Megan Grossman ’25, Boston Consulting Group

Internship company: Boston Consulting Group (BCG), New Jersey/New York City
Hometown: Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania
Pronouns: she/her/hers
The SOM class you’re using on the job: Customer Insights and Applications
Go-to work lunch: BCG Café—I live for pierogi days!
After-work routine: Exploring the NYC dining scene and walks on the High Line or the West Side Highway
Favorite thing about internship city: Living in proximity to so many friends

Prior to business school, I spent four years in manufacturing, working in various process and quality engineering roles. What excited me most about these positions was the fast-paced, ever-changing nature of the industry and the opportunity to interact with customers, translating their feedback into tangible process improvements. I entered the Yale SOM MBA program planning to make a career pivot to consulting.

Saint Augustine once said, “The higher your structure is to be, the deeper must be its foundation”—and I was particularly eager to deepen my foundations in strategy development and financial analysis through my summer MBA internship. Consulting proved to be the perfect stomping ground to apply these skills, hone new ones developed in my first year at Yale SOM, and explore new industries and functions, all while expanding my professional network.

This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to serve as a summer consultant with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). I had gotten to know the firm during pre-MBA summer programs and fall recruitment, so it felt like a dream come true when I received my internship offer in January. After the initial excitement of landing the offer, a wave of concern hit me: as someone making a career pivot, did I really have the skills to succeed in this role? I'm happy to report that SOM’s resources, from academic offerings to the consulting club, prepared me well to maximize my summer with BCG.

For my summer project, I worked with a financial services client to optimize customer service spending while improving service quality. My main responsibilities included analyzing internal versus outsourced spending, managing communications with potential vendors, and supporting the development of final recommendations for the client.

One of the most valuable aspects of my first year at SOM was participating in a Discovery Project through the Yale Center for Customer Insights (YCCI). These projects allow students to work on semester-long marketing consulting ventures with real-world clients. My project this past spring involved conducting market research to provide recommendations to Mastercard on enhancing the Priceless Experiences initiative.

Through the Discovery Project, I learned to draw insights and make tangible recommendations from large data sets. For Mastercard, my team sifted through tens of thousands of data points from thousands of survey respondents to determine which findings from our interview phase gained the most traction. This experience made my first day at BCG, when I was tasked with creating a deliverable for our client, much less intimidating. Much of my summer involved managing or creating models using large quantities of data. The opportunity to practice these skills in an academic setting prior to deploying them professionally was invaluable.

Beyond managing data sets, the Discovery Project taught me to align with a project’s purpose and scope to draw actionable insights. By working with YCCI experts including Professor Nathan Novemsky and Treeny Ahmed, I gained perspective on this process. Our Discovery Project team had weekly meetings with YCCI advisors, during which we reported and refined our insights. This experience translated well to BCG, where a critical aspect of my role was deriving tangible takeaways to drive value and growth for clients. One of my primary responsibilities this summer was creating an analytical value to help clients decide whether to outsource customer support or provide it internally. My Discovery Project taught me to focus on the most impactful and tangible takeaways from an analysis that could potentially produce hundreds of learnings.

Finally, the biggest benefit I derived from my Discovery Project sharpening the communications skills necessary to work with different stakeholders. Initially, I was uneasy about giving presentations during my summer internship. Despite having confidence in my data analysis and deliverables, presenting to senior BCG members and clients was highly intimidating. But I had already learned to manage those nerves through the Discovery Project, during which our team presented results to senior SOM faculty and Mastercard leadership weekly. The opportunity to stretch my presentation muscles put me on a path of confidence building that strengthened my effective communication, and enabled me to contribute more in my internship role.

Overall, my summer internship was an incredible experience and the perfect foundation-fortifying culmination of my first academic year at SOM. I got to apply my existing skills and foster new ones which I am excited to build further during my second year in the program. Beyond the rewarding professional growth, the summer was full of networking and camaraderie, including an intern event at Yankees Stadium, delicious team dinners exploring the NYC dining scene, and celebratory outings at Chelsea Piers following major project milestones. My first official summer in New York City was amazing, and I am excited to grow professionally with BCG and take another bite of the Big Apple upon graduation. Leaving the internship, I felt especially confident in my decision to pursue an MBA at SOM. The school has prepared me to pursue a career that moves me toward my long-term goals.

I know I would not be in this position today without the generous support of so many people in my network. I send a special thanks to my BCG project team for providing me the opportunity to learn and grow this summer; SOM alums Florian Kogler ’19, Jacob Salant ’22, and Daisy Bourne ’22 for being friendly faces and supportive mentors at BCG; so many SOM classmates for contributing to a memorable summer; and my family for being my biggest cheerleaders in every aspect of my life.