Yale SOM MBA essays stand out for their emphasis on action and authenticity. Instead of asking what you believe, Yale wants to understand how you’ve lived your values – through the decisions you’ve made and the behaviors you’ve demonstrated.

The Yale SOM application requires just one essay, with three options for the essay prompts. All are focused on action: a meaningful commitment, a significant community, or a major challenge. You’ll need to show what you did, why it mattered, and how it shaped who you are today. Yale is looking for honesty, self-awareness, and stories grounded in behavior – not abstract ideals or polished rhetoric.

Keep reading for expert tips on how to choose the right prompt, craft a focused narrative, and avoid the most common pitfalls.

What are the 2025-26 Yale SOM Essay Prompts? 

Here are the prompts and instructions from the Yale SOM admissions team, offering you three options for your essay, plus some helpful guidance: 

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 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. 

How to Answer Yale SOM Essay 1: “The biggest commitment you have ever made”

Prompt: “Describe the biggest commitment you have ever made. Why is this commitment meaningful to you and what actions have you taken to support it?”

This essay prompt cuts to the heart of who you are – not through your aspirations or values alone, but by examining what you’ve done. Yale SOM wants to see your dedication in action.

This isn’t about crafting a lofty narrative or trying to impress the admissions committee with your goals; it’s about showing them what you’ve stood by, what you’ve invested in over time, and what that says about your character. Your choice of commitment should be one that speaks volumes through sustained, concrete behaviors. That might include:

• A long-term professional mission (e.g., mentoring underrepresented talent in your industry)
• A deeply personal journey (e.g., caregiving, advocacy, personal development)
• A cause or pursuit where you’ve consistently taken action (e.g., building a business, driving social change, supporting a community)

What’s important is not just the what, but the how. Yale wants to understand how this commitment played out over time – what actions you took, how you followed through (especially when it got hard), and what sacrifices you made. The goal isn’t to be self-congratulatory, but to be specific, honest, and reflective.

Be clear and grounded. Whether you open your essay with a defining moment, a vivid image, or a straightforward statement, make sure your reader quickly understands what the commitment is and why it matters. From there, focus on how it played out over time – through the choices you made, the effort you invested, and the personal growth that resulted.

Don’t feel the need to exaggerate. Your commitment doesn’t have to be world-changing to be meaningful. What matters is that it’s true, and that you can illustrate the ways you’ve followed through on it with consistency, integrity, and effort.

As SOM’s long-serving admission leader Bruce DelMonico has emphasized, the most compelling essays are not those that try to reverse-engineer what Yale SOM wants to hear. Instead, they reveal who you are through your behavior. So skip the grand statements and get down to the real evidence. Where have you shown up for something over the long haul? That’s where your story lies.

Key Takeaways for Prompt 1:

• Choose substance over scale. A meaningful commitment doesn’t have to be flashy – it has to be real and sustained.
• Show your actions. Focus less on why it mattered in theory, and more on what you did to support it over time.
• Avoid performative alignment. Don’t try to mirror SOM’s mission; let your authentic behavior speak for itself.

How to Answer Yale SOM Essay 2: “Your most meaningful community”

Prompt: “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?”

This prompt invites you to reflect on your relationship with a group – not just how it shaped you, but also how you showed up for others. Yale SOM wants to see evidence of reciprocity: that you have the humility to learn from others, and the integrity to contribute meaningfully in return.

You might think about:

• A workplace team that shaped your leadership values
• A cultural, religious, or identity-based community that gave you grounding
• A volunteer or mission-driven group where you invested time and effort
• A personal circle (for example, your family or friend group) that reflects how you engage with those closest to you

This is not about name-dropping prestigious affiliations or trying to impress with the scale of your involvement. It’s about showing how you invest in people, how you create belonging, and how you grow within relationships.

Use this essay to illustrate the give and take. What did you learn – about yourself, about others, about the world? And just as importantly, what did you offer? How did your presence, ideas, leadership, or support make a difference?

Avoid vague references to community spirit. Be specific. Bring it to life through a story, a moment, or a concrete outcome that shows how you made your contribution and why it mattered.

Key Takeaways for Prompt 2:

• Focus on mutuality. Highlight both what the community gave to you and how you actively contributed.
• Be specific, not sentimental. Avoid broad generalizations – ground your story in details and actions.
• Reflect on impact. What changed because of your involvement – for the community and for you?
• Think broadly. “Community” can be personal, professional, cultural, or interest-based – define it in a way that’s meaningful to you.

How to Answer Yale SOM Essay 3: “Your most significant challenge”

Prompt: “Describe the most significant challenge you have faced. How have you confronted this challenge and how has it shaped you as a person?”

This prompt asks you to open up – not for drama’s sake, but to demonstrate resilience, maturity, and growth. The Yale SOM admissions team wants to see how you navigate complexity and what that says about your values and approach to life.

The challenge can be professional or personal. The key is that it stretched you – it tested your character, forced you to make hard decisions, or pushed you to develop new skills or ways of thinking. Examples might include:

• Managing through a personal or family crisis
• Facing failure or rejection in your career
• Navigating a cultural or ethical dilemma
• Confronting bias or overcoming structural barriers

The best responses aren’t self-pitying or overly heroic – they’re honest. They acknowledge the discomfort, and they demonstrate how you moved forward. What actions did you take? What did you learn? How has this experience shaped how you lead, relate to others, or pursue your goals?

This is also an opportunity to reflect on how you behave under pressure. Yale SOM values emotional intelligence and the ability to self-assess. If you can show that you’re someone who’s been tempered – not broken – by challenge, you’ll come across as someone with the maturity to thrive in their rigorous, values-driven MBA program.

Key Takeaways for Prompt 3:

• Show growth through adversity. Focus less on the challenge itself and more on how you responded to it.
• Avoid over-dramatizing. Be honest and grounded – Yale isn’t looking for a sob story, but for resilience and learning.
• Be specific about your actions. What steps did you take to confront the situation? What would you do differently now?
• Reflect deeply. End with a note on how this shaped who you are today – especially how it influences your decisions and interactions.

How to Answer Yale’s Career Interests Question

Prompt: Briefly describe your career interests and how you arrived at them. What have you already done to pursue these interests? What do you need to do going forward? (max 200 words)

This prompt asks you to share not only your career goals, but also the journey that led you to them – and what’s still missing to get you where you want to go. Yale SOM is looking for a well-reasoned, cohesive narrative that connects your motivations, experiences, and future ambitions.

Start by clearly stating your short-term career interest: the industry, function, or role you’re targeting post-MBA. Then explain how this interest evolved — the experiences, insights, or formative moments that pointed you in this direction. Use a sentence or two to highlight what you’ve done to explore or advance these goals, such as relevant roles, projects, skills or networking.

Finally, look forward: What are the gaps in your knowledge, exposure, or toolkit that Yale SOM can help you fill? This could include industry access, specific coursework, leadership development, or the broader Yale network. Keep your answer focused, practical, and authentic – Yale doesn’t expect you to have everything figured out, but they do want to see that you’re intentional, reflective, and ready to make the most of your MBA experience.

Key Takeaways:

• Be clear and focused. State your career interest upfront – what you want to do after graduation and why.
• Connect the dots. Show how your past experiences and motivations led you to this goal.
• Show momentum. Briefly highlight what you’ve done to pursue your path so far.
• Look ahead. Identify what you still need from Yale SOM to achieve your goals.

How to Answer Yale SOM’s Optional Information Section? 

Prompt: “If any aspect of your application requires additional explanation, you can address it in the Optional Information section below.  Please note, you should use the specific prompts provided in the Work Experience section to address gaps in work experience or choice of recommender. The Optional Information section is truly optional – if no aspect of your application requires further explanation, you should leave this section blank.” (200 words)

Yale SOM means it when they say this section is optional. You should only use it if there’s something material to your candidacy that hasn’t been addressed elsewhere in your application – not as an extra essay or another chance to make your case.

Yale provides clear direction on where to explain specific concerns:

• Gaps in work experience or choice of recommender should be addressed in the designated prompts within the Work Experience section.
• Background details (e.g., family, upbringing, personal context) should go in the “Supplemental Detail” field within the Background Information section.

That said, this optional information section can be useful if you need to:

• Clarify an aspect of your academic performance (e.g., a GPA dip or transcript inconsistency)
• Clarify promotions or recognitions that may not be obvious from your résumé or recommendations
• Share a meaningful achievement or effort that doesn’t naturally fit into another section
• Show proactive steps taken to strengthen a weaker part of your profile (e.g., retaking a quant course or GMAT/GRE improvement)

If you do use this section, keep it brief, fact-based, and relevant. There’s no need for storytelling here – just enough context to help the reader understand your profile fairly and fully.

How to Answer Yale SOM’s Supplemental Background Information Question?

Prompt: “If you would like to elaborate on any of your responses within this section, or any other aspect of your background, we encourage you to do so here.” (max 250 words)

In this optional section, Yale SOM invites you to elaborate on any of the “Background Information” questions – including topics such as household income growing up, family responsibilities, financial support, language spoken at home, or hardships you may have experienced. It’s also a space to share any other element of your background that you believe is important for the admissions committee to understand.

This is not a place to reiterate achievements. Instead, use this space to provide context – especially if aspects of your upbringing, family situation, or personal circumstances shaped who you are or affected your academic or career trajectory.

Approach this section with candor, clarity, and restraint. Yale isn’t looking for drama or hardship for its own sake, but they do want to understand the full picture of your journey. Focus on how your background has shaped your perspective, resilience, motivation, or values – and how that adds to the diversity of experience and thought in the Yale SOM community.

If none of the background questions require further explanation, it’s perfectly acceptable to leave this section blank.

Key Takeaways:

• Use this space only if there’s material context that could help the admissions team better understand your journey.
• Be specific and reflective – explain how your background shaped your values or outlook.
• Avoid repeating content from other parts of your application.
• Don’t feel pressured to write something if there’s nothing to add – this section is truly optional.

Final Thoughts

Yale SOM’s Assistant Dean of Admissions Bruce DelMonico often talks about the school’s “bias toward action,” and this is central to how the school evaluates candidates. The essays are designed not to elicit grand ideals, but to reveal how you’ve lived your values through real choices and behaviors. Focus on what you’ve done, how you’ve done it, and what it reveals about who you are. That’s the kind of insight that makes for a powerful Yale SOM application.

Let’s Get You Into Yale SOM

Fortuna Admissions is a dream team of former MBA admissions decision-makers from top schools. We know what it takes to stand out because we’ve made the admit decisions ourselves. Whether you need help refining your story, strengthening your essays, or navigating interviews, we’ve got you covered.

Our free consultations are consistently rated the best in the industry – and they’re a great way to get personalized advice and honest feedback on your profile. Book your free session with us today.

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