Prospective Business Students Attend Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program at Yale SOM

While she was working as a certified public accountant, Huei-Li Leow '12 told a group of undergraduates gathered at Yale SOM, her aspirations outgrew her role. "I wanted to be doing the types of things I saw my corporate clients doing," Leow said. She realized that she needed an MBA.

Leow was one of four Yale SOM alumni who urged the undergraduate students participating in this year's Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program to consider business school in their career plans. "I wanted a toolset that would help me go into business. The curriculum is what drew me to Yale SOM, as well as the people," Leow told the students at a panel discussion on June 13. "I needed an education that would allow me to pivot in my career, one that was flexible, and here at SOM you'll meet an amazing network of people." Leow is now working in innovation strategy at Deloitte.

Yale SOM's Global Pre-MBA Leadership Program began four years ago as a highly selective summer program for college sophomores, juniors, seniors, and recent graduates from populations under-represented in management education. This year the program expanded to include students from universities in Brazil, China, Ghana, Indonesia, Mexico, and Singapore that are a part of the Global Network for Advanced Management. The annual, two-week program gives students a taste of MBA coursework and introduces career path possibilities.

Alumni panelist Courtney Williams '10 told the group he was working in research at Pfizer when he discovered new interests in negotiating, finance, and problem solving. Williams knew he needed more education to pursue them professionally, but many MBA programs seemed to have a "cookie-cutter approach," he said. "Yale had a new approach. You didn't learn things in silos. You learned them in combination." Williams is now working in worldwide procurement at Pfizer.

Other alumni panelists included Kavitha Bindra '05, SOM associate director of admissions, who emphasized SOM's integrated approach to strategic thinking and business management; and Stuart DeCew '11, program director at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, who advised prospective MBA students to "have a passion that either exceeds or matches the profit motive you have."

The panel event also included an address by Mark Walton '79, executive vice president for sponsorship and corporate development at The Africa Channel. Walton pointed out that under-represented groups currently make up only 6 percent of MBA students in the top 50 business schools.

"You have a responsibility. If this is something you're thinking about doing, go to the best school," Walton told the group. "Don't waste this opportunity. Take advantage of it and use it to change these statistics."