Yale University

14. Yale School of Management

Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
Admissions: 203-432-5635
Email: mba.admissions@yale.edu
Website: http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/index.shtml
Apply Online: http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/apply/index.shtml

Admission Deadlines for Class of 2014:
Round One: 10/6/11
Round Two: 1/5/12
Round Three: 4/12/12

If Yale’s School of Management were a stock, a lot of people would be investing their money right now. Big things are expected from new Dean “Ted” Snyder, who worked miracles at Chicago’s Booth School as dean. He settled into the big job this fall.

Even beyond the new leadership of the school, there’s a lot going on at Yale to recommend it. Four years ago, the school launched a modern integrated curriculum with team teaching and a required global field trip in the first year. Late in 2012, the school will move out of the series of 19th century renovated mansions it currently is in and into a brand, new home in one place. And there is, as there always has been, the formidable halo of Yale University, one of a handful of the most valuable brands in education in the world.

Snyder will do the obvious things that previous leadership was unable or unwilling to accomplish: He’ll substantially increase the school’s operating budget, funding more scholarship support to get the best students and putting more money behind the support functions that are critical to a highly successful business school–admissions, career management, alumni support, and program staff. He also plans to increase the size of the incoming class to 300 from 225 to gain a bit more critical mass. Snyder also plans to gently increase Yale’s surprisingly low student-to-faculty ratio to something like 11-to-1 from its current level of 8-to-one. That compares with ratios of 20-to-1 at schools such as Columbia and Wharton.

Beyond those changes, the general strategy he has hatched for SOM is based on a tighter embrace of Yale University, a big bet on globalization, and more emphasis on entrepreneurship. Unlike most business schools that standalone somewhat isolated from the universities of which they are supposedly apart, Snyder wants SOM to be an integral part of Yale. “We will be the exact opposite of the standalone business school,” he insists. “We will be part of this place. That’s the world needs. When someone goes to Wharton, you are going to be joining Wharton. When you come to Yale SOM, you’ll be going to Yale University. Yale MBAs are going to meet the leadership needs of the market.”

Dual degrees and joint faculty appointments are one part of the strategy, but Snyder is especially attempting to promote other cross-school interactions in and out of the classroom. SOM students are more likely than MBAs at other schools to take classes across the university. They serve as associates for the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute and contribute to the university’s Climate and Energy Congress, a large energy conference run by students annually. Snyder is working to set aside course sections specifically for non-SOM students and increase the number of non-SOM speakers the school hosts.

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