Yale SOM Enhances Pre-MBA Leadership Program with Support from Goldman Sachs Gives

The Yale School of Management has expanded and enhanced its Pre-MBA Leadership Program for summer 2011 with support from Goldman Sachs Gives, a donor-advised philanthropic fund.

The two-week-long Pre-MBA Leadership Program was established in 2009, with a focus on introducing students from populations typically under-represented in management education to the benefits of attending business school. The program is open to current college juniors and seniors, as well as recent graduates, and features a small taste of the SOM curriculum and workshops on career-related topics.

This year, with support from Goldman Sachs Gives, the program will include a one-day trip to Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York City, where students will get an inside look at one of the world's leading financial companies and meet with the firm's executives. Goldman Sachs personnel will also host a résumé review session for the program's participants. The support from Goldman Sachs has also enabled Yale to provide travel assistance for all Pre-MBA students to get to and from New Haven. The school's admissions staff visited twice as many colleges as in previous years, which has led to an increase in interest from schools and potential students.

For the first time, the program will also be expanded to include five students from a pair of Brazilian universities, the University of São Paulo and Fundacão Getulio Vargas. Yale SOM Dean Sharon Oster recently traveled to Brazil to discuss the program with students and top administrators at these universities. The interest from potential students in Brazil was palpable: a standing-room-only crowd of about 150 greeted Oster at an informational reception.

Oster said: "We are very appreciative of the role Goldman Sachs has played in helping us build out our Pre-MBA Program. The tremendous turnout in Brazil reinforced the importance of this project." Oster also thanked the Yale SOM MBA alumni who attended the reception in Brazil. "A nice group of our Brazilian MBA alumni came and were highly effective at selling Yale in Portuguese."