The following essay topic analysis examines Yale School of Management (Yale SOM) MBA admissions essays. The Yale MBA essay is for the 2022-2023 admissions season. You can also review essay topic analyses for other leading MBA programs as well as general Essay Tips to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.
For the sixth year running, Yale MBA hopefuls are required to respond to a 500-word essay about their biggest commitment.
Yale MBA Essay & Analysis 2022-2023
When announcing the essay for the 2022-2023 admissions season, Yale SOM noted, “The question evolved from a conversation with Professor of Organizational Behavior Amy Wrzesniewski, who noted, “Reading about future plans is helpful, but actions speak louder than words.” In your response, we are looking to learn about how you have approached a particular commitment, whether personal or professional, and the behaviors that support it. You should be less concerned about what we want to hear and instead focus on being honest with yourself in selecting and describing the commitment that has been most significant to you.” With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the Yale MBA essay.
Yale MBA Essay 1
Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. (500 words maximum)
With such a broad, open-ended mandate, it’s important to impose a structure on the response to this Yale MBA essay. Consider the main categories of what one can be committed to:
- An idea
- An organization
- A person
An Idea
The benefit of being committed to an idea is that it likely allows for the broadest approach to responding to the prompt, as an idea could be supported in one’s professional and personal lives. For instance, perhaps you have been most committed to raising awareness of social injustice and have sought to introduce this in your office and community. Or perhaps you are committed to lessening the environmental impact that humans have on our planet and you have pursued that commitment via volunteer work, initiatives at work, and changes in your personal life. In short, it’s easy to see how commitment to an idea offers a broad array of possibilities to showcase various aspects of your candidacy.
One important note regarding commitment to an idea is that some individuals may gravitate towards religion or politics. While these are clearly fair game in light of the question Yale SOM has posed, it’s important to remember that these can be sensitive topics (and that we typically advise candidates to tread carefully when broaching them). In short, if religion or politics has been your priority, the key will be to focus on your actions and positive results as opposed to ideology.
An Organization
Before we look closely at a response to this Yale MBA essay around an organization, we want to remind our readers that organizations can be of a professional or community nature. In addition, because the question originates from a professor of organizational behavior, it likely makes sense to reflect on one’s efforts within a group or in conjunction with groups. This would also afford the opportunity to showcase one’s leadership and teamwork skills—both desirable skills at MBA programs. Candidates do not need to feel confined to the professional realm; Yale SOM, after all, does seek to “educate leaders for business and society.” Perhaps you organized a community fundraiser or launched a community event—the key is to show how you engaged a group and led them to a positive result.
A Person
With regards to a person, it’s understandable that one’s go-to response to this Yale MBA essay would be a spouse or child; however, we would like to remind readers that taking this course may present some challenges. First off, there are likely to be many other applicants following the same path with their essays, and that could make it harder for you to stand out in a crowded applicant pool. Second, it may be a bit harder to speak to elements of your commitment to a significant other or child in a way that relates to your potential skills as a future business leader and ability to contribute to life at Yale SOM. Of course, if you truly feel that the biggest commitment you have ever made has indeed been to a loved one, and that you can write about this in a compelling fashion, then by all means give it a shot. With all that said, we would like to remind you that “a person” doesn’t have to be a loved one. For instance, perhaps you have maintained a strong mentoring relationship either at work or in your community; detailing the interpersonal challenges of your relationship and ultimate success in achieving goals together could fit well here. Once again, honesty is the best policy here, as the most compelling descriptions of commitment will stem from something or someone you are passionate about.
Things to Avoid
While we’ve covered what potential topics could be discussed in this Yale MBA essay, there are likely a couple of choices to avoid. Namely, though it may be tempting, this essay should be limited to one commitment. You may have multiple examples in support of an idea, but the theme should be singular. Additionally, ‘applying to business school’ or ‘pursuing an MBA’ as an answer should probably be avoided. It is certainly a grueling process to apply to business school–and a big decision to commit to an MBA–but the adcom wants to get to know who you are, not just your passion for an MBA. Also, remember that everyone applying to Yale SOM is theoretically making a commitment to an MBA, which would make it harder for you to stand out.
Final Thoughts & Structure
Underlying each of the aforementioned categories, consider what it means to be committed: overcoming challenges consistently and staying the course. A commitment takes work, takes time and can take sacrifice or compromise. Consider what made achieving your goal difficult (in other words, what made you want to walk away or give up on your commitment), but, ultimately, what made you stick with it (some sign of progress, the impact of the ultimate goal). Finally, because this should be one’s “biggest” commitment, reflect on the scope and scale of the project. Your commitment should be worthy of the moniker, “biggest.”
As for structure, 500 words is not a lot of space, so it should be used wisely for this Yale MBA essay. Start with a concise and straightforward explanation of your commitment—ideally in a sentence or two. Then, move onto the meat of the content, which should include examples that showcase how you are committed to the idea, organization or person you have chosen. Space permitting, it would be nice to suggest how you would continue to pursue this commitment at Yale SOM and beyond. The essay can then be wrapped up with a brief reiteration of your biggest commitment and the satisfaction you get from it.
Clear Admit Resources
Thanks for reading our analysis of this year’s Yale MBA essay topic. As you work on your SOM MBA essay and application, we encourage you to consider all of Clear Admit’s Yale offerings:
- Yale SOM School Profile on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
- Clear Admit LiveWire: admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to Yale SOM
- Clear Admit DecisionWire: school selections in real-time by admits to Yale SOM
