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Yale SOM MBA Interviews

Yale SOM MBA Interviews

The business school of the prestigious Ivy League university, Yale School of Management (Yale SOM)has grown in its reputation as one of the leading providers of an MBA in the US since the degree was first offered by the school as recently (in US terms) as 1999.

From the Director of Admissions: Inside the Admissions Process:
“At the Yale SOM MBA interview, we will ask you questions about your past experiences and decisions, in order to get a better sense of how you act and think. The best way to prepare for an interview is to know your résumé, re-read your application essays, and have a good sense of what you have done well—and not so well—in the past, and why.”

Interviews are by invitation of the Admissions Committee. We invite applicants to interview throughout the round. At the moment, we have extended roughly one-third of the total invitations we plan to offer for the round; more invitations will be coming in the next few weeks. While an interview invitation is certainly a positive sign—it’s not possible to be admitted without one—it should not be viewed as an indication of your final decision. We typically interview roughly 30% of our applicants, and a little more than half of those interviewed are ultimately offered a place in the class.”

Who will interview you, and how long will the interview last?

The Yale SOM MBA program interview is  usually conducted by one of the panel members. The interview typically lasts for 25-30 minutes or may extend to 35-40 minutes in some instances.

Will the interviewer have read my application?

The interviewer has access to your complete application. In most instances, they would have read it completely.

How can you prepare for your interview?

Like most MBA Interviews, your interview will mainly revolve around a pretty similar set of MBA interview questions. You can never predict what questions will be asked, but with enough research, you can predict what are the most commonly asked questions in these interviews. We have created a short FAQ list below to get you a jump start, and we also have a free guide linked below to help you prepare for these commonly asked interview questions.

Yale SOM MBA Frequently Asked Interview Questions

  1. Tell me something about yourself?
  2. Walk me through your resume?
  3. Why MBA? Why Yale, SOM school?
  4. Why MBA now or Why MBA at this stage of your career?
  5. What is your short & long term goals?
  6. What is your Plan B if consulting/Investment banking does not happen?
  7. What are your key strengths? Can you give some examples please?
  8. What is your biggest weakness ? Can you give some examples please?
  9. How can you add value to the Class?
  10. Why should we take you?
  11. One reason that we should not select you?
  12. Interests and Hobbies – Be prepared!.. questions as basic as “Why do you do poetry (or any other activity” may be asked.
  13. Some Situational & Behavioral Question
    • What would you describe are your greatest achievement to date?
    • Give me an example of a time you faced a conflict while working on a team. How did you handle that?
    • Give me an example of a time when you did not meet a client’s expectation. What happened, and how did you attempt to rectify the situation?
  14. Case questions are fairly common in MBA interview especially for consulting aspirants. Below are a few sample for to practice for:
    • How many Golf balls can fit in a Boeing 747?
    • What’s the global market size for smartphones?
  15. Do you have any Question for us?

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 1

I was invited to interview on-campus at Yale SOM (I received my invite a couple weeks after applying). My interview was first thing in the morning, and then there were planned activities for the rest of the day (class visit, campus tour, etc.)

The interviewer (a second-year student) was very friendly, just wanted to get to know me and my motivations for applying. The interview lasted ~30 minutes. They asked most of the standard questions.

Questions asked:
Tell me about your work experience, and particularly about your current role
Tell me about something you are proud of at work
Tell me about a time you failed at work
Why MBA? Why now?
Why Yale?
What can you contribute to the class?
What would you want to get involved in on-campus?
Questions for me?

I was accepted in Round 1, I received a phone call the morning of decision day.

Received an Interview Invite?

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Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 5

Interview was held with the adcom who was visiting the West Coast. Was in a hotel room and lasted about 45 minutes.

Interview began with questions about my educational background. I was somewhat surprised by the level of detail sought – the interviewer asked me about educational choices made beginning from high school. This was followed by a discussion of my career. Once again he got into a lot of specifics about things I’d done.

This was followed by the Why MBA in a kind of “what do you want to do next?” fashion. He then asked me about which other schools I’d applied to and if I’d been accepted at any of them. He asked me why Yale was “in the mix” among those schools.

I then had the opportunity to ask him a few questions about Yale and the SOM.

We ended with a long discussion about some recent developments at work, and my take on some of the strategic challenges facing my industry. Overall, it was a very pleasant, conversational interview.

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 6

Met with the Yale SOM alumni at a Starbucks in the bay area. We had a light chat for about 1/2 hour. After sitting down, she informed me that this was a casual interaction and Yale mainly wanted to know if I “interviewed well.” (Think of all the interviews we’ll be doing next year during recruitment!) Covered some points on my resume.

  • Why the MBA?
  • Seems you’ve traveled to country X for work. What was your role on the trip?
  • What other schools are you applying to?

My interviewer had a similar background, and we compared notes on many things.

  • Our jobs as engineers, and how we want to transition into a marketing roles.
  • Experiences in sorority life and tying this into life @ Yale SOM.
  • Both going to public schools for college and the difference between public and private schools.
  • What processes we’d like to see implemented into product marketing in our tech industry.
  • Comparing her experiences at my competitor company with mine.
  • Our relationships, what sacrifices/plans she made to follow her fiance to the bay area, and what plans my fiance-to-be and I have post-MBA.

She gave me tons of recruiting tips for the high-tech industry. “A lot of companies don’t go out to New Haven, so you really have to do a lot of external work. You’ll find yourself flying out to the west coast a lot.”

She spoke about Yale’s social life and all the activities she was involved in. She met her fiance (a grad student @ Yale not studying business) at an external event. ? Also explained to me the “Ivy League Connection” among the 8 schools.

We ended on a good note. She was very supportive, telling me that no matter what school I get in she wanted me to keep in touch.

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 7

I applied for Yale in the first round and received the invite early in December. There were bunch of available slots for on-campus interview in December/January/February, and I also had the alternative to email the Admission Office to schedule alumni interview.

I scheduled an on–campus interview for early January. I came to the Admissions Office about 30 minutes before the interview (a small building). I parked the car in front of the building (there were enough unoccupied meters). It was a 2nd year student who interviewed me. The interviewer already had a copy of my resume, and we started walking it through.

Since I prepared quite some stuff regarding work experience, leadership, education, and extracurricular, it took almost 20 minutes. Then I was given opportunities to ask interviewer a few questions. Therefore in fact the only question I had was to “walk me through resume”. In the last 10 minutes, I was given tons of information about the interviewer’s own exciting experience at SOM, and I was highly impressed. I felt the interview went well and I am very positive about SOM.

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 8

I was interviewed by a second-year student, and she was very polite and pleasant. We had a good talk, I think, and we hit 45 minutes before we really realized it. We shared a few laughs, and I think I got most of my points across. In the end, I think it went pretty well, but there were plenty of places for improvement, in hindsight — but isn’t that always the case?

A few things: the interviewer has seen ONLY your resume and not your entire application packet. She even told me this as we began the talk. Also, it was verified by a number of people there that admissions decisions are routinely released before the official January date. There’s no guarantee that you’ll be told early, but it does happen from time-to-time.

The questions were as expected, and none was a surprise: Why MBA? Why Yale? Why now? Why did you pick your undergrad school and your major? Tell me about your work experience. Do you do any community work? What are your hobbies/interests? (I actually forgot to mention one of my biggest passions in life, because I had forgotten it was in my application and not on my resume! So it goes…) Etc, etc.

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 9

The interview for the Yale SOM MBA Program was held on February 20, 2023. The interview was roughly 30 minutes long.

Following are the questions asked:

1. The interviewer requested me to describe my top 1-2 experiences while holding my CV in front of them.

2. Talk about your reasons for pursuing an MBA at Yale SOM.

3. What makes Silver Scholars different from other postponed programs, in particular their special timeline?

4. How will I planned to foster diversity at Yale and within myself.

5.What were my questions for the interviewer?

That’s all. I believe we lost track of time because the interview’s conversational style continued. It was a pleasant experience overall. Hope it helps you.

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 10

The interview for the Yale SOM MBA Program was an online interview. It was held on May 03, 2023. It was a 30-minute interview which ran around five minutes over.

Just a few questions:

1. Please introduce yourself.
2. Mention few special achievements.
3. How did you handle when you came across someone with an alternative viewpoint?
4. Why do you want to join the Yale SOM MBA Program?
5. Anything else you would like to add?
6. Anything you would like to ask us.

The interview was quick and smooth. Hope you found it helpful. All the best.

 

 Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 2

I had a very decent interview. Interviewer started with a brief introduction of himself and where he was headed to for his internship. I expected him to ask me to talk about myself, but instead he started with why Yale? Because I had rehearsed so much on the traditional way, I was quite thrown away with the start but I managed to compose myself. Next, he asked me about post MBA career goals, my background and how I hoped to achieve it. We spent some time talking about this and then he asked about clubs I will like to join. I spoke about a club he was part of and was really excited about it. A couple of other standard questions I cant remember now and then asked if there was something he had missed out. I reminded him of the quote we were asked to send before the interview. He had somehow missed this. I recapped the quote and explained why it was important to me.

Finally, he asked me if I had questions for him. I asked him a couple of questions and we ended the interview in approximately 30 minutes. My interviewer was really nice and smiled throughout.

 

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 3

It was the third Interview Super Day (there were 3 in total), around 80 prospective students joined the interview. My interview was scheduled in the morning. The interview lasted 30 mins, but we talked for 1 hour. The questionnaire was listed on a paper held by the interviewer. All the questions were not uncommon.

  1. What is your biggest success which means most significantly to you? What is your biggest failure?
  2. Tell me one typical day in your current company. (and follow-up questions on some details)
  3. Why did you change your job from xx to xx company? Why technology?
  4. Why MBA? (Did not ask why SOM, but I tailored the answer)
  5. Which clubs do you want to join?
  6. What is your submitted quote related to Yale SOM community?
  7. Tell us your proudest leadership experience, and how you can apply this experience in MBA study?
  8. Any questions?

Apart from the interview, we had a class customized for interview visitors, a student launch/panel, a Yale tour, a SOM tour, and an ending reception.

 

Yale SOM MBA Interview Questions – 4

Interview in a hotel conference room. The Adcom member was pleasant and offered polite conversation and explained the interview process before proceeding. The whole thing took exactly 30 minutes.

Prior to the interview I was asked to submit a quote that was meaningful to me.

Blind interview. Adcom stated that all interviews would be standardized to about 6 questions across all applicants interviewed.

  • Walk me through your résumé.
  • Why an MBA? (for me, this transitioned into my career plans… and why Yale without needing a question. I’m not sure if these would have been asked)
  • Behavioral Question (Tell me about a time (professionally) you succeeded that was meaningful to you. Tell me about a time (professionally) you failed that was meaningful to you)
  • Tell me about the quote you submitted.
  • Yale is very diverse, What can you add to the Yale community?
  • Is there anything else you want me to convey to the Adcom?
  • Do you have any questions for me?

Because the interview was blind and only 30 minutes, I thought it was easy to fill the time. Nothing surprising or tricky about the experience. I think they were looking to see your communication skills. And they care about finding people who will compliment and play well within the diverse student body they cultivate.

 

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