SOM knocks it out of the park for a Silver Scholar

Experience during the program

Few opportunities come around that are as life-changing as the Silver Scholar program at SOM was for me - the Silver Scholars program is for students straight out of undergrad to pursue an MBA at SOM. I matriculated in 2012 with the class of 2014 and, due to the parameters of the program, spent two years working full-time at my dream company, and then returned to SOM to complete my final year of courses and study and graduate in 2016. I believe that the Silver Scholars program is representative of the forward-looking direction of SOM and the fact that the institution is not afraid to take risks and innovate.

Over these four years that I was in the program, I was able to see SOM evolve into an even more global business school, with the maturation of the Global Network for Advanced Management. During my second year, I was proud to count over 50% of the student population from different countries, providing a distinctly global feel. Many of my closest friends were from foreign countries and now I feel grateful to have friends from all over the world.

The most remarkable thing about SOM is the community - not just our small and large learning teams, our cohort, our class, or our school, but the fact that SOM strives to be the most closely-integrated business school with it's parent university, which translates into one of the highest percentages of joint-degree candidates and the flexibility to take as many of our electives outside of SOM as you wish. I made countless of friends from SOM, but also from Yale College, the Jackson Institute, the School of Public Health, and the Law School, just to name a few.

This, combined with the immensely tight-knit alumni community that has among the highest rates of annual alumni contributions to their alma mater, makes me confident that I made the right choice - a choice that will continue to pay dividends and a school that I can count on for the duration of my professional career and beyond.

About professors, classes and curriculum

Coming from a social sciences and public policy background in undergrad, SOM's core curriculum provided me the business tools and frameworks to serve as a Senior Manager in the Research and Development division of the company that I returned to after the conclusion of my MBA.

I am grateful for the distinct attention that SOM professors provide their students - frequently going above and beyond the call of duty in helping individuals like me - who overdid it during one of our one-week intensive modules, and got pneumonia. My professors were very understanding and took time to help bring me up to speed, one-on-one on course material, even though they taught hundreds of students at the time. This example is representative of the fact that Professors are passionate about their work and research, but doubly so about teaching students at SOM. I never expected to regularly head over to Professor's houses for tea, or see them at weekly hackathons/pizza parties. SOM professors dedicated to getting to know the students, and ever since I graduated, keep in touch with us as well.

About job placement process

All of the resources are there to get any job you could ever want; it's a function of using those resources - whether they are the Career Development Office, peers, and alumni - and putting in hard work to land your dream job.

Overall BSchool experience (5.0)
Schools contribution (5.0)
Classmates rating (5.0)

Strengths of the program:

Student body, diversity
Alumni Network
Culture & Student Support

Best fit at this program:

Consulting
Finance
Marketing
Investment Banking
Tech
Entrepreneurship
Management

Can be improved:

Career opportunities provided by school
Specialization in a particular area (e.g. Finance, Consulting, Healthcare, etc)