Prompt: We want to know what matters to you, and our essay question is designed to help us gain insight into your background, passions, motivations, responsibilities, ideals, identities, challenges, or aspirations, depending on where you take your response. To ensure that you’re able to write about something important to you, we offer you three essay prompts from which to choose.
Prompt: Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. Why is this commitment meaningful to you, and what actions have you taken to support it? (500 words maximum)
"We developed this question in collaboration with Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor of organizational behavior at Yale SOM. Your time in business school, and the choices you make thereafter, represent significant commitments. In asking this question, the Admissions Committee is seeking to learn about how you have approached a commitment of importance in your life." - Yale SOM admissions
1. the state or quality of being dedicated to a cause, activity, etc.
synonyms: dedication, devotion, allegiance, loyalty, faithfulness, fidelity
2. a pledge or undertaking.
synonyms: vow, promise, pledge
3. an engagement or obligation that restricts freedom of action.
synonyms: responsibility, obligation, duty, tie, liability
From Yale SOM: "When it comes to choosing a topic, be genuine. We want to hear about something that is meaningful and distinctive to you, in your own voice. Your commitment can be personal, specific or expansive. We receive outstanding, insightful essays covering a wide range of topics."
Yale is clear in asking for the actions that you have taken to support your commitment - demonstrating an action mindset.
From Yale SOM: "The content of your essay is every bit as important as the topic. Regardless of the commitment that you choose, the most effective essays do a great job of describing your approach to commitment. Point to the specific actions that you have taken, over time, to bolster your commitment. This is especially important if you have chosen a broad topic, such as an ideal or a belief. Don’t just explain why a commitment is important to you; we want to understand how your behaviors have demonstrated and supported your commitment."
Prompt: Describe the community that has been most meaningful to you. What is the most valuable thing you have gained from being a part of this community and what is the most important thing you have contributed to this community? (500 words maximum)
The purpose of this essay is to highlight your experiences, characteristics, and values that make a certain community meaningful to you. Once again, let's start with a definition of "community":
1. a unified body of individuals: such as
2. individuals that are joined by
3. society at large
The essay must describe, essentially, what you have gotten from this community and what you have given to this community, and why what you gave & got was meaningful to you. Again, Yale is looking for an action-oriented mindset, with your contributions being active, not passive presence. Through this essay the Admissions Committee learns what you may potentially give to the Yale community and what you might hope to gain from Yale.
Ideally, in describing this community, you will also be describing something from your background (for example, identity, education, family, culture, economic, social, religious, experience, training ) that is important to you and you believe distinguishes you from other candidates.
Bonus points if your essay contains any of the following elements:
Again, remember that the purpose of this essay is to highlight your experiences, characteristics, and values as a potential future Yale MBA student.
Prompt: Describe the most significant challenge you have faced. How have you confronted this challenge, and how has it shaped you as a person? (500 words maximum)
When choosing a challenge to write about, think about what is already on your resume. You do not want to just describe a challenge that you have already fully bullet-pointed on your resume. Instead, you want to describe a challenge that
Secondly, this has to be a significant challenge, which means obstacles, difficulties, complexities, perhaps ambiguity. It is okay if you were not successful in addressing the challenge. The essay does not ask for an accomplishment, only for your willingness to take action. Even the words in the prompt indicate an action-oriented approach: a challenge that you "faced" and "confronted."
Thirdly, the essay that you write must describe how you confronted the challenge, suggesting that you should describe your problem-solving skills or strategies. So, for example, if you once were in the challenging situation of being trapped on top of a house in a flood waiting for rescue, your essay would not focus on the experience of the helicopter rescue, however terrifying, but the survival skills that you actively brought into play.
Finally, this has to be a meaningful challenge, because the Admissions Committee wants to know how it has shaped you as a person. A challenge at work may be very difficult but not particularly meaningful, so not worthy of an essay. Keep in mind that even though the challenge must be significant (obstacles, etc.) and meaningful to you, it does not have to be huge or high-profile to the outside world. It could be quietly overcoming others' doubts or engrained behaviors. It could be helping an entire team or reaching a single individual.
In this essay, to describe how the challenge shaped you , you would reflect on how you grew through that challenge, and/or how overcoming that challenge reinforced particular character strengths or personal values.
This essay allows the Admissions Committee to learn more about your values, strengths, and ability to learn from adversity.
I would also suggest incorporating the elements of leadership that you showed or learned. (In other words, being more than a participant.) Here is what Yale SOM writes about leadership.
We think about leadership skills on four levels:
examples: Values and leadership commitments, knowledge of personal strengths and weaknesses
examples: Giving/receiving feedback, emotional intelligence, communication, diversity
examples: Developing and implementing vision and strategy, organizational design and organizational culture
examples: Building and sustaining community, ethics, social responsibility and accountability, cultural awareness
Elsewhere on the site, Yale SOM describes leadership as being able to work across boundaries, align goals, see the broader societal implications of decisions, and inspire others to do better and achieve their potential.
Topics to Avoid: studying for the GMAT / GRE, applying to business school.
In the past, Yale SOM has provided the following prompt Inside the application, related to the short question about your career goals:
1. How did you arrive at these career interests?
2. How have you or how will you position yourself to pursue them?
(250 words)
The questions behind the questions are:
Yale SOM: The optional information section is not an additional essay, and most candidates do not need to complete this section. This is a space where you can address any questions you think the admissions committee may have about your application.
By address any questions, something that might need further explanation. This space can also be used to address any extenuating circumstances that you would like the Admissions Committee to consider. Use to address:
Use this essay to turn a potential weakness into a strength. Tell the Admissions Committee what happened and why it happened. Be honest in your self-evaluation. Most importantly, tell them what you have learned from a negative experience, and how this learning has influenced future actions.
This is the section of the Yale SOM application where you can describe the context of your opportunities and achievements.
This might include difficulties presented by your upbringing, for example, coming from a low-income situation or being the first in a family to go to college. This might include household situations in which you faced challenges, lacked family support, or took on a greater level of responsibility than the norm. A U.S. household in which the primary language was not English is another example of potentially taking on translation responsibilities. You may have faced a dangerous situation in the far past or recent past.
These types of background situations don't easily go onto a resume but certainly indicate a high level of resilience on your part, just by the fact that you are here, getting ready to apply to Yale SOM.
The Background Information doesn't necessarily have to be about challenges and difficulties. It might be about interesting context that might not appear on a resume, for example, moving a lot, or growing up in another country. Such aspects of your background may indicate adaptability to new situations, which is a plus for an MBA. Similarly, if you had a formative experience, such as working at a family business at a young age, or seriously pursuing a skill or talent, you might want to include that in the Background Information as something that shaped your personality and viewpoint early on.
Every candidate will receive three questions from a set of randomized, previously recorded questions asked by an admissions team member. Answer each question in a 60-90 second time frame.
Practice questions will be coming!
The exercise itself should take about 25 minutes to complete. You will receive 130 pairs of statements, one pair at a time, from which you’re asked to select the statement that best aligns with your own behaviors. The assessment is adaptive, so no two candidates will receive the exact same set of statements. No preparation is necessary to take the assessment, and no special knowledge is required.