Meet the GBS Class of 2025
Learn about the newest members in Yale SOM’s Master’s Degree in Global Business and Society program from Kate Navarro, director of admissions for management master’s programs.
This year, we welcome 73 students in the Master’s Degree in Global Business and Society Class of 2025 at Yale SOM. GBS students spend a year taking advanced coursework at Yale after completing an master in management (MIM) degree at a top global business school.
Students in this year’s GBS class come from 11 schools. They hold citizenships in 24 countries and speak 23 languages, with all students speaking two or more languages and one student speaking six languages. Of the incoming class, 72 students hold a passport from a country outside of the U.S. The class is 55% women with an average age of 24.
The GBS program is designed to prepare early-career students (those with less than three years of work experience) for global careers. During their year at Yale, each cohort takes a required class with a focus on exploring business and government after communism and rethinking business’s relationships with government and society. Students then choose from a slate of advanced management electives created specifically for the GBS program; to customize the remainder of their curriculum, they select electives from across SOM and the broader university.
Students in the incoming GBS class come from a variety of professions. Some have started their own businesses in hospitality, with one student managing a chain of six delis across Hong Kong and another starting six restaurant businesses across two continents. The class also includes the cofounders of a real estate rental service, an AI data analytics company, and an NGO for the development of youth and women in Kenya. Former employers include McKinsey & Company, Amazon, Bain & Company, Rolex SA, CICC, Chanel, Boston Consulting Group, KPMG, PayPal, Procter & Gamble, LVMH, the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs, PwC, and many more.
At previous academic institutions, students have studied a variety of topics including mathematics, engineering, business, economics, technology, languages, and media and culture. In addition to their master in management degree, five students hold additional master’s degrees in chemistry, economics, AI, and business. They’ve received various academic awards and national scholarships, and many have graduated summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or with first class honors and dean’s list designations.
Many students have participated in debate clubs and Model UN teams. They’ve held leadership positions in clubs devoted to basketball, women’s rugby, stock trading, finance, refugee assistance, and African culture. Students have also volunteered as tutors, organized activities for refugee children, constructed charcoal water filtration systems in remote Cambodian and Vietnamese villages, cooked for the underprivileged in their local communities, and organized educational conferences for high schoolers in central and eastern Europe.
Their hobbies include painting, baking, photography, and reading. They enjoy many sports, including basketball, tennis, swimming, skiing, ice-skating, and soccer. One student is a five-time regional fencing champion in Poland and the UK, while another has been practicing martial arts for a decade. The new class is also very musically inclined, with over ten students who play piano and many others who play violin, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. Many students enjoy choir singing and dancing.
We are thrilled to have this talented and diverse group of students join our community at Yale SOM. Welcome to the GBS Class of 2025!
