Yale SOM MBA Application: How to Answer Yale SOM's Video Essay and Behavioural Assessment?
The full recording of this session can be found here.
You have selected your two recommenders and submitted your application, then comes the video essay and behavioral assessment. As it is a unique Yale SOM application requirement, here are a few insights on what behavioral assessment and video essays are and tips on how to prepare for them.
What is Yale SOM’s Behavioural Assessment?
Yale is the only school that offers this type of assessment. They partnered with the Educational Testing Service (ETS) to create 120 pairs of questions designed to test applicant characteristics, to which the candidates have 20 minutes to respond. The candidates will be given statement questions, and they must choose whether it is likely or unlikely the questions speak to who they are.
What are the Yale SOM’s Video Questions?
Yale SOM’s video questions do not replace the interview and are recorded using the Kira Talent Admission Platform. Yale SOM uses the video essay questions to further to understanding the applicants’ communication skills and quick thinking. After submitting the application and paying the application fees, the applicants will receive a link to the unique video questions. There are three types of questions: (i) motivational, (ii) behavioral, and (iii) a “thinking” question. For questions one (i) and three (iii), you will have 20 seconds to compose your thoughts and 60 seconds to deliver your response; for question two (ii), you will have 30-seconds to consider your perspective and 90-seconds to deliver your response.
How to prepare?
The behavioral assessment does not require any preparations, but you do need to be expeditious with your answers. You don’t want to linger in a question thinking about the best answer to give to Yale. On the other hand, it is highly recommended that you prepare for the video questions.
Motivational:
Remember to not only prepare how you would answer the question but also think about what it means to answer the question in 60 seconds. It is important not to improvise, as your timer can run out before you are done. An example of motivational questions is “Why MBA” or “Why Yale.”
Behavioural:
For the behavioral question, you must answer the question with an example. A possible question is, “Tell me about a time you had to overcome a challenge. What was your motivation to overcome the challenge, and how did you overcome it?” This is essentially a three-part question (your example, your motivation, and how you overcame) so, make sure you answer all parts in the 90 second response window you are provided. Give yourself a lot of preparation to make sure you are ready to answer this.
“Thinking” Question:
You will be offered a statement, and then you have 20 seconds to think about the statement on whether you agree or disagree with it and why. Given you don’t have a lot of time to compose your response, make sure you practice answering similar questions you can find online.
Additional suggestions:
Find questions to which you can practice, so you may familiarize yourself with the time you have to answering the questions.