Shreya Arora ’25

When most people hear the word “creative,” they think of artists, musicians, or poets, but to me, creativity is simply a new way of looking at old problems. Studying design in India reinforced this. In a developing country, the role of design is primarily problem-solving and innovation. I believe creative generalists belong in the rooms where business strategy is being built, and not just where it’s being executed. To make the transition, I needed a hard skill set to complement the qualitative skills I’d learned on the job.

I wanted an MBA program that would value my unconventional skill set. SOM attracts an exceptionally diverse student body in every way—ethnicity, worldview, professional background. When my father was my age, he received an acceptance from SOM, but the logistics of moving the family across the globe from India didn’t work out. It makes being part of this program doubly special for me today.

The MBA core curriculum teaches you how to view business problems through a variety of stakeholder perspectives. It’s an incredibly powerful tool kit. As someone with little experience in subjects like finance, I initially felt like I was starting from scratch. But SOM’s hands-on approach, with raw cases and real-world application, complemented my design background, which focused on learning by doing. As quant-heavy as the first semester can get, the classes still felt discussion-led and focused on teaching us how to think instead of telling us what to think.

Last Thanksgiving, a lot of my classmates were traveling for the break, but a few of us stayed in New Haven. My friends and I ended up hosting an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner, and the guest list grew to 15. When we took turns going around the table and sharing what we were thankful for, a common thread emerged: our time at SOM. Starting an MBA can be a big transition, but the warmth and openness of this community made it feel seamless. That’s not necessarily what we expected in business school, but it’s just one of the things that sets this program apart.