Which MBA program just revealed that over half its alumni network gives back to the school? Yale SOM. That’s more than double most schools’ giving rate.

Which MBA program experienced a 6% increase in applications in 2016 on top of a whopping 25% increase in 2015? Yale SOM.

And which MBA program is in the top 10 for average GPA, average GMAT, and overall selectivity in Accepted’s Selectivity Index? You guessed it – Yale SOM?

And as it happens, the AST podcast we did with Bruce DelMonico about Yale SOM a few years back is one of our top 5 MBA admissions podcasts.

Bruce DelMonico joins us again today. He’s Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions at Yale School of Management. He has been on the admissions team at Yale since 2004, becoming the director in 2006 and the Assistant Dean in 2012. Welcome!

What’s new at Yale SOM? [2:10]

There’s been a lot going on in the last 2 years! When we last spoke, we were just starting our entrepreneurship program. Now we’re 2 years in: we have a dozen new courses, a startup weekend, and lots of activity and business being created.

Our Global Network for Advanced Management is celebrating its 5th anniversary this spring – there are lots of opportunities for students to engage globally.

And our centers for excellence are very active – for example, the YCCI (Yale Center for Customer Insight) brings companies to campus with real problems for students to work on.

Our leadership program is changing in an exciting way, with new and reconfigured courses. And we’re excited to have many distinguished new faculty members coming onboard. We’ve also been working on diversifying the faculty – our FT faculty is approaching 30% women.

In terms of job placement, we don’t have the final numbers for the class of 2016, but it’s on pace with the last few years. There’s a strong diversity of interest among Yale SOM grads: 130 different companies for a class of 325 (and half of the top 10 hiring companies turn over every year). More companies are coming every year: our career services are adept at sourcing opportunities.

Yale SOM’s mission is “to educate leaders for Business and Society.” Dean Snyder’s video on Yale SOM’s mission highlights 3 key elements in achieving that mission: 1) SOM’s connection to its home university, Yale, 2) Distinctively global, and 3) Best source of leaders. Practically, what does that mean? Starting with leadership. [7:55]

We really think about how our grads can lead across sectors. Our core curriculum is different from other b-schools in that we don’t divide the material into functionally discrete courses (marketing, etc). Our core orients material according to stakeholder perspectives – it’s much more interdisciplinary, and helps students to see content across functions/industries and see how sectors interact.

In terms of leadership training: we require leadership training throughout the 2 years (not a single course). This year some of those courses are being realigned. We want to scale up from individual-team-organization-perspectives in leadership.

In the first year, we used to have courses called “leadership fundamentals” and “advanced leadership.” Now they’re being consolidated into a course called “Power & Politics” (through our Organizational Behavior group).

The other big change is that in the second year, instead of lockstep curriculum, students can choose from a menu of electives to satisfy the leadership requirement.

What are some of the options for the second year?