Erica DeMond ’23
MBA
Pre-SOM Position: Consultant, Boston Consulting Group
I chose Yale SOM for its focus on educating leaders for both business and society and its strong connections with education-oriented career opportunities. I wanted to build a broad toolkit that would cover multiple sectors, and to do so around thoughtful people with similar values. I had a gut feeling during all of my interactions with students and admissions members that Yale SOM was the right school for me. When I saw how warm, welcoming, and interesting the admitted students in our Slack workspace were, I knew these were the people with whom I wanted to spend the next two years.
The integrated core curriculum has exposed me to the myriad incentives and perspectives that exist in organizations. I had some exposure through my work in consulting, but I’ve come to understand these perspectives more deeply now. Learning from professors who are experts in their fields, working through cases with real-life examples where we step into the shoes of the protagonist, and hearing from my classmates—who represent backgrounds across industries, functions, and countries—are all helping me to become a more empathetic and effective future leader.
The extracurricular opportunities at SOM have exposed me to so many new people and ideas. On campus, I’m a Nonprofit Board Fellow, part of Consortium, and a first-year leader of the Education Club and Run Club, so there’s never a dull moment! Through these and other experiences, the strength of the SOM community has really stood out to me. I ran the New Haven half marathon over Labor Day weekend, just a couple of weeks after orientation. And even though we had all just met, so many of my classmates came out to cheer on the Yale SOM runners. There were cheering squads scattered throughout the race route and another group waiting to welcome us at the finish line. It was awesome.
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