Greg Sutton ’19

It was always my plan to get an MBA. I was a business undergrad student, and I figured I’d work for a couple of years and then go back and get my MBA. But life happens and opportunities kept popping up.

As I matured in my career, I realized that an MBA would really allow me to take it to the next level. What really drew me to Yale SOM were the alumni I spoke with, who just kept talking about the culture and the community. Being here for a little over a year now, I really understand what they meant. I never counted on meeting so many great people.

The entire Yale community is incredible. Everyone, from the faculty to the alumni, has been welcoming and encouraging, which has helped me grow. In turn, I’ve become a mentor to international GBS students—a very rewarding experience that I didn’t expect to have.

The integrated core curriculum is great because it’s how business actually functions. You may be in the marketing department, but you care about sales. You care about research. You care about engineering. It’s the same with every other department. The fact that Yale SOM aligns its curriculum with the way that things are done in the real world is incredibly valuable. It helps you apply the lessons you learn more easily.

In the leadership development courses, you realize how important it is to take a step back and empathize with those around you. You’re in this program with 60 other students, all from different walks of life. You may not always agree with them, but they have valuable insights. We all come to the table with our perspectives, and we have to work together. By default, it has to broaden your horizons. When you take these new viewpoints back to work with you, you can often see old problems in new ways.

Coming to Yale, I thought I had a really good network. But that network just exploded once I got here. The other 60 students in my program introduced me to their groups of friends. And the Yale alumni network is also just amazing. When I reach out to connect with alumni, my response rate is around 90 percent. Alumni want to help students.

Then there’s the Global Network for Advanced Management. I did a Global Network Week trip to IE Business School in Spain in June.  There were students from all over the world there.  We studied digital transformation, which is essentially what every business is going through right now—trying to interface with customers and suppliers in a more efficient manner. Working with students from China, South America, North America, Canada, and Europe was really an enriching experience.