Meet the MBA Class of 2027
Learn about the newest students in Yale SOM’s MBA program from Bruce DelMonico, assistant dean for admissions.
With an autumn chill in the air and the application season in full swing, I want to take a moment to look back at the wonderful students who have completed their admissions journey and begun their MBA studies here at Yale SOM. We were thrilled to welcome the 367 members of the Yale SOM MBA Class of 2027 to New Haven a few weeks ago. The Class of 2027 began Orientation on August 11 and classes on August 25.
The Class of 2027 is truly global in nature, representing 47 different countries including Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Turkmenistan, the UK, and Vietnam. Members of the class speak a range of languages including German, Italian, Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese, Spanish, Hungarian, Korean, Cantonese, Arabic, Portuguese, Igbo, Hebrew, Urdu, French, Turkish, Russian, Azeri, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.
This group is a musical one—class members play the saxophone, piano, cello, guitar, violin, drums, flute, and recorder. Many others are interested in singing, listening to and creating music, and various forms of dance. One student is a national champion in ballroom dancing; another is an acrobat for their dance crew; and another performs in rock cover bands. One student was an extra on the TV show Reservation Dogs (Season 3, Episode 1). Students enjoy consuming media as well: one student hosts reality TV watch parties and another is a podcast enthusiast with over 300 listening hours per year!
The members of this class are also extremely active, with the majority listing one or more sports on their résumés, including everything from rowing to scuba diving, powerlifting to unicycling. One of them is a U.S. Intercollegiate Boxing Association team national champion, and another has won multiple medals from the U.S. Dressage Federation. Another student trains several times per week to compete in regional table tennis competitions. And some are still working at their athletic pursuits, with one student noting aspirations to be a scratch golfer.
This group is also adventurous. The class includes a number of runners who have finished half-, full, and ultramarathons. One student even finished the 72-kilometer Khardung La Challenge—the world’s highest ultramarathon by altitude—in the Himalayan mountains. Some students have attained master scuba diver certification (which, I learned, requires more than 70 dives!), while others are certified ski instructors and pilots. One student went spelunking in a Mayan cave, while another has hiked 22 mountains in New Hampshire with her triplet sisters.
Their hobbies include beekeeping, baking, bartending, and pottery. Many play chess. There are blacksmiths and personal trainers, fly fishers and jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts. One class member is certified in psychological hypnosis, while another is a trained barista. One student is the founder of a murder mystery club. One member of the class founded an English school for Iraqi orphans. One was a Miss Universe Mexico contestant. One student cooks Portuguese-Indian food, and another organizes local pizza crawls (making New Haven an ideal place to study!). One student runs their own small baking business, specializing in ube cheesecake. Many students operate their own food-related social media accounts, with some racking up over 100,000 views on their posts. Students sit on many nonprofit boards. Back in college, they wrote for their college newspapers, served on student government, and spoke at commencement ceremonies. One student has been to 30 countries across six continents! Another notes being skilled at identifying ancient Chinese roads and castles. The list goes on.
By the numbers, 41% of the Class of 2027 are international students. Women make up 44% of the class. Fifty-six percent of the U.S. students are students of color, and 15% are underrepresented U.S. students of color. The median GMAT score for the class is 740 and the median GMAT Focus Edition score is 675. (The median GRE score is 166Q/163V.) The median GPA is 3.69 on a four-point U.S. scale. Students come from 208 different academic institutions, having pursued degrees in subjects from engineering to the arts. First-generation college graduates comprise 17% of the class, while 17% have earned a previous graduate degree. Thirty-five are members of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, and nine are members of the QuestBridge Graduate Match program. They’ve received various academic awards and honors, including summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa designations and Fulbright Fellowships and other prominent scholarships.
Their professional credentials are equally diverse and impressive, covering all sectors and a range of industries and companies. Among the incoming class, 80% of students come from the private sector, while 20% come from the nonprofit and public sectors. They have worked at organizations from the Africa Finance Corporation to the consulting firm ZS Associates. In all, more than 274 different employers are represented, including Amazon, BlackRock, Bain and Company, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Citigroup, the International Finance Corporation, JPMorgan Chase, NBC Universal & Catchlight Studios, Pfizer, Teach for India, Restaurant Brands International, Salesforce, Tencent, Hershey, Google, Goldman Sachs, Uber, World Wrestling Entertainment, Zeta Charter Schools, and the World Bank. The most common employers are the U.S. military, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PwC. The class includes 19 U.S. military veterans, as well as 24 Silver Scholars.
But what brings these incredibly diverse members of the Yale SOM Class of 2027 together is their aspiration to embody the school’s mission of educating leaders for business and society. We are so excited for them to begin this journey!
