The structure of the first-year class tends to shape the MBA experience, affecting the friends students make, the teamwork skills they learn, and the peer support they receive. In this week’s Trivia Tuesday, we turn our attention to the class structure at the Yale School of Management.
Yale’s first-year class is divided into three cohorts, referred to as Blue, Silver and Green. Students report that the bond within these groups is usually strong, and since students take all of their core courses with their cohort, inside jokes and camaraderie tend to develop throughout the year. In addition to classroom and group work, cohorts band together for good-natured extracurricular competition. During one recent fall term, first-year cohorts participated in a very successful fund-raising drive for SOM’s non-profit internship fund, then turned their attention to a less constructive but equally competitive keg war.
Within Yale’s cohorts, students are assigned to seven-person learning teams. As is the case at most business schools that break their student bodies into smaller units, both these teams and the larger cohorts are constructed with an eye to capturing the diversity of the class and ensuring that students are introduced to others with varying backgrounds and areas of expertise.
In addition to working together in core courses, learning teams also come into play in the Leadership Development Program (LDP), a unique mentorship and support system. Through the LDP, two learning teams from different cohorts are grouped with one faculty member and two second-year student advisors. This program offers incoming students an introduction to academic life at SOM, and provides a forum where they can discuss their professional and personal aspirations. Groups meet two or three times each semester, often in the home of one of the advisors, and students are also able to meet one-on-one with advisors to discuss issues they are facing.
Students report that these group and individual sessions are helpful in keeping them focused on their long-term goals, as well as tackling more immediate issues. Participants also comment that their close contact with faculty members and second-year students through LDP strengthens their sense of connection with the SOM community.
Though the cohorts spend significant time together in and outside of the classroom during the first year, students report that cohort culture does not continue into the second year. By this point, students’ coursework consists entirely of electives, and new social networks form around shared professional and academic interests.
For more information on Yale’s first-year experience or the class structure of other leading business schools, be sure to check the Academics section of our Clear Admit School Guides!
Read the full article: Trivia Tuesday: Structuring the Student Body at Yale SOM