A 7 min read

With a mission of ‘Educating leaders for business and society’, Yale SOM is unique in its combination of modern curriculum design, small class size and dual focus on both business and society. The school is known for its strength in the non-profit sector and has taken a very different approach to management education than most business schools. A large number of Yale graduates also prefer consulting as their first choice of career.

With a global network of 28 international business schools, students learn to work in global teams, handling time-zone differences, language barriers, cultural diversity, and technology struggles, just as they will in today’s multinational corporations.

To be able to get admission to Yale SoM could be a dream come true for many. However, with an acceptance rate of just 17.4%, little can be left to luck and one has to ensure one prepares sincerely and strategically to be able to compete with the crème-de-la-crème of the world.

A good GMAT score is the first filtering criteria for the top B-schools and is a determining factor to be considered for interview invites. You can go through an elaborate article about the weightage of GMAT scores in an application to prep yourself.

For Yale SoM as well, GMAT scores have an important role to play in the admission process. However, there are several factors which are considered before rolling out the admission offer to an applicant. Here is the application information that you need to know before applying to Yale.

Here’s what you will read next:

• 5-year GMAT score trend of Yale SOM
  • How to decide on a good GMAT score for Yale: Methodology
  • Observations
  • Inference
• What is a good GMAT score for Yale SoM
• What is a good GMAT score for Indians applying to Yale SoM

5-year GMAT score trend for Yale SoM

To determine a good GMAT score for getting admission in Yale SoM, let us first take a look at the 5-year trend report of the incoming classes at Yale:

Equipped with the above information, we can use a simple 5-step process to broadly figure out a good score which can enable one to secure one’s place in some of the world’s best B-schools. The average GMAT score of students at Yale SoM has been between 719 to 727 in the last 5 years. Except for the class of 2014, no incoming class had an average below 720.

The process suggests adding 20 points to the average GMAT score of the latest batch and aiming for this newly derived score for a better chance at receiving an interview call. Following this process, 740+ should be a good GMAT score for Yale SOM.

Those applying to other business schools might want to go through the 5-year GMAT score trend report of 50 top US and European business schools

Now, to delve deeper into our analysis, we will make some further observations from actual data from the latest batch of applicants to Yale SoM. Later we will derive some inferences based on these observations which will help us in arriving at a more conclusive answer to the question, “What is a good GMAT score for Yale?”

 

How to decide on a good GMAT score for Yale SoM: Methodology

This article is based on data from the Yale decision tracker page on GMATClub.  This decision tracker gives us collated information from several applicants who applied for the class of 2021. The data below presents a summary of the number of applications, interview invitees and admitted candidates corresponding to different GMAT scores.

Observations

• The invite rate is above 60% for all applicants with a score above 700
• Maximum applicants as wells as interview invites can be observed between a wide range of 700 to 760
• There is no upward trend in the number of interview-invites or the invite rate as we move up from 700 to 750
• However, for a GMAT score of 760, 10 out of 11 applicants received interview invites, 4 out of 6 applicants were invited for a score of 770 and all 3 applicants with a score of 780 received invites for interview
• In spite of the high invite rate for scores above 700, the admission rate (admission to application ratio) hovers between 20% to 50% for most scores
• Maximum admissions can be witnessed for GMAT scores 720 (10) and 730 (9)
• GMAT score 740 witnesses a high interview rate of 83.3% with 10 out of 12 applicants receiving an interview call
• The highest conversion rate (admission to interview ratio) can be observed for GMAT score 730 (81.8%) with 9 out of 11 interviewees getting an admission offer from Yale
• If we look at the status of applicants with scores lower than 700, 2 applicants having a score of 680 got admission in Yale while 1 having a score of 660 also secured a seat

 

Inference

From the above observations, it is evident that while a score above 700 can help you get an interview invite, scoring in the range of 720 to 760 will increase your chances of securing admission at Yale School of Management. We can hence say that a score in this range is a good GMAT score for Yale SoM. The invite rate for this range is above 50% and hence is a secure range to aim for.  Once you are able to score well, however, you need to concentrate on the other aspects of the admission process including your application, essays and interview performance to be considered for admission in this prestigious B-school.  Your profile also plays a major role in determining whether or not you will be able to impress the admissions committee at Yale.

One of our previous articles discusses  10 ways to boost your MBA profile and can help you smoothen out any edges while preparing your application.

In this article, we will also include a quick glance at the scores of the waitlisted candidates and see how many of them were able to secure admissions.

From the above numbers, one can say that once a candidate is waitlisted, various factors are considered before giving them the final admission offer. 3 candidates were admitted from the waitlist with scores 730, 680 and 660. Hence, even candidates with lower scores but brilliant profiles and applications can make it to Yale.

Here are some interesting ways to get off a B-school’s waitlist

 

What is a good GMAT score for Yale SoM

Taking all the above-mentioned factors into account, we recommend a GMAT score 730 or higher as a good GMAT score for Yale SoM. As discussed earlier, a score in the range 720 to 760 can boost your chances of securing an interview and the next step is to work on all other aspects of the admission process and leave no stone unturned in ensuring you make the cut.

 

What is a good GMAT score for Indians applying to Yale SoM

Securing admissions to top B-schools in the world is even more challenging for Indian applicants as they come from an over-represented candidate pool and hence those with higher GMAT scores have a definite edge over the others. Let’s look at the GMAT scores of Indian candidates who applied to Yale and see if higher GMAT scores played a role in enabling them to be considered for interviews and admissions.

Indian Applicants for the Class of 2021

• 21 Indians applied
• 11 received an interview invite (GMAT score of 770,760, 760, 760, 760,740,740, 740, 730, 720, 720)
• 4 received admits (GMAT score of 770,760, 730, 720)

Indian Applicants for the Class of 2020

• 22 Indians applied
• 8 received an interview invite (GMAT score of 770,760,750, 740, 740, 740, 720, 720)
• 2 received admits (GMAT score of 770, 760)

As we can see, for both the years, no Indian candidate having a GMAT score below 720 was invited for interviews at Yale. Also, the scores of Indian applicants are relatively higher than most candidates applying from other parts of the world. For both – the class of 2021 as well as 2020, applicants with GMAT score 770 received the admission offer. However, for the latest class, candidates with scores 730 and 720 were also able to secure admission, perhaps owing to their profile and other parameters which would have been better than other high-scorers.

We recommend 750+ to be a good GMAT score for an Indian candidate applying to Yale SoM, clubbed with an impressive profile and excellent interview performance. Take a free GMAT mock to understand your baseline score and start your GMAT prep with our free trial. We are the most reviewed online GMAT Prep company with 2160+ reviews on GMATClub.