Yale Interview

Below are interview reports from those who have interviewed with Yale.

Please add your interview report directly below this paragraph and above all other reports. Please also include the date you are publishing your report; the type of interview (adcom / alumni / student) and the admissions round for which you interviewed (R1 / R2 / R3). You will need an account to submit your report. Please see the instructions in the lefthand column for details on how to sign up for an account.

7. Round 2: On Campus Interview: Admitted

I was only asked four questions which were:

Take me thru your resume explaining the reasons why you moved from one position to the next
Why MBA
Why Yale
Tell me about a leadership experience

6. Adcom Interview, Off-Campus: Round 2 - Interviewed: March 20, 2006

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.

5. Alumni Interview; Round 2 - Interviewed: February 6, 2006 (Publish: Feb. 16)

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.

4. Round 1 Interview, On Campus, Second Year Student

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 2^nd 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.

3. Round 1 interview (Nov '05) with 2nd year student on campus
My interview lasted about 30 minutes. My interviewer was a very friendly 2nd year student who genuinely seemed to love her Yale experience. We began by going through my resume and I was asked to walk through my academic background and my work experience. She took notes on my actual resume and she asked me what I would bring to Yale. She also asked why I needed an MBA, and more specifically, why Yale. The last portion of the interview centered on extra-curricular activities and what clubs I'd be interested in joining if I were a student. Overall it was a straight forward interview and I got the impression that she was looking for information to help get you accepted versus trying to ask tough questions to filter you out.

2. Round 1 Interview with 2nd year student, New Haven

I arrived at the admissions office about 15 minutes prior to my scheduled interview time. The interviewer entered the office about 10 minutes early and we exchanged greetings before heading directly to the interview room. The interview lasted about 40 minutes.

Here is a brief outline of my interview with SOM

1. Tell me about your background.

2. Specific questions about my education and work experience. The interviewer asked me to tell him why I had made some of the decisions that I made during my education. I was also asked to explain why I decided to join various companies. I was asked to elaborate on some of my stated acheivements, what challenges they involved, how I overcame those challenges, etc.

3. Why do you need an MBA?

In the context of this question, the interviewer tried to make a case for my not needing an MBA such that it was necessary for me to provide convincing reasons for why I need one.

4. Why Yale SOM?

The interviewer was very concerned about my reasons for wanting to attend Yale and was looking for specific reasons. For example, after I mentioned that many of the courses appealed to me, he asked me to name a few of them.

The interviewer also asked if I had visited the campus to learn more about the school. He even explicitly commented during the interview that he wanted to know that I am very excited about attending Yale.

5. What do you do in your spare time?

By this time, the interview was winding down and the environment became a bit more casual. My answers to this question led to a brief chat about extracurricular actvities at Yale, which ones he most enjoys, etc.

6. Questions for the interviewer

Based on my experiences and what I have learned about Yale SOM through this process, I would say that it is extremely important to know Yale SOM inside and out. Make sure that you know exactly why you want to attend Yale and be able to provide specific details, including names of courses, professors, students with whom you spoke, research initiatives, etc. I'm sure that the Committee is looking for applicants who are only using Yale as their backup. Show your excitement about the school.

Good luck.

1. Round 1 Interview with 2nd year student, on Campus in New Haven - Early November, 2005

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.