Yale SOM Gets STEM Status for Three Programs

The latest top business school to join the STEM club is Yale School of Management, which just announced that three of its degree programs are now considered STEM programs by the Department of Homeland Security.

That change means international students enrolled in those programs will now be eligible to extend the period of time during which they can work in the United States on F-1 student visas.

Typically, F-1 visas allow up to 12 months of Optional Practical Training, or OPT, to be completed during or immediately after one’s program of study. However, students in programs with STEM designations can apply to work for an additional 24 months after completing their degrees.

At Yale SOM, students in the MBA and Master of Advanced Management (MAM) programs are now considered STEM students if they choose to complete a new concentration in management science that the school has unveiled. 

Additionally, all students in Yale’s new Master’s in Asset Management program will be considered STEM students for purposes of Optional Practical Training.

Anjani Jain, deputy dean for academic programs at Yale SOM, said the new management science concentration for MBA and MAM students spoke to the school’s strong course offerings in data-driven management.

He explained that “Yale SOM offers a large selection of leading-edge courses covering all aspects of data analytics, mathematical modeling, and optimization,” adding that “the concentration signals the student’s depth of knowledge in this domain of great importance to leaders of organizations.”

Yale is by no means the only top MBA program to pursue STEM designation this year. Earlier in March, Columbia Business School received STEM designation for its MBA and EMBA programs. In January, University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business launched a new STEM track for its MBA program.

In fact, so many B-schools have been seeking STEM designation for their programs in recent months that the Wall Street Journal published an article in February with the title MBA Programs Rush to Add STEM Degrees.

For international applicants, this trend offers additional possibilities for a graduate management education in the United States. Of course, taking advantage of those possibilities requires having a solid career vision and expressing in your MBA applications why you are in a good place to carry out that vision.

We’re happy to give you feedback on how you can best present your personal brand to adcoms, and whether schools like Yale SOM are a good fit to your profile. Just contact us and ask for a free MBA application assessment!