From the Assistant Dean for Admissions: Welcome to a Diverse and Accomplished MBA Class of 2021

August 12 marked the beginning of orientation for the Yale School of Management MBA Class of 2021. The group that arrived on campus is as diverse and accomplished as any we have welcomed to New Haven.

Among them are musicians who play instruments as varied as violin, piano, guitar, ukulele, drums, saxophone, and cello—and one who plays carillon (a bell tower instrument) and has attained professional level certification through the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. They dance—from ballet to belly to Bollywood. And they sing—a cappella, contemporary, and opera, among other genres. They are varsity athletes and captains across a range of sports, as well as marathoners, triathletes, and Tough Mudders. In addition, the Class of 2021 includes an Olympic equestrian triathlete, an Olympic skeleton/bobsledder, a professional soccer player, a national cycling champion, and a national Alpine skiing champion. No less enthusiastic are the devotees of Ultimate Frisbee, kickball, dodgeball, and roller derby.

They speak innumerable languages, from Spanish to French to Arabic to Mandarin to Hindi to Estonian to Zulu and beyond. Their activities include oil painting, beekeeping, making homemade pasta, micro brewing, creating pencil portraits, fly fishing, boxing, salsa dancing, trail running, writing spoken work poetry, cliff jumping, making the perfect guacamole, crafting ceramics, rock climbing, hip-hop dancing, backcountry skiing, lucid dreaming, open-water swimming, Japanese woodworking, power lifting, practicing yoga, practicing jiu-jitsu, collecting spoons, creating Chinese calligraphy, sky diving, watching sci-fi movies, “watching food shows (but never cooking),” and dolphin training. One is the lead singer of a band named Foggy Dream, another authored and illustrated a published book of poetry and paintings, another is a charity male pageant winner, and yet another is a self-described “hot shot for rhyming on the spot.”

By the numbers, 44% of the Class of 2021 holds passports from a country other than the United States, with 47 different countries represented overall. Women make up 42% of the class, and U.S. students of color 29%; 13% are underrepresented U.S. students of color. The average GMAT for the class is 721, and the average GPA is 3.64 on a four-point U.S. scale. Students come from a range of academic institutions (186 different schools are represented) and backgrounds, from engineering to the arts. Forty-one are first generation to college, while 62 have earned a previous graduate degree. They’ve received various academic awards and honors, from magna and summa cum laude to Phi Beta Kappa to Fulbright Fellowships and Gates Millennium Scholarships.

Their professional credentials are equally diverse and impressive, covering all sectors and a range of industries, including positions at large financial firms such as Barclays, J.P. Morgan, and Goldman Sachs; major consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, and Deloitte (the most common pre-MBA employer); and a host of other employers such as Apple, General Motors, Unilever, Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the UN World Food Program, the Federal Reserve Bank, and many others. The class also includes members of all branches of the United States military.

What brings these incredibly diverse members of the Yale SOM Class of 2021 together is their aspiration to fulfill the school’s mission of educating leaders for business and society. We are excited for them to begin this journey!