We have always advised candidates to write about their career progression, short term and long term goals, Why MBA, Why Now and Why School in the standard goal essay. Yale has made is even more specific by giving dedicated word limit and asking these questions explicitly. Hmm… That might take some competitive advantage away from our followers bit don’t worry. We have more to offer tailor made for Yale!! 

We have also advised candidates and our clients in past to use innovative structures for the standard goal essay because by nature it’s a pretty bland essay. Again that liberty is not available here since you have 150 words to answer a specific question. So, we recommend that you go on to answer these questions in the order asked with compelling arguments are suggested below:  

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. (150 words maximum per question)

Essay 1
Short Term Goals:

What are your professional goals immediately after you receive your MBA?:

Be as specific as possible in your goals immediate to B-school. Your short term goal has to be tangible and objective. Explore school's website or your contacts within Yale to find out exact positions achieved by graduates and stick to the something similar. This is where your maturity, research on the school and your ability to balance ambition with realism will be tested. Also, you might lead the reader from immediate goals to medium term 5-7 year goal at the end.

Essay 2
Long Term Goals: What are your long-term career aspirations?

Your long term goal should be a natural progression from your short / medium term goal. Please do avoid putting a blanket statement in your long term goal. If you came up with "I want to be CEO of XYZ Company" you definitely need to think deeper.

Essay 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.)

Keep a check on the word limit. There is a lot of cover in this essay, especially if you are career changer.

Why MBA: If you have done good job in the above two section, you must have already created a void by now that only a MBA education can fill in. Bring out the specific things you need from MBA that will bring you closer to your goals. Discuss with Alumni / Current students and mention those specific courses.

Why Now: It is extremely important to bring a small & crisp argument about why you think now is the right time for you. Don't make the mistake to leave a gap for Adcom to think that you need another year or two before coming to Yale.

Career Change: If you are a career changer, you must have echoed those sentiments earlier in short term goals somewhere. That’s ideal. If you didn’t get that chance, here is your chance to convince the Adcom of your progress in your current profession and at the same time your passion for new career that keeps you awake till mid-night. Tell them of that extra course or extra mile you went in pursuit of your passion and win your way to Adcom’s heart.

Essay 4
Why Yale: If you do well in past 3 but fail here, you will no longer matter for Yale Adcom. Every school wishes to see a genuine interest and passion about itself in the candidates. Therefore, it goes without saying, this aspect is extremely important and will speak volumes about your passion for Yale. An ideal strategy is to connect Yale's resources - Academic programs, Clubs, and Special programs to your specific needs. Attempt to write something unique and specific about Yale in every second sentence of your essay. To conclude, the picture you paint in these 4 short answers should be as simple as the following equations:

You at present + MBA from Yale = Short Term Goal

Short Term Goal + Experience + Yale’s Alumni Support = Medium Term Goal

Medium Term + + Experience + Yale’s Alumni Support = Long Term Goals

You need to justify each of the elements in various questions and prove to the reader that first you know about these equations and second, these equations hold true for you. Gud Luck !!

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) In all personal statement questions, as a rule, do not waste words in describing minute details of the situation instead focus on answering whys of your actions, and how you felt.

1. What achievement are you most proud of and why? The accomplishment you choose to mention here will go a long way in helping Adcom understand you. Do you pick up a professional story?  Extracurricular? Community? The Adcom will know what you value based on your choice. The magnitude of the impact you orchestrate will  demonstrate you whether you can stand shoulder to shoulder to your class. So, if someone led a team that earned his sinking company $1  million contract will certainly be held more valuable than another person who fixed couple of bugs at critical moment in the delivery of a project  by reputed company. Having said that, don’t be disheartened if you don’t have tall claims and numbers to show. Don’t forget, there is a “Why”  also. You can dwell deep to reveal your core belief and values that lead you to hold a particular instance important. Such insights will help you  establish deeper connections with the Adcom. Go, Get it!!
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?This is a weakness question with a twist. You get to choose between a weaknesses based on feedback from others vs. introspection. Each  choice can work to your advantage: Feedback from others can be used to emphasis how good interpersonally you are at getting along with your  seniors (professional weakness) and your attitude to constructive criticism. Self introspection based weakness can showcase your maturity to  evaluate yourself in a setting. So while each choice works well, choose consciously. As for the other parts of the essay, the learning part is very  important. Once you have provided enough background to help reader clearly understand the weakness, dwell deep on the steps you took to  overcome your weakness. A little bit description of your emotional situation during those days can also be helpful. Lastly, don’t forget the third  part – B-School. This requires additional research on your end about the school, specific courses / classes / culture / seminars of the school that  will help you turn that weakness into one of your strength in next 3-4 years.
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.  A typical leadership essay. Choose your story very careful. Take a note of what sort of stories have you mentioned so far? Have you given your entire essay a professional touch - Perhaps it’s time to consider that community leadership experience then!! Did you not get chance to speak about that project you lead so wonderful – Go for it!! We advise candidates to not stick only to professional stories here. In fact, sometime community leadership experiences can be more powerful since the volunteers were not under formal responsibility to listen to you. Once you know which story to write, make sure you follow a proper structure for this one. As in past, we suggest START framework here (Situation > Tasks > Actions > Results > Takeaway). Although the question doesn’t ask your takeaways but make it sure to develop insights from the overall experience that showcase more elements of your personality.
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.                                                                      Fantastic question! My personal best by Yale! Let’s understand the elements of question first – You were part of team, you played a pivotal role  in aligning people, you helped them develop a coherent viewpoint and you achieved a common goal. All this, when you were not in a position of  authority. This essay is fantastic combination of your team work and ability to handle diversity – a combination that gives a glimpse in your  future leadership potential. Choose your story carefully – Professional / Personal / Community – Doesn’t matter as long as you can showcase  every element of the question discussed in previous paragraph through a coherent story. Mention clearly the relation among characters in the  story, how different were they (Ethnic differences / Cultural differences etc.), how the perspectives were different (Personal biases / Educational  background etc), and what exactly was the common goal. Go on to illustrate how exactly you achieved the consensus and what you learned out  of the whole experience – A nugget of wisdom you hold close to your heart for future excellence. As for the structure, the true old friend START  will work fantastically here as well.
5.  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? Write in depth about all the steps you have taken to improve your application. A good way to start this could be to refer to the school’s official response to your failed application. In case you don’t have such feedback, you can start by your own analysis / help of that friend of yours at Yale. Then attack each of these points to address how you are better person today. Further, it would also help to provide an additional “Wow” to the Adcom by telling then any new significant developments that created a new theme for you or that just reinforced your past strengths.

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)   

Yale has quite a lengthy application and hence, most of your success stories should be covered by now. You might want to utilize this space to cover up some glaring weakness in your application – Were you fired from work? Did you have 2 years of break in studies? Were you overridden for promotions several times? That should be your first priority but don’t over think and explain something trivial. That will reflect poorly on your judgment. If you don’t have any weaknesses (Violaaaa!!), then something truly outstanding that can provide a final punch to your application will be apt here. And yes, please don’t try to consume all those 250 words unless absolutely essential. A well thought through point made in 132 words is much better than unnecessary 250 word rambling. Respect the Adcom’s time. Wish you all the best !!