Rachel Harmon

Yale School of Management and Yale Law School

“I am a deeply family-oriented, goal-driven JD/MBA student who loves her dog!”

Hometown: Champaign, IL

Fun Fact About Yourself: I studied abroad in Uganda in undergrad. The program was focused on community development.

Undergraduate School and Major: Bachelor of Science at Cornell University in Industrial and Labor Relations, Master of Philosophy at University of Oxford in the Department of Social Policy

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Birmingham Promise, Executive Director. This summer I was a 1L Diversity Scholar at Latham & Watkins in their Chicago office.

The Yale School of Management is regarded as a purpose-driven program. What is your mission? How will your MBA at Yale SOM help you fulfill that mission? My mission is to break boundaries. These include boundaries between the public, private, and civic sector or the boundaries that are assumed to those who are underrepresented in certain industries and roles.

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of Yale SOM’s MBA curriculum or programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I was really excited by SOM’s emphasis on the intersection of business and society as well as the school’s clear commitment to diversity and equity as evidenced by programs like the Consortium for the Graduate Study of Management, which has helped to make my joint degree much more affordable.

What course, club, or activity excites you the most at Yale SOM? I am really excited to be a part of the Consortium Community and the Black Business Alliance.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest accomplishment in my career so far is founding a nonprofit that still exists and is still sending young people to college across the state of Alabama, nearly two years after I transitioned out of my leadership role.

What do you hope to do after graduation? As a JD/MBA, I am starting our program knowing that I want to start my career as a corporate lawyer. I am really excited to join a top-notch firm following graduation, ideally focusing on either Mergers and Acquisitions or Capital Markets.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? I didn’t apply to any other MBA programs as I had already been admitted to the law school.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Yale SOM’s MBA program? I think the most important thing, regardless of where you are applying, is to think more about the most effective way to tell your own story than to try to tell the story you think the school wants you to tell.

DON’T MISS: MEET YALE SOM’S MBA CLASS OF 2025