Yale SOM Application Essay Tips, 2025-2026
Yale School of Management (SOM) is keeping the same three essay prompt choices it used last year:
- Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. Why is this commitment meaningful to you and what actions have you taken to support it?
- 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?
- Describe the most significant challenge you have faced. How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?
SOM invites you to choose the prompt that speaks most to you, so pick the question that you think will allow you to best communicate your character and values. There is no “right” prompt, so be honest with yourself about which option gives you the greatest opportunity to demonstrate your fit with SOM and its values.
As the instructions for the essays suggest, the adcom is truly trying to get to know you and what matters to you, so be as honest and open as possible, and be sure to tell stories. Your essay should not read as a dry, academic accounting of one aspect of your life, so make sure that you come alive in your writing!
For prompts 1 and 2, the information you’ll provide in your essay response will not likely overlap with anything else about you that the adcom will be able to glean from the rest of your application. This is a great chance to show the school who you are beyond your resume and transcripts, what makes you tick, and what you are passionate about. Although some information about your most significant challenge might appear on your resume, there will be a lot of gaps for you to fill in, so take advantage of this opportunity. Now we’ll look more closely at each prompt, one by one.
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? (500 words maximum)
This essay prompt has been around for a few years (even before the other two options were added), only it did not initially have that second line. However, the questions the second line poses were always implied and should therefore have inherently been part of your essay answer anyway. It would seem that many applicants did not provide that information, leading to the Yale SOM adcom getting explicit about these elements.
Another way of framing this essay is that the adcom wants to know what commitment means to you. So, it is not enough just to name your commitment — you have to demonstrate how you have followed through with it.
We encourage you to not think too narrowly in defining “commitment.” You might immediately think of committing to a person or a goal, of course, but you could also commit to a value, a cause, a lifestyle, a project — you get the idea. Really run through all the possible options from both your personal life and your career to find the one thing that has captured your devotion above all else. Consider what excites you and what your passion is. If you choose something finite, such as a goal or project, you’ll likely end up sharing a single anecdote in your essay, but if you want to illustrate your commitment to a cause, ideal, or the like, your essay will be more effective if you describe multiple events or situations that underscore your allegiance. That said, with a limit of only 500 words, you will have to be judicious in how you approach describing various examples.
Ask yourself why you made this commitment, and convey your motivation in your essay. Also consider any challenges you’ve faced. How has your commitment evolved over time? What parts of your life does it affect (especially if this might not be immediately obvious to an outsider)? You can treat this as a “hero’s journey,” taking the reader along a narrative that exemplifies your perseverance. Often, a good structure begins with the “Aha!” moment that started you on the path toward the commitment, followed by the trials that nearly took you off the path. But don’t fall into the trap of making this a laundry list of challenges; you need to leave room to describe the actions you took to overcome the challenges and what the outcomes were of your efforts.
Finally, share any lessons you have learned as a result of your dedication. How have you grown personally since making the commitment?
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? (500 words maximum)
There are no limitations on what the adcom is looking for in terms of “community,” so do not feel the need to discuss strictly a professional community or a clichéd/narrow definition of where you grew up. We all touch and become part of many different communities in our lives, so consider which one has had the most significant impact on who you are today.
Of your three prompt choices, this one is perhaps the most likely to elicit a story regarding race or ethnicity. In light of the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision, this might cause you pause. However, as noted in How Does the U.S. Supreme Court Decision on Affirmative Action Affect Your Application?, applicants are allowed to discuss how race or ethnicity has affected their lives, so do not feel that you have to shy away from writing about a community that is based on ethnicity. SOM wants to know how you have become the person you are today, so if a race-based community is the one that has been the most meaningful to you, then discuss this authentically.
Ask yourself why you feel so connected to this community, and express why you have been driven to remain a contributing part of this group. Structurally, this essay will not likely follow a “hero’s journey” format as described for essay option 1, but beginning with a specific story about how you became connected to and empowered by the community would be a great place to start your essay. From there, you can demonstrate why this community is important, what lessons you have learned from it, and the contributions you have made to it.
3. Describe the most significant challenge you have faced. How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person? (500 words maximum)
This throwback question is the most “classic essay” of the three choices. As such, it is rather straightforward in that you will discuss the challenge pretty directly. However, while it is relatively clear-cut, that does not mean your answer has to be boring! As with the other choices, you should tell this as a story so that the admissions reader feels engaged.
It is quite possible that your most significant challenge is not at all work related, and that’s perfectly fine! It is fair game to discuss something from your personal or academic life as long as it is, in fact, the most meaningful story to you.
Ask yourself what made this challenge so significant to you and how you developed the plan to address it. The CAR (Challenge, Action, Result) outline format would be the most appropriate choice for this essay. You’ll start by briefly describing the Challenge, then use the bulk of your answer to describe the Actions you took to address the challenge (with any relevant twists and turns along the way), and wrap your answer up with the Result of your efforts. When discussing the result, be sure to include the lessons you learned through the process and how you’ll take those lessons with you going forward.
All three questions (and therefore, all your potential answers) really are as wide open as they seem. In other words, there is no one “right” answer that the admissions committee wants to hear. So, you must be completely genuine. Your essay will not ring true to the admissions reader if you claim dedication to something (commitment prompt), a deep connection to a specific population (community prompt), or a huge turnaround (challenge prompt) but then have only shallow evidence to support your claim. Whatever you choose to discuss, you need to have a sincere and meaningful connection with it. Maybe your biggest commitment is playing the piano, improving your spoken English, or helping your parents as they age. Perhaps your most meaningful community is your city, your neighborhood, your place of worship, or your ethnicity. It might be that your most significant challenge is mastering your study skills in school, dealing with a family member’s health issues, or managing a particularly difficult project at work. Don’t be afraid to share these kinds of stories if they are truly central to who you are and how you live your life.
Whichever prompt you choose to answer, it is not necessary to try to add an explanation of “Why Yale?” at the end. The adcom would rather you tell a complete story than shoehorn in a tie to SOM. So, only refer to Yale if doing so is relevant and you have the space to address the topic appropriately. If you believe that such a discussion is appropriate, share how your commitment, community, or challenge sets you up to contribute to the Yale community in a meaningful way. Alternatively, if your commitment, community, or challenge is related to your career aspirations, explain what you plan to do at Yale to continue to engage with your interest or passion.
Optional Information: If any aspect of your candidacy needs further explanation, please provide a brief description here. (200 words maximum)
SOM’s optional essay is just that: optional. As such, it should always be approached judiciously. If you feel that your application already conveys a complete, accurate picture of who you are as a candidate, you should probably refrain from submitting an optional essay. You have little to gain from adding to the admissions committee’s workload by asking them to read another essay that doesn’t add anything significant or compelling to your profile. But if you have something truly unique to share that you believe would make you stand out, or if you have an issue of some sort in your candidacy that could benefit from additional explanation (such as a low GPA, low test score, gap in work experience), then this is your chance to share or clarify it. If you do need to use the space to address a weakness in your application, then approach it directly and unapologetically, focusing on the basic facts and presenting them as concisely as possible. Provide the context of your issue (e.g., caregiving for a sick relative while in college caused you to be less focused on schoolwork) and explain how you will be better prepared to succeed in the SOM classroom.
Video Questions: Hearing from you directly
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.
To complete the video questions, you will receive a set of three previously recorded questions asked by admissions team members. The questions are similar to typical interview questions. There are no “trick questions;” we’re not trying to stump you. After receiving each question, you will have 20-30 seconds to gather your thoughts and 60-90 seconds, depending on the question, for your response. 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.
To prepare for the video questions, it’s helpful to familiarize yourself with the 60-90 second time frame for delivering 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. Also, be sure you have a good internet connection and are in a quiet, private space. While it is fun for the Admissions Committee when the unexpected colleague, partner, or pet joins your session, you will undoubtedly feel better about the exercise if you eliminate any potential for surprises!
The prompt explains the school’s video component fairly thoroughly. Believe the SOM adcom when they say there are no “trick questions” and that these questions are used with a “light touch.” This element of the application is simply a way for the adcom to get a sense of your personality when you’re in a less-rehearsed environment and have to think on your toes. As noted, once the questions are unlocked, you will have some time to think through your answer before you have to record it, so use that time well. Do not overthink or try to guess what the adcom “is looking for,” because there truly is no specific thing they “want to hear” — except your truth. So, whatever comes to mind and is authentic to you in the moment will be the “right” answer. Do not let these video questions stress you out, and instead, try to have fun with them. Go in loose, but prepared (practice with the format before doing your final recording), and you will do quite well!
In the related article How to Get into Yale School of Management, you will find information on a variety of the MBA program’s offerings, such as Closing Bell, the raw case method, Global Study, and Global Network Weeks. This free guide also includes class profile statistics.