Yale SOM promises to be an exciting place, especially now that Edward A. Snyder, ex-dean of Chicago Booth moved there this summer. Here are the school's essays for this year, and some tips from our reviewers on them.
At the Yale School of Management, we believe the world needs leaders who understand organizations, teams, networks and the complex nature of leadership; understand markets and competition in different contexts; and understand the diversity of economies throughout the world and the relationships between business and society. What experiences have you had that demonstrate your strength in one or more of these areas?
- This question is a mouthful - but piece it apart, and it'll seem less challenging. The question is really asking what key experiences have shaped and developed your leadership skills? In the context of how teams work, how economics work, and how business and communities work with each other
- This question is open ended - gives you a great chance to pick some experiences you want to describe that have helped you become either a professional or community leader
- Please, do not to try to "spin" strengths as weaknesses - e.g., perfectionism, or taking too much work, etc. Doing this makes the essay boring, fake and a surefire fail.
- "Difficult" feedback is bound to be candid and mostly uncomfortable - write about what you need to work on in a clear and confident tone, because we all need to work on some things!
- The most important thing about you can be about your past (what you have done or an experience that shaped you deeply), or about your goals, or even about your working style
- This essay should stress on not just what it is that your team-mates should know about you, but also why it is important that they understand it. E.g., simply stating, my goal is to run a private equity fund in Asia isn't good enough.
