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?

You've seen this before -- a classic goals question. What do you want to do after your MBA short-term and long-term and how will an MBA help you achieve that goal.

However, Yale has broken down the questions and asks specifically about Yale. You need to explicitly connect the Yale MBA experience to the achievement of your goals. Yale's curriculum emphasizes the integration of business functions. In your essays discuss how an integrated, general management approach is important to you. How will a structured, but innovative program, with a required international project help you arrive at your desired professional destination? That program just happens to be Yale's.

PERSONAL STATEMENTS

Choose two (2) of the following topics and answer them in essay form. Please indicate the topic numbers at the beginning of your essays. (500 words maximum per essay) 

Yale is giving you more freedom this year than it did last when it required one personal statement and allowed you to choose a topic for the second.

Which questions should you choose? The ones that fit you like a well-made suit. The ones that enable you to relate the stories you are dying to tell. The ones that allow you to show what is distinctive about you and important to you.  Choose the two questions that allow you to write easily about yourself, and go for it! Also make sure that your essays complement each other and that each discloses another facet of your life experience revealing you are a values-driven leader.

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

This is pretty straightforward. Make sure you answer the question in its entirety. For the achievement show impact and leadership, if possible. And don't forget to answer "why you are proud of it" The latter element can reflect both personal challenge and the impact you had.

2. 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?

Can you learn from criticism? Do you view "difficult feedback" and criticism as something to be defended against and rebutted, frequently by discrediting the critic, or as a learning and growth opportunity. (Please see "Demonstrating a Growth Mindset." and "Admissions Tip from Dr. Pausch's Last Lecture (Part 2)") Show a growth mindset and resiliency in your response.

3. 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.

When have you made a significant contribution to an organization or team in a leadership role? What was the challenge? How did you lead? What was the impact and outcome? A PAR approach to this question could work well.

4. An effective leader for business and society is one who is able to hear, understand and communicate with people from all segments of society. In order to educate such leaders, Yale SOM is committed to promoting diversity and creating a community that cultivates a wealth of perspectives. In this spirit, describe an instance when, as part of a team, you played a role in bringing together individuals with different values or viewpoints to achieve a common goal.

Again, Yale has given a detailed and directed question. Use an example that complements the other examples you have provided. If you have used professional examples in other essays, perhaps here you can give an example from your church or sports team or band or political involvement, or ?

5. Required for reapplicants: (answer this topic plus one (1) of the other topics): 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)

Why isn't your current supervisor writing your rec? Why did your grades dip during the first semester of your senior year? Why is there a eight-month gap on your resume? What are your responsibilities while working for a family business after having left a prestigious investment bank and why did you make the change? Answering any of those questions (but not all) could be the topic of your optional essay. And of course an infinite number of similar subjects could merit discussion in the optional essay.

If you would like help with your Yale SOM MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a Yale SOM School Package, which includes essay editing, interview coaching, consultation, and a resume edit for the Yale SOM MBA application.

Yale SOM 2011 MBA Application Deadlines