R2 Advice From Yale SOM’s Bruce DelMonico

In the latest admissions newsletter from Yale School of Management, Director of Admissions Bruce DelMonico offers advice for those planning on spending the holidays polishing their applications in advance of the January 5, 2012 Round 2 deadline.

Here are DelMonico’s three general tips:

Be yourself. This sounds obvious, but many applicants get tripped up trying to get inside our heads. Don’t outthink yourself. Tell us about what you care about, not what you think we want to hear.

Don’t ignore your weaknesses. There’s no such thing as a perfect applicant. Everyone has weaknesses. We’ll see them, so you’re better off acknowledging them and incorporating them into your application than hoping we’ll miss them. If you don’t do so, we’ll wonder how introspective and self-aware you are.

Don’t stress about (insert application element here). Grades matter. Test scores matter. Essays matter. Everything in the application is important, but nothing more so than anything else. Do a good job and take everything seriously, but don’t let it overwhelm you””no element by itself will make or break your application.

For the next two weeks, DelMonico suggests you reread your essays and recruit a trusted friend or family member to give it a thorough review to ensure that you’re addressing all of the cogent points. Be sure to proofread the entire application to ensure there aren’t any spelling mistakes or missing/incorrect information. Also, wrangle those recommenders to confirm that they’re on target to submit their letters by January 5th.

Applicants will last-minute questions will be relieved to know that the admissions office still has a handful of 10-minute telephone Office Hours spaces available–but you’ll have to jump on those asap.

Need more Yale SOM advice? Read this post with interview insight for applicants, and check out these seven tips to ace the admissions interview.