MBA Class Of 2023: Yale SOM Apps Up 12% & GMAT Jumps 6 Points

Yale’s MBA Class of 2023 

What does it mean for an MBA program when applications increase by 12%, admits decrease by 11%, and class size remains the same? For Yale School of Management, it means a class profile to boast about — for many reasons.

Applications to Yale SOM’s MBA Class of 2023 grew for the second straight year, to 3,877 from 3,453, and the school reduced its admits by more than 100 while keeping class size the same. The result was a 20% drop in acceptance rate, to 24%; growth in yield to 38% from 34%; and marked year-over-year improvement on key metrics: average test scores climbed, and more women, minorities, and internationals enrolled in the program.

“What brings these incredibly diverse members of the Yale SOM Class of 2023 together is their aspiration to embody the school’s mission of educating leaders for business and society,” says Bruce DelMonico, assistant dean for admissions, in a blog post announcing Yale’s new MBA class. “We are so excited for them to begin this journey!”

RISING APPS LIFT ALL STATS

Applications were up 12% in 2020-2021, and are now up 21% in the last two cycles since Yale responded to the coronavirus pandemic with a month-long extension to round three in March and April 2020. But apps were so far down the two previous cycles that they have not yet regained their level in 2016-2017, when they exceeded 4,000.

Not to belabor the point, but with an app increase come better stats, generally speaking, and that's certainly the case for Yale this fall: average GMAT jumped 6 points, to 726, better than Dartmouth Tuck and equal to UC-Berkeley Haas; average combined Graduate Record Exam score improved 2 points, to 130, with both Verbal and Quant gaining 1 point; and more women enrolled: 43%, up from 39% and back to the level reached by the program each year from 2016 to 2018.

Internationals also gained, to 44% from 40%, though the number of countries represented in the class dropped to 38 from 46, and under-represented minorities saw a big leap to 20% from 11%.

Delmonico continues: "Forty-nine percent of the U.S. students are students of color, and 20% are under-represented U.S. students of color. The average GMAT for the class is 726 (the average GRE is 165Q/165V), and the average GPA is 3.66 on a four-point U.S. scale. Students come from a range of academic institutions (176 different schools are represented) and backgrounds, from engineering to the arts. Nine percent are first-generation college graduates, while 14% have earned a previous graduate degree. Another 9% are pursuing a joint degree here at Yale at one of eight other Yale schools. They’ve received various academic awards and honors, from summa cum laude to Phi Beta Kappa to Fulbright Fellowships and Gates Millennium Scholarships."

'DIVERSE & IMPRESSIVE'

Yale's application volume is around the size of UC-Berkeley's, but Yale admits over 200 more and seats around 60 more each year. Yale's proportion of women is greater than Columbia Business School's and Berkeley's but lower than Michigan Ross's and Duke Fuqua's. At 44% international, Yale trails only Columbia in the top 10 ranked U.S. schools.

As DelMonico says, their professional credentials "are equally diverse and impressive, covering all sectors and a range of industries and companies. Seventy-five percent of the class comes from the private sector, while 25% comes from the nonprofit and public sectors. Employers range from Abt Associates to ZS Associates.

"In all, more than 200 different employers are represented, including Bain, Alibaba, Intel, Cemex, American Enterprise Institute, Shell, Schlumberger, LVMH, General Motors, Goldman Sachs, Museum of Modern Art, Deloitte, International Finance Corporation, Unilever, Acumen Fund, McKinsey, Hong Kong Monetary Authority, JP Morgan, Baku Stock Exchange, United Airlines, Uncommon Schools, and the Walt Disney Company. The class includes veterans from all branches of the United States military, as well as a record number of Silver Scholars."

Source: Yale SOM

Questions about this article? Email us or leave a comment below.