The Yale SOM Career Development Office facilitates BOOYa – Banking Offer Optimization at Yale – to create a streamlined, transparent, and mutually beneficial MBA internship recruiting and offer experience for New York City-based investment banks and Yale SOM first-year MBAs. BOOYa improves Yale SOM MBA offer acceptances by aligning preferences and reducing inefficiencies.
BOOYa Process
Step 1: Ranking Submissions
> All investment banks extending NYC-based offers to Yale SOM students rank candidates in order of preference to receive an internship offer.
> All Yale SOM first-year MBAs rank banks in order of preference for an internship offer.
> All rankings are submitted into the BOOYa offer optimization algorithm.
Step 2: Yale SOM runs the BOOYa matching algorithm
Yale SOM runs its BOOYa algorithm, similar to models used in medical residency matching programs and Columbia School of Business’s OfferLink process.
Step 3: Yale SOM Career Development Office shares results
The Yale SOM CDO simultaneously informs students and banks of any matches; banks follow up with formal offers.
Benefits of BOOYa
For Employers:
- Access to preferred talent: Secures preferred candidates by directly matching with students who ranked the bank highly.
- Increased offer yield: By matching based on mutual preference, the likelihood of offers being accepted increases.
- Efficient hiring: Streamlines the offer extension and acceptance process, reducing the need to chase candidates, manage a waitlist, or navigate the complexities (and sometimes repercussions) of expiring offers.
- Better Retention: Interns who have positive recruiting experiences tend to be most eager to start strong and more likely to perform well, resulting in higher yield for full-time offers and long-term retention.
- Stronger Relationships: Fosters a more collaborative and predictable relationship with Yale SOM and its students.
For Students:
- Improves transparency: Provides a clear, organized process with defined timelines, allowing students to understand when offers will be extended.
- Values choices: BOOYa prioritizes students’ preferences, increasing the likelihood of matching with a firm where they genuinely want to intern.
- Eliminates waitlists: Because banks rank all candidates they would welcome as employees and provide the number of offers they want to extend, BOOYa ensures that offers are extended only to students for whom the offer is the most desirable they will receive, and therefore most likely to be accepted.
- Distributes opportunities: Spreads opportunities across more students by reducing the concentration of multiple offers among a small set of students.
BOOYa Timeline
September through October:
Networking & Recruiting Engagements
- Firm hosted events mid-September through October (Yale SOM recruiting calendar)
- Yale SOM CDO coordinated events:
- HireSOM – Investment Banking in NYC Friday September 25, 3-4:30pm ET (register)
- Days on Wall Street (DOWS) site visits Friday October 9, 16, and 23 (request your time in 12twenty)
November:
9 – 13 Recommended application deadlines
9 – 20 Recommended final firm engagements, invite only dinners, etc.
16 – 20 Recommended interview invitations
23 – 27 November recess
30 Recommended date for all BOOYa interviews to begin. Yale SOM is happy to provide interview support (space, scheduling, etc.) if desired
December:
1 – 8 BOOYa interviews continue
8 Final day of BOOYa interviews
9 by 10am ET: Final deadline to submit all rankings
9 Afternoon: Yale SOM runs BOOYa algorithm and communicates results*
*The Yale SOM CDO simultaneously informs students and banks of the algorithm results. Banks subsequently share offer details with matched candidates.
February:
1 Offer acceptance deadline*
*The Yale SOM expects all employers to keep internship offers open until February 1, 2027, or for three weeks, whichever is later. Firms are welcome to offer financial incentives to accept offers earlier, and students are welcome to accept an offer any time before February 1, 2027.
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the BOOYa process?
The Yale SOM BOOYa process creates a streamlined, transparent, and mutually beneficial recruiting experience for New York City based investment banking internship recruiting and first-year MBA applicants. Please refer to the BOOYa Process for details.
What are the benefits of the matching process?
Please refer to BOOYa Benefits for details
How does matching work?
Please refer to the BOOYa Process for details
What are the timeline and key dates for the matching process?
Please refer to the BOOYa Timeline for details.
Is matching binding?
Yes and no. Banks are required to extend an offer to a matched student. However, the student is not required to accept that offer. Note that matches only occur when both sides have expressed a preference. Once a student accepts an offer verbally or in writing, this is considered binding, and students are expected to honor that commitment and withdraw from any other active recruiting processes.
Must banks participate in the matching process to hire from Yale SOM?
Yale SOM expects all investment banks recruiting for roles in NYC to participate in BOOYa. BOOYa optimizes the recruiting and offer process for banks, regardless of core, non-core, alumni-led, etc. status with Yale SOM. Since Yale SOM students eagerly recruit and interview for roles across a myriad of investment banks, all banks benefit from the efficiencies and yield maximization of BOOYa.
If a bank absolutely cannot participate in BOOYa, it should extend offers before December 9, 2026, with an offer deadline of February 1, 2027. This will exclude the bank from the efficiencies and optimization benefits of BOOYa, as the offers will remain open as the students will wait to respond until after the BOOYa algorithm results are shared on December 9, 2026. Therefore, it is in the bank’s best interest to participate in BOOYa.
Can banks participating in BOOYa extend internship offers to students before the Yale SOM CDO communicates the results of the BOOYa algorithm?
No. The Yale SOM CDO will share the results of the BOOYa algorithm and all students and banks simultaneously the afternoon of December 9, 2026.
What if a bank does not match with any students through the matching process?
This happens when Bank A ranks only students who also are ranked highly by other banks that those same students ranked higher. Since BOOYa results in one match, the students will match with the employers they ranked higher, in this case, the other banks. The benefit of the BOOYa system to Bank A is the clarity early in the process that students had different preferences and therefore likely would not have accepted an offer. To mitigate against this scenario, Bank A should:
- Interview a large pool of candidates. Interviewing a large number of students will give the bank flexibility to rank a large number of students for offers.
- Rank a large number of students for offers. Any student a bank would welcome as an intern should be submitted with a rank – there is no limit and no waitlist in the BOOYa process. The more students submitted for potential offers increases the chance the bank will match with an eager student. Eliminating a wait list benefits all – students do not know how Bank A ranks them, therefore, any student receiving a match is enthusiastic to work for Bank A because it is an offer from the student’s highest preferred bank. Meanwhile, Bank A benefits because this is a positive candidate experience for the students and the matching process likely improves offer yield.
- Participate in the after-algorithm process. As soon as matching results are released on December 9, 2026, any bank can extend an offer to any candidate. Additionally, the Yale SOM CDO will provide resumes of students who did not match as a resource to employers. Banks also are welcome to interview additional candidates as soon as the matching results are released.
Can a bank extend an offer to a student it ranked highly, but did not match with?
Yes, during the after-algorithm process a bank can extend an offer to any student. In the meantime, the bank is required to extend offers to all students with whom the bank did match. The BOOYa process is designed to align preferences. If a bank does not match with a student, this is because the student received an offer from a higher preferenced bank, and most likely will accept that other bank’s offer. By participating in the BOOYa process, banks receive this clarity of information early while also preserving the chance to enjoy a high accept yield for offers extended. If the bank still wants to extend an offer to any non-matched student, it can do so after algorithm matches have been communicated.
If a student declines a matched offer, can a bank extend an offer to another student?
Of course! Banks should reach out immediately to the Yale SOM CDO to receive additional resumes and discuss other options.
What are the other employer policies around internship offers?
Please visit our website for a full list of recruiting policies.
Are bank preferences visible?
Only Yale SOM will see preferences for both students and employers, as Yale SOM administers the algorithm. Students will never see bank preferences. Banks will never see student preferences. A match indicates that both the student and the bank preferred the other, with no indication of how the other ranked their preferences.
How many offers can a student receive through the BOOYa process?
A student can receive at most one offer from a participating bank through the algorithm. Students may receive additional offers after the algorithm results are communicated.
When will the offers be extended?
December 9, 2026, is the earliest date offers from all banks participating in BOOYa will be extended. Banks not participating in the process may extend offers at any time.
Some banks recruit for multiple specific coverage groups. How are these banks treated in the BOOYa process?
Each coverage group will be treated as an independent bank. Students will include a bank-specific coverage group in their preferences, and each coverage group will submit its preferences by the same deadline. This will preserve the integrity of the coverage group recruiting process for both banks and students.
What if a student receives an internship offer from a bank beforethe matching process offer release date?
If a student receives an offer from an organization not participating in BOOYa, the student is free to consider it – the Yale SOM CDO expects an offer response deadline date of February 1, 2027, or later.
- A student accepting an early offer must withdraw from the BOOYa process and future interviews.
- A student that has not responded to the offer may remain in the BOOYa process. In this case, the student will:
1. submit bank rankings only for banks ranked more highly than the offering organization
2. withdraw from any interviews with banks the student ranks lower than the offering organization - Any early offer from a bank participating in the matching process is in violation of the terms of the process.
What if a student does not match with any bank through the algorithm?
Running the algorithm is simply the first step in the IB offer process. Given past experiences, we anticipate robust “after-algorithm” activity. These offers will come from banks that do not fill their NYC needs, banks that are recruiting beyond NYC, banks that do not participate in the BOOYa process, and from banks that choose to interview additional candidates. The Yale SOM CDO will facilitate the after-algorithm process by sharing with banks a resume book of students who did not receive a match from the algorithm. Schools that employ matching processes report that many students ultimately accept offers extended during the after-algorithm process. All offers extended, whether from the algorithm or after, will be subject to the February 1, 2027, or three-weeks (if later), offer response deadline.
Can students continue recruiting even if they receive an offer match by the algorithm?
The algorithm matches students only with their highest ranked bank that will make them an offer. Therefore, most students will accept offers made through the algorithm matching process. However, these offers are not binding for students, so students can continue recruiting. We expect banks to keep offers open through February 1, 2027, whether extended from the algorithm results or during the after-algorithm process.
Can a student accept a matched offer and then continue interviewing for other roles outside the matching process?
No. As is true for all students recruiting for any role, once a student accepts an offer (verbally or in writing), it is a binding commitment. Please also visit CDO Student Policies for more details.
What are the other policies around internship offers?
Please see CDO Student Policies.