{"id":47550,"date":"2019-11-25T06:00:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-25T13:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=47550"},"modified":"2019-11-24T06:46:32","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T13:46:32","slug":"life-at-yale-som-with-goals-of-serving-the-underrepresented-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/life-at-yale-som-with-goals-of-serving-the-underrepresented-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Life at Yale SOM with Goals of Serving the Underrepresented Community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Learn how real students and recent grads have navigated their way through the business school admissions process and b-school itself with our What is Business School Really Like?<\/a> series.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet Helen, a 2Y Yale SOM student with an interest in the role diversity plays in policymaking.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Helen, thank you for sharing your story with us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yale has a single application essay question \u2013 and it\u2019s a tough one. How did you approach describing \u201cthe biggest commitment you\u2019ve ever made\u201d?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> As simple as it might seem, the approach that worked for me was to reflect deeply on the essay question<\/a> over several weeks. I would recommend applicants do the same and ask themselves what drivers have been behind decisions they\u2019ve made in their career \u2013 particularly decisions that have had a major impact or that were different than those others might have made in the same situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing to note is that some common commitments, e.g., marriage or parenthood, may have driven your decision-making, but also may not necessarily provide insight for the admissions committee about who you are and what you could bring to SOM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, my honest answer is that I made a commitment to myself to be the type of person who other people would want to lead and represent them \u2013 that\u2019s a driver behind many of the decisions I make.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, with respect to writing application essays, don\u2019t forget to give yourself time! I think having a few weeks to reflect on the questions before beginning to write and ideally a week between revisions \u2013 with several rounds of revisions \u2013 is ideal for ensuring that you are able to fully develop your thinking. This is definitely something you don\u2019t want to procrastinate on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did you approach Yale\u2019s video essay component? Any tips for preparing, when the questions vary from applicant to applicant?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> While the questions vary, there are a limited number of questions, and they all are along similar lines \u2013 essentially, they cover things you have likely already reflected on in the course of your business school application process. And they\u2019re often interesting and fun (e.g., what course would you teach at Yale SOM if you could teach one?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The video essay<\/a> platform allows you to practice an unlimited number of times, so give yourself time to get comfortable with the system and practice similar questions. Most importantly, this will allow you to get a sense of what the 90-second time limit feels like \u2013 that can honestly be the hardest part of structuring your answer!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was the greatest weakness in your admissions profile? What steps did you take to ensure you submitted your strongest application?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> As an international studies\/political science major who had not worked in a quant-heavy field prior to business school, I knew my lack of demonstrated quantitative ability might be a stumbling block in the admissions process. I took a calculus course through UCLA to supplement my application and focused on performing well on the quant section of the GMAT<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If this sounds familiar, know you\u2019re not alone \u2013 it\u2019s a very common concern among applicants to top schools, and now, entering my second year at SOM, I feel confident that my quantitative skills were well-matched to the difficulty of the curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once school started, what surprised you most about the program?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> I was surprised by the degree of freedom I had to shape my own experience in the program, especially after the first semester (which largely consists of required core classes). Students at SOM have so many options to choose from in terms of electives, travel opportunities, extracurriculars and of course, internships. This can be awesome, of course, but it\u2019s really helpful to have clarity on your personal priorities so you can take advantage of these opportunities in a focused and productive way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to our podcast interview with Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean and Director of Admissions at Yale School of Management:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it like living in New Haven? What options are available for housing, transportation, and entertainment?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> I love New Haven! Having lived in New York for four years before school, I thought moving to a smaller city would be challenging, but it\u2019s actually been awesome. Most SOM students live in East Rock, the neighborhood adjacent to the SOM building, and it\u2019s a beautiful area with Victorian homes, neighborhood cafes and shops and a park with great running and hiking trails. Many students rent apartments in East Rock, with some also renting in other areas of New Haven. While having a car can be helpful, it\u2019s not necessary and there are many transit options including rideshare, owning a bike or using the New Haven bikeshare program, walking, or taking the New Haven or Yale bus services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also great options for entertainment, both through Yale (Yale Repertory Theatre, Yale Cabaret and world-class museums) and outside of Yale (Shubert Theater, lots of outdoors recreation and great food \u2013 including New Haven\u2019s famous pizza). SOM\u2019s favorite entertainment option is definitely Gryphon\u2019s Pub, a graduate student bar owned and operated by the university and offering free beers on Thursdays!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understand you hold a BA in international studies. How has your undergraduate background helped shape your MBA goals?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> At my undergraduate program, international studies is a major within the political science department with additional focus on international relations, foreign policy and a foreign language. I chose this path to optimize for the global nature of society and business in today\u2019s world \u2013 I wanted to learn how to understand and analyze the international perspective in policymaking. Doing so led me to study for a semester at the American University in Cairo and take a role in an organization working on U.S. foreign policy in my first job after college. That global perspective has continued to be important to me, and was one of the reasons I was interested in SOM, which has many international programs and a high proportion of international students. While at SOM, I\u2019ve been to Mexico City with classmates and to South Africa as part of an International Experience course \u2013 it\u2019s been really cool to be in another internationally-focused program!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to be a Forte fellow? What are the criteria for selection, and what are the responsibilities and benefits involved?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> Forte Fellows<\/a> are women at SOM (and other business schools) who have received merit-based scholarships. Criteria vary by program, but generally receiving a scholarship is indicative of the overall quality of your MBA application \u2013 there is no separate application. There are no ongoing responsibilities for fellows at SOM, but there are some benefits, including being able to attend the Forte conference the summer before matriculation at a reduced cost. I had an amazing time at this conference and formed a really strong bond with the other women from SOM who participated \u2013 they\u2019re still some of my best friends at school!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separate from the Forte Fellowship at SOM, I also participated in another Forte program, MBALaunch, several years before applying to SOM. While participating in MBALaunch doesn\u2019t directly impact selection for a Forte fellowship, SOM and other programs do offer application fee waivers for MBALaunch participants. I\u2019d highly recommend this program to any women interested in business school, especially those who are coming from nontraditional backgrounds, i.e. not working at companies or part of networks that provide a high level of support for the MBA application process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Representation 2.0? When and why did you start this venture?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> Representation 2.0<\/a> is a nonprofit focused on equipping undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds to run for elected office. Our team\u2019s mission is to improve government effectiveness and voters\u2019 trust in government by improving the extent to which elected leaders demographically represent their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies show that when people not traditionally represented in elected office are asked to consider running for such roles, they often write off this idea early in their careers because of a lack of information, interest and\/or confidence. As a result, they are less willing to reconsider running for office later in life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To combat this, Representation 2.0 has created a workshop curriculum and suite of resources to increase student leaders\u2019 confidence in their abilities and interest in public service, and help them take the next steps toward running for office. We ran a successful and effective pilot workshop in April 2019 with ten students from local Connecticut universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants said the training helped them feel \u201cempowered and inspired\u201d and gave them \u201ca much more positive perception about running for office.\u201d In the next year, we plan to host more workshops, including one in the New York market, and secure initial funding from foundations and individual donors to help us continue to scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started this venture in summer 2018 after developing the idea with friends and mentors for a few years. Looking at today\u2019s political landscape, I saw that while we\u2019re making progress toward better demographic representation, progress has actually plateaued in some dimensions. And while many groups are working to recruit diverse mid-career candidates to run for office, they observe that the bench of potential candidates is not deep \u2013 i.e. while more underrepresented people are being elected, there still aren\u2019t enough underrepresented people willing to run in the first place to ensure we can reach demographic parity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve worked in political organizing with college students, as well as for organizations like Girls Who Code focused on providing resources to underrepresented groups. I decided to apply my experience in that work to reaching underrepresented students early in their careers and not only inspiring and equipping them to run for office, but also providing them with a broad and diverse support network of other who can identify with their experiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m really excited to see the outcomes from our next workshops and to continue expanding over the next year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are Yale SOM students recruited for summer internships?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> As far as I know, the internship recruitment process at SOM is pretty similar to the process at other top 10\/15 business schools. There are essentially two categories of internships students consider \u2013 those that use formal recruiting processes and those that don\u2019t. Internships with formal\/structured recruiting processes include investment banking, consulting, some Fortune 500 general management roles, and some roles with tech companies. Internships with less formal processes include those with startups, social- or public-sector organizations, and VC, PE or impact investing firms. The formal recruiting processes mostly happen between September and March of the first year of the program, and informal processes can happen at any time but are more concentrated in spring of the first year, as these companies often don\u2019t have certainty about their capacity to host interns until closer to the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two categories also require somewhat different approaches. Formal processes require you to follow a pretty strict rulebook, which career clubs (e.g., Finance Club, Consulting Club) run by second-years and the career development office will help you understand and support you through. Informal processes require you to do a lot of independent research and networking, which we also have campus resources to help with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can you share a bit about your internship experience at Deloitte? What does a typical day look like?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> Sure! I had a great experience interning in Deloitte\u2019s Strategy & Operations consulting practice in New York this summer. I was staffed on a financial services strategy project where I had the opportunity to build the financial model behind my team\u2019s recommendations to the client and work closely with senior leaders on both the consulting and client sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My project was local, so on a typical day I would work out (run in Central Park, gym, or yoga) before commuting to the client site. My team had regular beginning \u2013 and end-of-day calls to align team members working across time zones on key goals for the day, so after our morning call I\u2019d spend the next several hours working with my team and client stakeholders to advance the model or other aspects of our deliverable. I was usually able to also spend a bit of time on internal firm initiatives beyond my project, such as supporting diversity and inclusion work or developing proposals for new projects. I would usually leave the office before 7pm, commute home, and have dinner before doing another hour or two of work prior to our end-of-day check-in. We also had frequent team dinners or happy hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned so much in my two months at S&O and would recommend the internship to anyone who\u2019s interested in learning more about problem-solving and the consulting \u201ctoolkit,\u201d including financial modeling!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you could send one message to applicants beginning their MBA journeys, what would it be?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Helen:<\/strong> Prioritize! As I mentioned earlier, there are so many options available to you during your MBA and so little time to take advantage of them. As a result, it\u2019s really important to reflect before beginning your program and understand what you most want to get out of this experience. I physically wrote my priorities down and would continue to go back to my list throughout my first year to cross-check my choices against it, which can be tough to do when faced with so many awesome opportunities to learn and get involved in your business school\u2019s community. (Also: always remember to send thank-you notes<\/a> to people who help you throughout the process \u2013 it still matters and can really set you apart, plus it\u2019s the right thing to do!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have questions for Helen? Questions for us? Do you want to be featured in our next <\/em>What is Business School Really Like? post? Know someone else who you\u2019d love to see featured? Are there questions you\u2019d like us to ask our students in this series? LET US KNOW!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more about Helen by connecting with her on LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you setting out on your own b-school journey? We can help you reach the finish line!\u00a0Check out our MBA Admissions Consulting Services<\/a>\u00a0to team up with an admissions expert who will help you join the ranks of thousands of Accepted clients who get accepted to their dream schools.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Accepted\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

For 25 years, Accepted has helped business school applicants gain acceptance to top programs. Our outstanding team of MBA admissions consultants features former business school admissions directors and professional writers who have guided our clients to admission at top MBA, EMBA, and other graduate business programs worldwide including Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, INSEAD, London Business School, and many more.\u00a0Want an MBA admissions expert\u00a0to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022\u00a0Different Dimensions of Diversity<\/a>, a podcast episode
\u2022\u00a0Yale Som: Integrated in Its Curriculum, with Its University, and to the World<\/a>, a podcast episode
\u2022\u00a0Life at Yale SOM, Google Internship & the Importance of Diversity<\/a>, a student interview<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article<\/a>\u00a0originally appeared on\u00a0blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where to apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help you get accepted<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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