Academics And Programs
This year, the B-School has an enrollment of 738 MBA students. Yale has moved well beyond the conventional case-based style of teaching, employing a whole team of people both in their 21-month MBA and in the wider Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM) network of over 30 international schools to put together its unique “raw” cases. Rather than tidy, paper-based cases, students are presented with a mass of information in several media channels like videos, news reports, interviews, and data. There is by design too much for any individual to absorb, meaning that students are forced to work in teams to create a coherent analysis all completed in 72 credit units or 624 instruction hours. The point, of course, is to mimic the way information presents itself, and the way people make decisions, in the real world.
When it comes to electives, Yale SOM students have the amazing opportunity — rare, even in business schools that are embedded in world-class universities — to take as many as they like from other university schools and departments. MBA candidates have taken perspective-broadening courses such as Native American Art & Architecture and Faith & Globalization. DelMonico says roughly 15% of SOM students are pursuing a joint degree with another Yale school.
Of course, leadership is also central to this MBA. At Yale SOM, they look at developing leadership in four dimensions: individual, which involves developing skills and knowledge, but also understanding your own strengths and limitations and ways to persuade and influence others; working in, and leading, teams; seeing an organization, rather than broken down by geography or function; and being aware of global challenges such as inequality and climate change.
Yale founded the Global Network for Advanced Management (GNAM), a network of 31 leading business schools from diverse regions and countries, and MBA candidates are encouraged to develop global perspectives by traveling to these partner schools for courses. Students have visited IE Business School in Madrid for a course on the euro crisis, and Renmin University Business School in China to learn about entrepreneurship in emerging markets. If they like, they can take courses in languages or international relations.
Students are required to complete a summer internship between their first and second year. As for co-curricular activities, the SOM hosts student-led conferences and case competitions at the school annually. The SOM also houses multiple research and learning centers where students can get involved, such as the Center for Customer Insights, the Program on Social Enterprise, the International Center for Finance, the Center for Business and the Environment, the Program on Entrepreneurship, and many more.