Organizations,” “Managing Social Enterprises,” and “Social Entrepreneurship and Systems Leadership.”

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 45

The Program on Social Enterprise (PSE) at Yale, under the direction of Faculty Director Robert Jensen and Executive
Director Tony Sheldon, combines courses, conferences, and research to explore what the program’s website claims are
“the ways in which business skills and market disciplines can be harnessed to most effectively and efficiently achieve
social objectives.” Electives offered through the program include the aforementioned “Global Social Entrepreneurship”
and “Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations,” in addition to “Introduction to Responsible Business” and “Urban
Poverty and Economic Development.”

In addition, the PSE manages the Program on NonProfit Organizations. Known as PONPO, this program has been part
of the school for more than 25 years and aims to “bring researchers and practitioners in the non-governmental section
together to explore areas of shared concern,” asserts the program’s site.

The Net Impact Club at the SOM states on its site that its mission is to foster a “community of like-minded students, fac-
ulty, and alumni, educating that community on current topics related to social impact, and advocating for curriculum,
admissions, and career development support.” By meeting certain criteria—such as holding a minimum number of events
a year and maintaining a certain number of dues-paying members—the SOM Chapter of Net Impact has achieved Gold
Chapter status. Benefits of Gold Chapter status include special logos and conference discounts. Working with other clubs
that share its mission, such as the Social Impact Consulting Club and the Business and the Environment Club, Net Impact
focuses on seven specific issue areas: Corporate Social Responsibility, Philanthropy and Social Investing, Public Sector,
Social Enterprise/Nonprofit Management, Economic Development, Financial Services, and Agriculture/Food Systems.

Two years in a row (2009 and 2010), the SOM Chapter of Net Impact won an award for sending the largest delegation of
club members to the annual Net Impact National Conference, and in 2011, the club was nominated for Chapter of the Year.
The club plans various events on campus, including career development sessions (e.g., cover letter review), social sec-
tor networking nights, and a Q&A with representatives from the Career Development Office. In recent years, the Social
Impact Lab speaker series has featured such participants as the executive director of Doctors Without Borders USA, the
president of the Climate Civics Institute, the director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the director of mar-
keting for PETA. The club also hosts a Philanthropy Conference and has cosponsored the First Year Case Competition
with the Consulting Club (see the Consulting section under Professional Specializations).

The 14th annual Yale Philanthropy Conference was held in February 2019 with the theme “Values in Action.” The morning
keynote was delivered by the managing director of social innovation at Emerson Collective and the closing keynote was
delivered by the board vice president of the Johnson Scholarship Foundation. Discussion panels covered such themes as
“New Vehicles for Change: How Individuals Embody Their Values through Giving,” “Building on Trust: Redesigning Fund-
ing Models and Funder-Grantee Relationships,” and “Centering Inclusion: A Deep Dive into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Initiatives.” A fireside chat concentrated on the topic “Demystifying Rural Philanthropy.” Attendees were invited to attend
a reception to close out the daylong event.

In 2018 the conference was held in February and carried the theme “Adaptive Philanthropy, Resilient Sector.” The presi-
dent of Prosperity Now delivered the morning keynote talk and the president and CEO of the National Committee for
Responsive Philanthropy delivered the closing keynote talk. The daylong conference’s discussion panels explored such
topics as “Thinking Outside the Box: Fostering Creativity and Experimentation in Organizations,” “Changing Gears: Mak-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 46

ing Strategic Shifts and Realignments,” and “Toward Equity: Advancing Responsive Philanthropy.” A closing reception
concluded the day’s events.

The February 2017 event was themed “Transformations: Navigating Change for the Future.” The morning keynote was
delivered by the vice president of education, creativity, and free expression for the Ford Foundation, while the president
and CEO of ALSAC was the closing keynote speaker. The conference’s discussion panels and workshops were divided
into two session categories, titled “Transforming Performance” and “Shifting Perspectives.” Individual workshops and
panels explored such topics as “Making Data Work for You and Drive Your Strategy,” “Creating Organizational Capacity
and Flexibility,” and “Recruiting Millennials for Major Gifts.” The daylong conference concluded with a closing reception.

The 2016 Yale Philanthropy Conference took place in February and was themed “Fostering Ecosystems of Change.” The
morning keynote was delivered by the vice president of corporate citizenship/corporate affairs at IBM and the president
of the IBM International Foundation. The closing keynote was delivered by the president of the F.B. Heron Foundation.
Discussion panels and workshops were divided into three session categories: “Thinking in Systems,” “Fostering Innova-
tion from the Ground Up,” and “Embracing Organizational Evolution.” Individual workshops and panels covered topics such
as “Creative Destruction and Exit Strategies,” “Beyond Dollars: Leveraging Your Role to Convene, Educate, Stimulate, and
Empower,” and “Encouraging Experimentation, Risk, and Failing Forward.” A reception concluded the daylong event.

With the theme “Reflect. Innovate. Impact,” the 2015 conference featured a keynote speech by the vice president of ini-
tiatives and strategy at The Rockefeller Foundation, and an afternoon keynote by a special assistant to President Barak
Obama who is also the senior director of cabinet affairs at My Brother’s Keeper. Breakout panel discussions explored the
overall event’s three primary topics: Reflect, Innovate, and Impact. The Reflect panel examined the themes “Learning
from Business Models,” while the Reflect workshop was titled “The Art of Storytelling.” Similarly, the Innovate portion of
the conference involved a discussion and a workshop, titled “The Example of Incentives” and “How to Create a Culture
of Change,” respectively. Two Impact discussions were offered on the themes “Increasing Effectiveness Through Col-
laboration” and “Data-Driven Decision-Making.” In addition, the founder and managing partner of DBL Investors hosted a
fireside chat, and conference participants enjoyed a networking lunch.

Founded in 1986 as the Outreach Management Consulting Group and later called SOM Outreach and the Outreach Non-
profit Consulting Club, the student-run group now called the Social Impact Consulting Club provides consulting services
to organizations in the New Haven community. Working with public and private institutions as well as nonprofits, the So-
cial Impact Consulting Club offers services free of charge to clients who could not otherwise afford consulting services.
Teams of first-year students and a second year who acts as project manager work on such projects as business plan
development, marketing plan development, and studies of organizational structure.

If needed, teams can also be connected with a faculty member who can assist with the specific nature of the project,
reported a second year we interviewed, who listed the following projects to which club members had contributed: a rev-
enue growth strategy for the New Haven Institute Library, a strategic budgeting model for the Connecticut Veterans Le-
gal Center, an affordable housing project for the Greater New Haven Help Alliance, and an economic impact study for the
Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Other past projects include marketing strategy recommendations for the Greater
Valley Chamber of Commerce, a strategic growth plan for Projects for a New Millennium, and a market assessment of
electric trolley use for the city of New Haven.

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Through alumni and other guest speakers, roundtable discussions, and similar activities, the Business and the Environ-
ment Club strives to fulfill its mission of “support[ing] students interested in the intersection of competitive business
organizations and sustainable environmental practices,” as the group states on its website. The club also serves as a
resource for other SOM organizations that include an environmental component in their activities.

Speaking about the opportunities available at the SOM for students interested in sustainability, a second-year student
told us, “One of the great advantages of being an MBA student at Yale who is interested in the intersection of business
and the environment is that one has the opportunity to identify, invite, and host executive-level leaders who have built
successful businesses with sustainability at their core. It’s intellectually appealing and an amazing opportunity to build
a professional network.”

A second-year student explained to mbaMission, “At Yale, we believe that helping others improves ourselves. We have
a responsibility to help others.” In fact, 7.6% of the Class of 2019 spent their 2018 summer internship with a company in
the nonprofit industry (as did 6.1% of the Class of 2018 the previous year). To help financially level the playing field, so to
speak, for those students who opt for one of these frequently low- or even non-paying internships, the Yale SOM Intern-
ship Fund, established in 1979, provides financial support to those who spend their summer working in the social enter-
prise, public, or nonprofit arena—thereby helping these organizations better “afford” top MBA students while mitigating
the comparative financial downside for students with an interest in this area. The Internship Fund website notes that
approximately 20% of each class since the inception of the fund has received funding.

Primary fundraising activities for the Internship Fund include Student Fundraising Week—during which SOM students are
asked to pledge money to support their classmates—an auction, and a Star Search–style talent show. “What’s incredible
about IF is that it’s run by students. That means we help each other,” a first year wrote in a blog post on the school’s Student
Experience blog in February 2018. “What drew me to the cause was that the Internship Fund exemplified the spirit of col-
laboration and support, which makes our community so distinctive,” one of the fund’s organizers wrote in a February 2015
blog post. “It is truly phenomenal to see so many people dedicate their time and money to help their friends—with the end
of fundraising week, the type of donations and support I’ve seen from my peers as a cohort rep have really amazed me.”

The Class of 2018 raised nearly $260,000 for the fund, and these donations were distributed among 45 recipients. One
of the 2018 Internship Fund’s co-chairs wrote in a blog post on the school’s site: “Co-leading the Internship Fund was one
of the most rewarding things I have done during my time at SOM. During my tenure, we raised $260,000 and funded over
13% of our class across sectors ranging from education to health care to the arts. Considering nearly every student in the
school donates or volunteers, IF has become a key part of the SOM community, and witnessing that cohesion firsthand
was a highlight for me during my first year of business school.”

In 2014, for example, the fund hosted a silent online auction in addition to the semiformal “Night in Valhalla” live auction.
Auction items in recent years have included a weekend in a vacation home, a night’s stay at the Yale Club, a month’s worth
of free coffee at the school’s student-run café, lunch with Professor Robert Schiller, and a round of golf with Dean Sny-
der. Also in 2014, the school opened a student-run gym—called Fit for Thought—which donates all the membership dues
it collects to the fund. A second year we interviewed explained, “The idea is that people should pursue their passions with
an internship and not just take the most lucrative offer. The school comes together in a huge way … and usually raises
close to $100,000 over the course of the year. This is a huge and important tradition here.”

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The SOM likewise supports its graduates who choose careers in nonprofit with the SOM Loan Forgiveness Program.
Available to MBA and joint-degree graduates alike, the program helps cover the repayment of tuition and fees originally
funded via need-based loans, and eligible alumni can apply for this assistance anytime within ten years of graduation.
The school’s loan forgiveness program, established in 1986, was the first of its kind (according to the SOM website) and
“has provided a model for similar programs at business schools” ever since.

Organizations that hired students from the SOM in recent years for either internships or full-time positions in this field
include the Environmental Defense Fund, the International Rescue Committee, the Veritas Forum, Education Pioneers,
New Sector Alliance, United Way of Greater Portland, Azuero Earth Project, EarthEnable, and Refresh Appalachia.

Real Estate

Only 1.2% of the SOM’s 2018 graduates entered careers in real estate, down from 2.0% in 2017, 1.7% in 2016, and 1.8% in
2015. The school has at least four electives, approximately five faculty members, and an active club that focus specifi-
cally on this field. Electives in real estate include “Real Estate Finance,” “International Real Estate,” “Cases in Commercial
Real Estate,” and “Real Estate Finance for Institutional Investors.” “Real Estate Finance” provides students with an intro-
duction to the field, with an emphasis on financing issues. The goals of the “Real Estate Finance for Institutional Inves-
tors” course are to develop in students both a general knowledge of real estate investment and a level of excitement for
this unique area of business. Students are also encouraged to take advantage of real estate–related courses offered by
other Yale University graduate schools, such as Yale Law School, the School of Architecture, and the School of Forestry.

The school’s Real Estate Club states on its site that it strives “to promote and increase awareness of the practice of,
and professional development opportunities in, real estate, including development, financing, management, and com-
mercial brokering aspects.” Club activities—which include guest speakers, alumni events, real estate run breakfasts,
and compiling a resume book—bring SOM students together with today’s real estate practitioners and with students and
faculty members from other professional schools at Yale who have an interest in this field.

In addition, the school has brought speakers to campus to discuss topics pertaining to real estate. For example, the
principals of the award-winning documentary Dream Builders: The Partnership of Peter M. Lehrer and Gene McGovern pre-
viously spoke on the film and their New York City construction business (the pair is credited with renovating the Statue
of Liberty, EuroDisney, Ellis Island, and Canary Wharf, among other well-known sites). And as part of the Gordon Grand
Fellowship lecture series, the chairman and CEO of Tishman Speyer (a multinational real estate development company—
one of the world’s largest) spoke at the school about the future of commercial real estate, expressing his personal sense
of optimism about what lies ahead.

Several SOM faculty members include the topic of real estate in their research, thereby expanding the school’s collec-
tive knowledge base on the industry. For one, famed economics professor Robert Shiller writes extensively on real es-
tate matters. (See more on Professor Shiller in the Notable Professors and Unsung Heroes section.) In addition, William
Goetzmann, who is the Edwin J. Beinecke Professor of Finance and Management Studies as well as director of the In-
ternational Center for Finance at the school, has received attention for his studies in the area of real estate: a 2010 New
York Times article highlighted Goetzmann’s research on real estate securitization in the 1920s, for which he had used

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documents from Yale’s History of Finance Collection to show parallels between modern markets and historical real es-
tate securities.

Firms that hired SOM students for internships or full-time positions in real estate in recent years include Prudential Real
Estate Investors; The Bozzuto Group; AvalonBay Communities, Inc.; and Monument Realty.

Notable Professors and Unsung Heroes

Nicholas Barberis (som.yale.edu/nicholas-c-barberis): The Stephen and Camille Schramm Professor of Finance since
2006, Nicholas Barberis received his BA from Cambridge University in 1991 and his PhD from Harvard University in 1996.
He is a three-time recipient of the Yale SOM Alumni Association Teaching Award (2006, 2009, and 2013). Barberis’s re-
search focus is on behavioral economics, and he uses psychology to better understand trading behavior. In the core
course “Investor,” which is primarily lecture based, he educates aspiring managers about asset allocation, valuation,
futures and options, and returns and risk in markets. Through the course, students explore risk and reward in investment
through the themes of economics, psychology, and organizational behavior. Speaking of the course in a 2012 SOM News
article, Barberis said, “Psychology … can be helpful in understanding what goes on in markets. … Real-world finance is
much more than just crunching numbers.” A 12-minute video excerpt from Barberis’s “Investor” course is available on
YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0qf3ZH5Gac.

Ravi Dhar (som.yale.edu/ravi-dhar): An expert in consumer behavior, Ravi Dhar is the George Rogers Clark Professor
of Management and Marketing at the SOM and the founding director of the school’s Center for Customer Insights. Dhar
joined the SOM in 1992 after receiving his MBA and his PhD from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He also holds
an affiliated appointment in Yale University’s department of psychology. Dhar’s research explores how consumers form
preferences for certain items and the subsequent prediction of consumer behavior in the marketplace. He also consults
with companies such as IBM, PepsiCo, and Visa and has had his work referenced in Bloomberg Businessweek, the New
York Times, The Economist, and USA Today. In 2012, second-year students chose Dhar as the outstanding teacher of an
elective course as part of the Yale School of Management Alumni Association’s Outstanding Teaching Awards, and in
2013, the Society for Consumer Psychology presented Dhar with the Distinguished Scientific Accomplishment Award,
honoring his research in the field of consumer behavior.

Gary B. Gorton (som.yale.edu/gary-b-gorton): Gary Gorton has been the Frederick Frank Class of 1954 Professor of Man-
agement and Finance at the SOM since 2008, before which he taught at the Wharton School of Business at the University
of Pennsylvania. Gorton was formerly a director of the research program on banks and the economy for the Federal De-
posit Insurance Corporation and a senior economist at the Federal Reserve in Philadelphia, and his research focuses on
such topics as the role of stock markets, banks, and bank regulation. His books Fighting Financial Crises: Learning from
the Past (University of Chicago Press, USA, 2018; co-written with E. W. Tallman), Misunderstanding Financial Crises: Why
We Don’t See Them Coming (Oxford University Press, USA, 2012), and Slapped by the Invisible Hand: The Panic of 2007 (Ox-
ford University Press, USA, 2010) offer in-depth analysis and discussion of the recent financial crisis. Gorton, who wrote
his PhD dissertation on bank crises while studying at the University of Rochester in 1983, notes on his website, “When I
wrote it, I never dreamed I would live through one.”

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The “Capital Markets” course Gorton teaches likewise focuses on the 2007 financial crisis, particularly as it related to
capital markets. In it, he uses a mixture of case studies and lectures that touch on current financial events, and he ex-
pects students to keep up with the latest developments on the finance scene by reading the business sections of the New
York Times, the Financial Times, Bloomberg News, and the Wall Street Journal.

Andrew Metrick (som.yale.edu/andrew-metrick): Twice distinguished with Excellence in Teaching awards during his
time at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Yale undergrad alumnus Andrew Metrick (’89) first joined the
Yale SOM faculty in 2008 as a professor of finance. In 2009, he was named the Theodore Nierenberg Professor of Corpo-
rate Governance and made faculty director of the Millstein Center for Corporate Governance. Then, in 2010, he became
deputy dean for faculty development (a position which he held until 2016) and the Michael H. Jordan Professor of Finance
and Management. Finally, Metrick was named the Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management during the 2017–
2018 academic year. Metrick’s interest in venture capital reportedly began when he volunteered to take over a course
in the study area while at Wharton and led to the eventual publication of his textbook Venture Capital and the Finance of
Innovation (with Ayako Yasuda; Wiley, Second Edition, 2010). His work now focuses on financial stability.

In his biography on the Yale SOM site, Metrick states, “The recent financial crisis made clear large gaps in our understand-
ing of the modern financial system and the role it plays in the economy.” He also notes in his faculty bio that the financial
crisis triggered something of a career shift for him, which “led to a complete change in my teaching, with all my courses
now relating in some way to the functions and regulation of the financial system, especially when that system goes awry.”
Metrick stepped away from the Yale SOM briefly in 2009–2010 to serve as an economist on President Obama’s Council of
Economic Advisors.

Barry Nalebuff (som.yale.edu/barry-nalebuff): Perhaps best known as one of the founders of Honest Tea, for which he
is now chairman, Barry Nalebuff is the Milton Steinbach Professor of Management at the Yale SOM. An expert in game
theory and strategy, Nalebuff has been a professor at the SOM since 1989. A second year told mbaMission that in the
classroom, Nalebuff “is a favorite for his sharp wit and insights.” His book The Art of Strategy: A Game Theorist’s Guide to
Success in Business and Life (W.W. Norton & Co., 2008) explores how almost all interactions, business and personal alike,
have a game theory component. Nalebuff and Adam Brandenburger, a professor of business economics and strategy at
NYU’s Stern School of Business, developed the concept of a new business strategy called co-opetition, which they write
about in a book of the same name: Co-Opetition: A Revolutionary Mindset That Combines Competition and Cooperation:
The Game Theory Strategy That’s Changing the Game of Business (Crown Business, 1996).

The book describes co-opetition as “a revolutionary method that combines competition and cooperation.” A first year
noted in a 2010 Yale SOM Community Blog post, “Prof. Nalebuff never misses an opportunity to illustrate the ways in
which companies can cooperate to grow the PIE (potential industry earnings). Of course, he then always reminds us that
these same companies should compete aggressively to secure the biggest piece of that newly expanded PIE.”

Robert Shiller (som.yale.edu/robert-shiller): Even those not considering pursuing an MBA degree may be familiar with
Robert Shiller, thanks to the famed Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. In fact, Shiller’s contributions to
the field of behavioral finance won him the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Science (with Lars Peter Hansen and Eugene F.
Fama). Currently the Sterling Professor of Economics at the SOM, Shiller has been at Yale since 1982.

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The SOM website notes that Shiller has written about “financial markets, behavioral economics, macroeconomics, real
estate, statistical methods, and public attitudes, opinions, and moral judgments regarding markets.” And according to
Treasury & Risk magazine, which named Shiller one of the 100 most influential economists of 2009, he “is credited with
predicting the 2007 housing market peak and the subsequent plunge of global markets.” SOM students appear to hold
Shiller, who often uses games to explain ideas, in high regard. “He’s awesome,” a second year told mbaMission, with a
“very nice, easy manner.” Another second-year student we interviewed said, “You come out [of his class] pretty convinced
of the things he says.” In addition, Shiller writes regular columns for both the New York Times and Project Syndicate.

Social/Community Life

Closing Bell: SOM’s weekly happy hour, Closing Bell, takes place on Thursday nights. Given that students have no classes
on Fridays, Closing Bell kicks off the weekend. Generally held at an off-campus location, this event is attended by stu-
dents and their partners as well as by faculty and staff and sometimes carries a theme—a February 2018 Closing Bell, for
example, celebrated the Chinese New Year. According to a second year we interviewed, “It’s a great chance to catch up
with friends after a busy week and to make plans for the evening, which often includes a trip to GPSCY [the Graduate &
Professional Student Center at Yale, aka Gryphon’s Pub, described later in this section] or other popular watering holes
like Mory’s, or quieter dinners and gatherings.” SOM alumni often continue the tradition after graduation—in June 2018,
for example, the DC alumni chapter hosted a Closing Bell at a local wine bar. “The role of closing bell in our Yale SOM
experience cannot be overlooked,” the invitation read. “After a long week of classes, homework, quizzes and activities,
closing bell provided the perfect setting to wind down.”

Gartska Cup: For some, life in the Northeast would not be complete without ice hockey. The hockey club at the SOM is
reportedly one of the largest at the school, attracting student players of all abilities. Said a second-year student we in-
terviewed, “Playing hockey or attending as a spectator is a blast, especially since we use Ingalls Rink, an amazing facility
where the currently top-ranked Yale hockey team plays its matches.” Referring to the Stanley Gartska Cup, he added,
“The season culminates with a first-year versus second-year game in April, named after our deputy dean [now professor
in the practice of management], whose first name is Stanley—get it?” Speaking of the event in a February 2013 video on
the SOM community blog, a first year said, “It’s just a great way to relax, unwind, but have some good, clean, competitive
fun,” adding that a “requisite amount of trash talking on the ice” goes on between the first and second years. Even those
with little interest in sports might want to consider attending—in 2017, the invite to the Cup referred to the event as “the
best party of the year” and featured a “hockey-style” Closing Bell (described earlier in this section), a pre-game group
march, and an after-party.

Gryphon’s Pub at GPSCY: Located in a Gothic-style building on York Street in the heart of Old Campus, Gryphon’s Pub has
been run by the Graduate & Professional Student Center at Yale since the 1970s. This members-only club is managed by
Yale graduate students and features several lounges, a big-screen TV, pool tables, and nightly drink specials. Member-
ship dues, which were $20 in 2018–2019, are considered a bargain, given the $2–$5 cover charge (which members are not
required to pay) and the frequency with which students tend to find themselves at Gryphon’s!

Harvard-Yale Football Game: Students we interviewed reported that “Bulldog” football is a key component of autumn on
the Yale University campus, and the Harvard-Yale rivalry (known as “The Game”) is considered one of the most important

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face-offs on each season’s schedule. Since 1875, The Game has been played nearly every November at the end of the
football season. Because the event alternates between the Harvard and Yale venues each year, SOM students will have
the opportunity to attend The Game at the Yale Bowl at least once during their time at the school. However, given the two
schools’ proximity to each other, we expect that travelling to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to attend The Game at Harvard
is worth considering.

Graduate students pay student pricing for most athletic events and sit in the student section. The Yale Bowl is only about
a mile and a half from campus, and students often walk to the event together in “caravans” after tailgating in the parking
lot. The Game brings both the universities and their business schools together. One second-year student told mbaMis-
sion, “When we host, we have a weekend of events, including a dance party at GPSCY [the Graduate and Professional
Student Center at Yale] and a tailgate the morning of the game. Both of my years, we organized a mixer with HBS, as it’s a
great opportunity to mingle with other business school students.”

Academic Summary

Curriculum: Students must complete 72 units of credit, including 34 from core courses, to graduate. In addition, stu-
dents must fulfill the school’s Global Studies Requirement by participating in one of the following curricular offerings:

ƒƒ Global Network Course
ƒƒ Global Network Week
ƒƒ Global Social Entrepreneurship courses
ƒƒ International Experience course
ƒƒ Semester-long international exchange with a partner school

In 2006, the SOM instituted its integrated curriculum, which consists of a series of core courses and
the Global Studies Requirement. The core is divided into two sections: Orientation to Management,
which takes place in the early fall, and Organizational Perspectives, which takes place in late fall and
continues throughout the remainder of students’ first year. The second year consists entirely of elec- One factor that draws
tives, which students may select from and take at any of the schools at Yale University. my clients to Yale
SOM is the unique
Integrated Core Courses
opportunity to cross-
ƒƒ “Basics of Accounting”
ƒƒ “Basics of Economics”
register in classes
ƒƒ “Competitor” in other parts of the
ƒƒ “Customer” university, such as the
ƒƒ “Employee” Law School or School
ƒƒ “The Executive” of Forestry.
ƒƒ “The Global Macroeconomy”
ƒƒ “Global Virtual Teams”  Katharine Lewis, mbaMission
ƒƒ “Innovator” Senior Consultant
ƒƒ “Introduction to Negotiation”

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 53

 ƒƒ “Investor”
ƒƒ “Managing Groups and Teams”
ƒƒ “Modeling Managerial Decisions”
ƒƒ “Operations Engine”
ƒƒ “Power and Politics”
ƒƒ “Probability Modeling and Statistics”
ƒƒ “Sourcing and Managing Funds”
ƒƒ “State and Society”

Additional Elements
ƒƒ Global Studies Requirement
ƒƒ Leadership Distribution Requirement

Grade Disclosure Policy: The Yale SOM has a nondisclosure policy with regard to grades. The school does not compute
GPA or class rank.

Grading Policy: Grades at the SOM fall under five categories: high honors, honors, proficient, pass, and fail. High honors
are granted to 10% of each class.

Majors: The Yale SOM does not offer majors or special concentrations.

Research Centers and Initiatives:

ƒƒ Center for Customer Insights
ƒƒ Center for Business and the Environment
ƒƒ Chief Executive Leadership Institute
ƒƒ China India Insights Program
ƒƒ Initiative on Leadership and Organization Yale has expanded its
ƒƒ International Center for Finance program considerably,
ƒƒ Program on Entrepreneurship
offering targeted and
ƒƒ Program on Financial Stability
executive program
ƒƒ Program on Social Enterprise
ƒƒ SOM Lab
options that only
ƒƒ Yale Center Beijing expand its student
experiences.
Teaching Method: The Yale SOM uses a diverse set of teaching methods, including case study, lec-
ture, and experiential learning. The school is also known for having developed the “raw” case format,  Susan Kaplan, mbaMission Senior

in which students use real-time data rather than previously prepared cases. Consultant and SOM Alumna

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 54

Admissions Basics

Note: Any specifics discussed in this section related to application requirements were valid for the 2018–2019 admissions
season (unless otherwise noted). Be aware that requirements for any subsequent admissions cycles may differ. Always
check with the school directly to confirm all application details.

The Yale SOM allows applicants to join the school’s admissions community through newsletters, a student blog, admis-
sions discussion forums, and numerous admissions events. Admissions events are held in the United States and inter-
nationally and take place throughout the fall and early winter. The SOM Community Blog (http://som.yale.edu/programs/
mba/blog) provides an inside look at life at the school from the perspective of both first- and second-year students.
The blog is updated regularly throughout the academic year and touches on such topics as study groups, social life, and
career aspirations.

Application Process: The Yale SOM has three application rounds and accepts only online applications. Applicants can
log in to their admissions profile and regularly check the status of their application. Applications are reviewed by at least
two members of the admissions committee and in random order. As a result, applications can be reviewed at any point in
a round, rather than on a first come, first served basis. Most applications are brought for consideration by the full com-
mittee, and decisions are made as a group.

Interview requests are sent out throughout each admissions round, and no candidate is admitted without an interview.
Each admissions decision deadline falls approximately twelve weeks after the round’s application deadline. Admissions
notifications are made throughout each round, and the latest an applicant would hear from the admissions committee
would be the date listed on the school’s website as the admissions decision deadline. Applicants are initially notified of
an acceptance via telephone, with electronic and hard-copy confirmation to follow. Denials are sent out via email.

Admissions Rounds: Like many business schools, the SOM has three admissions rounds, falling in the autumn, winter,
and early spring. Rounds 1 and 2 have no appreciable difference between them with regard to competitive advantage,
and the school’s general recommendation is for candidates to submit their application when they feel it is at its best.
Round 3 is more competitive simply because fewer open spots remain.

GMAT/GPA Cutoff and the GRE: The SOM stipulates no required minimum for a candidate’s GPA or GMAT score. However,
the 80% range for the GMAT for the Classes of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 was 690–760. The average undergraduate
GPA for the Class of 2020 was 3.71. In 2010, the Yale SOM began accepting GRE scores, either in place of or in addition to
GMAT scores. The median verbal GRE score for the Class of 2020 was 165, while the median quantitative score was 163.

TOEFL: The school does not require a TOEFL score for international applicants.

Word Limits: Although the admissions committee does not anticipate entirely strict adherence to word limits, discretion
is appreciated. As of 2018–2019, the school had reduced the number of required essays from four to one and shortened
applicant responses to a total word limit of 500. “We did so not because we’re trying to water down the application but
rather to focus on what we think matters most to us,” wrote Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions Bruce DelMonico
in a letter announcing the change, according to a July 2014 Poets&Quants article.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 55

International Quotas: The Yale SOM has no quota for any kind of student, international or otherwise. International stu-
dents have traditionally made up roughly one-third or more of the SOM class from year to year, and this proportion has
been approaching half for more recent classes (45% for the Classes of 2020 and 2019, 46% for the Class of 2018, and 40%
for the Class of 2017).

Younger Candidates: The Silver Scholars program, which was created in 2001 to celebrate the Yale SOM’s 25th anniver-
sary, is a three-year MBA program designed specifically for college seniors. Applications are limited to current college
seniors, and candidates do not have to be U.S. citizens. “[The program provides the] unique opportunity for college se-
niors to earn an MBA in three years directly after graduation and move more quickly toward their career goals,” explains
the school’s website. Silver Scholars spend their first year following the SOM core curriculum, their second in a year-long
internship, and then return to campus to complete their elective course work during their third year of the program.
Learn more about the Silver Scholars program and other deferred admissions programs from our free HBS 2+2 and De-
ferred Admissions Primer.

Recommendations: The SOM requires that applicants submit two recommendations, and at least one should come from
a person who has worked in a supervisory capacity with relation to the candidate in their latest position and can there-
fore knowledgeably assess the candidate’s job performance.

Campus Visit: Although a campus visit is not a requirement for admission to the SOM, on its site, the school’s admis-
sions committee encourages applicants to make the trip to New Haven to get to know the school firsthand and to spend
some time exploring the town. A typical campus visit includes sitting in on a class, taking a tour led by a student ambas-
sador, and having lunch with students. The day concludes with an admissions question-and-answer session and may
also include an admissions interview, if the candidate has been invited for one. Visits begin in early September and are
scheduled online for Monday through Thursday. The Admissions Office’s “Campus Visits” page (http://som.yale.edu/our-
programs/full-time-mba/admissions/campus-visits) provides driving directions to the school as well as information on
train travel and lodging.

In an interview with mbaMission, Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions Bruce DelMonico stated, “We encourage
people to visit campus because we believe that it’s one of the best ways to get a sense of the SOM culture, community,
and classroom experience. It benefits the applicant from that perspective and can perhaps make them better candi-
dates in the sense that they can leverage this more sophisticated knowledge of Yale SOM in their application.”

Interviews: Interviews are by invitation only. Approximately 30% of SOM applicants are offered an interview, and no can-
didate is offered admission without an interview. Offers for interviews come randomly via email throughout each admis-
sions round. Interviews are typically 30 minutes long and are most often conducted by trained second-year students on
campus. Some off-campus interviews may be conducted either with alumni or through Skype.

“The format of the interview is behavioral in nature,” DelMonico explained in a 2013 post on the school’s MBA Blog, stating,
“We will ask you questions about your past experiences and decisions to get a better sense of how you act and think. The
best way to prepare for an interview is to know your résumé, reread your application essays, and have a good sense of
what you have done well—and not so well—in the past, and why.”

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 56

Video Questions: In the 2013–2014 admissions season, the SOM introduced a new video question component to its appli-
cation. Candidates are presented with three brief prerecorded online question prompts and are then required to record
live responses of up to 90 seconds each via webcam. After viewing each question prompt, applicants are allotted 20
seconds to prepare their answer. The three video prompts consist of an open-ended question inquiring into the candi-
date’s general background, a behavioral question that asks how the candidate would react in a hypothetical professional
situation, and a “thought” question that asks the candidate to take a position on a specific issue.

“The intent is that this new application element will be another opportunity for applicants to tell us more about them-
selves than we would otherwise learn from things like essays and recommendations,” explained DelMonico in a 2013 MBA
Blog post. The video question is therefore supplementary to, and not a substitute for, the in-person interview. “Our video
questions will resemble questions you could be asked in any standard interview,” DelMonico added in a 2018 MBA Blog
post. “My biggest piece of advice is to practice answering basic behavioral interview questions. In your answers, we’re
looking to assess your potential for leadership and your communication skills. … Although the video questions do not
take the place of an interview, it might be helpful to treat them like one: dress professionally and be sure to speak clearly
and concisely.”

Waitlist: The Yale SOM encourages applicants to submit new materials during their time on the waitlist if they feel that
doing so will strengthen their application. The waitlist is not ranked; therefore, if a spot becomes available, an offer is
made after the entire list is reviewed. In addition, the Admissions Office is willing to offer feedback regarding why an ap-
plicant was waitlisted. When an applicant is waitlisted, the Admissions Office directs candidates to review the “Waitlist
FAQs” (http://som.yale.edu/yale-som-waitlist), which offers insight into the process. DelMonico explained to mbaMis-
sion that this document “gives them guidance about what they should and shouldn’t do, what to expect, etc. Anyone who
is waitlisted is advised to review that document closely so they know what to do next.”

Financial Aid: The Yale SOM website states that 73% of students receive financial assistance. In 2015, for example, the
school provided $1.4M in loan forgiveness. An in-house loan program is available for international students that allows
them to borrow up to the full cost of the MBA program at reasonable rates. All financial aid matters are handled through a
dedicated business office at the SOM. Every applicant is automatically nominated for merit scholarships, and awards are
announced in conjunction with the candidate’s offer of admission.

Feedback: Applicants who are denied admission can receive feedback on their applications should they request it. Un-
successful applicants are asked to wait until the summer, after the admissions season is over, before requesting this
feedback, however.

Reapplicants: If an applicant is reapplying within two years, they only needs to resubmit a new application form with fee
and write new essays. All other materials are kept on file. The candidate’s essays should explain how the reapplicant has
improved their candidacy since the original submission. In addition, new recommendations—though not required—may
be similarly informative. The admission rate for reapplicants is reportedly the same as that for first-time applicants. Del-
Monico explained to mbaMission, “We provide feedback to candidates who aren’t admitted to the program, so first asking
for and then addressing that feedback is the most important thing a reapplicant can do.”

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 57

Yale School of Management Essay Analysis, 2019–2020

The Yale School of Management (SOM), like Harvard Business School, takes a bit of a “go big or go home” approach with
its application essay question in that it poses just a single query to its applicants, giving them only one shot to make their
desired impression on the admissions committee. The Yale SOM prompt is less open-ended, however, and requires can-
didates to focus on a significant past commitment and its underlying reasons and value. It also limits applicants to 500
words, so you will need to be clear, direct, and rather succinct in your response, without much preamble or extraneous
text. Read on for our full analysis of the Yale SOM essay question for 2019–2020.

Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. (500 words maximum)

In a Yale SOM blog post (https://som.yale.edu/blog/assistant-dean-admissions-yale-som-application-essay-question-

announced) about the school’s essay prompt when it was originally introduced, Assistant Dean for Admissions Bruce
DelMonico noted that the “seemingly simple and straightforward question” was composed with assistance from one of
the program’s organizational behavior professors. Yale’s admissions committee clearly takes the application essay se-
riously and is thoughtful about the types of behaviors it wants to see in the school’s students. In an online Q&A session
with several leading admissions officers (www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0uVg70ZVl4&t=66s) we hosted last year, Bruce
declared himself “agnostic” about whether applicants should discuss a personal commitment or a professional one, not-
ing that he wants to gauge the level to which candidates commit themselves, rather than the context of the engagement:
“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.”

You may initially think this prompt is rather narrow in scope, allowing you space to share the story of just a single profes-
sional or community project and nothing more. Although you can certainly discuss your dedication to a particular project
or cause, you are definitely not restricted to this approach. Consider this: you can also be committed to an idea (e.g.,
personal liberty) or a value (e.g., creating opportunity for others), and approaching your essay from this angle instead
could enable you to share much more of and about yourself with the SOM admissions committee. For example, you might
relate a few anecdotes that on the surface seem unrelated—drawing from different parts of your life—but that all support
and illustrate how you are guided by a particular value. Or, to return to the example of personal liberty as a theme, you
could show how you take control of your academic and professional paths, adhering steadfastly to your values and vision.
Whatever you choose to feature as the focus of your commitment, your actions and decisions, manifest via a variety of
experiences, must allow you to own it as a genuine part of who you are as an individual. Identifying a theme that you think
no one else will ever use is not your goal here; presenting authentic anecdotes that powerfully support your selected
theme is what is important.

If you elect to focus on a single anecdote, the commitment you claim must be truly inordinate. Being particularly proud
of an accomplishment is not enough to make it an effective topic for this essay. You need to demonstrate your constancy
and dedication in the face of challenges or resistance, revealing that your connection to the experience was hard won.
Strive to show that you have been resolute in following a sometimes difficult path and have doggedly stayed on course,
citing clear examples to illustrate your steadfastness. Nothing commonplace will work here—you must make your reader
truly understand your journey and leave them more impressed by your effort than the outcome.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 58

Within its application, the Yale SOM also poses the following question:

How did you arrive at these career interests? How have you or how will you position yourself to pursue them? (250
words maximum)

Although this is not presented by the school as an official essay question, its length (at 250 words) and topic lead us to feel
a little guidance might be helpful with this submission. Here, the admissions committee is essentially asking for context
for your professional aspirations, which typically involves some level of information about your work history, and wants
to learn how you expect to use the Yale SOM experience and degree to move your forward on your path to achieving your
goals.

Keep in mind that the admissions committee will already have your resume on hand to review, and this should provide
the basic information as far as your previous positions/titles, responsibilities, and accomplishments. What the school is
looking for here is the more personal side of the story—what has motivated you along the way and is motivating you still,
prodding you to pursue an MBA as part of your efforts to continue on your chosen professional path. In an application tips
blog post (https://som.yale.edu/apptips-post-mba-interests), Kate Botelho, associate director of admissions at the Yale
SOM, offers this advice when considering your response: “You may want to think about the answers to questions such as
‘How did these interests develop?’ ‘What kind of exposure have you had to them?’ ‘What steps have you already taken to
explore these interests?’ ‘What enables you to pursue them successfully?’”

Given that this prompt essentially covers some of the elements found in a typical traditional personal statement essay,
we encourage you to download a free copy of the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide (https://shop.mbamission.
com/products/personal-statement-guide), which offers in-depth advice on how to address these sorts of topics and
provides examples.

Optional Information:

If any aspect of your candidacy needs further explanation (unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recom-
menders, academic performance, promotions or recognitions, etc.), please provide a brief description here. (200
words maximum)

Yale’s optional information prompt invites you to address any potential problem areas in your profile if you feel you need
to. The use of the adjective “brief” clearly conveys that the school wants you to focus on imparting key information rather
than offering a detailed and long-winded explanation of the issue in question. This is absolutely not an opportunity to
share another cool story or otherwise try to impress or pander to the admissions committee. If you do not truly need to
explain an issue or a perhaps confusing element of your candidacy, we do not recommend that you submit an option es-
say; if you do have issues to clarify, keep things concise. In our free mbaMission Optional Essays Guide (https://shop.
mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide), we offer detailed advice on when and how to take ad-
vantage of these kinds of opportunities, with multiple examples, to help you mitigate any problem areas in your profile.

The Next Step—Mastering Your Yale SOM Interview: Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and in-
timidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 59

preparation. To help you on your way to this high level of preparation, we offer our free Interview Guides. Download your
free copy of the Yale School of Management Interview Guide today at https://shop.mbamission.com/products/yale-
school-of-management-interview-guide.

mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Yale School of Management’s Admissions

Director Bruce DelMonico

May 2016

The Yale School of Management’s (SOM’s) long-standing admissions director, Bruce DelMonico, recently took some time to
chat with us about the MBA program’s current admissions process and provide insight into a few issues that are no doubt of
interest to Yale SOM applicants. The following are just a few of the key topics DelMonico addressed:

ƒƒ The steady increase in the school’s application numbers in recent years

ƒƒ The admissions committee’s consensus approach to admit decisions
ƒƒ How a candidate can avoid sounding inauthentic in the application
ƒƒ The number one thing applicants should do when they find themselves on the waitlist
ƒƒ His thoughts on the ubiquitous GMAT versus GRE question
ƒƒ The inspiration behind Yale SOM’s video question

Read on for the full interview.

mbaMission: First, let me start by thanking you for talking with me today. We appreciate it. Some have been saying that
the Yale School of Management [SOM] is losing its reputation of being quirky and untraditional and instead becoming
more Wall Street, more corporate. Would you agree with this, and if so, does it change the kind of student you’re trying
to attract?

Bruce DelMonico: I’ve heard that over the past year or two—concerns about the culture changing or losing the school’s
character—but actually, I don’t agree with that assessment. From the admissions perspective, first of all, it hasn’t
changed anything in terms of what we’re doing or who we’re hoping to attract. I haven’t seen changes in terms of the
composition of the incoming students. I think if anything, in terms of that first job after graduation, the shift may be a
little bit more toward consulting. I think that’s probably consistent with what other schools are seeing. I don’t think that’s
a sign of anything large or any major deviation from our culture or mission, or from the character of the school. I think
that remains intact.

mbaMission: Great. The school has seen a pretty steady increase in application numbers over the past couple years.
What do you believe is driving this increase, and what effect has it had, if any, on how you evaluate candidates? And
what’s been the effect on selectivity?

BD: That’s a good question. I think you could even go back farther and say that over the past decade, there’s been an
increase. I’ve been at the school for 11 years now, and when I started, we received somewhere around 2,000 applica-

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 60

tions. Now we receive somewhere around 3,500. So, in my time, there’s been about a 70% increase in the number of ap-
plications we receive, which is a big jump. And I think there are a number of things behind this. I’d like to think that some
of things we do in admissions have helped, but there have also been changes on a larger scale—the introduction of the
integrated curriculum, Dean [Ted] Snyder’s arrival—a lot of momentum that’s been happening, so really sharpening our
focus, deepening our integration with the university, expanding our global presence and our global aspirations, really
working to continue to refine our integrated curriculum, and then things like Evans Hall, our new campus, have helped us
or garnered attention. I think all those things have contributed to the growth of our applicant pool. As for the selectivity,
we’ve been roughly in the same range over the past few years, because as we’ve grown the pool, we’ve also grown the
class size. We used to be in the low 200s in terms of the class, and now, we’re in the low 300s. So the class has grown to a
large degree in parallel with the applicant pool, and I think that’s held the selectivity consistent.

In terms of the evaluation process, we obviously have more files to go through. But we of course want to maintain the
quality of the process and not cut corners. We have more people reviewing, so that’s helped, but some of it is just simply
working a little harder. We definitely evaluate more files in a week than we had previously, but we don’t want to devote any
less time to them. We actually have a consensus-based process, which means we all sit down as a committee and have to
be in agreement on the outcome of the files, of the applicants. Naturally, that has taken more time as the pool has grown,
but we’ve been able to manage it. I’m a believer in that consensus model, so that’s something we’ll stay with.

mbaMission: That does seem like it might slow the process down a bit, having a whole group making the final decisions,
rather than just one or two people.

BD: It does, but my belief is that it yields a richer outcome, and we make sure that we’re balancing, so that everybody
brings a different perspective. I think that’s an important part of the process.

mbaMission: Sure. With the increase in applications, do you feel you’ve also seen an increase in quality, for a lack of bet-
ter word, in the applicants you’re getting, or are you just getting a greater number of the same-level candidates?

BD: My sense is that it’s more the latter than the former. We’ve always received really, really strong, high-quality applica-
tions, and we continue to. So I don’t know that qualitatively, there’s been at the top end a huge increase in the quality of
the pool. What we’ve seen is that there have been more of those high-quality applicants, if that makes sense. I don’t think
the quality of the top end has gotten any stronger, but the depth maybe has gotten a little bit deeper. I think that’s obvi-
ously a good thing for us.

mbaMission: Got it. You regularly offer applicants the advice of being themselves in their application, rather than trying
to be whatever they think you or the admissions committee wants them to be. How do you know when someone is not
being genuine in their application? Are there certain tells?

BD: Maybe there are people who are so good at it we can’t tell! But we do tell people to be themselves, and I know other
schools do as well, and we do it for a good reason. We want to get a sense of who you really are. I’ve used this analogy in
the past, and hopefully, it’s a helpful one, but my professional background is that I’m a lawyer, so I was a litigator. And when
you’re preparing someone for a deposition or for trial, the first thing you tell them is to tell the truth. And there are two
reasons you do that: one is that it’s right thing to do, and then the second is that it’s much easier to remember the truth.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 61

And I think that applies in the application process as well. What we’re looking for as we’re evaluating candidates is to
make sure that everything kind of fits together, which isn’t to say that it has to be entirely consistent across every ele-
ment of the application, that it’s all uniform. But when you say one thing in your essay about what you’ve done and what
you’re interested in doing, and then your recommenders say something completely different, and your academic record
and professional background show something else, those are the things we see as potential tells that you’re trying to
present yourself as someone other than who you are.

So that will raise a red flag for us. By telling the truth and being yourself, you’re not presenting multiple selves to differ-
ent schools, and you don’t have to keep track of “What did I say to this school?” and “What did I say to that school?” I think
there’s a sense that some schools are finance schools or marketing schools or nonprofit schools or operations schools,
and therefore you need to be a finance person or a marketing person or a nonprofit person or an operations person to
each of these schools. I don’t know if that ever was the case in the past, but I know that certainly at Yale and every other
school, the admissions offices are looking to put together a very diverse class, so you don’t have fit any one particular
model or mold.

mbaMission: Right.

BD: But when you start to sort of shape your candidacy to fit the school—I mean obviously, you might highlight certain
aspects of yourself to different schools, based on what you think might resonate more with them—but if you go too far in
that direction, you start to seem insincere or not terribly genuine, and that’s where the red flags come in. So, if you have
always been in finance and now you want to go into nonprofit, well, did you ever volunteer? Did you ever do anything in
the nonprofit space? Where is that interest coming from? Or if you have always been in the nonprofit space and want to
go into finance, where is that interest coming from? What’s behind that? If we see a disconnect there, that’s where we
question that aspect of the candidacy.

But even when we see that, that doesn’t automatically mean we’re not going to admit that person. Sometimes we’ll see a
candidate who says, “I have these goals,” but we’ll look at their profile and get the sense that they’re saying that because
they think that’s what they need to say. We might still admit them, and they might think they got admitted because they
said that, but actually, they got admitted despite having said it. We recognize that they’re maybe being a little cute with
the application, but we still find their application compelling, and we’re willing to overlook that.

mbaMission: Okay. So what would you say to someone who thinks, “I can’t just be who I am in my application because I’m
too boring,” or, “I don’t have anything impressive to say, so they won’t notice me”? What advice would you give someone
like that?

BD: That’s a good question. I have to say that if your goal is to stick out and be unique, no one else will have the same expe-
riences you have, and even if you say, “I’m boring” or, “My career path has been too straightforward,” the way to stand out
is to discuss what you did there, how you distinguished yourself. We’re looking for people who have a range of different
backgrounds, but the thing that really makes them stand out is that they really sell what they’ve done. So if you maybe
have what you think is a traditional MBA background, and you don’t stick out in terms of where you’ve been, the way to
stick out is by focusing on what you’ve done. That’s really what will get our attention.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 62

mbaMission: Sure. If you were to speak to someone who had just decided to go for their MBA and hadn’t done any re-
search at all on any of the top schools, but you could tell them only one thing about Yale, what would be your selling point?

BD: No pressure! Okay, I won’t be evasive and say, “Well, I couldn’t pick just one.” If I really could give only one thing, I would
say that we’re a school where the mission matters. Our mission is to educate leaders for business and society, and we
really care about that mission. We care about living up to that mission. It’s very broad, it’s very multisector, and it’s the
founding mission. It’s been the same since the school was founded back in 1970s. It very much still guides what we do at
the school. So, that is the one thing I would tell someone who is just coming to the process and just learning about SOM.

mbaMission: Nicely done! What guidance can you give those who finds themselves on the waitlist? And why might some-
one end up on the waitlist in the first place?

BD: People can end up on the waitlist for a number of different reasons. We might really like their candidacy, but there
might be one thing we have a question about or one thing we feel they need to strengthen. It could be something very
specific, or it could just be that it’s a very competitive applicant pool, and they’re strong, but we want to have a better
sense of how the pool and the class are going to shape up before we make a final decision. They might be on the waitlist
really just because of the competitiveness of the pool. We do also sometimes waitlist people without interviewing them,
and I think that sometimes freaks people out, so just to let people know, that’s not the norm, but it’s not so uncommon
that you should be concerned. If you didn’t get an interview but then find yourself on the waitlist, sometimes that can be
a sign that there might be one thing that we have a question about or something we want to get a little more clarity on.

The advice I would give, I think the main thing is that if you find yourself on the waitlist, when you get the decision, we
will give you a list of FAQs that tells you, here are some next steps, here’s what you can do, and the first thing we say is
to reach out and ask for feedback. We have an email address you can use to request feedback, and it surprises me the
number of people I speak to on the waitlist, when I ask whether they asked for feedback, they say no. In my mind, that
should be the first thing you do. We’ll tell you why you’re on the waitlist. We’ll tell you what we think you can do to improve
your candidacy, to strengthen yourself and strengthen your chances of getting in. But there are people who don’t take
advantage of that opportunity.

So, the first thing is definitely ask us why you’re on the waitlist. It might be that it’s a very competitive year, and that’s all
we can say, or there might be something very specific we can tell you that will help. The other thing is to continue to be
in touch, but obviously, in appropriate ways and at appropriate times. If you have a major update, let us know. If you want
to just check in every so often, that’s fine, too. But there are some people who are in touch several times a week. I would
not suggest that; that’s what can distinguish you in a not-so-positive way. But every two weeks or once a month, if you
want to check in and see how things are going and just reiterate your interest, that is always helpful to us. It’s always good
for us to know that you remain interested, you want to continue to be considered, and that could be a helpful thing just
by itself.

mbaMission: Sure. Is there an end date for the Yale waitlist, or do you keep accepting candidates more or less up until the
last minute?

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 63

BD: It depends on the year. We can accept people sometimes up to the very last minute. We try to give people some sense
of what the time frame is, but it depends on how things evolve on our end. We try not to keep a huge waitlist going into the
summer, for example, just because it’s not fair to people to leave them in limbo for that long. So we try to have a some-
what more targeted waitlist. And every so often, at various points, we’ll reach out to see if you are still interested, so we
know that if we get to the point where we’re thinking about making additional offers, we have a current list of people who
are still interested and people who aren’t anymore.

mbaMission: That makes sense. As you know best, Yale has accepted the GRE in addition to the GMAT for quite a while
now. How would you compare the two exams from an admissions perspective, and if you were to recommend that an ap-
plicant take only one or the other, which one would you suggest?

BD: Right, we have accepted the GRE for a number of years, and I think at this point, roughly 20% of students in our in-
coming class took the GRE as opposed to the GMAT, which I think is probably on the higher end among schools. We have
no preference for one or the other; we value them equally. I think it would be a little perverse for us to accept both but
then weight one more heavily than the other. We wouldn’t want to disadvantage anybody either way. In terms of recom-
mending taking one or the other, I really think it’s a matter of personal preference, which one you feel more comfortable
with. We look at them the same, and we incorporate them into the process the same way.

There’s actually a concordance tool that ETS offers to help us better understand how the scores align. It’s a little bit
broad, but it’s narrowed since the first inception, so it gives us a decent sense of what the corresponding score might
be. We also have now a number of years of students who have come through and taken the GRE, so we’ve done our own
regressions and analyses and have a better sense of how to view the tests. So, I think from the applicant perspective, it’s
really just which one you feel more comfortable with. A lot of our applicants who have taken the GRE are interested in per-
haps a joint degree with another school—so forestry and environmental sciences, for example, or public health—and they
want to take just one test as opposed to two, and that’s fine. Or maybe they’re thinking about other graduate schools, not
just business school, maybe something like public policy school, and the GRE has more flexibility in that regard. But it’s
really a matter of personal preference.

mbaMission: Okay. What was your primary motivation for adding the video component to the Yale application, and what in-
formation or insight do you feel you get from the video question that you don’t get from the other parts of the application?

BD: We actually first piloted the video component in I think 2011, so it’s been several years since we first started playing
around with it. And it came about from a conversation we had internally. I was talking to a colleague who has now moved
on, and we were talking about how admissions offices really hadn’t incorporated technology in what we thought was a
very beneficial way, things like video essays or having applicants upload some sort of multimedia presentation. We didn’t
feel as though that was really taking advantage of the technology as much as it could, and it wasn’t really leveraging the
benefits of the technology. At the same time, we felt that some of the formats might advantage people with more re-
sources. They would be able to put together more impressive packages or have more advanced technology available to
them. So we were thinking about what kind of technology we could use that would level the playing field but also give us
really good insights that we wouldn’t be getting in other contexts. That’s where the video questions came about.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 64

Again, I think we piloted it in 2011. We played around with different vendors and different formats to get to where we are
now, and I think it will continue to evolve. In terms of what we’re hoping to get out of it, at the basic level, we want to get a
sense of someone’s speaking ability, especially their English ability if they’re a nonnative speaker. Actually, in tandem with
incorporating the video questions, we eliminated the TOEFL and the IELTS requirements, so no English language test,
because we felt we could evaluate that directly ourselves. Beyond that, we wanted to get a sense of how well someone
can think in the moment, so that extemporaneous speaking ability, which is a little bit beyond basic English ability and
can show how well you think on your feet, because that is a skill that is tested and needed in business school and beyond.

We do focus some of the video questions on certain different competencies that we think are important. We’re still work-
ing on building that part in terms of really structuring the questions and coding the responses in a way that we feel is
helpful to us. That’s where I think a lot of the evolution will be. But we do feel that the video question provides a perspec-
tive on the applicant that we can’t get just from the paper application. It provides a new dimension, a new aspect to the
candidacy, and I can say that we tend to view it almost invariably as a positive. It’s very rare for the questions to be a nega-
tive in someone’s application. More often it’s the case that it will allow us to see something new and maybe be even more
interested in the candidate than we were before, so I think it’s overall positive for the applicants.

mbaMission: I’m sure that will be very reassuring to any candidates who may be worried about the video component.

BD: I think that’s the thing that when I talk to people, they’re the most nervous and the most apprehensive about, and the
advice I tend to give people is, first of all, we don’t expect perfection—nobody does it perfectly—and second, you invari-
ably did better than you thought you did. I think people are just really nervous about it.

mbaMission: Absolutely. Do you recommend that candidates apply in any specific round? Is one better than the other?

BD: We really don’t. We model to admit the same quality of students in each round, so it’s not as though there’s an advan-
tage to applying in one round versus another. We have three rounds, and we’re also part of the Consortium for Graduate
Study in Management, so we do receive applications that come in through the consortium and that are referred to us.
But in terms of our three direct application rounds, like a lot of schools, we counsel people that if they can avoid the third
round, they should try to do that. That’s not because it’s inherently any more difficult, but just because it’s more variable.
It depends on how many people have already been accepted into the class in the first two rounds, so you just don’t know.
It could be more than we were expecting, or it could be less. It’s that uncertainty that can make it more challenging. The
main piece of advice we give everybody is to apply when you have your strongest application ready. Don’t rush to get it in
earlier if it’s going to be less strong. And especially between rounds one and two, as I said, we model so that the quality
of people we’re admitting stays constant throughout, so there’s no advantage in applying in one round versus another.

mbaMission: That’s helpful. What can reapplicants do to improve their chances the second time around? Those people
who don’t get into Yale this year, what advice would you give them about trying again next year or the year after?

BD: This is similar to what we tell people in terms of the waitlist. People are not successful for different reasons, so it’s
not just one thing that each person can do; it’s really specific to an individual. And again, like with the waitlist, we’ll give
feedback to applicants who are not successful. We do it over the summer, after the admissions season has wound down,
in June, typically. We will provide feedback to anybody who was denied admission, and that’s really where you can get a

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 65

sense of what you need to do to strengthen your candidacy, whether we felt you needed a little more professional expe-
rience, or we needed better evidence of your quantitative abilities, or any number of other things. We can give you that
feedback, and that can help guide you as you think about strengthening your application for that reapplication. One other
thing is that we run the numbers every year, and the admission rate for reapplicants is actually the same as for first-time
applicants, so it’s definitely not the case that we have any sort of bias or prejudice against reapplicants. We definitely
encourage them, and we definitely do admit people who have reapplied.

mbaMission: That’s great. When you say you give feedback, what’s the format? Over the phone?

BD: We’ve tried different formats, and right now, we do it by email. We find that’s the most helpful way to do it.

mbaMission: Okay, thanks. Can you share any stories of outstanding applications or interview performance from the
past couple years? What is something a candidate did or said that really stood out to you?

BD: That’s such a tough one for a few reasons. One, candidacies are so different, there’s no template for it—you know,
this person did this, so if you do that same thing, you’ll be successful. And I feel as though with things like interviews,
for example, a lot is based on the relationship, the give-and-take between the interviewer and the interviewee, and that
can vary from person to person, which I think makes the interview especially challenging. I can’t think of any particular
things or stories that stood out. One thing, and again it comes back to sincerity, is people acknowledging weaknesses
but then explaining them and what they’ve learned from them and what they’re hoping to improve on. If you’ve done that
well, it definitely stands out. I find that, if done well, it can be incredibly compelling. So it’s not just constantly touting your
successes and how great you are, but stepping back, having a little bit of perspective, a little bit of self-awareness and
incorporating that into your reason for wanting to get an MBA or using it to show your growth and development. I find that
I’m often drawn to and rooting for those candidates who show that kind of self-awareness, that sense of humility, that
desire to grow at business school and beyond.

mbaMission: That makes sense. What is a part of the application process that you would like to see applicants spend a
little more time on or maybe take a little more seriously?

BD: That’s another tough question, because every application is so different, and the weak points tend to differ for each
person. Obviously, we’re looking for lots of different qualities, and we’re looking for lots of different competences as we
evaluate candidates for the program. And this is an across-the-board kind of thing, but one thing we do look at is quanti-
tative ability. All business schools have some quantitative component in the course work, and obviously, we’re ultimately
looking to admit people with long-term professional success, but we also want to make sure they’re able to keep up and
do well in the more immediate term, during their two years in the program.

And one thing we see sometimes is applicants who maybe haven’t demonstrated that quantitative proficiency through
their course work, their testing, or their work experience, or some combination of the three. We look at all those three
together. And I think where people don’t take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen their profile is by either not
acknowledging that they might not have that exposure or as much exposure as they could, or by acknowledging it but not
doing something about it—telling us, for example, “If I’m admitted, I will take statistics and microeconomics.” What we
would like to see is you acknowledge it and then actually be proactive in taking those courses to show you have the ability

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 66

and the preparation to be able to keep up. That’s just one of a number of different things I could point to, but that’s one I
think we see probably more often than some others.

mbaMission: Got it. Thank you again for bringing us up to speed on the Yale program and admissions process.

BD: No problem! Happy to talk.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 67

Appendix:
Yale SOM Facts and Figures
Note: Facts and figures in this section are prone to change. Occasionally, conflicts may exist between the school’s
publications and its web pages. Applicants are urged to recheck facts and figures for the most up-to-date
information.

Basics Median GRE (Verbal): 165

GRE Verbal Range (middle 80%): 159–170
Year Established: 1976 Median GRE (Quantitative): 163
Location: New Haven, CT GRE Quantitative Range (middle 80%): 158–169
Dean: Kerwin Charles (July 2019) Median GPA: 3.71
Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions: Bruce DelMonico (2006) GPA Range (middle 80%): 3.36–3.92
Programs: Female Representation: 43%
ƒƒ Executive Education U.S. Students of Color (includes U.S. citizens and permanent resi-
ƒƒ Executive MBA dents who identify as Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Native
ƒƒ Full-Time MBA American/Islander, or Multiethnic): 27%
ƒƒ Master of Advanced Management U.S. Underrepresented Students of Color (includes U.S. citizens and
ƒƒ Master’s Degree in Global Business and Society permanent residents who identify as Black, Hispanic/Latino, Na-
ƒƒ Master’s Degree in Systemic Risk tive American/Islander, or Multiethnic): 12%
ƒƒ PhD International Passport Holders (includes U.S. permanent residents
Joint and Dual Degrees: and dual citizens): 45%
ƒƒ MBA/JD (School of Law)
ƒƒ MBA/MEM or MF (School of Forestry)
ƒƒ MBA/MPH (School of Public Health) Employment Statistics (Class of 2018)
ƒƒ MBA/MD (School of Medicine)
ƒƒ MBA/MARCH (School of Architecture) Median Base Salary: $127,100
ƒƒ MBA/MFA (School of Drama) Median Combined Compensation (includes signing bonus, guaran-
ƒƒ MBA/MDIV or MAR (Divinity School) teed year-end bonus, relocation bonus, tuition reimbursement,
ƒƒ MBA/MA in Global Affairs (the Jackson Institute for Global Af- and housing expenses): $36,000
fairs)
ƒƒ MBA/PhD (Graduate School of Arts & Sciences) Graduates accepted positions in the following industries:
ƒƒ Consulting: 34.9%
ƒƒ Finance: 23.1%
Class Profile (Class of 2020) • Investment Banking: 13.7%
• Investment Management: 4.3%
Enrollment: 347 • Diversified Financial Services: 3.1%
Median GMAT: 730 • Private Equity/Venture Capital: 2.0%
GMAT Range (middle 80%): 690–760 ƒƒ Technology: 14.9%

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 68

 ƒƒ Retail: 6.3% • Mexico: 6.7%
• E-commerce: 5.5% • South America: 6.7%
• Other: 0.8% • Australia: 3.3%
ƒƒ Consumer Packaged Goods: 3.5%
ƒƒ Health Care/Pharmaceuticals: 3.5% Hiring Organizations: The school includes a comprehensive list of
ƒƒ Energy: 2.0% companies that hired SOM MBAs for both full-time and internship
ƒƒ Law: 2.0% positions in 2017–2018* here: http://som.yale.edu/our-programs/
ƒƒ Manufacturing: 2.0% mba/careers/employment-report/hiring-organizations
ƒƒ Media/Entertainment: 2.0%
ƒƒ Government: 1.6% (*The most recent report available at the time of the publication of this
ƒƒ Nonprofit: 1.2% book.)
ƒƒ Real Estate: 1.2%
ƒƒ Transportation: 0.8%

Graduates accepted positions in the following functions:

ƒƒ Consulting: 46.3%
• External Consulting: 34.9%
• Internal Consulting/Strategy: 11.4%
ƒƒ Finance/Accounting: 24.3%
ƒƒ General Management: 11.0%
ƒƒ Marketing/Sales: 7.8%
ƒƒ Operations/Logistics: 3.9%
ƒƒ Law: 2.4%
ƒƒ Other: 2.0%
ƒƒ Real Estate: 1.6%
ƒƒ IT: 0.8%

Graduates accepted positions in the following locations (Note that

the subsections listed under United States and International rep-
resent percentages adding to 100% of each of these regions sepa-
rately, rather than 100% of the entire graduating class.):
ƒƒ United States: 88.2%
• Northeast: 48.0%
• West: 27.1%
• Mid-Atlantic: 7.6%
• Midwest: 7.6%
• Southwest: 6.7%
• South: 3.1%
ƒƒ International: 11.8%
• Asia: 56.7%
• Europe: 20.0%
• Canada: 6.7%

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 69

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Journal. June 3, 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240 management—a staggeringly detailed process that takes years.
52748703561604575282632142706188.html It’s made billions for clients. Still, they’re the best-kept secret in
Mudit ’11. “Study Group – The Second Year Version.” Yale School of consulting.” CNN Money. September 28, 1998. http://money.cnn.
Management Community Blog. August 31, 2010. http://blogs.som. com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1998/09/28/248736/
yale.edu/archives/1359 index.htm
“New Resources for Yale SOM Entrepreneurs.” Yale School of Syrkett, Asad. “The Nine Best New University Buildings Around
Management News page. June 25, 2010. http://mba.yale.edu/ the World.” Architectural Digest. August 2014. www.
news_events/CMS/Articles/7174.shtml architecturaldigest.com/architecture/2014-08/best-new-
“New Yale SOM Dean Appointed: Edward A. Snyder.” Yale School of university-architecture-slideshow?title=1
Management News page. January 29, 2010. http://news.yale. “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2010.” Poets&Quants. December 14,
edu/2010/01/29/new-yale-som-dean-appointed-edward-snyder 2010. http://poetsandquants.com/2010/12/14/poetsquants-top-
Norris, Floyd. “In the Packaging of Loans, a Bust with Precedent.” New 100-mba-programs-in-the-u-s
York Times. January 28, 2010. www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/ “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2011.” Poets&Quants. December 8, 2011.
business/29norris.html http://poetsandquants.com/2011/12/08/the-top-100-u-s-mba-
Reeve, Caroline. “Internship Fund: A Reflection of Yale SOM’s Mission in programs-of-2011
Action.” Yale School of Management MBA Blog. February 7, 2018. “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2012.” Poets&Quants. December 7,
https://som.yale.edu/blog/internship-fund-reflection-of-yale-som- 2012. http://poetsandquants.com/2012/12/07/the-top-100-u-s-
s-mission-in-action?blog=3490 mba-programs-of-2012
“Running a Conference, Learning to Lead.” Yale School of Management “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2013.” Poets&Quants. December 2,
News page. April 3, 2009. http://mba.yale.edu/news_events/CMS/ 2013. http://poetsandquants.com/2013/12/02/poetsquants-top-
Articles/6780.shtml 100-u-s-mba-programs-of-2013
Sisgoreo, Daniel. “SOM Career Development Office Gains New “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2014.” Poets&Quants. November 26,
Director.” Yale Daily News. January 27, 2012. www.yaledailynews. 2014. http://poetsandquants.com/2014/11/26/poetsquants-2014-
com/news/2012/jan/27/som-career-development-office-gains- best-business-school-ranking
new-director/ “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2015.” Poets&Quants. November 18,
Snyder, Edward A. “On Deaning.” Personal website. July 1, 2011. http:// 2015. http://poetsandquants.com/2015/11/18/harvard-business-
edwardasnyder.com/2011/07/01/on-deaning/ school-tops-new-2015-poetsquants-mba-ranking
“Snyder to Step Down as Yale SOM Dean in 2019.” YaleNews. March 7, “Top 100 U.S. MBA Programs of 2016.” Poets&Quants. November 21,
2018. https://news.yale.edu/2018/03/07/snyder-step-down-yale- 2016 http://poetsandquants.com/2016/11/21/2016-poetsquants-
som-dean-2019 mba-ranking/
“SOM Dean Edward Snyder is Reappointed.” YaleNews. January 7, 2016. “Top Leadership Expert to Join Yale SOM Faculty and Run Leadership
http://news.yale.edu/2016/01/07/som-dean-edward-snyder- Development Program.” Yale School of Management News
reappointed page. May 14, 2012. http://mba.yale.edu/news_events/CMS/
“Some Frequently Asked Questions About Curriculum Reform: Can Articles/7590.shtml
You Tell Me More About the International Experience?” Yale School “Wall Street Economist Stephen Roach Named Fellow of Yale’s
of Management News page. April 20, 2006. http://mba.yale.edu/ Jackson Institute.” Press Release. Yale Office of Public Affairs
news_events/CMS/Articles/5574.shtml and Communications. June 4, 2010. http://opac.yale.edu/news/
Staley, Oliver. “Harvard Business School Drives Yale and MIT’s Edifice article.aspx?id=7604

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 73

“Which MBA? 2014 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October “Yale School of Management.” Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2011–2012.
11, 2014. www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba- The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education, 2011. www.
ranking?year=2014&term_node_tid_depth=All beyondgreypinstripes.org/school/yale-school-management
“Which MBA? Global Full-Time MBA Ranking 2010.” The Economist. “Yale School of Management Appoints Abigail Kies to Lead Career
September 30, 2010. www.economist.com/whichmba Development Office.” Yale School of Management News page.
“Which MBA? 2011 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October 13, August 7, 2017. https://som.yale.edu/news/2017/08/yale-
2011. www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking school-of-management-appoints-abigail-kies-to-lead-career-
“Which MBA? 2012 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October 4, development-office
2012. www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking “Yale School of Management MBA Students Gain International
“Which MBA? 2013 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October Exposure Through Study Abroad: School Makes International
12, 2013. www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba- Experience Required Part of New Curriculum.” Yale School of
ranking?term_node_tid_depth=All Management News page. December 18, 2006. http://mba.yale.edu/
“Which MBA? 2016 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October news_events/CMS/Articles/5837.shtml
13, 2016. www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba- “Yale SOM Class of 2013 Arrives on Campus.” Yale School of
ranking?year=2016 Management News page. August 15, 2011. http://mba.yale.edu/
“Which MBA? 2017 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October news_events/CMS/Articles/7437.shtml
27, 2017. www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba- “Yale SOM Rankings Update.” Yale School of Management News
ranking?year=2017 page. March 14, 2012. http://mba.yale.edu/news_events/cms/
“Which MBA? 2018 Full-Time MBA Ranking.” The Economist. October 27, articles/5729.shtml
2018. “Yale SOM Team Wins National Net Impact Case Competition.” Yale
www.economist.com/whichmba/full-time-mba-ranking School of Management News page. November 10, 2011. http://mba.
“Yale: Admissions Q&A.” Bloomberg Businessweek. August 10, yale.edu/news_events/CMS/Articles/7495.shtml
2009. www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2009/ “Yale University: Yale School of Management.” Bloomberg
bs20090810_226618.htm Businessweek. Full-Time MBA Program Profile. Accessed May 27,
“Yale Curriculum: The Innovator.” Yale School of Management News 2014. www.businessweek.com/bschools/rankings/full_time_
page. April 11, 2008. http://mba.yale.edu/news_events/CMS/ mba_profiles/yale.html
Articles/6427.shtml

Websites

11th Annual Yale SOM Private Equity Conference: http://pe.som.yale. Origins of Value: A Virtual Museum of Money and Finance: http://
edu/2011/index.html media4.its.yale.edu/res/sites/originstest2/
2017 Yale Healthcare Conference: http://www.yalehealthcare.com Program on NonProfit Organizations at Yale University: http://ponpo.
The Art of Strategy: http://www.artofstrategy.net som.yale.edu
Co-opetition Interactive: http://mayet.som.yale.edu/coopetition/ Yale Center for Business and the Environment: http://cbey.research.
Entrepreneurship @ SOM: http://entrepreneurship.som.yale.edu/ yale.edu
Global Network for Advanced Management: http:// Yale Center for Customer Insights: http://www.cci.som.yale.edu
advancedmanagement.net Yale Entrepreneurial Institute: http://yei.yale.edu
The Museum of Money and Financial Institutions: http:// Yale Healthcare and Life Sciences Case Competition 2011: http://yhlc.
museumofmoney.org yale.edu/2011CaseCompetition

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 74

Yale Healthcare and Life Sciences Club: http://sites.som.yale.edu/ Yale School of Management International Center for Finance: http://
healthcare/about-us/ icf.som.yale.edu
Yale School of Management: http://www.mba.yale.edu Yale School of Management Leader’s Forum Video Feature: http://
Yale School of Management Admissions: http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/ mba.yale.edu/viewer/leaders_forum.shtml
admissions/ Yale School of Management Net Impact: http://sites.som.yale.edu/
Yale School of Management Community Blog: http://blogs.som.yale. net-impact/
edu Yale School of Management Private Equity Club: http://pe.som.yale.
Yale School of Management Core Courses: http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/ edu/2011/index.html
curriculum/core/index.shtml Yale School of Management Program on Social Enterprise: http://pse.
Yale School of Management Elective Courses: http://mba.yale.edu/ som.yale.edu
MBA/curriculum/electives/ElectiveCourses.shtml Yale School of Management Real Estate Club: http://sites.som.yale.
Yale School of Management Health Care Conference 2012: http:// edu/real-estate/
www.yalehealthcare.com
Yale School of Management Hiring Organizations 2011: http://mba.
yale.edu/MBA/careers/employment/hiring_organizations.shtml

Interviews and Other

Admissions Director, Yale School of Management. Personal Interview. May 16, 2016.
Admissions Officer, Yale School of Management. Personal Interview. November 4, 2010.
Admissions Officer, Yale School of Management. Personal Interview. November 27, 2010.
Admissions Officer, Yale School of Management. Personal Interview. July 11, 2011.
mbaMission Student Survey. Online via SurveyMonkey.com. December 5, 2012.
Member, Yale School of Management Administration. Personal Interview. December 10, 2010.
Member, Yale School of Management Administration. Personal Interview. May 3, 2011.
Representative, Yale Center for Business and the Environment. Personal Interview. May 17, 2012.
Representative, Yale Center for Business and the Environment. Email exchange. April 10, 2013.
Admissions Officer, Yale School of Management. Personal Interview. September 10, 2010.
Yale School of Management First-Year Student. Personal Interview. October 19, 2010.
Yale School of Management First-Year Student. Personal Interview. April 28, 2011.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Personal Interview. November 4, 2010.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Personal Interview. November 22, 2010.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Personal Interview. December 14, 2010.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Personal Interview. January 21, 2011.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Personal Interview. June 13, 2011.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Personal Interview. March 20, 2012.
Yale School of Management Second-Year Student. Email Exchange. May 7, 2015.

mbaMission Insider’s Guide: Yale School of Management · 2019–2020 75

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