Yale SOM by the Numbers

I pulled together some numbers that are illustrative of my time at the Yale School of Management so far: 0. The number of minutes I have driven a car while at Yale. As a lifelong Southern Californian, I have spent a great deal of life in my car. I drove one to and from work. I was accepted to Yale while I was in my car. But in New Haven, I haven’t had much of a need for one. By walking, taking the Yale Shuttle, and hitching rides with friends, I don’t find much need for a car. Sure, some might find it beneficial to have one in New Haven, and ZipCar is available right on campus. But so far, I’ve managed just fine going carless. 93. The number of minutes after I arrived for orientation until I had a nice conversation with Dean Snyder. We discussed my background and compared notes about people we both knew at my former employer. Experiences like this one have been one of the many perks of being at a small school. 4. The number of Pauls in the Class of 2013. I’m fairly certain this was an unusually high number of Pauls in one class at SOM, and even NYSE security commented to me about the high volume of us. But we are a diverse bunch despite having the same name. There’s me, Paul from America, and there’s also Paul from Canada, Paul from New Zealand, and Pablo from Mexico. I count Pablo under the “Paul” category since he sometimes calls me “Tocayo,” which is Spanish for “same name.” 579. The number of posts by classmates on the Yale School of Management Class of 2013 Facebook wall between June (when I joined the group) and mid-October. This number reflects SOM’s collegial and collaborative culture (along with its undiagnosed addiction to Facebook). Common topics of posts include social events (“A bunch of us are headed down to GPSCY [graduate student bar] tonight”), knowledge sharing (“You won’t believe this article I found”), offers of help (“I am going to Target on Friday, anyone want to join?”), and requests for help (“Can I borrow a blender and a wheelbarrow for a few hours?”). While the quotes above are fabricated (no one has really asked to borrow a blender and a wheelbarrow), we haven’t hesitated to reach out and offer or ask for assistance from our helpful classmates when needed, whether on or off Facebook.