Yale SOM Welcomes MBA Class of 2020

By Karen Guzman

The Yale School of Management’s full-time MBA Class of 2020 gathered for the first time as a group on August 13 to begin the weeklong Orientation, a program designed to introduce incoming students to the school and to each other. More than 340 students filled Zhang Auditorium to hear addresses from several of the school’s deans.

Deputy Dean Anjani Jain welcomed the students, saying that their admission to Yale SOM is an indication of more than personal ambition. It attests “to your aspiration to make a lasting contribution to both private enterprise and public good,” Jain told the students.

Next week, MBA students will meet Dean Edward A. Snyder and incoming students in the Master of Advanced Management program, the Master of Management Studies in System Risk, and the Master of Management Studies in Global Business and Society. The MBA for Executives program welcomed new students in July.

“It is wonderful to have you here. We’re looking forward to teaching you and learning from you,” Jain said. “This is the beginning of an exciting adventure whose course you do not know and which will transform you in a way you cannot predict.”

Deputy Dean Eideal Pinker encouraged the students to use their time at Yale SOM to observe and think deeply. “Focus on opportunities to learn about how markets, organizations, and the people working in them function,” he said, explaining that this will equip students to shape and influence the world, rather than just react to the problems in it.

Deputy Dean David Bach told students to take advantage of all that the Yale community has to offer, both while they are here and when they become alumni. “Yale, as of today, is yours,” he said. “All of this exists for you. You are part of the community. You have access to all of these things… What forms here is a community of purpose that will last forever.”

During the remainder of Orientation, the new students will meet their cohorts and take part in sessions to acquaint them with Yale SOM’s academic and student life resources, as well as the greater Yale community. They will listen to talks by professors and by distinguished SOM alumni. And they will come together in peer teams for the first time to solve a complex business problem.

Assistant Dean Sherilyn Scully encouraged students to seek guidance from her office, Academic Affairs and Student Life, which organizes and runs Orientation. “We have been planning for your arrival for a very long time,” Scully said. “We are thrilled that you are here.”