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Hello everyone! I'm working on my Yale application and wanted to ask for some advice regarding their admissions essays. What are some common tips or strategies for making my essays stand out?

Hello! Writing standout Yale admissions essays requires a combination of authenticity, specificity, and creativity. Here are some strategies to make your essays memorable:

1. Be genuine: It's crucial that your essays reflect your true self and not what you think the admissions officers want to read. Share your experiences, values, and perspectives honestly to help them understand who you are.

2. Show, don't tell: Use descriptive and vivid language to create a picture for the reader. Instead of saying, "I'm passionate about volunteering," describe a specific moment that exemplifies your commitment to service.

3. Connect to Yale: When discussing aspects of Yale that interest you, be specific about courses, research opportunities, and extracurricular activities that align with your background and goals. Connecting your experiences to Yale's resources will demonstrate that you have done your research on the school and are a good fit.

4. Balance between personal and intellectual: Yale values applicants who are passionate, self-aware individuals. Make sure your essays reflect a combination of your personal and intellectual interests, aspirations, and growth.

5. Ditch clichés: To make your essay unique, stay away from cliché topics and overused anecdotes. Try to talk about your own personal experiences, while also being aware of the broader implications they may have on others or society at large.

6. Be concise: Yale's short-answer essays have limited word counts, so make sure you communicate your thoughts and ideas clearly and concisely. Avoid being overly wordy. Make every word count.

7. Edit and review: Ask someone you trust to proofread your essays and provide feedback. Incorporate their suggestions and polish your writing until it is near perfect. Errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation can detract from your essay's impact.

8. Remember the prompt: It's important to answer the essay prompt directly and not veer off-course. Revisit the question after you've written the essay to ensure it's answered completely.

To learn more about these essays, read this blog post: https://blog.collegevine.com/how-to-write-the-yale-university-essays/

With these strategies in mind, you'll be on your way to crafting memorable, engaging Yale admissions essays. Good luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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How to Write the Yale University Application Essays 2019-2020

Please check out our Yale Essay Breakdown for the 2020-2021 cycle!

One of the first colleges in America founded over three hundred years ago, Yale has since secured its position as one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. As a member of the Ivy League, Yale sits at #3 (tie) on the US News National University Rankings .

Yale’s class of 5,500 undergraduates study in the city of New Haven, Connecticut. Each student lives in one of the fourteen residential colleges across the 345-acre campus. With over 36,843 first-year applicants for the Class of 2023, only 5.9% of students were accepted.

Yale offers three ways to apply: the Common Application, the Coalition Application, and the QuestBridge National College Match Application. Let’s take a look at the Yale-specific questions that accompany each of these. Want to know your chances at Yale? Calculate your chances for free right now.

Want to learn what Yale University will actually cost you based on your income? And how long your application to the school should take? Here’s what every student considering Yale University needs to know.

Yale University Application Essay Prompts

Required short answer questions.

The short answer questions give you an easy way to make your application memorable. However, too often, many students write something boring or cliché. While your mom might be the most important person in your life and scoring the game-winning goal might be your most memorable experience, the same is likely true for hundreds of other applicants. How can you avoid this? Let’s take a look at the questions.

What inspires you? (35 words)

This sounds a lot like “vision statements” that many business professionals write for themselves. The idea here is to give a concise summary of what drives you every day.

While brainstorming an answer to this question, it’s a good idea to think about how you would summarize your application in a few sentences. What are your recommenders saying about you? What do your classwork and extracurriculars demonstrate an interest in? What sentence instantly helps to combine the disparate elements of your application into a cohesive narrative? This should help guide an answer to the question that’s consistent with your overall application.

Yale’s residential colleges regularly host intimate conversations with guests representing a wide range of experiences and accomplishments. What person, past or present, would you invite to speak? What question would you ask? (35 words)

The stereotypical answer to this question is along the lines of Mahatma Gandhi or President Obama. Of course, these are interesting people that anyone would like to have a conversation with, including hundreds of Yale applicants. On the other hand, very few applicants will write about people like Paul Baran or Joseph Campbell. You can make your application stand out by mentioning someone unique.

Once again, this question gives you the opportunity to reference back to the rest of your application. If you’re trying to show you really love math, maybe write about Pierre de Fermat. Or, if you have already written two essays about math, show you’re well-rounded by writing about Strom Thurmond.

The second part of this question is about what you’d like to ask the selected individual. Admissions officers see questions like “what is the biggest challenge you’ve faced?” all the time. Be original! Think about how the person you’ve selected interacts with your application. Remember, the question you would ask them reflects upon yourself too.

You are teaching a Yale course. What is it called? (35 words)

This is just a proxy to ask “what interests you?” That is, what interests you enough that you’d want to share that passion with a handful of Yale students? You can let your creativity run wild here; if you have a niche interest, this is the perfect place to mention it. An answer like “Designing and Testing Role Playing Games” is a lot better than “Economics 101.”

Alternatively, think about two interests you have. For example, if you like cartoon shows and politics, a class called “The Politics of Cartoon Shows” will definitely catch the eye of an admissions officer.

Most first-year Yale students live in suites of four to six people. What would you contribute to the dynamic of your suite? (35 words)

In one of our team member’s successful Yale applications, he made a long list of things he liked, spicing it up with humorous items like “dank memes.” A list of things is a great way to answer this question; you can easily show your diverse interests in one sentence.

Another way to answer this question is by describing your personality. Are you outgoing and social? Are you calm and composed? Let Yale know with this question, but make sure it doesn’t contradict what your recommenders say about you!

Students at Yale have plenty of time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the  list  provided.

Why do these areas appeal to you (100 words or fewer).

This prompt is a similar to a traditional “Why Major” prompt, however, 100 words is a very tight amount of space, and thus you need to be comprehensive and clear. Whether or not you plan on majoring in physics, economics, or neuroscience, the same basic strategy can be applied across the board.

As directly as possible, you need to describe what exactly is most fascinating or compelling about your intended major. For example, if you are interested in linguistics, you could write specifically about the nuances of language formation in prehistoric hominids or how language and thoughts are linked in dreams. If you are interested in psychology, you could explain how you want to better understand consumer mentalities in order to build organic and effective marketing campaigns.

Whatever your interest is, waste no space in diving right into the most specific details. Then, work to connect the details to future goals and interests. Make a statement about how you will act upon your interest.

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

Like other Yale responses, here you are challenged to discuss your thoughts deeply and clearly in a limited amount of space. A great resource to consider is CollegeVine’s “Why this College?” YouTube video , which contains excellent information about how to tackle any specific school prompt.

For Yale in particular, you want to pick a refreshing aspect about the school that really piques your interest. One way would be to discuss how the school culture and atmosphere spark an electric fervor for learning. Be keen on discussing very specific and poignant details. For example, if you visit Yale, you may immediately notice the silent focus that permeates the massive libraries or the clarity of the cold winter air. Don’t be afraid to use acute or even sensory details to describe these experiences and the aspects of Yale that have led you to apply. A great strategy is to choose an idea, opportunity, or aspect that is very concrete and specific and build around it, as opposed to discussing an exhaustive list of reasons without truly elaborating in depth.

Required Longer Responses (250 words or more)

Think about an idea or topic that has been intellectually exciting for you. why are you drawn to it (250 words).

What makes you tick? What keeps you up at night? Yale is looking for students driven by a passion for learning; they want to see the ability to succeed within a focused field of study (i.e., the college major). Therefore, your answer to this question should convey your love for a certain field of study. Keep in mind that your answer isn’t constrained to classroom subjects — if you read books about sports statistics on your own time, that’s a perfectly valid answer!

It is best to make your response specific, as the prompt asks for an idea or topic –– not a subject. For example, instead of reflecting on a general interest in biology, you should write about a passion for genetics. Writing about a specific interest will allow you to better convey exactly why you are drawn to the topic. For instance, there may be many reasons that you are interested in biology, as biology covers a number of subjects. However, you might be specifically interested in genetics because your brother has a hereditary disorder or because you uncovered family secrets through a DNA testing service.

Example 1: A broad answer like “physics.” If you choose such a vast topic, make sure you focus on what specifically excites you about it. Since answers like “physics” are going to be common, you need to convey your passion in a unique, memorable way. Tell Yale what part of quantum mechanics excites you and how you look forward to certain lab experiments. However, try to avoid really broad topics like “science.” If your transcript distinguishes between different sciences, your essay should too.

Example 2: A very specific answer like “15th-century European history.” There aren’t going to be many (if any!) other applicants with that answer, so you’ve already made yourself memorable. The challenge here is to tell a broader narrative of what excites you about this distinct topic. You could talk about how you got interested in it and why it excites you more than, say, European history as a whole. A word of caution though: don’t claim an interest that the rest of your application doesn’t support! Between your transcript and recommendation letters, it could be very clear that your professed passion is not as intense as it seems.

No matter what you talk about, make sure your essay conveys your intellectual vitality — an interest and desire for learning. The exact thing you talk about matters less than showing a deep passion for a specific interest.

A great way to write this essay is to break it up into parts. First, write about how you were introduced to the topic. Such an introduction will allow you to naturally discuss why it was so compelling to you. Then, discuss your engagement with the subject. Yale wants to accept students who love to learn for the sake of learning and who go above and beyond to do so. Write about the documentaries you watched, books you read, research you conducted, or conversations you had with teachers! By focusing on your involvement with the process of learning, the rest of the essay should fall in place. When describing your excitement about a topic, it is best to you use vibrant, varied, and descriptive language; this style will allow you to convey your excitement about the topic to readers.

Option A: Reflect on your engagement with a community to which you belong. How has this engagement affected you?

This question is quite open ended and allows applicants to write about a community – whether formal or informal – to which they belong. You can really write about anything, from a formal community (town, soccer team, religious organization, school) to an informal community (group of friends, coworkers, family).

The prompt asks you two questions. First, how have you engaged with your community? Second, how has this engagement affected you?

In contrast to many seemingly similar prompts, Yale doesn’t want to know how you have affected your community. Rather, they want you to reflect on how being an engaged member of some community has impacted who you are.

You should aim to organize your essay in the following way:

First, define and describe the community you are writing about. Defining the community is especially important for applicants writing about informal communities. For example, if you are writing about your siblings, make sure that this is clear. When describing the community, be sure to describe the culture. How do you interact as a group? For example, your soccer team may be more than teammates – perhaps you have special moments while traveling on the bus for a match. Make sure you discuss the dynamic. As a group, are you sarcastic, silly, or serious? Does your community have a specific kind of humor or tradition?

Second, discuss your engagement with this community. Describe how you specifically have engaged with the community you are a member of and how you have impacted the culture. For example, did you create a Snapchat group chat for your debate team that allowed you to bond outside the context of serious competitions, opening up a channel for close friendship among teammates? Did you regularly grab lunch with your coworkers at the local bakery? Or, did you meet survivors of gender-based violence through your work with a local organization?

Finally, describe how this community and engagement has affected you. For example, did the Snapchat group chat teach you to empathize with your competition, improving your sportsmanship? Did conversations with your coworkers over lunch spark your interest in food science or teach you how to engage with people who come from different backgrounds? Or, did volunteering at a non-profit increase your interest in being a human rights lawyer? You could also talk about how being the oldest sibling taught you to be a caretaker and sparked your interest in becoming a doctor. Regardless, you want to write about how you have become who you are through your engagement with this community.

In this video, we read a successful Yale essay for a similar prompt: “What is a community to which you belong?”

Option B: Yale students, faculty, and alumni engage issues of local, national, and international importance. Discuss an issue that is significant to you and how your college experience could help you address it.

Yale wants to accept students who will make the most of their education. That is, using all that they have learned to improve the world. Further, Yale wants to accept students who want to change the world.

This prompt asks you to describe an issue that is important to you and reflect on how you would make use of a college education in order to address this problem. Your response to this question should be broken down into two main parts. First, describing the issue and why it is of personal significance. Second, discussing what kinds of things you would want or need to learn to move closer to your goal of addressing this issue. Let’s break down what each of those parts specifically require.

First, describing the issue and why it is of personal significance. As with most college essays, it is best if you can make your response unique. Most students could write generally about why solving world hunger or cancer is important. Few students would be able to describe why such a grand issue is personally significant. As such, there exist two main approaches. First, you can pick a grand issue (like cancer, world hunger, or homelessness) and connect it to your life. Perhaps your mother was recently diagnosed with cancer, or you grew up regularly not having enough to eat. Establishing an emotional connection is important for any topic, but especially national or international topics that many students might also write about. Your other option is to discuss a local issue. Maybe your public high school lacks a diverse teaching staff or you come from a town facing the opioid crisis. Writing about an issue of local importance will be more accessible for most students. It will also make it easier to establish personal significance; you can write about noticing how you couldn’t relate to your teachers, or how your neighbor’s daughter was impacted by drug addiction. These stories will easily allow you to develop a connection, as a local issue is inherently already personal.

Second, discussing what kinds of things you would want or need to learn to move closer to your goal of addressing this issue. This part of the prompt is slightly more challenging. As a high school student, it may feel impossible to imagine what a college experience or education will consist of. However, there are a few core experiences that you should consider connecting to the prompt:

• Discuss the majors or courses that are of interest to you. For example, you may wish to take a course on psychopharmacology in order to understand how the brain interacts with drugs. 
• Connect the problem you hope to solve with Yale’s liberal arts education. How will taking courses in a variety of disciplines allow you to address the issue at hand? You might complement your studies in psychopharmacology with political science courses on public health policy, or seminars on the history of science and medicine.
• Reflect on the people you’ll meet, whether those are peers, professors, or visitors who give talks. 
• Discuss the opportunity to contribute to the academic understanding of a subject through research; for example, assisting a professor who specializes in health economics. Fifth, you can look into the various grants that Yale has for supporting creative arts projects, research, international and public service internships, and more!

At the end of your essay, you should be sure to tie together all of the components you discussed. Remind Yale that accepting you would add value not only to your life, but to the entire world as you would use Yale’s resources to address problems.

Please tell us more about what has led you to an interest in this field of study, what experiences (if any) you have had in engineering, and what it is about Yale’s engineering program that appeals to you (300 words)

This first part of the prompt essentially calls for an extended “Why major?” essay. Again, think about what genuinely interests you about engineering. By majoring in this field, what do you plan to do? Be sure to offer concrete reasons and/or detailed stories to support your response.

Example: My eyes dart feverishly back and forth between the computer screen in front of me and the misshapen robot a few feet away. Around me, three other students frantically make adjustments to the robot, the timer in the front of the class approaching the one minute mark. As I enter in the last few lines of code that will ideally guide the robot through the complicated pathway, I look up from my computer and take in my surroundings… Yet through all of this chaos, I find within it a sense of peace, of belonging.

Whether it be times like this, where I’m scrambling to make a robot move, or times where I’m just sitting at home trying to work through a tiring electromagnetic induction problem, I remain genuinely intrigued by all aspects of engineering━it is this persistent motor that will keep me exploring and discovering as I transition into college. 

The latter part of the question asks about Yale’s program specifically. You’ll want to approach this the same way you approach the “Why Yale?” question—very specifically and only after thorough research. If you know someone at Yale who was able to answer your general questions about the school, see if they can put you in touch with someone from the department of interest to help you out with this essay. 

Example: At Yale, I will be presented with a collaborative and encouraging environment that will be sure to foster and expand my horizons not just in engineering, but in mathematics, physics, and computer science as well. From participating in discrete algorithmic research with Professor Michael Fischer to taking Math as a Creative Art with Professor Patrick Devlin to studying theoretical fluid dynamics with Professor Juan Fernández de la Mora, Yale will provide me with an extensive and engaging curriculum that will only further my interest in engineering and applied sciences… 

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College Essays

For students applying to Yale, the "Why Yale" essay may seem straightforward, but it can also be very intimidating due to its low word-count limit and the specific nature of the prompt.

You might be wondering what you can write to make sure your application stands out from the crowd...and gets you accepted!

In this article, we're going to:

• Break down the "Why Yale" essay
• Explain what the university is looking for in your response
• Suggest topics to write about that'll help you make an impact
• Give a "Why Yale Essay" sample to get inspiration from another student's answer

So let's dive in!

The "Why Yale" Essay Prompt

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

Wow! This is a short essay prompt. You might be wondering what you can possibly write about to stand out from other applicants with such a brief assignment.

For instance, you may be thinking that everyone applies to Yale for the same reason: the school's stellar academic reputation.

While that's undoubtedly true, the admissions committee already knows that Yale is a great university. The admissions committee wants to know why you'd rather go to Yale than any of the other Ivy League universities or other top schools in the world.

What Is the Purpose of the "Why Yale" Essay?

Why do schools like Yale require you to answer a " why this school " essay?

No matter which schools you're applying to, this type of prompt is one of the most common that you'll see on your college applications.

Why? Because colleges want to see that you really want to attend their school. Students who love their school are more likely to be active and happy students—and later, active and happy alumni.

In short: your essay should show the admissions committee that you really love Yale, which will make them feel more confident that you'll be a great addition to the campus.

Because the " why this college " type of essay is common, it might be tempting to recycle one you wrote for a different school and plug it into your Yale application. That's not a good idea!

If your essay is generic or nonspecific to Yale, the admissions committee will worry that you're not invested in going to Yale. They may even think that you don't care about getting into Yale, which could cause them to pass over your application in favor of another student who really wants to attend Yale. The admissions committee wants to accept students who will attend Yale the next year.

Basically, Yale wants to make sure you know and value what they offer, and they also want to assess how you'll take advantage of the many opportunities on Yale's campus to further your academic and professional career.

What Should You Write About in Your "Why Yale" Essay?

Yale might be best known for its academics but there are many features of the university that you can talk about for your essay. Here's a list of potential topics:

• Majors or classes you're especially interested in
• Professors whose work you admire and whom you'd like to study with or conduct research with
• Extracurriculars that you'd be interesting in joining
• Research opportunities you'd like to have
• Current and past Yale students you've met who you admire
• Volunteer opportunities
• Professional opportunities
• Campus life

You should make sure that the points you choose are unique to Yale itself. For instance, Yale's residential college system is very unique and creates a different campus life experience than most universities. Talking about how you appreciate that feature of Yale's campus will show that you have done your research and like Yale's unique features.

No matter which topic you choose, you should be sure to connect it back to your own interests.

For instance, if you talk about a professor whose work you admire, describe how studying under that professor will help your academic career.

Your answer to this prompt must be specific ; you can't just say that you are intrigued by Yale's stellar faculty. You need to give examples of which faculty members you want to learn from. Focus on your chosen feature of Yale, how it relates to you as a student and person, and how Yale can help you achieve your future goals.

Tips for a Great Response to the Why Yale Essay

Regardless of how you decide to answer this prompt, there are four tips everyone should keep in mind to make sure they're fully answering the question, giving the information Yale wants to see, and making sure they stand out from other applicants.

#1: Do Your Research

Before you begin writing your response to this essay prompt, you should know exactly why you want to attend Yale. There are multiple ways to do this research. You can check out the school website or course catalog . You could also schedule a campus visit, meet with an alum or current student, or chat with a Yale professor.

#2: Be Specific

From your research, you should have come up with specific reasons why Yale is a great school for you. The more specific you can be when answering this prompt, the better.

Don't say Yale has great academics, caring professors, and an interesting student body. The vast majority of schools have that.

Instead, try to mention opportunities only Yale can provide , like specific professors, course names, extracurriculars, or research opportunities.

#3: Show Your Passion

Yale wants students who care a lot about their studies and their school, so make sure this comes across in their response. A bland statement like, "I am impressed by Yale's drama program" doesn't tell the school anything about you or help you stand out from other applicants.

You've done your research so you can mention specific qualities of Yale that have enticed you, and now you need to discuss specific qualities about yourself as well. Why does the drama program make you so excited? What do you want to get out of it? Be detailed, specific and honest.

Showing a passion that's unique to you will help differentiate you from other applicants and show Yale that you're going to take your studies seriously.

#4: Proofread

Your Yale essay should be the strongest example of your work possible. Before you turn in your application, make sure to edit and proofread your essays.

Your work should be free of spelling and grammar errors. Make sure to run your essays through a spelling and grammar check before you submit.

It's a good idea to have someone else read your "Why Yale" essay, too. You can seek a second opinion on your work from a parent, teacher, or friend. Ask them if your work represents you as a student and person . Have them check and make sure you haven't missed any small writing errors. Having a second opinion will help your work be the best it possibly can be.

"Why Yale" Essay Sample and Reasons Why It Works

To help you get a better idea of what a great response to this prompt can look like, below is a "Why Yale" essay sample that we wrote. We'll also explain what makes it an excellent response.

The first song I could sing was Puccini's "O mio babbino Caro." I don't think that my mother realized she was sparking a love for opera by teaching me a party trick. That love has grown into a driving ambition and a door into my favorite areas of study: history, drama, language, and music. As a college student, I have always hoped to combine all of these fields.

While visiting Yale, I took a voice lesson from a mezzo soprano from the School of Music. She told me about how she studied Roman and Greek literature, leading her to specialize in baroque opera. Her inclusive approach to her craft inspired me and let me know that I can do the same at Yale. I cannot imagine giving up the study of language and history in favor of music, and at Yale I wouldn't have to.

Let's take a look at what makes this "Why Yale" essay work well.

#1: Answers the Prompt Specifically

This essay gives examples of personal experience with the school and reveals an applicant who did their research. The applicant is clearly interested in the music program at Yale, since he or she has taken a lesson with a student and talked with the student about their experience.

#2: Gives Details About a Program

The applicant's essay illustrates that they know the subjects they want to study at Yale: music, language, and history. They also show that they took the initiative to seek out a current vocal student to assess the kind of skills that could be gained by Yale's program.

#3: Shows Where the Applicant Fits In

It's clear from reading this essay where the author sees him or herself at Yale. They've shown that Yale has opportunities they want to take part in and contribute to, and they tie this into their academic goals for the future.

#4: Shows Interaction With Current Students

The applicant's experience with a current student is the main feature of this essay. It shows that the student had the foresight to take a lesson with someone who was a product of the school's undergraduate music program, and the evidence that she collected to support her goal of finding a school that wouldn't limit her learning experience to music alone.

Recap: Writing a Great "Why Yale" Essay

Your "Why Yale" essay can help give the admissions teams a good idea of why Yale is a great fit for you. The purpose of this essay prompt is for you to show Yale that you've done research on their school, feel it's a good fit for you , and already know some of the opportunities at the school you want to make the most of.

In your Yale essay, you can write about multiple topics, including academics, the student body, extracurriculars, and research opportunities. When writing your essay for this prompt, be sure to do lots of research on the school, be specific, show your passion, and mention plans you have for the future. Looking at "Why Yale" essay examples can also help, though they are hard to find.

What's Next?

Getting into college requires a strong application, including SAT/ACT scores. Wondering how high of an SAT score or ACT score do you need to get into your top colleges?

Worried about paying for college? Here's a complete guide to figuring out how much college will cost for you .

Know exactly what you want to study in college? Check out some of our best-of-specialty-school lists, including the best film schools , best video game design schools , best journalism schools , and best creative writing schools .

Hayley Milliman is a former teacher turned writer who blogs about education, history, and technology. When she was a teacher, Hayley's students regularly scored in the 99th percentile thanks to her passion for making topics digestible and accessible. In addition to her work for PrepScholar, Hayley is the author of Museum Hack's Guide to History's Fiercest Females.

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August 1, 2023

2023-2024 Yale University Supplemental Essay Prompts

Yale University has released its admissions essay prompts for the 2023-2024 college admissions cycle. In addition to the essay options on The Common Application , Yale applicants will indicate their intended majors and then be required to write two short essays, one of 125 words or fewer and another of 200 words or fewer, four short answers, all of approximately 35 words or fewer (or 200 characters), and a 400-word essay from an option of three prompts. So what are this year’s Yale essay questions ? Let’s dive in!

2023-2024 Yale Essay Topics and Questions

Short answer questions.

1. Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the  list  provided.

So many students indicate particular intended majors but then neglect to showcase their interest in these subjects on the rest of their applications. We at Ivy Coach urge students to ensure they’ve demonstrated — in their activities and storytelling — the origin of this interest and how they’ve showcased their passion for the discipline.

2. Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer)

Here, of course, is an applicant’s first opportunity to shine a spotlight on precisely why they’re interested in studying the disciplines they’ve indicated. It shouldn’t come out of left field. If a student expresses an interest in math and they haven’t gotten involved in all sorts of math activities outside of school, they’ll lack the content to answer this question effectively. Yale wants to know how a student will contribute to their classrooms and potentially their research in this field.

3. What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

While the essay prompt contains 11 words, make no mistake — it’s Why Yale . This short essay needs to be filled with specific after specific about how a student intends to contribute their singular hook — rather than well-roundedness — to Yale’s campus. And, no, don’t treat the Why College essay like a game of Mad Libs. If one can easily replace the name of one school’s program with another school’s in a sentence, strike that sentence from the record. Yale wants to see that you genuinely want to attend. They want to see you’ve done your homework on the Ivy League institution. So name-dropping professors or regurgitating class names is not the way to go. It’s about capturing enduring specifics about the school.

4. What inspires you? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words)

While these prompts are short, each must showcase an applicant’s intellectual curiosity. And always make sure admissions officers learn something while reading such responses — not only about you as an applicant but ideally also something they didn’t know before parsing through your application.

5. If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words)

This prompt is a chance for an applicant to show their creative side. A fun, pithy name for a course or book can work here. But students must include more than just the name of the course, book, or artwork. They’ve got to use the remaining real estate to address why they’d wish to teach this course, write this book, or create this piece of art. The  why  matters.

6. Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words)

Too many students write the name of a teacher or coach — although we at Ivy Coach strongly discourage students from writing about coaches since sports essays are all too common — and follow it with a cliché explanation. Aim to be original. Did you see someone do something that inspired you when they didn’t know you were watching? How so? Tell a story!

7. What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application? (no more than 200 characters or approximately 35 words)

This prompt is an opportunity to write whatever applicants want but, again, they should make sure it still showcases their intellectual curiosity and, ideally, it’s in line with the singular hook that they’ve spotlighted throughout their application, never in the same way but always in complementary ways. Great essays are essentially like puzzle pieces. No two pieces are the same, yet they all fit neatly together.

Essay Prompts

Applicants must respond to one of the following three prompts:

1. Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful? (400 words or fewer)

In this essay, students must ensure they treat people respectfully — no matter their disagreements. Contrary to popular belief, it’s ok to delve into political issues and for applicants to express their viewpoints as long as they understand and appreciate that theirs is not the only acceptable view. While admissions officers are known to be liberal, they covet diversity of thought on their campuses. A student with a conservative perspective should not shy away from expressing it — with deference for the other side. Too often, students are advised to avoid any issue that could potentially be controversial. It’s terrible advice. Dare to write something interesting instead, leading always with respect.

2. Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like. (400 words or fewer)

While Yale has asked applicants this essay question in years past, it has new meaning in the wake of the Supreme Court’s outlawing of Affirmative Action . For students from underrepresented backgrounds, it could be an opportunity to spotlight how a student’s race or background has influenced them. But community can be any sort of community. It could be a community of sculptors or writers, physicists, or even musicians.

3. Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you? (400 words or fewer)

Like The Common Application’s Personal Statement, this essay question is also open-ended, allowing students to write whatever they wish. In short, Yale hopes students will write about how they’ll contribute to Yale’s community — ideally through a singular hook. If a student will enrich Yale through their science research, let’s hear about the student’s research to date and how they hope to further their work. If a student will enrich Yale through their love of the Classics, let’s hear about their interest in the Classics and how they hope to contribute to the literary canon in their lifetimes.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Yale 2023-2024 Essays

If your child needs assistance brainstorming and writing compelling essays to wow Yale admissions officers, fill out Ivy Coach ’s consultation form , and we’ll be in touch to outline our college counseling services for seniors .

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Advice on putting together your application.

Students commonly want to know what part of the college application “carries the most weight.” The truth is, there are many parts to your application, and together they help us discover and appreciate your particular mix of qualities. Academic criteria are important to Yale’s selective admissions process, but we look at far more than test scores and grades.

Every applicant brings something unique to the admissions committee table. Perhaps one application stands out because of sparkling recommendations, while another presents outstanding extracurricular talent; maybe your personality shines through a powerful written voice, or maybe your keen mathematical mind packs more punch. Our goal is to assemble a diverse, well-rounded student body, and that means admitting exceptional individuals of all types. You may find this answer unsatisfying, but we assure you that it is true: the part of the application that carries the most weight is different from applicant to applicant.

This section of our website aims to help you submit the very best application possible. We asked admissions officers to weigh in with their own thoughts on each topic and we have compiled their responses below. We know that the application process can be confusing, daunting, even overwhelming, and we hope this page proves helpful as you compile your applications, not only to Yale but to every school on your list.

When you write your essays and short answer responses, write about something that matters to you. Use your own voice. Do not worry about making a special effort to include impressive vocabulary words or overly complex sentences. If you sound like yourself and discuss something you care about, your essay will be more effective.

We know that no one can fit an entire life story into a few short pieces of writing, and we don’t expect you to try. Pick topics that will give us an idea of who you are.  It doesn’t matter which topics you choose, as long as they are meaningful to you. We have read wonderful essays on common topics and weak essays on highly unusual ones. Your perspective – the lens through which you view your topic – is far more important than the specific topic itself. In the past, students have written about family situations, ethnicity or culture, school or community events to which they have had strong reactions, people who have influenced them, significant experiences, intellectual interests, personal aspirations, or – more generally – topics that spring from the life of the imagination.

Finally: proofread, proofread, proofread!  Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well – such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend – and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit.

Your record of activities outside the classroom should demonstrate a number of things:

• You engage your community beyond the classroom. Yale is home to hundreds of student organizations, and we want to admit students who will take advantage of these resources and contribute to Yale’s vibrant extracurricular community.
• You take leadership positions when they are available, and you invest your energies into the activities you choose. You do not need to be president of a national organization to impress the admissions committee. But, the committee would like to see that you have spent time pursuing meaningful opportunities and that you have had a positive impact on people around you.
• You demonstrate a deep commitment to and genuine appreciation for what you spend your time doing. The joy you take in the pursuits that really matter to you – rather than a resume padded with a long list of activities – will strengthen your candidacy.

Interviews are another way to help your application stand out. An interview is not required, but if you are offered the opportunity to interview, we strongly encourage you to take it. Yale’s policies regarding interviews can be found on the interviews page .  

Although the interviewer will get the ball rolling with questions, come prepared to be an engaged conversationalist. Rather than answering a question with a one-word, direct answer, approach each question as an opportunity to elaborate on various aspects of who you are. Share whatever additional information you feel the admissions committee should consider in order to fully appreciate your ideas, intellectual curiosity, character, and values. Interviewers can also learn about candidates from the interesting, thoughtful questions they bring to the table.

Recommendations

Recommendations tell us a great deal about the way you think and learn, how you contribute to your school community, and what you add to a classroom dynamic. The best recommendations are not always from the teachers in whose class you earned the highest grades, but rather from those teachers who know you best and can discuss the substance of your intellect and character. We are as interested in your intellectual curiosity and resilience as in your innate ability and work ethic. A string of generic superlatives is not as useful as a specific, thoughtful discussion of your strengths.

All applicants for first-year admission should request two letters of recommendation from teachers who have taught the student in core academic subjects: usually Math, English, Foreign Language, Social Studies, or Science. Teachers who have taught you in your junior and/or senior years often write the most insightful letters. These teachers will best speak to your recent progress, your preparation for rigorous collegiate coursework, and your potential contributions beyond the classroom.

Supplementary Materials

Supplementary materials can provide broader context to some parts of your application, but they can just as often be superfluous and distracting. For example, a letter from someone who supervised your extracurricular research project may answer important questions about the work you’ve done. But a third recommendation that raves about you, just as your other letters do, will not necessarily enhance your application. In fact, it may dilute the effect of the two required recommendations. For more information visit our page on supplementary materials .

Transcript and Testing

Your transcript is a significant part of your application. We look at your overall record, from all four years of high school. We always remain mindful of context: what courses are available at your school? Did you take a rigorous curriculum given these course offerings? Are there patterns to your transcript that reflect on your academic potential? We rely on school profiles and guidance counselors to give us an understanding of your school and the ways in which you have been academically engaged.

We also consider your standardized test scores. Think of testing as just another part of the application. Only retake a test if you feel you will significantly improve your scores. If your testing is in the right ballpark, then it probably will not be the deciding factor for your candidacy. In other words, don’t worry about trying to get an extra few points. Instead, spend your time on things that will help you grow as a person: school work, extracurricular opportunities, time with friends — the things that will give you a stronger sense of yourself and, as a result, make you a stronger college applicant.

Yale Supplemental Essays 2023-24

Yale supplemental essays.

Want to know how to get into Yale? Well, every strong application starts with well-crafted Yale supplemental essays. 

As one of the nation’s top schools, the Yale application process is highly competitive. Therefore, by crafting unique and interesting Yale supplemental essays, you can ensure you impress the admissions team. 

In this article, we’ll go over each of the Yale supplemental essays in detail. Additionally, we’ll review tips for responding to the Why Yale essay, as well as the other Yale short answer essays. 

Yale Essay Prompts: Quick Facts

• Yale University Acceptance Rate:  5%–  U.S. News  ranks Yale University as one of the  most selective  schools in the nation
• 2 short answer essays (125-200 words each)
• 4 “short take” questions (35 words each)
• 1 longer response essay (400 words)
• Yale University Application:  Students must submit their Yale University application through either the  Common Application , Coalition Application , or Questbridge Application . Make sure to have all of your Yale University supplemental essays and other  required application materials  ready when applying. 

Single Choice Early Action: November 1 st  

Regular decision: january 2 nd.

• Yale University Essay Tip:  Though there are several Yale supplemental essays, make sure to answer each one in detail, demonstrating why Yale is a great fit for you.

Please note that essay requirements are subject to change each admissions cycle, and portions of this article may have been written before the final publication of the most recent guidelines. For the most up-to-date information on essay requirements, check the university’s admissions website. 

Does Yale have supplemental essays?

Yes, there are Yale supplemental essays.

Students should think critically about the Yale essay requirements. There are a total of seven Yale supplemental essays. These vary in length and format. 

You’ll submit the Yale supplemental essays in addition to your main personal statement, sometimes called the Common App essay . As such, you will need to submit eight essays as part of your application. 

Writing all of these Yale supplemental essays by the Yale application deadline might seem daunting. However, if you plan ahead, you can ensure all of your Yale supplemental essays highlight your strengths. 

Overall, make sure you have a strategy when working on your Yale supplemental essays. To help you get started, let’s review the Yale essay prompts in detail. 

Does Yale have a Why Yale essay?

Yes—one of the Yale supplemental essays is a Why Yale essay. The Why Yale essay is a short answer essay that can be a maximum of 125 words long. The objective of the Why Yale essay is the same as it is for other Why School essays—to demonstrate that you have researched the school well and explain what makes it the right fit for you. 

The Why Yale essay for 2023-24 is worded as follows:

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? 

The keywords in this essay question are “Yale” and “you.” In short, in your Why Yale essay, you must demonstrate that you have done research on Yale. You can do so by emphasizing aspects of the school’s academics, culture, clubs, research opportunities, or anything else that stands out to you. By the end of your Why Yale essay, a Yale admissions officer should have a clear sense of why you belong at Yale. 

Secondly, every one of the Yale supplemental essays is a chance to showcase more about yourself. As such, use the Why Yale essay as a chance to talk more about passions, values, and interests that make you unique. Since you only have 125 words to write for the Why Yale essay, it’s important to be concise.

Yale Questbridge Essay Requirements

Yale University is a Questbridge partner . Students wondering how to get into Yale should explore Questbridge further, as it is one of the three ways to apply to Yale.

But, what is Questbridge? Questbridge is a scholarship program for students from low-income backgrounds who wish to attend elite colleges. Some of these, like Yale, are Ivy League colleges . As part of their application, students rank schools that they would like to attend. If a school they ranked admits them, then they are considered a “match” and receive a full scholarship to attend the school. 

Check out this virtual information session for 2022 Yale Questbridge Finalists to learn more about Questbridge at Yale and how to apply.

Understanding the Yale requirements for Questbridge

Students who apply via the Yale Questbridge application complete slightly different Yale supplemental essays than students who apply regularly through the Common App or Coalition App. Indeed, the Questbridge application only requires two short answer essays.

Specifically, the Questbridge Yale essay prompts only include the academic interest and why Yale essay. They do not include the “short take” or longer response questions. Instead, the Yale Questbridge application gives more space for students to discuss their backgrounds and unique circumstances. 

In the next section, we’ll go into further detail on the Yale short answer essays, which are required of all students regardless of whether they are applying to Yale through the Common App, Coalition App, or the Questbridge Scholarship application.

Yale Short Answer Essays

The first set of Yale supplemental essays are the three short answer essays. These Yale supplemental essays are required for all applicants, regardless of which application they use to apply.

The Yale short answer essays are as follows:

Short Answer Question 1: 

Students at yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. as of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably please indicate up to three from the  list  provided., short answer question 2: , tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. why are you drawn to it (200 words or fewer), short answer question 3:, what is it about yale that has led you to apply (125 words or fewer).

Since we already discussed the Why Yale question above, we’ll focus on breaking down the first two short answer questions.

Question 1: Your Academic Interests

The first of the Yale supplemental essays asks you to identify three academic areas of interest. Yale is a liberal arts school that allows students to choose a major but also requires them to take courses outside of their major via their distribution requirements. As such, it is important to demonstrate your flexibility in learning many different subjects. However, these subjects do not have to be related. In fact, in some cases, it may be more intriguing if they are not. For example, a student who states an interest in Asian American history and evolutionary biology definitely makes an intriguing candidate.

However, you should respond to this question as you do all of your Yale supplemental essays—genuinely. Indeed, Yale wants to know what you are truly interested in. Therefore, listing majors simply to impress or seem intriguing won’t serve you well.

Question 2: A Topic that Excites You

The next short answer essay asks you to discuss a topic that excites you. This should be directly related to one of the academic interests you described in the first question. 

In this question, focus on the “why.” What makes this topic interesting or meaningful to you? How does it relate to your background, experiences, or future goals? The more specific you can be, the better. 

Wondering how to select a topic or idea to highlight in your Yale essays? Here are a few tips:

Tips for Selecting a Yale Essay Topic

1. brainstorm 3-5 ideas..

Take a few minutes to jot down specific memories you have associated with this topic. For example, if you are interested in evolutionary biology, maybe you remember learning about how birds evolved from dinosaurs. Use descriptive language to show us what you learned and bring the topic to life. 

2. Choose a meaningful topic.

After you have brainstormed, note which topic makes you feel excited. Don’t choose the topic that you think sounds more impressive to others. Choose the one that impresses you.

3. Write a lot and then edit it down.

Don’t limit yourself by focusing on the word count. Instead, begin by writing freely. From there, edit out words or sentences that don’t seem essential. Additionally, you can ask mentors or friends to help you revise.

A successful response to these Yale essay prompts will have the following characteristics:

How to Respond to Yale Essay Prompts

1. relate to yale’s academics..

As supplements must be specific to each school, it’s important that you highlight topics and majors that you know can study at Yale. First, think about Yale’s academic strengths, and then use these as a basis for your essays. 

2. Demonstrate a passion for learning.

Yale values students’ intellectual curiosity. As such, the topic you discuss must demonstrate your passion for learning. 

3. Tell us why you are drawn to the topic.

As the question denotes, Yale doesn’t just want to know what you are interested in, but why. Does the topic have some kind of personal relevance? Does it excite you because it’s baffled scientists for centuries? Make your reasoning clear.

Now that we’ve looked in detail at these Yale requirements, we’ll explore the Yale short answer essays that are even shorter. Indeed, these Yale supplemental essays are sometimes known as the “short takes.”

Additional Yale Supplemental Essays

In addition to responding to the Yale short answer essays above, you’ll need to respond to four “short takes” and one longer response which offers you three Yale essay prompts to choose from. First, we’ll discuss the “short takes.”

Inside the Yale “Short Takes”

There are four Yale “short takes.”  These Yale supplemental essays ask students to respond in 200 characters or less, which roughly equates to 35 words. As such, you must be extremely concise in your response while still answering the question. Still, use these essays to showcase your unique brand or personality, helping the admissions team understand who you are.

Below are the Yale essay prompts for the “short takes,” followed by tips for responding well: 

1. What inspires you?

For this prompt, take some time to simply free-write and brainstorm a list of things that inspire you. Don’t limit yourself by thinking your response must relate to academics. There is no right response to this question. The key is to express what inspires you in a way that enriches your profile. 

2. If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be?

As we shared above, Yale is a liberal arts college very interested in intellectual curiosity. This question allows you to showcase your creativity and passions. Rather than trying to think of an idea that will impress admissions officers, focus on choosing one that speaks to you. 

3. Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? 

This question alludes to Yale’s focus on “improving the world.” By asking you to highlight a person who has influenced you, they get to see what you value in others and whether you can recognize the interdependence of the world. Note that the question asks you to highlight someone “other than a family member.” So, logically, avoid writing about family members in this Yale essay. Lastly, even though you are writing about someone else, the core of your response should demonstrate more about who you are. Therefore, briefly name the person and their relationship to you. And then, mainly focus on how they impacted you. 

4. What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application?

The final of the Yale supplemental essays “short takes” could potentially be the most challenging one to answer. This question is open-ended on purpose. Unsurprisingly, Yale values diversity as much as most elite schools. As such, they provide space for you to share something that they may not have asked you about yet. To brainstorm, perhaps ask friends and family to read your application and then tell you a few aspects of your personality or experience that aren’t represented. Then, express that uniqueness in 35 words or less. Additionally, this could be a space to express more about any challenges or unique circumstances you have faced that impacted your life or academics significantly. However, those details may also be better suited for the “Additional Information” section. So, think about what information is best suited where.

Breaking Down the Yale Longer Response Essay

The Yale longer response essay is the final of the Yale supplemental essays. While it is indeed the longest of the short answer essays, it is still only 400 words maximum in length. You can choose from three Yale essay prompts for this question. 

Here are the three Yale essay prompts, along with guidance on how to respond:

1. Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful?

With this question, Yale hopes to gauge whether you can engage in the “free exchange of ideas” they mention in their mission statement. To respond well, choose an example of a conversation that truly did impact you. Describe the conversation with enough detail to make it clear what the opposing views were. In the end, the most critical piece of this essay is showing how the experience impacted you. Since Yale values learning, Yale hopes to see whether you can find opportunities to learn in your day-to-day life just as much as you do in the classroom.

2. Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.

This Yale supplemental prompt seeks to learn more about the communities you are a part of and how you interact with them. Consider your neighborhood, school, family, religious group, or any other group of people to which you feel closely connected. Remember that the focus of this essay is still you, so avoid spending too long describing the community. Instead, jump right into why it is meaningful to you.

3. Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you?

As we noted above, Yale values diversity in the broadest sense of the word. As a result, they look for students who can bring new experiences to campus. However, those experiences don’t have to be grand, like living in five different countries as a child. In fact, perhaps you lived in the same house for all your childhood and this taught you to value history, tradition, and legacy. As with all the other Yale essays, the right answer is the one that resonates most with you.

At this point, you may be wondering which of the Yale essay prompts to choose. While there isn’t one essay prompt that Yale admissions officers value more than another, there might be one that feels more authentic to you. Another way to decide is to choose a prompt that allows you to talk about an aspect of yourself that you haven’t yet divulged. In this way, you can fit more about yourself on the page and avoid repeating previous information.

What does Yale admissions look for in essays?

If you’re wondering how to get into Yale, you’re probably also wondering what Yale looks for in Yale supplemental essays. Here are a few tips to make your Yale essays stand out:

Each year, Yale aims to build an incoming class that reflects a diverse array of identities, experiences, and interests. Beyond that, admissions officers are skilled at reading for authenticity. This means that trying to impress them will likely come across on the page and discourage them from accepting you.

2. Passion for Yale.

Each of the Yale supplemental essays gives you space to highlight aspects of your experience that overlap with Yale in some way. As such, they must be Yale-specific in some sense, even if only by highlighting how your values align with Yale’s mission. 

3. Stick to your own voice.

While your essay must be written formally, only use vocabulary words that you would use. Avoid looking for the fanciest possible vocabulary word (unless it’s one you actually use), since this will only come off as ingenuine.

4. Proofread.

As Yale is a prestigious academic institution, they are looking for writing that reflects conventionally proper grammar and spelling. Make sure you have multiple people read your essays. In fact, reading your Yale supplemental essays out loud can help you catch errors or missing words.

What is the application deadline for Yale?

In addition to understanding the Yale requirements, students must choose one of two Yale application deadlines.

You have two main options for your Yale application deadline. They are as follows:

Early Action is a Yale application deadline that allows students to apply early. SCEA means that you are only allowed to apply to one school’s Early Action deadline. 

If you apply to Yale through Early Action, you cannot apply to any other school’s Early Action or Early Decision program. There are a few exceptions to this restriction. For instance, students may apply to public institutions as long as they are non-binding. At Yale, applying SCEA tends not to dramatically increase students’ admissions odds. However, for some schools, applying early can make a huge difference in terms of demonstrated interest. 

This is the date by which most students apply. There are no restrictions on how many schools you can apply to through Regular Decision.

A note on Questbridge students’ application deadlines :

Students applying via Questbridge must complete their application by September 26 . Then, they will be notified of whether they matched with Yale on November 1. 

Starting early on your Yale supplemental essays is key to a successful application. By starting early, you have time to brainstorm ideas, get multiple people’s opinions, and incorporate feedback. Plus, starting early helps you avoid feeling stressed by the Yale requirements.

More Yale Essay Resources from CollegeAdvisor

As always, CollegeAdvisor is committed to helping you find your way in the college admissions process. As such, we have several tailored resources to learn more about how to get into Yale. 

To learn more about the Yale supplemental essays, check out this webinar for more tips on responding to the Yale essay prompts. In addition, our college admissions experts will share guidance on writing efficiently so you can complete your other applications as well. 

Want to hear from a Yale alum about their admissions pathway to Yale? Listen to one of our experts talk about how they aced the admissions process. This webinar includes an excerpt from their Yale supplemental essays. It also discusses how this student put together their application so their profile stood out.

Lastly, check out this article full of sample Why Yale essays. Inside, you’ll get a clear perspective on how students responded fully to this question using their own unique flair.

Yale Supplemental Essays – Takeaways

In this article, we broke down the Yale requirements, ranging from Yale supplemental essays to Yale application deadlines. We talked about how to write compelling essays that showcase your unique personal brand, even in your Why Yale essay. We also provided resources for you to continue with your research on Yale requirements.

As you continue researching, read the Yale website regularly for updates . Consider reading sample essays for other Ivy League schools’ applications and make sure you research other schools’ supplemental essay requirements to find overlap in essay topics.

Most importantly, reach out to CollegeAdvisor for additional customized support. We’re here to make your college journey as successful and stress-free as possible.

This essay guide was written by senior advisor, Courtney Ng . Looking for more admissions support? Click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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September 15, 2023

Tips for Answering the Yale University Supplemental Essays and Short Answer Questions [2023-2024]

Not surprisingly, Yale University is consistently ranked among the top universities in the world. It accepts the Common Application, Coalition Application, and QuestBridge Application. All three applications require a personal statement essay, and to apply to Yale using any of them, candidates must also submit additional Yale-specific short answers and a writing supplement. This prestigious Ivy League school prides itself on providing undergraduates with an exceptional foundation in liberal arts education that focuses on cultivating knowledge and leadership skills. The supplemental writing responses are a chance for you to convey how the Yale experience might augment your passions and perspectives in terms of learning, living, and preparing for the future. 

If Yale is your first choice, it offers a Single-Choice Early Action program (also known as Restrictive Early Action) for freshman applicants that has a November 1 deadline. Check the Yale admissions website for details. Under this program, Yale will notify you of its admissions decision in mid-December. The deadline for submission of applications for regular action is January 2. 

Before you begin writing your essay(s), thoroughly research all Yale has to offer and consider how those opportunities bolster your objectives. This is the time to get excited about the prospect of attending Yale! Visit the website and/or campus, speak with students and alumni, and envision yourself as a part of the school’s exceptional learning community. The curriculum at Yale is designed to provide both breadth and depth of study as the foundation for students to pursue inspired lives and careers. The university strives to foster independent critical thinking. Yale is one of the only universities that allow you to try your classes before you finalize your schedule. The first ten days of each semester are an opportunity to visit a number of classes to determine which are most interesting to you! Also, keep in mind that applicants are not admitted to a specific major, and students do not declare a major until the end of their sophomore year. 

Located in the small town of New Haven, Connecticut, in an urban setting that is primarily a residential campus, Yale offers a supportive community feel through its system of 14 residential colleges. This configuration, complete with its own residential deans and masters, creates a sense of intimacy within the larger university. Residential deans serve as primary personal and academic advisors. Masters work with students to shape the residential community. This is a powerfully dynamic way of bringing together students and faculty. Think about how this structure can support your intellectual growth. 

Short Answer Questions– Applicants submitting the Coalition Application, Common Application, or QuestBridge Application will respond to respond to the following short answer questions:

Students at Yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. Many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. As of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably? Please indicate up to three from the list provided.

This is not a trick question. With approximately 80 majors to choose from, Yale is trying to gauge your unique interests. Indicate a maximum of three of your top academic areas of study.

Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer)

This prompt allows you to explain how your academic interests relate to the fields of study available at Yale. The challenge in this response is to discuss your rationale for your selected areas in less than 200 words. Consider your experience thus far in these areas. What sparked your interest? What burning question or issue motivates you? How might these concentrations support your long-term goals? Provide some context to support your interests and convey your enthusiasm.

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer) 

Here again, you are under significant word limitations. Don’t underestimate this prompt. It is extremely important to demonstrate good fit in your discussion – what unique aspects of an education at Yale attract you? This is an opportunity to convey your enthusiasm for a potential Yale experience.  Sometimes making a list can help you get started. Then review your list and make sure each reason relates specifically to Yale. Consider both what Yale has to offer you and what you might be able to offer the Yale community. 

The Yale site notes that QuestBridge applicants will complete these short answer questions via the Yale QuestBridge Questionnaire, which candidates can access through the Admissions Status Portal after their application has been received.

Additional Short Answer Questions– Applicants submitting the Coalition Application or Common Application will also respond to respond to the following short answer questions, in no more than 200 characters (approximately 35 words): 

What inspires you?

This response touches on what motivates you as well as what you find valuable. Discuss something that makes a difference in your way of thinking and subsequently influences your actions and/or behavior. Think about what your response might convey about your character. 

If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be?

Use your imagination! Consider a creative title to set the tone for your course, book, or art piece. This is a chance to infuse some fun and creativity into your response. Do you have a unique set of skills or interests that might contribute to some expertise on a particular topic? What is your specialty? Be careful to avoid any controversial statements. You never know how your suggestion might be interpreted, so try to steer clear of potentially offensive topics.

Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? 

You can select just about anyone, other than a family member! This could be someone famous (dead or alive) or your next-door neighbor. The essential component is explaining how they influenced you and the extent of their impact. Is there something you admire about them? Did/do they motivate or inspire you in some way? Have they changed or encouraged you in some way? Keep the focus on you and the result(s) of their impact. Remember to consider what your response might reflect about your values and character.

What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application?

Before you respond, take some time to review your overall application materials for Yale. You should share something meaningful about yourself that you didn’t mention elsewhere. Your response provides a glimpse into the sort of person you might be within the Yale community, so consider what you might contribute and what you hope to gain. You might mention something you always wanted to explore or learn how to do – perhaps something you are not very good at but love to do. Whatever you select will reflect something about your character. How might what you shared relate to attending Yale? 

Essay 

Applicants submitting the Coalition Application or Common Application will respond to one of the following prompts in 400 words or fewer.

• Reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. Why did you find the experience meaningful?

This prompt asks you to reflect on a time when you dealt with conflicting views. This discussion might have made you feel vulnerable expressing your viewpoint. How do you engage in a civil exchange about controversial or emotional issues? What was the issue, and why was it important to you? Explain both your position and that of the other person involved. What was at stake? How did you work through the conflict and come to an understanding of the other person’s perspective? Were you able to convey your perspective? What was the outcome? Did you change your stance or clarify and strengthen your position? Most importantly, why was the experience you shared important to you? What did you learn from this process? Your response to this prompt helps to shed light on how you learn, the topics you are drawn to, how you interact with others with diverse perspectives, and how you process the world around you. 

• Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.

This prompt asks you to place yourself within the context of a particular community. What is this community? Consider how being a part of this community shapes or supports you. The focus is on why you feel connected to this community. This is an opportunity to discuss your role in just about ANY community and the impact you had on it and vice versa. It also allows you to demonstrate your ability to reflect on your community from different perspectives. Topics can vary from a school club to a larger cultural or religious community to the global community, but community is however you define it. Your goal is to EXPLAIN your relationship to the community and convey WHY that community is valuable to you. What did you learn about yourself through your connection to this community? How might this community inspire, support, or ground you and vice versa? What might this reflect about your character or place in the world? How might these experiences prepare you for this next stage of your life?

• Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you?

If you haven’t already done so, take a detailed look at Yale’s residential college system. The 14 residential colleges strive to create a more intimate living and learning atmosphere that fosters a stronger sense of community connection. Incoming students are assigned to a college and remain affiliated with that college for the duration of their time at Yale.  As stated on the school’s website, “each college is a microcosm of the larger student population.” Identify something about your personal experience that might provide a different or unique perspective to enhance your college community. Then discuss how what you shared shaped you, motivated you, influenced your sense of identity, or reflects something essential about you.

The tone of your essays should convey your drive and enthusiasm for learning in general and at Yale in particular. Share your perspectives in your own voice. Be thoughtful and reflective. 

Applicants to Yale have an exceedingly competitive profile. Yale received 52,250 undergraduate applications for the Class of 2027. Overall, only 2,275 or 4.35% of applicants were admitted, and 95% of them ranked in the top 10% of their high school class. Although Yale continued to offer test optional admissions for the Class of 2027, you can consider the test scores from the Class of 2024 – average SAT scores over 1500 and average ACT scores of approximately 33 – to get a sense of your likely cohort. 

It is easy to get overwhelmed by the numbers. At this point, it is heartening to bear in mind that Yale is dedicated to a holistic application evaluation process for admission. Your short answer responses and supplemental essay(s) facilitate a more comprehensive review of you as a prospective student at Yale. The admissions committee takes the time to read your responses carefully. Make sure you allow yourself appropriate time for thoughtful reflection and effective writing. Use your writing supplement to set you apart from your peers. The best approach is to be true to yourself and communicate your thoughts, experiences, hopes, and dreams in a way that highlights your genuine enthusiasm for the extraordinary educational journey at Yale!

Marie Todd has been involved in college admissions for more than 20 years. Marie has counseled applicants to top colleges and evaluated more than 5,000 applications for the University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts; College of Engineering; School of Kinesiology; School of Nursing; and Taubman College of Architecture. Want Marie to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch .

Related Resources:

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• Common App and Supplemental Essay Tips
• Make the Most of Your Common App Activities Summary

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Yale University 2023-24 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Early Action: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Feb 15

You Have: 

Yale University 2023-24 Application Essay Question Explanations

Short Answers dominate the Yale application. So, in brief, they’re looking for confidence. When an essay must clock in at under 100 words, you don’t have time to waffle. There’s no room for you to circle your main idea with broad statements. You’ve got to get straight to the point, and clearly. The successful applicant will choose precise words that can do double — even triple duty — telling your story (literally), bringing vivid details to life, and highlighting your overall intelligence.

The Requirements: 1 list; 6 short answer questions; 1 additional short essay of 400 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s):   Why ,  Short Answer , Community ,  Oddball

Short Answer Questions

Students at yale have time to explore their academic interests before committing to one or more major fields of study. many students either modify their original academic direction or change their minds entirely. as of this moment, what academic areas seem to fit your interests or goals most comfortably please indicate up to three from the list provided..

There’s only one trick to generating a straightforward list of your academic interests: be honest. If you already know what you want to major in, or have it narrowed down to a few departments, you’re set! Don’t waste time trying to strategize. Choosing anything other than your true interests would be a misrepresentation of who you are and a disservice to you and the admissions office. This assignment will no doubt be most challenging for the undecideds, but to help you narrow your focus, try to tell a story with your choices. How can you use this to reveal something about what you value and what excites you intellectually? You could try to illustrate a general inclination (art history, studio art, and American studies). Or if you really feel like you could go any direction, try to show a balance, picking majors across domains that link to each other in a way that still makes sense (biology, psychology, classics)—you’ll thank yourself when answering the next question.

Tell us about a topic or idea that excites you and is related to one or more academic areas you selected above. Why are you drawn to it? (200 words or fewer)

You’ve only got 100 words, but if you chose wisely (and honestly) in the previous question, answering this one should be a cinch. Whether you listed one or several interests, your goal is to tell a cohesive story about your intellectual curiosity. Ideally, you should try to recount an anecdote that illustrates your engagement with your chosen field, or demonstrates your ability to link seemingly disparate fields. Perhaps you’re interested in both religion and astrophysics because each offers a way for you to contemplate our place in the universe. But while you may be tempted to wax philosophical, you should beware of veering into overly abstract territory. This is a great opportunity for you to explain how your intellectual interests relate to who you are as a person. Don’t waste it!

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or fewer)

This is a short version of the Why essay, the mini Why. Yale wants to make sure you are psyched for the full college experience at their school. So, we’ve said it once and we’ll say it again: DO. YOUR. RESEARCH. As a top school, Yale attracts many applicants based on its reputation alone, so it won’t do you any good to go on and on about the world-class education you will receive. Yale admissions officers know — and they know you know. Locate specific opportunities within your department and related programs and centers that really make your heart sing with excitement.

And make sure you talk about yourself! Yale doesn’t need a summary of its website (even if you write about a forgotten page deep in the Math Department website). Talk about your academic and professional goals and how Yale will help you achieve them. What unexpected classes might you want to take to sate your curiosity? How will you drive yourself to succeed? Don’t forget to include details about personal growth. If you think you can accomplish this and that on campus, what experience do you have to back up those claims? What about the Yale experience will enrich your life overall? Which extracurricular activities and organizations will you take advantage of? Do they offer quidditch ? If so, you should definitely play. Figure out why you’re applying to Yale over all the other schools out there – and then deliver it with eloquence and confidence.

Applicants applying with the QuestBridge Application will complete the questions above via the Yale QuestBridge Questionnaire, available on the Yale Admissions Status Portal after an application has been received.

Applicants submitting the coalition application or common application will also respond to the following short answer questions, in no more than 200 characters (approximately 35 words):, what inspires you (200 characters or fewer).

200 characters is not a lot of characters, especially when it comes to a concept as broad as inspiration. You don’t have time to describe what the word means to you, and admissions officers don’t have time for vague answers (“nature”) or trite ones (“my mom”). First and foremost, have fun with this prompt. Think of the 200 character challenge as a game. Then, get specific. What experiences have launched some of your best ideas? Although you won’t have time to relate the whole story, you can draw upon your personal experience for a hyper-specific, memorable answer like “the color of fresh drosophila eggs” or “Goldie Hawn’s crazy eyes in Death Becomes Her .” You get the idea.

If you could teach any college course, write a book, or create an original piece of art of any kind, what would it be? (200 characters or fewer)

The previous question asked you what inspires you, and this one is asking you what you can do. What are you good at? It’s time to show your stuff. Reach beyond the traditional academic areas and toward skills you may have cultivated on your own time (e.g., gardening, rock climbing, baking, etc.). Then, think about how you might share this talent with others, whether that be through a course, book, or artwork. Maybe you’ve been making TikToks reviewing your favorite YA novels for some time now. Would you teach a class on the politics of the modern heroine in YA fiction? Perhaps you could talk about marine life for hours on end. Would you write a book on the idiosyncrasies of giant isopods? There is no right or wrong answer here, so write about the subject that interests you the most!

Other than a family member, who is someone who has had a significant influence on you? What has been the impact of their influence? (200 characters or fewer)

Since you have so much to say in so few words, our advice is to summarize this person’s accomplishments succinctly and leave room to offer admissions deeper insight into their influence on you, what you value, and the kind of person you aspire to become. The person you choose to write about can be someone in your local community—a friend, a teacher, a community leader—or someone you haven’t yet had the chance to meet IRL. Maybe there is a renowned scientist who inspired you to pursue your chosen field. Perhaps an artist or thought leader has altered your understanding of what it means to be human. No matter who you choose, remember that this should say more about you than it does about them, so stay the course!

What is something about you that is not included anywhere else in your application? (200 characters or fewer)

This is one of the hardest prompts! What do they want to know?! Where do you start? Birth? School? Puberty? First, take a breath and calm down. Think about why they’re asking you this question and it will all fall into place. While many applications look similar, with impressive grades, extracurriculars, and teacher recommendations, this essay makes it so you can stand out from the crowd with your personality. Do you have a very sarcastic sense of humor? Do you make more dad jokes than your own father? Do all of your friends refer to you as the “artsy” one? Yale wants to know that you’re more than your transcripts, so take this opportunity to share a piece of yourself that they wouldn’t otherwise get to see. This prompt also lends itself to recycling previously written essays for other schools quite well, so you might want to consider revisiting it once you’ve made a dent in writing your supplemental essays for other schools.

Applicants submitting the Coalition Application or Common Application will respond to one of the following prompts in 400 words or fewer. 

1. reflect on a time you discussed an issue important to you with someone holding an opposing view. why did you find the experience meaningful.

Engaging with others in meaningful conversations about important issues can be intimidating and challenging, and the Yale admissions committee knows this. Nevertheless, we have all experienced standing up for our beliefs in some capacity, so scroll through your memory to identify a time when you had an uncomfortable conversation with friends, family, or even mere acquaintances. Maybe you engaged your grandparents in a conversation regarding the Black Lives Matter movement. Were you able to clearly communicate your perspective? What did you take away from the discussion? Perhaps you learned that one of your friends was a passive supporter of an organization that you vehemently disagree with. How did you broach the subject and what was the outcome of your conversation? You don’t need to have changed someone’s mind (or your own!) to impress admissions here. You just need to show that you’re not afraid to engage with those who may have different opinions than you. College will present you with a plethora of opportunities to meet and interact with people who are very different from you, so show Yale that you’re game to learn, listen, share, and grow.

2. Reflect on your membership in a community to which you feel connected. Why is this community meaningful to you? You may define community however you like.

“A community to which you feel connected” could be anything: your family, a club at school, your dance troupe, women in STEM… you get the idea. If you’ve been wanting to spin your 8-bit video game obsession into an essay, this prompt is offering you the opportunity to describe your community of old-school gamers. Whatever community you choose, remember to define your place within it. Who are you to your fellow community members? How does being in this community add to your life or identity? Why is it meaningful? As always, try to be as concrete as possible as you develop your story, giving examples as you go. Just brainstorming your topic may remind you of a video you made or photo you took that you can use as a jumping off point. You might even consider digging through old photos and notebooks as a way to brainstorm!

3. Reflect on an element of your personal experience that you feel will enrich your college. How has it shaped you?

This is a fabulous prompt because it’s just about as open-ended as it gets. If the other two essay prompts didn’t speak to you, this one is here to save the day! Yale wants to know what has made you into the person you are today. What you focus on here can really run the gamut, but it should be something that you feel will help you to contribute to Yale’s community in a unique way. Is there anything you can teach your classmates about your hometown, traditions, culture, identity, race, or ethnicity that they might not already know? What has influenced your identity? What do you believe and how will your worldview bring something of value to the community at Yale?

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Application Guide 2023-2024

Thank you for taking the first step to join the yale som community..

Applying to MBA programs can be a daunting process. There are lots of tasks to prioritize, manage, and complete, and sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Our hope is that this Application Guide will provide useful insights and advice as you prepare for your Yale SOM application. Please use this Guide as a resource to help you think through the overall application process; specific instructions for each section of the application are found in the Yale SOM application itself. Between this Guide and the application instructions, you should have everything you need to complete the Yale SOM application. Good luck!

Bruce DelMonico  Assistant Dean for Admissions

How We View the Application Process

Before we dive into the Yale SOM application itself, it may help to step back and take a moment to share a little about how we as a school view the application process generally. We put a lot of thought into how our application is constructed. Our guiding principle is to be thoughtful and economical in the information we ask of you – to only ask questions that are relevant to evaluating your candidacy, while still giving you ample opportunity to share who you are and what matters to you.

We also very much subscribe to the idea of holistic review. We know that the admissions process is a partial and incomplete glimpse into who you are. No one can truly summarize themselves in such a succinct format—test scores alone don’t tell the whole story, nor do your transcript, work history, essay, recommendations, or extracurricular activities. We don’t believe that you can or should be defined by a limited set of reductive data points, which is why we look at all the information available to us across your entire application in a careful and nuanced way to get the best sense of your individual candidacy.

Finally, we work hard to make sure our application is not only thoughtful, economical, nuanced, and holistic, but also that it is structured to heighten consistency and reduce bias. You’ll notice, for example, that we limit the number of activities you can list in the Activities section of the application to two. We do this to level the playing field among applicants and limit the role “activity collecting” plays in the review process. This is one example of our attempts to create a fair and consistent application process.

We know that applying to MBA programs can be time-consuming and challenging. As you embark upon this process, we encourage you to approach it in the spirit of reflection and self-discovery, looking to know more about yourself at the end of the journey than you did when it began. This is the start of a lifelong process of personal and professional growth, and we’re excited to begin it with you!

Some Initial Considerations

We have three application deadlines (September 12, 2023; January 4, 2024; and April 9, 2024), and also accept applications through the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management and QuestBridge Graduate School Match, using their respective deadlines. So, your first question may well be: which round should I apply in?

If you were a QuestBridge Scholar in college or align with the mission of the Consortium, you may want to consider applying to us through those organizations. Regardless of whether you apply through QuestBridge, the Consortium, or directly to Yale SOM, the advice we invariably give is that you should apply when you feel you have your strongest application prepared. This means that if you need more time – for example, to take (or re-take) a standardized test, or gain more work experience, or secure your recommendations – you should take the time to do so. We model the application cycle so that the same application has a comparable chance of being admitted regardless of the round in which you apply. Obviously there can be benefits to applying early (for example, you’ll get your decision sooner), and if you’re ready to apply in time for an earlier round there’s no need to wait until a later one to do so. But don’t feel as though you need to rush to submit your application if you could make it materially stronger by taking the time to improve it in a meaningful way.

Once you’ve settled on an application round, your next question might be some variation of: OK, what’s next? Below are a few considerations to help you start to get a handle on the application process. Also, if you haven’t done so yet, consider signing up for our MBA newsletter , which includes our Inbox Application Insights – a series of application advice delivered to you as you need it in the weeks leading up to our application deadline.

1. Standardized Test – We accept both GMAT and GRE (current and future versions). Explore both options to see which is best for you, and then give yourself a few months before the application deadline for unrushed study and test-taking – you want to give yourself ample time to feel prepared, and also to be able to re-take the test before the deadline if desired.

2. Transcripts – We don’t require official academic transcripts when you apply (only if you’re admitted and enroll), so you just need to make sure you have unofficial copies of all of your undergraduate and, as relevant, graduate transcripts (including transfer credits, summer school, study abroad, and others) that you can upload to your application.

3. Recommendations – We require two professional recommendations (for current college seniors who apply through the Silver Scholars Program it’s one professional and one academic recommendation). Your recommenders are usually busy people with many competing priorities, so be sure to give them time to write your recommendation. Ideally, you should identify who you want to write your recommendations and ask them to do so at least a month before the application deadline, so that they have plenty of time to get their recommendations to us.

4. Resume – In connection with securing your recommendations, you may want to work on updating your resume with an eye toward MBA applications. Your resume is a valuable summation of your academic and professional backgrounds and achievements. You’ll want to make sure it’s updated and captures your key accomplishments, and it can be helpful to do that at the same time you’re speaking to your recommenders about their recommendations. And even though we recommend you not share any of your written application materials (such as your essays) with your recommenders, you may want to show them your resume to help remind them of those accomplishments as they write on your behalf.

5. Essay – The essay may be one of the last things you complete before submitting your application. That’s OK, but be sure to spend time thinking about what you’ll write and working through the writing process far enough in advance of the deadline that you’re not scrambling to put your ideas into words as the deadline’s approaching. This isn’t a creative writing program, so you don’t need to spend an excessive amount of time stressing over the finer points of every linguistic turn of phrase, but as with the other elements of the application, you don’t want to feel rushed.

One final question you may have as you explore your MBA options is: how can I learn more? There are lots of ways to get more information from many different sources. We’ve put together a range of resources ourselves to you to help you learn more about Yale SOM and also navigate the MBA application process. We have a host of in-person and online events , Student Ambassadors , a blog series, and even the opportunity to visit campus should you find yourself in the Northeast United States. And, as noted above, our MBA newsletter contains lots of information about the school as well as a just-in-time series of tips and advice for you as you’re preparing your MBA application. And of course, if you still have questions, you can always contact us directly.

Inside the Application Itself

Your academic record, in combination with other elements of your application, helps us understand your preparation to thrive in the MBA classroom. But you’re more than just your GPA; we seek to understand all aspects of your academic path, from the courses you took to the ways in which your performance may have changed over the trajectory of your education. Although we ask some questions to understand your exposure to quantitative coursework, we welcome students from all academic backgrounds and disciplines; quantitative coursework is not a prerequisite for the program.

At this point, unless you’re a college senior applying to our Silver Scholars Program, your academic record is likely complete and your focus now is on sharing your transcripts with us as part of your application. The application instructions have more detailed information on the process for uploading your transcripts, but it’s worth noting a few things now as you start gathering materials:

First, we don’t need your official university transcripts at this point. To apply, you can submit either a copy of a physical transcript or a comprehensive electronic transcript; we’ll require your official transcript only when you enroll.

Second, in addition to your degree-granting institution’s transcript, we require transcripts for every course you took for degree credit – study abroad, transfer credits, community college courses, summer courses, etc. – at other institutions (unless those courses and grades are reflected in your degree-granting institution’s transcript). Missing and incomplete transcripts are the number one reason for delays in application review once we begin reading your file, so it makes sense to gather together all your transcripts now to make sure they’re complete and ready to upload when you apply.

Of note, although your academic record is largely fixed by now, sometimes applicants will take a one or more quantitative courses to help demonstrate their quantitative exposure and preparation if they didn’t have those courses as an undergraduate and their test scores do not give sufficient evidence of quantitative preparation. So, for example, if you didn’t have any quantitative exposure as an undergraduate and your standardized test quantitative subsection score does not sufficiently showcase your quantitative abilities (for example, it’s outside of our mid-80% range), you may want to take statistics or microeconomics (or both) to give more confidence about your quantitative preparation for the program. (Those courses are also worth taking if you haven’t done so before, even independent of the admissions process, because they are very helpful foundations for your MBA coursework.)

As with your entire application, we are very interested in the whole picture. What was the progression? Did you have an opportunity to take courses outside of your major? Were you working a job in undergrad to pay for your education? There are so many other factors that provide context and nuance to your academic record, and we very much want to understand that contextual information as we review your academics.

—Kate Botelho, Senior Associate Director of Admissions  

MBA applicants tend to put a lot of emphasis on test scores, but remember that they’re just one piece of a larger picture, and they’re used for a limited purpose: to give us some sense of your level of preparation for the core curriculum, which is all they’re validated to predict. And even for this limited purpose, they’re only one of several indicators – including your academic history and your Behavioral Assessment – that helps us determine your classroom readiness. We consider all parts of your application when considering your candidacy.

We accept both the GMAT and the GRE, including the online and newer, shorter versions of the exams. The Admissions Committee has no preference between the exams, and we’re well versed in evaluating scores from each. As you consider which one to take, it may make sense to try practice questions from each (or even an entire test!) to see which one resonates more with you. Much like the SAT and ACT for those of you who decided between those two tests when applying for college, the GMAT and GRE have some similarities and some differences, so you may feel more comfortable taking one over the other.

Once you decide which exam to take, give yourself time to study. Even in their shorter and more streamlined versions, these are exams that take time to prepare for. Usually you’ll want to spend two to three months studying and preparing, depending on the number of hours available to you each week. And you should try if possible to take the exam far enough in advance of the application deadline to be able to re-take it if necessary – it’s not uncommon for applicants to take the test more than once, although of course there’s no need to do so if you achieved a score you’re happy with on the first try! (If you do end up retaking a test after the application deadline, get your new score to us as soon as you can so that we can try to incorporate it into our review – you’ll be able to enter the new score on your applicant status page.)

In thinking about your test score and whether to re-take the exam, know that we look not just at your overall score but the subsections as well. We also consider your scores not just in isolation but in the context of your academic and professional backgrounds. In other words, a test score has no fixed weight within our application review, but is considered relative to other relevant aspects of your application in assessing your academic preparation. We don’t have any baseline or minimum scores – either for the total score or subsections – below which we won’t consider an applicant, but we do want to make sure the subsections aren’t too far out of alignment; that is, you should show some degree of competency in each subsection, even if your overall score is competitive (for example, a score in the 99th percentile in one subsection doesn’t counterbalance a score in the 9th percentile in another).

Importantly, as with your academic transcripts, you don’t need to submit official test scores when you apply to us. We accept self-reported scores when you apply and will only require official scores after you enroll.

Also, note that we do not require non-native English speakers to submit an English language test such as the TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE. One of the reasons we introduced our video questions component years ago was to eliminate the English testing requirement and make the process simpler and less expensive for applicants.

When we say we have no preference between the GMAT and GRE, we really mean it. Take whatever exam you feel most comfortable with. I also recommend being a bit strategic. If you know you’ll want to apply for a joint degree, maybe the GRE would be best for you since you can likely use that score to apply to both programs. If you’ve tried taking one of the exams a couple of times and aren’t attaining the score you’re hoping for, maybe it would be a good idea to try the other exam to see if that’s a better test for you.

—Amy Voth, Senior Associate Director of Admissions  

In evaluating your candidacy for Yale SOM, we look at not just your potential to perform academically, but also your potential for professional success and impact. Your past professional experience – as evidenced through the Work Experience section of the application and your resume – is a way to highlight the positive impact you’ve had in your career so far, and in turn the likelihood that you’ll continue to have meaningful impact after Yale SOM.

Your resume is an opportunity to give us a concise overview of your professional experience, academic background, and any volunteer work, activities, or other interests that help to tell your story. Unless you have more than ten years of work experience, your resume should be limited to one page. (If you do have more than ten years of work experience, feel free to take the additional space needed to cover all of your individual experiences, even the ones that took place at the start of your career.) You’re welcome to use any resume format of your choosing, or you can use the Yale SOM resume template that’s provided in our application, which is what our students use when applying for internships and post-MBA jobs.

In the past, you may have used a resume designed to highlight your essential job functions and key responsibilities. The most helpful resume for your MBA application will mirror the type of resume you’ll use for applying to jobs coming out an MBA program: one that focuses on your accomplishments, achievements, and the value you add. In other words, this is not the time to be modest (although you’ll want to avoid exaggeration)! When describing your experiences, begin bullets with active verbs such as “led” or “created,” highlighting the impact and results you drove in each of your roles. In particular, you may want to highlight leadership experience, quantitative experience, and evidence of strategic thinking.

Speaking of quantitative, when possible, resume bullets should quantify results; be specific in highlighting the percentage sales increase, dollar cost savings, increased operational efficiency, and other quantifiable metrics. But when you can’t quantify, qualify. For example, sharing that you “Championed a quarterly learning seminar that increased collaboration between sales, marketing and finance” or “Developed a proposal to refocus traditional media spend on a social media strategy; recommendation was supported by senior leadership” give the Admissions Committee a clear sense of results that can’t necessarily be described in numbers.

If you work for a small company, a company that may not be well known outside of your region, or have started your own company, it’s helpful to include a brief description of that company on your resume to give the Admissions Committee some more information about your experience. The Work Experience section of the application also contains space for you to provide contextual information about your professional experience, including descriptions about your company, your role, your reasons for leaving, gaps in experience, and other information. Use this section to your advantage, because the more information you can provide, the more comfort the Admissions Committee will have about your professional trajectory.

It’s worth noting that while the Work Experience section of your application should only include full-time, post-undergraduate professional experience, feel free to include internships, work during college or part-time work in your resume.

Also of particular note, especially given the unsettled employment landscape of the past few years, we know that some of you have gaps in your employment history or may not currently be working. You might be concerned that the Admissions Committee will view these career disruptions negatively. We want to emphasize that we understand the tremendous professional upheavals of the last several years and will view work histories with those disruptions very much in mind. The best thing you can do is help us understand your career path, including gaps in employment, both on your resume and in the application. The application has space for you to explain your career transitions and gaps of greater than three months. Making sure your resume is clear, complete, and accurate is critical as well.

Your resume is a great place to ground your application. It’s a quick and easy way for the committee to see what you’ve been doing throughout your life and career in a chronological way. Simple stuff: Proof-read it and spell-check it

—Rebekah Melville, Managing Director of Financial Aid and Admissions Committee member

Most students who come to Yale SOM are looking to explore new possibilities for their careers, whether that means pivoting to a new industry or function, changing geographic focus, or accelerating on a current career path. You’re not expected to have it all figured out before coming to school. And in identifying your post-MBA goals, you don’t need to pretend that you’re more certain than you actual are. But it is important to have developed some ideas about your career interests and goals, and how to best position yourself to pursue those interests.

Whatever your post-MBA goals, we promise we won’t hold you to it! We don’t have quotas by industry, nor do we craft a class with a particular mix of industries in mind. In fact, we care more about your thought process around your career interests (including where they came from, how you’re thinking about them, what you’ve done already to explore them, and what you’ll do in the future to pursue them) than we do what the interests actually are. Hopefully you can breathe easier knowing that you don’t need to have the entire course of your professional life mapped out right now!

Recommendations are an important window into understanding your professional impact and how you lead and collaborate within an organizational setting. They’re a way for us to gain additional perspective on your candidacy from people who have worked with you and who know you well.

Unless you’re applying as an undergraduate student, your two recommendations should be professional in nature. Many candidates ask us who the best people are to write their recommendations. We strongly recommend that, if possible, one of your recommendations comes from a current supervisor. More generally, beyond their specific relation to you, your recommendations should come from people who know your work well and who are senior to you, not peers or subordinates. We care more about the quality of the recommendation than the title of the recommender, so you should be guided by the substance of the work relationship rather than the seniority of the position.

While we recommend that one of your recommendations comes from a current supervisor, we know that sometimes this is not possible. You will have an opportunity in the application to explain your choice of recommenders if neither of them is someone who currently supervises you. Maybe that person is a family member, or maybe you’re an entrepreneur, or maybe you haven’t told your supervisor you are considering leaving to earn your MBA. In these cases, we would suggest you look to your most recent former supervisor. For family businesses, think about vendors or suppliers. Entrepreneurs may consider getting recommendations from board members or VC funders.

In terms of securing your recommendations, we encourage you to reach out to your recommenders in advance and schedule some time to talk with them about your desire to earn an MBA – maybe even reflect together on some of the growth experiences you’ve had and how you expect to add value to an MBA community. It may be helpful for you to walk through your resume together, since it will likely contain – and may remind them of – the many accomplishments you achieved that can inform the substance of their recommendation.

We do suggest, however, that you not send your recommenders your essays or other written application materials because they may incorporate them into their recommendations. Seeing the same language in your essays and recommendations may raise concerns to us about the independence of the recommendations, even if you were only trying to be helpful to your recommenders.

Also, you can have no role in the drafting or submission of your recommendations. We know that your recommenders are busy, and they may ask your assistance in drafting a letter for their review. Please resist this pressure and ask someone else instead. An authentic letter coming from an individual who is familiar with your work will always be the better option than a letter that was not wholly written by an independent source, even if that person is your current supervisor.

Finally, we accept recommendation letters written in English, Spanish, and Mandarin. The Yale SOM Admissions Committee will be responsible for translating letters written in Spanish and Mandarin. Our hope is that this service will make it easier for you to find recommenders who know you well and will give you more options in your choice of recommenders.

We want to know what matters to you, and our essay question is designed to help us gain insight into your background, passions, motivations, responsibilities, ideals, identities, challenges, or aspirations, depending on where you take your response. To ensure that you’re able to write about something important to you, we offer you three essay prompts from which to choose:

1) Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. Why is this commitment meaningful to you and what actions have you taken to support it?

2) Describe the community that has been most meaningful to you. What is the most valuable thing you have gained from being a part of this community and what is the most important thing you have contributed to this community?

3) Describe the most significant challenge you have faced. How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?

Choose the prompt that speaks most strongly to you and about which you have the most enthusiasm. In answering the prompt – whichever one it is – you should think about the life experiences that have been most meaningful to you and that you most want to communicate to the committee, and pick the question that will best allow you to express that aspect of yourself. We find that the most compelling essays are the ones that are truly most important to you, so make sure that’s your guide in choosing what to write about; don’t try to guess what we’re looking for or what you think we want to hear. Importantly, regardless of which prompt you choose, you’ll want to support your essay with concrete examples.

The word limit (though not necessarily the goal) is 500 words.

The Optional Information section is truly optional. It’s not an additional required essay – if no aspect of your application requires further explanation, you should leave this section blank. In most cases, we get all the information we need from the various components of your application and there is no need to complete this section.

However, if you think the Admissions Committee would benefit from a brief explanation regarding any aspect of your application, you may provide it in the Optional Information section. Your general approach should be that if there is something you feel is material to your candidacy that you are not able to include in another section of the application, put it here.

Here are some examples: Consider providing additional context if it will allow us to better understand your academic performance, promotions or recognitions, or other information that is not apparent from the rest of your application. If you’ve taken concrete steps to mitigate a weaker element of your application or have an accomplishment that does not fit anywhere else in the application, you might include that here. Note that you should use the specific prompts provided in the Work Experience section to address gaps in work experience or choice of recommender. And if you would like to provide additional details to expand on any information provided in the Background Information section, you’re encouraged to do so in the “Supplemental Detail” area within that section.

To get a fuller picture of you and your interests, we ask about the commitments outside of the classroom and your day-to-day employment that are most meaningful to you. When it comes to activities, more isn’t always better. We ask for no more than two activities per timeframe because we want you to focus on what’s most significant, and where you’ve engaged most deeply. We know that for some of you, the activities you pursue outside of school or work can be what’s most aligned with your true interests and passions. On the other hand, we also recognize that different jobs, courses of study, and life circumstances can limit your capacity to take on additional activities. Wherever you are within this range, this section presents another opportunity to share something that matters to you.

We encourage you to think broadly about the activities in which you have engaged. This could include extracurricular activities, sports, volunteer work, research/academic activities, employment or work-study during school, familial roles or responsibilities, professional affiliations, or hobbies.

We’ve worked hard to create an application that gives you an opportunity to share who you are and what matters most to you, but recognize that an application process is an inherently artificial framework for learning about any individual. As recognized elsewhere, it gives us only a partial and incomplete glimpse into who you are. No single data point is determinative in this process, and in fact, the same data point can have different meaning based on the other elements of your application and the overall context surrounding your candidacy.

Because of these realities, the Admissions Committee seeks to gain the fullest understanding of you possible within the structure of the application process. Elements of your personal background may provide crucial insights into the choices and opportunities that have shaped your academic, professional, and personal experiences. We welcome whatever aspects of this background you’re comfortable sharing with us. And, as noted elsewhere, if you would like to provide additional details to expand on any information provided in the Background Information section, you’re encouraged to do so in the “Supplemental Detail” area within the section.

Yale SOM is committed to continuous innovation in the ways we identify future members of our community. The Behavioral Assessment might be the most unique of these innovations.

The Behavioral Assessment is an online exercise administered by ETS, the testing service behind the GRE. But unlike the GMAT or GRE, which are tests of certain cognitive abilities, the Behavioral Assessment is a non-cognitive instrument that measures a set of inter- and intrapersonal competencies that are associated with academic success in business school. We look at it alongside, and sometimes as a counterpoint to, traditional academic metrics. And much like any other piece of the application, the Behavioral Assessment will never be the deciding factor for admission, but will instead be used in combination with the rest of a candidate’s profile.

The exercise itself should take about 25 minutes to complete. You will receive 130 pairs of statements, one pair at a time, from which you’re asked to select the statement that best aligns with your own behaviors. The assessment is adaptive, so no two candidates will receive the exact same set of statements. No preparation is necessary to take the assessment, and no special knowledge is required.

I hope it will put applicants at ease to know that our use of this assessment is geared towards allowing the committee to take more chances on candidates whose traditional metrics may not be the best predictors of success. To truly fulfill Yale SOM’s mission of educating leaders for business and society, we need a community of students whose backgrounds, experiences, and interests are diverse and expansive. If we limit ourselves to applicants who perform best on traditional academic measures like GMAT, GRE, or undergraduate GPA, we may miss out on candidates with extraordinary professional experience or personal backgrounds that would add vital perspectives to the classroom. At the same time, it’s our responsibility to ensure we bring students into the program who will succeed in the classroom—we don’t want to set up students for failure. The Behavioral Assessment gives us an additional piece of information to use in assessing who will perform effectively in the curriculum, specifically by helping us predict who will perform better than their academic history would suggest. So, it will allow us to take more chances on candidates without the strongest academic or testing profiles, but who nonetheless have what it takes to succeed in the classroom and who undoubtedly will make significant contributions to our community because of their experience and perspective.

—Laurel Grodman, Assistant Dean for Admissions

Like the Behavioral Assessment, you’ll complete the video questions after you submit your application and pay the application fee. The video questions are not a substitute for the interview. Instead, they provide a unique way for us to assess your communication and English language skills, and enable us to create a more dynamic, multi-dimensional portrait of your candidacy.

Every candidate will receive a set of previously recorded questions asked by an admissions team member. The questions asked are similar to typical interview questions. There are no “trick questions”; we’re not trying to stump you. The responses do not require any specific knowledge or preparation beyond the practice tool you can use before answering the questions, and your responses will be used with a “light touch,” as we say – they won’t make or break your application.

Here are a few tips on the video exercise. First, know you’re going to be great! Our aim to set you up for success. After receiving each question, you’ll have 20-30 seconds to gather your thoughts and 60-90 seconds, depending on the question, for your response. Familiarize yourself with the 60-90 second time frame in which to deliver your response. You don’t want to feel rushed, and you don’t want to run out of time getting to the heart of your answer. Finally, be sure you have a good internet connection and a quiet, private space. You’d be surprised how many ‘bloopers’ we see in the video questions due to an unexpected colleague, partner, or pet joining your session!

—Kristen Mercuri, Director of Admissions

Interviews are offered by invitation on a rolling basis throughout each round. Don’t be concerned if your invitation to interview does not come until later in the round; it takes a considerable amount of time for the Admissions Committee to review all of the applications we receive, and we don’t begin our review until after each application deadline.

If you receive an invitation, it will be an offer to participate in a 30-minute interview conducted by a current second-year student, recent alum, or an Admissions Committee member. The interview is blind, meaning your interviewer will only know what they see on your resume and will not have reviewed the rest of your application. The questions are largely behavioral in nature – how you handled certain situations – as well as focused on your MBA and post-MBA plans. The best way to prepare is to review your Yale SOM application, resume, and essay to refresh yourself on what you wrote, and be ready with answers to typical behavioral interview questions.

It’s worth noting that even if you’re not invited to interview in the round in which you applied, it doesn’t mean you’ll be denied admission. It’s not uncommon to be placed on the waitlist without having been interviewed. We will review your candidacy again in the next round, in conjunction with the applicants who apply in that round. You may be offered an interview – and subsequently admitted – at any point in the cycle. So please be patient, and resist the urge to check in with the Admissions Office on your interview status!

Final Thoughts

Once you submit your application and complete the Behavioral Assessment and video questions, your application is complete and we’ll begin our review of your candidacy.

We know that the process to get to this point is a long one, involving a lot of time, effort, money, and energy. Regardless of the outcome of your candidacy, you should congratulate yourself on getting to this point! Hopefully just completing this part of the process has yielded important benefits in terms of helping clarify the values, priorities, and aspirations that will guide you through business school and beyond.

Know that we will treat your application during the review process with the same care that you put into preparing it. The process itself is highly individualized: what makes someone stand out can be vastly different from candidate to candidate. Therefore, as you think about your application, the key is to remain your true self throughout the process. What the Admissions Committee is looking to learn about in your application is...you! We look forward to learning more about you, what makes you unique, and what special contributions you’ll bring to our community.

Virtual Campus Tour

Highlights from the mba admissions blog.

Introducing Our Community to Prospective Students in Beijing

During winter recess, Austin Cai ’25 hosted a panel discussion in his home city of Beijing, creating an opportunity for prospective students to get to know more about Yale SOM and what makes the community unique.

From the Assistant Dean for Admissions: Insights for Applicants

Bruce DelMonico shares advice on how to approach the application process—and what the Admissions Committee is really looking for. 

From the Assistant Dean for Admissions: Meet the Class of 2025

Bruce DelMonico shares details about the MBA program’s newest students.

Miguel Zaldivar-Giuffredi ’25

Introduce yourself so that we can provide you with information about upcoming admissions events and get the latest news about our program.

Admissions Q&A

Tuesday, May 14 2024 at 9:00 - 9:45 am EDT | Online

Clear Admit MBA Fair 2024

Wednesday, May 15 2024 at 5:00 - 8:30 pm CDT | In-Person

Consortium: Alumni Panel – The Value of an MBA

Thursday, May 16 2024 at 1:00 - 2:00 pm EDT | Live Online

Application Components

A comprehensive and holistic review.

At Yale Law School, our goal is to enroll a talented, diverse, and engaged entering class each fall. Each application is comprehensively and holistically reviewed to ensure that we thoughtfully consider all of the information that you provide to us. No one factor is dispositive. Instead, the Admissions Committee carefully evaluates each component of every application, including your essays, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities and leadership, honors and awards, professional experiences, and background. We do not utilize a GPA or standardized test score cutoff of any kind in our review process.

Every year applicants from all backgrounds and with scores in all ranges are admitted to Yale Law School. The only guarantee you will not be admitted is if you do not apply, and we take seriously every application we receive.

The below application components were updated as of August 2023.

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Application Fee & Need-Based Fee Waivers

Applications must be accompanied by a non-refundable $85 application fee, which will not be credited to tuition in the event of admission. The application fee is waived automatically for those applicants who have received an LSAC fee waiver.

If you do not have an LSAC fee waiver and would like to request a need-based fee waiver of your Yale Law School application fee, please request a fee waiver using our online application . Need-based fee waivers are generously granted, and parental information is not requested as part of the fee waiver application. If your request is approved, you will be given a fee waiver code to enter during the submission process for your Yale Law School application.

Please note that neither the request for, nor the granting of, a need-based fee waiver has any bearing on admissions decisions. Yale Law School employs a need-blind admissions process and encourages applicants from all socio-economic backgrounds to apply.

Undergraduate Degrees & Academic Transcripts

You must receive, or expect to receive, by the summer of 2024 a bachelor's degree (or the equivalent) from an approved undergraduate institution in order to be eligible to apply. All offers of admission are contingent upon graduation.

You must submit to LSAC transcripts from each college or university you attended, including all schools you attended for graduate or professional study. Even if one school includes summary data regarding courses from another school on its transcript, an official transcript from each institution must be submitted. Yale Law School strongly encourages applicants to submit transcripts, through LSAC, reflecting all coursework completed through the time of application and further encourages applicants to submit updated transcripts as additional coursework is completed. We suggest that you allow at least six weeks for a transcript to be processed by LSAC. For detailed instructions, please visit the LSAC transcript webpage .

In light of the circumstances posed by COVID-19, Yale Law School recognizes that transcripts may reflect mandatory or optional pass/fail or credit/no credit grades. These grades will not be viewed negatively by the Admissions Office and the Law School will maintain a holistic review process for all applications.

Personal Statements

Applicants must submit a personal statement that helps us learn about the personal, professional, and/or academic qualities they would bring to the Law School community and the legal profession. Applicants often submit the personal statement they have prepared for other law school applications.

Personal statements should be approximately two double-spaced pages.

250-Word Essays

The Law School is a vibrant intellectual community where students are expected to engage academically with faculty and fellow students. In no more than 250 words, applicants must write about an idea or issue from their academic, extracurricular, or professional work that is of particular interest to them. The idea or issue you choose does not have to be law-related; this is an opportunity for readers to learn more about how you would engage intellectually in the Law School community.

Optional Essay

Applicants may choose to submit an essay in response to one of the four questions below, each related to a value that is central to the Law School community. This is an opportunity to provide readers with relevant information that may not be found elsewhere in your application. If you choose to answer one of these questions, your essay should focus on your relevant personal, professional, and/or academic experiences and not on specific reasons why you wish to attend Yale Law School.

The optional essay should be approximately one page double-spaced. The prompts for the optional essay are as follows:

• Option 1: The Law School has a strong tradition of public service and encourages its students to contribute to the community in a wide variety of ways. Describe a community that has been particularly meaningful to you. Discuss what you have gained from being a part of this community and what you have contributed to this community.  
• Option 2: The Law School encourages its students and alumni to be leaders, innovators, and changemakers across many different sectors. Describe one of your most important accomplishments and explain why it is important to you. Discuss how you demonstrated leadership, helped innovate, and/or drove change as part of that accomplishment.  
• Option 3: The Law School values determination and resilience and recognizes that these traits are critical to success at the Law School and in the legal profession. Describe a significant challenge, disappointment, or setback that you have faced. Discuss how you approached this experience and what you learned from it.  
• Option 4: In order to succeed at the Law School and in the legal profession, you must be able to have discussions across difference and be open to changing your mind. Describe a time when you changed your mind on an important topic after discussing it with a person with whom you disagreed or learning additional information. Discuss what you learned from this experience.

Applicants may submit addenda to their application if any are necessary for a full representation of their candidacy. These addenda may include, for example, explanations related to transcripts or test scores, including a history of under-performance on standardized tests. It is not necessary to include any addenda, and many applicants do not include any.

Letters of Recommendation

Yale Law School requires at least two letters of recommendation. We strongly prefer letters from at least two professors with whom you have studied who can speak to your academic performance and who have had a chance to personally evaluate significant aspects of your academic work. Letters from employers, college deans, coaches, chaplains, colleagues, and others may be helpful, but are not preferred. If possible, they should not replace letters from two faculty recommenders.

Applicants who have been out of school for some time or who are otherwise unable to obtain two faculty recommendations may substitute letters from employers or others who know them well. These letters should address the qualities that academic recommendations typically address, for example: the applicant's ability to write and think critically, as well as their overall suitability for the study and practice of law.

A tip sheet for your recommenders can be found  here .

All letters of recommendation must be transmitted through the LSAC Letter of Recommendation Service , which is included as part of your CAS subscription.

We will begin review of your application as soon as we have received two letters of recommendation. We will not hold your application in order to wait for additional letters. To ensure that all of your recommendations are available for consideration, please verify that they are on file with LSAC prior to applying to the Law School.

Activities Sections

Applicants are required to submit a statement of activities to help us understand what you did during your undergraduate education and after graduation (if applicable). 

The college activities section asks three questions: 1) what you did during those terms when you were not in school, including summers and any other terms off (e.g., employment, internships, or study abroad); 2) what you did during the terms while you were also taking classes (e.g., extracurricular activities, employment, or internships); and 3) a catch-all question where you may briefly describe any other activities that you consider relevant (e.g., a significant thesis or capstone project, or significant personal or familial responsibilities). While you may choose to do this in a variety of formats, we ask that you do so in a structured manner such as a list or chart.

If it has been more than three months since you attended college, you must also describe what you have been doing since graduation in any format you choose. You should include graduate or professional education, paid or unpaid employment, as well as any other activities that you consider relevant. You may respond in a narrative format if you have only one or two activities. If you have more than a few activities, we ask that you format your response in a structured manner such as a list or chart.

The activities in these sections should be listed in order of their relative importance to you. For each activity, you must provide a brief description, state the approximate start and end dates, estimate the weekly hourly commitment, and note whether the activity was paid or unpaid. Please note that we anticipate significant duplication between these sections and your résumé. These sections should be brief, and, in general, applicants should answer the college activities questions in no more than 1–2 pages and the post-college activities question in no more than one page. 

Standardized Tests

Yale Law School accepts results from the  Law School Admission Test (LSAT) and the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test . Additionally, the Law School accepts results from the  LSAT-Flex and the GRE General Test at Home . We do not have a preference among these standardized tests. However, you may submit score(s) from one standardized test only. If you have a reportable LSAT score, you may not submit a GRE score for consideration.

If you choose to apply with the LSAT, you must take the LSAT no later than January 2024. LSAC automatically reports all LSAT scores from the past five years. The oldest LSAT score we will accept is June 2018. If you have taken the LSAT since June 2018, you do not have the option to not report your score(s) to the Law School—your score(s) will be included in the information that we receive in your CAS report from LSAC.

LSAC requires at least one LSAT writing sample, taken either at the time of the LSAT examination or via LSAT Writing , in order to generate your CAS report. Yale Law School requires only one LSAT writing sample. Applicants who take the LSAT more than once do not need to submit multiple writing samples. It may take up to three weeks for LSAC to process and report your LSAT Writing. Therefore, you should complete your LSAT Writing no later than January 25, 2024 to ensure we receive it by Yale Law School’s application deadline.

If you choose to apply using the GRE General Test, we must receive your GRE scores from the Educational Testing Service (ETS) by our application deadline, February 15, 2024. Because it may take up to 15 calendar days for ETS to transmit your scores once you complete the exam, you should take the GRE no later than February 1, 2024. Applicants who have taken the GRE can log into their ETS accounts and select Yale Law School as a recipient of GRE results using the school code 4542.

To maintain parity between our evaluation of LSAT and GRE results, applicants who apply using the GRE must submit all GRE scores from the past five years. When reporting your GRE scores to Yale Law School, please select the option to report your entire testing history. Selecting this option will report all of your GRE scores for the past five years. Additionally, please ensure that the GRE score report submitted with your application is generated on or after the date you submit your Yale Law School application. A failure to comply with these policies may prevent the review of your application or result in the withdrawal of an offer of admission.

Dean's Certification

Yale Law School does not require submission of a dean's certification form(s) as part of the initial application. In the event an offer of admission is extended to you and you choose to accept that offer, you will be required to submit a dean's certification form from each college or university degree program in which you are, or have been, enrolled, regardless of whether a degree was awarded. The dean's certification form and a complete set of instructions will be provided to admitted students.

All offers of admission are contingent upon the satisfactory completion of the dean's certification requirement. Discrepancies between an applicant's answers to the questions in the Character and Fitness section of the admission application and the information provided in dean's certification forms will be considered sufficient grounds for the revocation of an offer of admission.

Interview Program

Yale Law School will continue piloting an interview program it began in the 2022-2023 application cycle. A small number of applicants will be selected for interviews as part of the evaluation process. If you are selected for an interview, the Admissions Office will contact you with additional information. Your application will not be disadvantaged if you are not selected for an interview.

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Beating the Odds: Crimson Education’s Class of 2028 Acceptance Rates

Success by the Numbers

Crimson Ivy League Admit Rates

Excelling Beyond the Ivies

Success Year After Year

Last year marked a significant milestone for Crimson Education — our ten-year anniversary.

While we celebrated this milestone with readers at the end of 2023, the true highlights came from our students and the dedicated team behind them, who experienced remarkable success at the Ivies, at the top 20 US schools (non-Ivies), and even at Cambridge and Oxford.

Now after digesting all the results for the Class of 2028, we’ve got more great news to share, with a spotlight on Crimson student acceptance rates, compared to other students.

Class of 2028 Admissions Success: By the Numbers

In March and April the final admission offers for the Class of 2028 were mailed, opened, and in case after case celebrated by our students.

With our students’ successes now tallied and independently verified by auditors, it’s clear the combined efforts and steadfast dedication of our team members and the students they advise have culminated in extraordinary success.

Below, we’re going to show you exactly how Crimson student acceptance rates for the Class of 2028 stack up compared to general admission rates at some of the best schools in the US.   We think you’ll be amazed at the difference Crimson’s expert advisor network and personalized advising model make in our students’ lives.

For example, Crimson students applying to the Ivy League beat the odds by 6.75x overall, compared to general acceptance rates for the same schools.

We stand by our numbers too. The results we're sharing today come with an impeccable level of assurance, having been independently verified by one of the big four auditing firms.

So keep reading and check out this year's numbers… And, remember, we get results like these for young scholars from more than 100 countries around the globe. That means, in addition to professionalism and transparency, our specialists have valuable knowledge and insights to offer, making Crimson Education the best choice to get tangible results for your own college journey.

Crimson supported me in making every part of my application as good as it could be. It was their engagement that made those acceptances all that more special.

- abby (verified crimson trustpilot review), interested in learning more attend one of our free events, build your application strategy with the latest 2023-24 admissions trends & analysis.

Friday, May 31, 2024 12:00 AM CUT

Join this exclusive webinar to learn about the latest trends in college admissions and discover the key to getting accepted to top universities in upcoming application cycles!

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Crimson’s Class of 2028 Ivy League Admit Rates

Crimson students performed exceptionally well this year, securing hundreds of offers from top-tier schools during early and regular round application cycles for the Class of 2028.

Offers gained from Ivy League schools were no exception. What’s truly remarkable is the measure by which Crimson students beat the odds overall despite today’s super competitive admissions landscape:

• The number of Crimson students admitted to the Ivy League increased by 33%, compared to last year’s admission statistics.
• The overall Ivy League acceptance rate for Crimson students was around 31%, compared to an average 4.2% Ivy League general admission rate.
• Crimson students applying to the Ivy League for the Class of 2028 beat the odds by 6.75x overall, compared to general acceptance rates for the same schools.

Crimson's USA Class of 2028 Ivy League Admit Rates

While Ivy League schools are often the highlight, our students also excel at top non-Ivy institutions, including schools as selective as Stanford and MIT.

Our network of experienced strategists and Former Admissions Officers can provide expert insights that are also personalized. This ensures every application a student submits, across any number of prestigious universities, both public and private, is tailored to get the best results possible.

Crimson's USA Class of 2028 Top Non-Ivy Admit Rates

Across these eight outstanding universities, Crimson students experienced a 37% acceptance rate compared to the average 6.5% acceptance rate, beating the odds at these highly selective US schools by about 6x.

Crimson's Legacy of Success: Exceptional Results Year After Year

At Crimson Education, our commitment to meeting and beating expectations isn't just a yearly goal — it's a consistent promise upheld across all our years of operation.

That said, we've also raised the bar each year, striving to make every new class surpass the accomplishments of the last. This legacy of success is a testament to our effective strategies, our comprehensive model, and the hard work of our students and their committed advisors, strategists, mentors, and tutors.

Crimson's All-Time Acceptances

Unmatched acceptance rates with unparalleled professionalism and trust.

Crimson Education has an exceptional track record. No other college admissions consultancy can match the outcomes our students experience ; proof that the expertise of our Advisor network, our personalized and holistic approach to application prep, and our students’ high levels of motivation are an unbeatable combination.

Today, our successes and claims are more than just promises; they’re backed by real results and high levels of client satisfaction.

Unparalleled Customer Satisfaction: Across more than 118,000 reviews, Crimson Education has earned an impressive 4.74 out of 5 stars on average. This exceptional score is a testament to the passion we have for helping students around the world overcome impressive odds in pursuit of transformative educational opportunities.

Impeccable Transparency: : We’re immensely proud of the results we get for our students, but in our commitment to transparency,  we’ve gone the extra mile to provide the highest level of assurance possible.

The acceptance rates experienced by our students, like those we've just shared, are now independently verified by one of the big four auditing firms. This makes Crimson Education the only leading college admissions consultancy with independently verified results, ensuring our track record is one you can count on.

Next Steps…

If you’re already part of the Crimson network, you know about our professionalism, comprehensive approach, and personalized strategies.

If not, you may be wondering if partnering with Crimson is right for you. In which case, we want to encourage you to find out more.

Explore Crimson’s Unique Approach

Typically students who get connected with Crimson earlier on their college journey enjoy better outcomes. Start with a free consultation with one of our application specialists. It’s the perfect opportunity to discuss your goals and understand how our tiered and personalized programs and services can work for you .

Consider the Value of Your Future

When evaluating the cost of college planning services, consider it in terms of return on investment . Attending a prestigious university can significantly influence your career and personal growth opportunities. Investing in Crimson’s admissions counseling is not just about gaining admission — it’s about educational opportunity and setting a foundation for other lifetime successes and experiences.

Staying Ahead of the Curve

When aiming for excellence, the importance of strategic preparation is hard to overemphasize. By partnering with Crimson, you benefit from our expertise right from the outset — whether you’re beginning to shape your school list, honing your application profile and materials, or refining your application essays as deadlines approach.

Final Thoughts

Our Class of 2028 students are now poised to turn their dreams into reality, as a result of their hard work and our support. Thanks for celebrating with us!

We hope this glimpse into their success inspires you to consider how Crimson can elevate your college journey.

Whether you're in middle school, starting high school, or soon to be starting your own college applications, we look forward to being a partner on your journey to excellence!

And… Don’t worry. As remarkable as our team members are, they’re easy to talk to and happy to walk you through our many services and resources. So schedule your call today and together let’s put your college journey on a track to success.

What Makes Crimson Different

Key Resources & Further Reading

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About the Contributor

Arkesh Patel

Arkesh Patel is the Chief Operating Officer of Crimson Education, the world's largest and most successful university admissions consulting firm. Crimson Education has helped thousands of students gain admission into the Ivy League and top universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Stanford, MIT, and many others. Arkesh graduated from the University of Cambridge with a B.A in Chemistry (First Class Honors) and received his M.B.A with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

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Crimson students are 7x more likely to gain acceptance to their dream college, remember, you don't have to navigate this journey alone. crimson provides a comprehensive suite of services, from academic mentoring and test prep to essay assistance, extracurricular guidance, and career mentoring, ensuring a holistic approach to your college preparation journey..

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4 YSN Students Earn Prizes at Health Professions Creative Writing and Art Contest

Four Yale School of Nursing (YSN) students took top prizes in prose and poetry and earned honorable mention status at the 2024 Program for Humanities in Medicine (PHM) Health Professions Creative Medical Writing and Art Contest. Recipients were honored on May 2 at the Child Study Center in New Haven, CT.

Courtney Hart ’25 MSN | First Place, Prose

Hart is a nurse midwifery/women’s health student and her prose entry, “These Small Things,” opens on a family tragedy in 1988. The essay then skips through time to milestones in 2019, 2022, and the very recent past.

I was with my mother when she discovered that my brother’s heart had stopped, on his due date. Until then, she’d had a healthy, uncomplicated pregnancy. A true knot in the umbilical cord, we discovered later, was what caused Brennan’s death. I was ushered out to the receptionist’s desk to draw, blissfully unaware of my mother’s emotional wreckage contained by the door behind me as she waited for my father to come. I imagine that the receptionist did the best she could with me, in an office made for adults. I wonder if they have crayons by now—maybe just a few in primary colors, paper peeling off, and a well-worn coloring book, for times like these.

Read the full essay here.

Terri Motraghi | First Place, Poetry

Motraghi is a clinical research nurse and online MSN candidate in the psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner specialty. In her prize-winning poem, “Care Taker,” the narrator makes a road trip with her family in honor of a special occasion.  

But “a nurse’s work is never finished,” and the celebrant realizes that she has provided all of the festivities herself.

Read the full poem here.

A pediatric NP primary care student, Inanoglu’s artwork is acrylic on wood, approximately four inches square. The subject’s clear brown eyes gaze directly at the observer, a manicured hand resting against her chin and cheek. The portrait is set against a bright green backdrop dotted with floating blood cells. The piece was created in 2021.

Inanoglu was previously saluted as an honorable mention in this forum in 2022 for the acrylic on canvas piece “Mom and me.”

A psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner (NP) student, Raimondi was recognized for a graphite on paper submission titled, “Kapatid ko,” which means “my brother” in Tagalog. The drawing is a rendition of her youngest brother, Yuri, who died by suicide in 2021.

“I honor him with this drawing, as well as with my current pursuit of a master’s in nursing degree here at Yale University to become a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner,” Raimondi wrote in the object’s description.

This drawing is one of three in the series called, “Love is in the eyes of the beholder—from three continents to one heart.”

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Seven yalies to hone leadership skills as knight-hennessy scholars.

Top row, from left, Daviana Berkowitz-Sklar, Tilly Brooks, and Gabe Malek. Second row, Qusay Omran, Henry Smith, Lina Volin, and Barkotel Zemenu.

A Yale College senior and six Yale alumni are among 90 scholars from 30 countries to be named Knight-Hennessy Scholars at Stanford University. The scholars were selected for their independent thought, leadership, and civic-mindedness.

At Stanford, the cohort will pursue graduate degrees in 45 degree programs across all seven schools.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars is a multidisciplinary, multicultural graduate scholarship program that helps develop future leaders. The scholars receive up to three years of financial support to pursue graduate studies at Stanford while also engaging in experiences that prepare them to tackle global challenges.

The seven Yale affiliates named to the 2024 cohort of Knight-Hennessy scholars follows:

Daviana Berkowitz-Sklar ’23, who studied ecology and evolutionary biology as an undergraduate at Yale College, will pursue a Ph.D. in oceans at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Raised in Costa Rica and California, Berkowitz-Sklar aspires to develop collaborative, science-based solutions to improve the health of ecosystems and the people who depend on them. She is interested in marine spatial ecology and socio-ecological systems and has conducted research in Costa Rican fishing communities with the DynaMAR Project at Stanford. She was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship as well as a Yale postgraduate fellowship to research whale migrations at OKEANOS-University of the Azores and a Rohr Reef Resilience Fellowship to study coral reef resilience at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Berkowitz-Sklar is the co-founder and president of a nonprofit organization, Nature Now International, through which she leads programs to engage youth in community-based science and conservation, including hands-on work with wildlife, citizen science, and STEM education.

Tilly Brooks  ’23, who was a linguistics major as a Yale College undergraduate, will concurrently pursue a Ph.D. in linguistics at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences and a J.D. at Yale Law School. Brooks, who is from New Haven, studied Indo-European philology at Yale before discovering an interest in action-based research and the relationship between language and law. Focusing both on the effects of law and policy decisions on marginalized linguistic communities and the application of linguistic theories, research methods, and tools to interpretive legal processes, she researches what she calls “the law of language and the language of law.” In the long term, Brooks aims to draw communities of legal scholars, linguists, and legal practitioners together with the common goals of advancing linguistic justice in the practice of law, and refining the use of linguistic evidence and tools for law and policy purposes.

Gabe Malek ’20, who was a double major in American studies and anthropology at Yale, will pursue a J.D. at Stanford Law School. He aspires to leverage commercial law, financial regulation, and tax policy to accelerate the clean energy transition. Malek has served as chief of staff at Fervo Energy, a next-generation geothermal power developer, and deputy chief of staff to Mark Carney, co-chair of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero and former governor of the Bank of England. He began his career at Environmental Defense Fund, where he helped formalize and scale the organization’s investor engagement strategy. At Yale, Malek received the Edward Sapir Prize for his research on international climate finance and the Institute for Social and Policy Studies Director’s Fellowship for his commitment to public service.

Qusay Omran ’21, who studied chemistry as an undergraduate at Yale College, will pursue an M.D. and Ph.D. in genetics at Stanford School of Medicine. He aspires to develop innovative therapies for cancers and immunologic disorders through research in chemical and synthetic biology. In college, he studied nucleic acid chemical biology at Yale and the National Cancer Institute, publishing his senior thesis on a novel self-splicing assay. Omran also led the Yale Review of International Studies, where he edited and published academic essays on global affairs solicited from around the world. Originally from Bahrain, Omran is a passionate advocate for displaced populations. He worked at Havenly, a nonprofit dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty for refugee women. He earned a Dwight Hall Community Response Fellowship and the Berkeley College Fellows’ Prize for his contributions to the greater community.

Henry Smith  ’22, who was a double major in mathematics and statistics at Yale, is pursuing a Ph.D. in statistics at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. Through his Ph.D., Smith, who is from Hanover, Pennsylvania, aims to improve statistical understanding of machine learning algorithms so they can be more confidently applied across various domains. After graduating from Yale, he spent a year conducting research at the University of Cambridge, where he and a team developed a novel machine learning algorithm to solve a challenging problem in multi-drone flight. At Yale, Smith served as a leader of the Yale Votes Coalition to strengthen university voting policy and managed data for numerous political campaigns. He also spent three years preparing taxes for low-income New Haven residents. At Yale, Smith received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, an award for the best undergraduate thesis, and Yale’s Emerson Tuttle award for scholastic achievement.

Lina Volin ’19, who studied history at Yale, is pursuing a J.D. at Stanford Law School. Volin, who is from Hollywood, Florida, also holds a Master of Science degree in modern Middle Eastern studies from the University of Oxford. She aspires to advance access to health care and improve health outcomes through policymaking that centers equity and addresses intersecting social, economic, and legal issues. For three years, she served at the White House Gender Policy Council, most recently as director for health policy, where she worked on policy development and litigation response related to reproductive rights and helped to launch a new White House initiative aimed at closing critical research gaps in women’s health. Volin previously served as the council’s chief of staff and led efforts to advance pay equity and strengthen worker protections.

Barkotel Zemenu , an intensive physics major will graduate from Yale College this month, will pursue a Ph.D. in physics at Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. Zemenu, who is from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, has conducted in research on three continents, including work that has spanned particle physics, quantum gravity, and observational astronomy. At Stanford, he plans to leverage this background to investigate fundamental questions in cosmology, with a focus on the elusive neutrinos and the hidden dark sector. As a Yale undergraduate, Zemenu was selected to join the 73rd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Physics, named Top Oral Presenter at the annual international conference hosted by the American Physical Society, and awarded multiple national scholarships by the American Institute of Physics. At Yale, he enjoyed being a physics tutor and studying numerous foreign languages.

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In a Surprise, Cornell’s President Resigns

Martha E. Pollack said she would remain in office until July 1 and that the decision was “mine and mine alone.”

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By Stephanie Saul

• May 9, 2024

Martha E. Pollack, Cornell University’s president for the past seven years, announced in a surprise email on Thursday afternoon that she is resigning.

“I understand that there will be lots of speculation about my decision, so let me be as clear as I can: This decision is mine and mine alone,” she wrote in her email, addressed to “Cornellians.” “After seven fruitful and gratifying years as Cornell’s president — and after a career in research and academia spanning five decades — I’m ready for a new chapter in my life.”

Dr. Pollack, a computer scientist, said she would remain in office until July 1.

In a separate announcement, Kraig H. Kayser, the chairman of Cornell’s board of trustees, said the board had asked the university provost, Michael I. Kotlikoff, to serve as interim president for two years. Dr. Kotlikoff was previously dean of Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine, among other posts.

Dr. Pollack’s resignation means that four of the eight Ivy League universities — Harvard, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell — will now be in various stages of leadership transition, three of them with interim presidents already in charge or presidential searches underway. The presidents of Harvard and Penn resigned in the last six months, in part because of fallout over their testimony at a December congressional hearing investigating campus antisemitism.

Mr. Kayser said that Cornell’s trustees would wait to begin a search for a new permanent president until about six to nine months before the end of Dr. Kotlikoff’s two-year term, an unusually long delay.

Dr. Pollack, 65, leaves at a time of controversy over disciplinary action Cornell has taken against pro-Palestinian student protesters. While Cornell has not summoned outside police forces to its campus in Ithaca, N.Y., it has taken what some professors called draconian measures against six protesters. Critics have found the disciplinary actions particularly disturbing coming in a school year when Dr. Pollack launched a campus free-expression initiative .

Though the students’ protest remained peaceful, the university invoked a provision calling for “immediate temporary suspension,” a measure intended for situations where the safety and health of the community were threatened, according to Risa L. Lieberwitz, a Cornell professor and the campus president of the American Association of University Professors.

“It is not intended to be used where the university is unhappy about the fact that you have an encampment and chanting,” she said.

Professor Lieberwitz called on Dr. Pollack to revoke the students’ suspensions — penalties that could erase their academic credits for the semester — as a parting presidential act that would ease tensions on campus.

Mr. Kayser called Dr. Pollack a “transformational leader” who increased financial aid and created new academic programs at Cornell.

Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. More about Stephanie Saul

Our Coverage of the U.S. Campus Protests

News and Analysis

Duke: Dozens of students walked out  of Duke University’s commencement ceremony as Jerry Seinfeld, who has been vocal about his support for Israel, received an honorary degree.

U.C. Berkeley:  Befitting a campus synonymous with student protest, the graduation ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley, blurred the lines between pomp and pro-Palestinian activism .

U.S.C.: Asna Tabassum, the valedictorian at the University of Southern California whose speech was canceled by school administrators, received her degree to cheers and loud applause  from students and parents.

Turning to Al Jazeera :  Students active in campus protests value the Arab news network’s on-the-ground coverage  and its perspective on the Israel-Hamas war. They draw distinctions between it and major American outlets.

Black Colleges :  The White House appears anxious about President Biden’s speech at Morehouse College, a historically Black institution. But for complex reasons, such campuses have had far less visible Gaza tensions .

A Different Approach :  University leaders in Britain have so far adopted a more permissive attitude to pro-Palestinian encampments than their U.S. counterparts. Here’s why .