Things have been a bit quiet here at SOM recently.  Last week was exam period, so students were hunkered down in exam mode, and this week the second years are on break before the begin of Fall 2 on Monday.  The first years are currently on campus for their Managing Groups & Teams class, though, which means there’s some activity right now — just not as much as normal.  Things will be back in full swing come Monday.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been activity here at SOM.  The Admissions Office has been full steam ahead since our first round deadline on October 8.  We’ve been extremely impressed by the quality of the applications — seemingly our best crop yet from initial indications — and are working hard to move forward with the review process as expeditiously as possible.  In fact, we sent out our first batch of interview invitations yesterday.  These invitations are just the first wave that we will send out; I estimate that they constitute somewhere shy of half the invitations we will ultimately send out this round.  So for those applicants who received an invitation yesterday — congratulations!  We look forward to seeing you on campus soon.  For applicants who did not receive an interview invitation yet — don’t fret.  We know waiting can be very difficult, but there are more invitations on the way.  We will continue to send out invitations in the coming weeks as we move through the review process.  So stay tuned and keep an eye out for our email.

I’ll share more updates as I have them.

Bruce

It’s interesting timing that this Thursday, October 8, is both the Round 1 deadline for Yale SOM Class of 2012 applications and the last day of “Fall 1” courses for the Class of 2011.  What a difference a year makes!  Around this time last fall many of us were anxiously putting the finishing touches on our application essays; prodding our recommenders to hit “submit” already; and settling in for a long, arduous, wintery wait.  (Sidebar: wasn’t there something more cathartically satisfying about running to the mailbox everyday in high school awaiting college news than hitting “refresh” on your Gmail?)

Now, a year later, it’s all smooth sailing.  We read Econ cases while undergrads fan us with palm leaves.  Accounting is held outside in the courtyard, the class in a “Kumbaya” circle, as waiters proffer Bloody Marys.  Employers chase us from class to the gym to the bars waving offer letters for the summer.  And like characters in the Matrix, we stare a screen of moving Blue Stock simulations and see an alternate reality that makes sense. (more…)

I came to business school with a very specific end goal in mind, namely a return to the media & entertainment sector. Throughout the application process I was told by various people that, if I was serious about this, I needed to go to school in either New York or LA. These cities are the main hives of sector activity and proximity to them could certainly be an asset. However, after sounding out more or less anyone who would give me the time of day throughout the post-application phase, I decided against both.

Business schools tend to be defined in the market – rightly or wrongly – for certain specialisms or for their strength in faculty, teaching or research in particular facets of business and management. By this definition, Yale would not be seen as a “media & entertainment school” and, let’s face it, New Haven is never going to be the be all and end all for the industry. So why choose Yale with this goal in mind? Well, the fact is that this institution opens doors and if it doesn’t open the door for you, it at least ensures that the door is built and ready to be opened with a little focused effort on your part.
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The Class of 2011 recently arrived on campus for the start of orientation.  It’s always exciting to see a class come together at the start of a new school year, and this year is no different.  We have a fantastic group of students joining the program — not only are they impressive in terms of their statistics, but they have accomplished some incredible things in their time prior to Yale — and they really seem to be enjoying getting to know each other and becoming a class.  They also represent our first class as a member of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, which is especially exciting.

Of course, there’s no rest in admissions: No sooner has the Class of 2011 arrived on campus than we turn our attention to the Class of 2012.  In fact, our online application went live earlier this week, and we’re currently gearing up for our fall recruiting events.  Of particular note are the three virtual receptions we’re holding this year for people who can’t make it to our “in-person” receptions — including an “Application Tips Chat” we’re hosting on September 16 that’s intended to give applicants some insights and strategies for how to navigate the admissions process.  And, of course, it’s always possible to learn more about SOM through our online tools or to get a first-hand view of the school by visiting the campus, which includes a class visit, tour of the campus, and session with an admissions officer.  We look forward to meeting and getting to know a new group of prospective students in the coming months!

…and more trips to a certain Scandinavian furniture store than I care to remember.

I only finished work one week before moving to the US, and it’s all been something of a blur since then.  In addition to getting my head around the imminent lifestyle shift from the workplace back to the classroom, I’ve had to spend much of May, June and July making arrangements for my visa, shipments and numerous other bits and bobs that go hand in hand with international relocation.  Add to that the complexity of also balancing a busy full-time job and doing all of the above from Japan (as a non-Japanese) and it’s been what might be, in grossly understated terms, described as a ‘challenging’ few months.

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Overwhelming is the word that comes to mind. Yes, overwhelming.

What started as a shot at one of the top business schools in the World more than two years ago finally culminated into reality. Welcome Weekend at the Yale School of Management (SOM) late April 2009 was everything I thought it would be, and much more. Super friendly people, smiling faces that seemed thrilled to have 200 prospective students (Bruce says it was the largest turnout in recent years) on campus for a two day event! This included the admissions committee, current students, alums and even some faculty members, and the Dean herself! (more…)

Despite the common assumption that summers are quiet in academia, June came and went with a flurry of activity here in admissions. The month included lots of outreach and events, starting on the 1st with our first Consortium Orientation Program in Charlotte and ending just last Friday when SOM concluded its inaugural two-week Pre-MBA Leadership Program here on campus (the purpose of which is to expose college students and early professionals who are committed to diversity and inclusion to the possibilities of an MBA education).  In between, there was the GMAC Annual Industry Conference, the Forte Foundation Annual Meeting, and meetings with Womensphere, StartingBloc, and a number of other partner organizations.  It was a very busy month, and the Consortium OP and Pre-MBA Program in particular were notable as indicative of the importance of diversity here at SOM.

Now that we’ve had a chance to take a quick breath from all these events, I wanted to do a quick post to announce our 2009-2010 application deadlines and essay topics.  Here they are:

APPLICATION DEADLINES

Round 1: October 8, 2009 (decisions due by December 18, 2009)
Round 2: January 7, 2010 (decisions due by April 2, 2010)
Round 3: March 10, 2010 (decisions due by May 7, 2010)

ESSAY QUESTIONS

SHORT ANSWERS
Please answer each of the four questions below with a short paragraph of no more than 150 words. This is an opportunity to distill your core ideas, values, goals and motivations into a set of snapshots that help tell us who you are, where you are headed, and why. (600 words maximum)

1. What are your professional goals immediately after you receive your MBA?

2. What are your long-term career aspirations?

3. Why are you choosing to pursue an MBA and why now? (If you plan to use your MBA experience to make a significant change in the field or nature of your career, please tell us what you have done to prepare for this transition.)

4. What attracts you specifically to the Yale School of Management’s MBA program?

PERSONAL STATEMENT 1
Describe an accomplishment that exhibits your leadership style. The description should include evidence of your leadership skills, the actions you took, and the impact you had on your organization. (500 words maximum)

PERSONAL STATEMENT 2
Choose one of the following topics and answer it in essay form. Please indicate the topic number at the beginning of your essay. (500 words maximum)

1. A central premise of our teaching about leadership at the Yale School of Management is that true leadership—leadership that helps to address a significant problem in a new way—is necessarily personal. It is only when personal passion aligns with meaningful aspirations that individuals are able to inspire others to act in support of an important goal or cause. What are you most passionate about, and how have you demonstrated a commitment to this passion?

2. What achievement are you most proud of and why?

3. What is the most difficult feedback you have received from another person or the most significant weakness you have perceived in yourself? What steps have you taken to address it and how will business school contribute to this process?

4. Describe a situation in which you devised and implemented a creative or unique solution to a difficult problem. What obstacles did you face and how did you overcome them?

5. Required for reapplicants: What steps have you taken to improve your candidacy since your last application?

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (OPTIONAL)

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

I hope this information’s helpful to anyone who wants to get a jump on their SOM application.  We will be posting our summer/fall recruiting schedule shortly and the application itself should be live in early August.  We will be sure to let everyone know when those things happen.  In the meantime, happy writing!

The weather is supposed to be gorgeous for Welcome Weekend.

(See the forecast here)

We are all so excited to welcome the Class of 2011 to campus!

So I spent part of last week in Mexico City participating in Yale Week in Mexico. Yale Week is a great program whereby various faculty from across the University — SOM, the Law School, School of Medicine, Yale College, etc. — as well as Yale administrators travel down to Mexico for lectures, meetings, and other activities (such as a community service project in Monterrey with Yale students and alumni and members of the Tec de Monterrey community). I went down to take part in an exchange with Tec de Monterrey, attend a lecture by SOM finance professor Geert Rouwenhorst, and have lunch with some of our alumni and admitted students.

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Now that our second application round is roughly two-thirds over, it seems like a good time to take stock with where we are and what will happen for the rest of the round.

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