Meet Yale SOM’s MBA Class Of 2024

P&Q: What have MBAs told you is the most memorable, signature experience they’ve had in your program? Why did it resonate so much with them?

DelMonico: “There are lots of very memorable academic experiences, such as the stock market game with Roger Ibbotson and Zoe Chance’s “Bigger and Better” challenge. But I think many of the memorable experiences at Yale SOM – and likely at other MBA programs as well – happen outside the classroom. Two experiences that I hear mentioned frequently are SOM Voices and the International Experience trips. Voices is a beloved weekly tradition where a handful of students share something meaningful, and often very personal, about themselves. And the International Experience trips are 10-day trips that students take to different countries around the world, led by a faculty member who is very familiar with that region. The trips include visits with key corporate, government, and non-profit leaders, and are often among the highlights of students’ experiences at Yale. They are one of our many Global Studies opportunities, all of which are very highly-rated.”

P&Q: How does the MBA program leverage the resources of the large university? How does that create more opportunities for your students?

DelMonico: “Yale works very hard to make the entire University navigable and accessible. We very much say that when you come to Yale SOM, you come to Yale. One example that people tend to know is that MBA students can take electives anywhere at the University without limit. So the Law School, Environment School, Drama School, Public Health, Yale College, you name it – all schools are open to SOM students. This interconnectivity applies outside the classroom as well, to initiatives such as Tsai CITY and the Schwarzman Center. And there are many ways in which Yale SOM students are connected to the New Haven community as well – the “Making a Difference” blog does a nice job capturing the scope of student volunteering.”

P&Q: Where are some of your students’ favorite hang-outs? What do they do and why do they gravitate there?

DelMonico: “It’s well known that New Haven is a bustling, culturally rich city with a foodie’s pick of restaurants. What not everyone may realize is that it’s nestled within a state where spending time in nature is an everyday pleasure. There are even several hiking areas within the metropolitan area, including East Rock Park, West Rock, and Lake Wintergreen. The city has numerous beautifully landscaped parks, including Edgerton Park, a 25-acre conservancy featuring events like Shakespeare in the Park, a folk festival, and a Winter Solstice Luminary Walk. Organized kickball and soccer games can be found throughout the city parks. For the dog-lovers among SOM students, there are off-leash hiking trails, dog parks, doggie daycares, and entire neighborhoods where canine friends can get fresh air, exercise, and make new friends.”

5 REASONS TO CONSIDER YALE SOM

1) International Experience: “I believe it’s extremely important for a business leader to have international exposure to be able to adapt to the cultural and geopolitical environment of potential business locations; and this is especially true in the field of sustainability and clean energy.”
Danning Gu (’24)

“SOM’s curriculum has a requirement for global study. This may be satisfied in several ways, including a consulting project with entrepreneurs abroad and visits to business centers in other countries. Working with people from different backgrounds and contexts is critical to effective solutioning.”
Sofia John (’24)

2) Cross-Curricular: Yale is so much more than the sum of its parts. The interdisciplinary collaboration occurring at Yale SOM with other graduate schools is what makes this program so special. I was attracted to SOM because its program is consistently breaking down barriers to allow students to fully explore their scholarly interests so that we are best equipped to solve the world’s most pressing challenges.

I feel honored and privileged to sit in cohorts that are enriched by the presence of intellectually curious joint-degree MD/MBA, JD/MBA, MFA/MBA, and MEM/MBA colleagues. Interacting daily with this caliber of diversity has broadened my perspective, and I look forward to learning more from the diverse experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds of my colleagues. I also am excited to take elective courses at Yale Law School and the Yale School of Public Health in the near future to further explore my own academic interests.”
Hana Ezaldein (’24)

3) Tsai Center: “As a budding entrepreneur, I am excited to immerse myself in the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) and collaborate with innovators from across Yale’s campus to create impactful solutions to challenging problems. At Tsai City, I hope to engage with mentors, learn from founders, and compete in competitions like the Yale Innovators Prize.”
Hana Ezaldein (’24)

4) School Mission: “I think the component of SOM’s mission of having a positive impact in society is a key reason of I why I decided to attend Yale. The school has several classes that consider the societal aspect of business (eg., “State and Society,” “The Global Macro Economy”) and has several events and clubs related to NGOs, impact investing, and social enterprises. In the few weeks since I arrived to campus, I have attested that most of my classmates also decided to choose SOM because they want to make a beneficial contribution to society in one way or another.”
Julian Fuentes-Loza (’24)   

5) Voices: My favorite MBA tradition at Yale SOM has been Voices. Voices is a weekly platform for SOM students and faculty to speak to an audience about anything and provide individuals a safe space to discuss life experiences that are relevant to their way of thinking. For me, it was a cathartic experience to speak about my family, my previous job, and other matters that shaped the woman I am. As an audience member, it helped me better understand my fellow classmates and why they are passionate about their opinions. At Yale SOM, we are a strongly opinionated community, but spaces like Voices allow us to break down walls with our classmates to learn why those opinions exist and gain empathy for each other.”
Elizabeth Varughese (’22)

ADVICE TO PROSPECTIVE APPLICANTS

“Be intentional in connecting and collaborating with individuals you normally would not have the opportunity to. The MBA classroom is notably a place for diverse discussion and I have found the disagreements to be especially enriching and refreshing. If you limit yourself by only engaging with individuals who come from a similar background and share in your perspective, you are not taking full advantage of the MBA program. I recommend going to as many affinity club, speaker, and networking events as possible so that you gain exposure to the variety of nationalities, industries and perspectives reflected in the SOM community.”
Hana Ezaldein  (’24)

“I was very intentional in understanding the core mission of the school I chose, so I took special care to highlight aspects of my journey and career that aligned with the school’s core mission. I also spoke in very specific terms about the goals I wanted to accomplish with the degree and how those goals aligned with the school’s mission and specific offerings. I would highly encourage specificity in putting together application.”
Kelechi Umoga (’22)

“I relied on a variety of professional and personal connections for feedback. In diversifying my feedback sources, I gained clarity on how other people perceived my strengths and weaknesses in different contexts. Streamlining the feedback to define myself and my applications was an introspective process that forced me to think about what I genuinely had to offer and gain from the schools I applied to.

Specifically with SOM, the best advice I received was on the challenging essay prompt: “What is your biggest commitment and why?”. I had to explain how you have defined and honored that commitment up to this point, how you will continue that commitment during your time at SOM, and how you envision carrying it forward post-MBA.”
Alice Yuan (’22)

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergrad Alma Mater	Last Employer
Amogh Bachchan Singh	Lucknow, India	VIT Vellore	Siemens
Joe Calafiore	West Hartford, CT	Georgetown University	Hartford Athletic
Hana Ezaldein	Fort Lauderdale, FL	University of Florida	IBM
Julian Fuentes-Loza	Mexico City, Mexico	National University of Mexico (UNAM)	IQVIA
Danning Gu	Tangshan, China	National University of Singapore	Deloitte Consulting
Sofia John	Los Angeles, CA	Yale College	EY-Parethenon
Natnicha Laodara	Bangkok, Thailand	Chulalongkorn University	Shopee
Alvaro Morales	Huancayo, Peru	Amherst College	VR/AR Producer
Ali Nourang Syed	Lahore, Pakistan	Georgia Tech	Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan
Ryan Weathers	Pine Bush, NY	Binghamton University	KPMG
Katya Wendt	Rochester, MN	St. Olaf College	Amazon
Eunjee Koh	Atlanta, GA	Emory University	U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)