Meet Yale SOM’s MBA Class Of 2020

At the same time, average GMATs for the 2020 Class slipped from 727 to 724, resulting Yale SOM falling behind MIT Sloan among the highest performing classes. The school also maintained a median GMAT of 730 for the third consecutive year – a number that matches Harvard Business School. The class’ average GPA also equals the previous year at 3.67.

Such consistency also seeped into the class demographics. Women again constituted 43% of the class – the fourth consecutive year where the 40 mark was beaten in this category. Underrepresented American minorities also made up 12% of the class for the second straight year (with overall students of color doubling that total at 27%). At the same time, the percentage of international students held steady at 45% from the 2019 Class – after an all-time high of 46% with the 2018 Class. Better yet, the number of countries who supplied talent to the incoming class rose from 48 to 51, with locales including Azerbaijan, Denmark, Ghana, Nyanmar, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Overall, two-thirds of the class hails from North America, with Asia responsible for another fifth. South America (4.9%), Africa (4.6%), and Europe (4.0%) account for the rest.

Looking at the class’ educational backgrounds, it is certainly business-friendly. Business-related majors represent 21% of the class – a tie with Economics whose share grew from 15% to 21% over the previous year. Humanities and Social Sciences (30%) and STEM (29%) round out the rest of the class. Professionally, 73% of the class hails from the for-profit sector. The largest segments include consulting (20%), financial services (19.6%), non-profits (12.2%), technology (8.3%), government (7.6%), and healthcare (7%).

NEW DEGREE PROGRAMS BEING LAUNCHED

The coming year will be surreal, in some ways, at Yale SOM, as Dean Ted Snyder turned his sabbatical into a retirement that takes effect in 2019. Calling his tenure a success would be an understatement – a period that has witnessed record-breaking fund-raising and scholarship support, higher student inputs and employer outputs, and new programs and resources for entrepreneurship, healthcare, and sustainability. That doesn’t even count the coronation of Evans Hall, a glass-draped architectural marvel that ranks among the top business school facilities in terms of artistry and functionality.

While Dean Snyder runs his victory lap, Yale SOM is still busy rolling out many of his initiatives, says Bruce DelMonico. That starts with the school’s new Master of Management Studies in Global Business and Society (GBS) program, which is being launched in partnership with several business schools that make up Yale SOM’s acclaimed Global Network for Advanced Management. That’s just a start.

“GBS provides participating students with the tools to thrive in global organizations,” DelMonico explains. “GBS joins our recently launched Master’s Degree in Systemic Risk, which brings mid-career central bankers to Yale SOM to learn from Timothy Geithner, Andrew Metrick, and others how best to respond to the next financial crisis. Both of these programs tap into Yale’s deep expertise and global perspective, and benefit incoming MBA students in that they broaden our already strong network in key areas and provide even greater resources that MBA students can draw from in crafting their MBA and post-MBA experiences.”

HANDS-ON LEARNING UNDERRATED PART OF THE PROGRAM

Looking ahead two years, DelMonico holds the school’s next moves close to the vest. However, he notes that his department has been tinkering with new ways to evaluate candidates, particularly in non-cognitive traits. Now, he believes the school possesses a tool to bring MBA learning to the earliest phases of the application cycle.

“We are currently looking to roll out an innovative instrument in this area that will both heighten our evaluation from an admissions perspective and also ideally connect to the student experience in the core, meaning that if things fall into place as we are hoping, members of the Classes of 2021 and 2022 will be able to begin their MBA learning during the application process, which we hope will accelerate and expand their overall MBA experience.”

What is the most underrated part of the Yale SOM experience? According to DelMonico, most applicants are aware of benefits like the program’s integrated curriculum, global perspective, and being encouraged to take classes across campus. As a result, he believes Yale SOM’s experiential opportunities can be overlooked in helping students apply theory to immediate practice.

“From the Yale Center for Customer Insights Discovery Projects to Global Social Enterprise and global social entrepreneurship consulting projects to consulting to organizations in the New Haven community,” he explains, “there are myriad opportunities to put business concepts into action. Indeed, even within the classroom, our distinctive raw case approach teaches students the skills they will need to be successful in their professional lives, more so than the traditional MBA cases that other schools teach.”

LEARNING HOW EVERY PART OF THE ORGANIZATION FUNCTIONS…TOGETHER

The raw case method, in fact, is an extension of the school’s wholisitic approach. Forget the clean and clear 5-10 page case; the one written by faculty where students must sift through pre-selected facts. Instead, cases are supplemented with original sources via URL, including expert interviews, videos, articles, financials, and graphics. Sometimes, the cases are pulled right from the headlines! Think of it as a deep dive into how issues are really researched and conclusions really made. Students must weigh different viewpoints – all from sources that can be vague, contradictory, and even unreliable at times. Instead of a snapshot, it is a revolving kaleidoscope, covering far more ground and open to wider interpretation than the traditional case.

This wider lens approach fits perfectly with Yale SOM’s integrated curriculum, which tends to focus on the whole organization – and how the individual functions impact each other depending on the variables at play. It is a difference in philosophy, Lourdes Lira Cuevas says, that pays off in the long run.

“You learn how the different functions in a business are interdependent to tackle business challenges. Since courses became multidisciplinary, they are also team-taught. This specific characteristic of Yale SOM makes me feel confident that I will be prepared to lead a business at C-level positions, as I will have “the whole picture” of how the organization works.”

GOING INTERNATIONAL WITH THE ORIGINATOR

At Francophone Africa, Elizabeth Davidson worked as a portfolio manager – when she wasn’t Mount Kilimanjaro or hanging out with gorillas, that is. Despite her quant background, she worried that she might be considered “weird” by her peers. However, the school’s mission tying business to serving society, coupled with its unique integrated structure, made her feel right at home.

“SOM focuses on holistic leadership and gives you the opportunity to take classes at any school at Yale to help round out your education. It’s not just about learning how to run a Fortune 500 company—it’s about applying business skills to become a leader in any sector you might choose or any role you might find yourself in, whether in a professional setting or otherwise.”

Yale SOM was also the first program to require an international learning experience. While the program focuses heavily on looking at the ‘whole,’ it prizes something more profound: impact. From philanthropy conferences to nonprofit leadership training to partnerships and projects, Yale SOM sets the bar in the social impact space. That’s how Chinaelo Okafor sees it. Originally an English major at NYU, Okafor quickly found her calling after seeing the profound impact that General Mills’ nonprofit, Partners in Food Solutions, made across Africa. Now, she plans to take full advantage of everything that SOM can offer in social impact.

“[It’s a mission that] can be seen in everything from classwork to club offerings to yearly fundraising to support students taking on unpaid nonprofit internships,” she observes.  “Whether it is learning how to lead a nonprofit or foundation, exposure to careers in impact investing, or social impact consulting, all with the explicit support of current students, faculty and alumni, Yale SOM has all of that and more.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

What’s ahead for the Class of 2020? Despite the varying interests and geographies inherent to the class, they are united by one thing: They are looking forward to playing hockey. “This is not a common sport in Latin America for weather reasons, Lourdes Lira Cuevas admits. “Hockey Club is a great place to make new friends while everybody learns how to ice skate and play hockey. Hockey tournaments with other business school are also a great way to meet new people and have fun.”

Gus Roman has his work cut out for him. His peers chose him to be logistics director for Yale SOM’s first-ever National Healthcare Services Case Conference. Ryan Leibowitz plans to join the Yale Nonprofit Board Fellows program, where he’ll sit on the board of a local non-profit.  Siddharth Rao, a product developer from India, is looking forward to better understanding how consumers make decisions at the Yale Center for Customer Insights. And Song Kim? Well, let’s just say there is a method behind the madness of her favorite extracurricular.

“The Food and Wine Club! Let’s be real: don’t the best ideas always come over a table with food and wine,” she jokes.

Long-term, many members of the 2020 Class already have their path laid out. Gus Roman plans to head to either New York City or Sa Francisco to lead a venture capital firm focused on improving health care. Chinaelo Okafor is weighing whether to take her talents to a “foundation, impact investing, founding a nonprofit, or engaging in corporate social responsibility at a large corporation.” If Wyatt Wolfram gets his way, life after Yale SOM is going to be the ultimate MBA dream.

“In five years, I’ll be living in a hip, coastal city in the U.S. or Europe with my wife, dog, and possibly a few kids! I’ll be running an innovative, global media company, driving the next generation of entertainment, technology, and communications. I’ll also have the time to take on leadership roles in my community, visit family, travel, get my pilot’s license, and maybe even put the band back together.”

What led these professionals to enter business schools? Which programs did they also consider? What strategies did they use to choose their MBA program? What was the major event that defined them? Find the answers to these questions and many more in the in-depth profiles of these incoming MBA candidates. 

DON’T MISS: MEET THE MBA CLASS OF 2020: PROFILES IN COURAGE

Student	Hometown	Alma Mater	Employer
Elizabeth Davidson	Richmond, VA	College of William and Mary	Kiva
Russell Halliday	Sudbury, MA	Bowdoin College	Office of Congressman James P. McGovern
Dahsong (Song) Kim	Gainesville, FL	University of Southern California	Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund
Ryan Leibowitz	Miami Beach, FL	University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)	Bain & Company
Paul Lwin	Essex, CT	U.S .Naval Academy	U.S. Navy
Lourdes Lira Cuevas	Ciudad Victoria, Mexico	Tecnologico de Monterrey	IDOM
Courtney Miller	Santa Cruz, CA	University of Southern California	Lucasfilm
Chinaelo Okafor	Brooklyn Park, MN	New York University	General Mills
Siddharth Rao	Bengaluru, India	IIT Madras	ITC Limited
Gus Roman	Randolph, NJ	University of Pennsylvania	Acsel Health
Anna Schickele	Davis, CA	Stanford University	Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
Wyatt Wolfram	Hillsdale, MA	Syracuse University	Downtown Records

Meet the Class of 2020 Series

London Business School

University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School

University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business

MIT Sloan School of Management

Columbia Business School

Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business

Yale School of Mnnagement

University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business

Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management

UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

New York University’s Stern School of Business

Emory’s Goizueta School of Business

Washington University’s Olin Business School