One of the biggest surprises to me at Yale SOM has been the degree of openness and engagement I have with my classmates. Having come from a business background, I thought an MBA would be a good way for me to crank up the dial on my skill set, but now I would say that the biggest benefit has been that I’ve gotten to know people from 50 different countries and 100 different cities who are incredible people, incredible professionals, and great friends. They’re people I’ve relied on, and who have relied on me, to help each other through coursework and recruiting and just dealing with all the stresses of a new environment.
I think Yale SOM’s greatest strength is that it’s truly a global business school. I don’t feel like I’m only receiving an education in the U.S., because I get so many opportunities to work with students from business schools around the world though the Global Network for Advanced Management. I attended the Global Network Week at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. I learned a lot and I formed friendships with students from other schools. Some of my Global Network friends helped me organize the Yale Integrated Case Competition last year.
I’ve been part of the Social Impact Consulting Club. We partner with organization in New Haven to provide pro bono consulting and to help us learn more about New Haven. We recently partnered with the Artspace arts organization last semester. I’m passionate about the intersection of art and business. We helped them navigate various customer relationship management issues and establish a succession plan. In classes, we learn all these great frameworks to solve problems, and this project gave me the opportunity to actually apply them in practice.
