Internship Spotlight: Laura Zhang ’26, Boston Consulting Group
An experiential learning course offered by the Yale Center for Customer Insights equipped Laura Zhang to consult for a state government agency during her summer internship.
Internship: Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Brooklyn
Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Pronouns: she/her/hers
The SOM classes you’re using on the job: Discovery Projects, Workforce
Go-to work lunch: Cava (specifically the harissa avocado bowl) or pad thai from my favorite vendor at Time Out Market
After-work routine: Dinner and park walks with friends
Favorite thing about internship city: Taking the ferry to work, enjoying the Metropolitan Museum of Art rooftop with SOM friends, exploring new neighborhoods and cafes
This summer I interned as a summer consultant at BCG in the firm’s Brooklyn office, located in the Dumbo Time Out Market—which made for the best ferry commute and lunch view! I came to SOM to pivot from tech product management to a career in social impact, and was drawn to BCG for the opportunities it offered to work on public sector and impact projects.
Given the wide range of work available at BCG, I was fortunate to be staffed on a case that aligned closely with my interests. My summer project focused on helping a state government agency address retirement risks for an aging workforce, as well as broader attrition challenges. The work involved analyzing organizational structures, assessing existing recruiting and retention practices, and designing levers to better align workforce behaviors with agency goals. Each week we traveled to the client site, conducted dozens of interviews with senior leaders, and synthesized extensive qualitative and quantitative data into strategies to retain and develop talent. Through the experience, I learned how to navigate complex client environments, frame questions thoughtfully, and translate large amounts of information into clear, actionable recommendations. I also developed a much deeper appreciation for how the civil service system operates, including the constraints and incentives that shape workforce policies in government agencies, and the broader stakeholder dynamics and macro-level forces influencing public sector work.
My summer work built directly on what I learned in my first year at SOM. The Discovery Projects, an experiential course offered by the Yale Center for Customer Insights (YCCI), was particularly valuable in preparing me for client-facing work. In the Discovery Projects, students team up with real-world companies to work on actionable marketing projects. My team worked with Mastercard, researching what made “Priceless” experiences memorable for high-net-worth customers. We learned how to conduct open-ended interviews, analyze large amounts of qualitative data, and test our conclusions through quantitative analysis and A/B testing. All these skills translated directly to my summer internship.
The SOM core class Workforce, taught by Professors Jim Baron and Laura Adler, provided another critical foundation. The course offered a structured way to think about how organizations align employee behavior with strategic goals through levers like recruitment, evaluation, compensation, and job design. Together, YCCI and Workforce gave me the practical skills and frameworks to help me succeed during my summer at BCG.
Looking ahead, I’m excited to build on these experiences in my second year by deepening my understanding of the intersection between public and private sectors through the Golub Nonprofit Board Fellows program and the class Modern Philanthropy, offered by Professors Paige MacLean and Judy Chevalier.
I am deeply grateful to the BCG team for the mentorship I received. I’m also indebted to the incredible SOM alumni network—especially Michelle Gilroy, Shreya Sundar, Cary Goldstein, A.J. Roy, and Shiv Chaturvedi—whose support made all the difference throughout the recruiting process and my summer experience.
