Yale SOM Class of 2018: Now What?

Yale University's School of Management

Yale University’s School of Management

Admitted to Yale University’s School of Management Class of 2018? Congratulations! You’re one of not much more than 700 applicants out of more than 3,500 who have been invited to join what is one of the world’s best MBA programs.

By all accounts, this year’s incoming class will be among the best ever at a school that is getting increasingly more selective every year. Thanks to a 25.1% increase in applications last year, Yale SOM lowered its acceptance rate to 20.7%, from 23.7% a year earlier. This year’s rate is expected to be lower still because the school is reporting that applications are up again.

Though hardly reliable, GMAT Club stats to date for the Class of 2018 are at least entertaining. As of March 28, three days after the Round 2 notifications went out, some 404 candidates say they have applied to the school this year, with slightly less than 25% (105 to be exact) receiving interviews and just 69 candidates reporting admits. That comes to an acceptance rate of 17% thus far. The average GMAT score for the 404 applicants is 723, while the 80% GMAT range is 690 to 760. The average undergraduate grade point average is 3.47.

The time between being accepted and starting business school is a critical period where you can position yourself to succeed both academically and professionally. When you start classes, you’ll face an enormous transition. The coursework is more rigorous and time-consuming. And you’ll have so many options, ranging from clubs to job interviews. If you don’t come with a plan, you’ll squander time and opportunities – and make the program much harder than it needs to be. Before you order your Yale SOM t-shirt or baseball cap, here’s what you need to do now:

Meet your classmates at the Yale SOM Class of 2018 Facebook group

Meet your classmates at the Yale SOM Class of 2018 Facebook group

1. Get to know your future classmates. Join the Facebook group for the Yale SOM Class of 2018. It’s the best place to meet your classmates, get up-to-date info on admit weekends as well as upcoming social events for admitted students. SOM’s Facebook group is administered by four admissions officials at the school, including Melissa Calvo Fogerty, director of admissions, and Joanne Legler, senior associate director of admissions. As of today, the group has 281 members.

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2. Firm up your career knowledge. Start reading The Wall Street Journal, if you don’t already, and learn about typical and atypical post-MBA career paths. Register now for Poets&Quants’ May 5-6 preMBA Networking Festival in New York. It’s a smart way to build relationships and get on the radar of the most prominent recruiters of elite MBAs. If you’re interested in consulting, you’ll be able to meet senior executives and partners from McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte, PwC, Accenture Strategy in their New York offices. If your interest is in finance, you’ll be able to have pow-wows with leading executives from Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citi, and Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. And if you’re interested in tech, consumer product marketing, or even government jobs, you will be able to connect with Amazon, LinkedIn, Facebook, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and the Securities & Exchange Commission. If you think you want to use your MBA experience as a way to start your own company or work for an early stage firm, you can take our startup track to visit with such successful MBA startups as Commonbond, Pymetrics, Warby Parker, Birthbox, and Rent The Runway.

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