SOM Leads in Enrollment of Women MBA Students

New Haven, Conn., October 13, 2006—The Yale School of Management has the highest percentage of women MBAs enrolled for 2006 among leading business schools according to a census released by the Forté Foundation. Women make up 38 percent of SOM’s Class of 2008.

The Forté Foundation is a consortium of top U.S. and European business schools, major corporations, and nonprofits that is dedicated to encouraging women to pursue leadership roles in business. It conducted the census of female enrollment among its 27 member schools, which include Harvard Business School, Wharton, Columbia, Chicago, MIT, and Tuck.

“SOM has made tremendous strides in recruiting women, so this is a wonderful affirmation of that effort,” said Joel M. Podolny, Dean of the Yale School of Management. “The news of having the highest female enrollment among our peers comes within the same week that alumna Indra Nooyi ’80, CEO of PepsiCo, was named the most powerful woman in business by Fortune magazine. This is a banner time for the women leaders of SOM, both past and present.”

Wharton follows SOM with the second highest percentage of women at 36 percent. Overall, the Forté Foundation analysis found significant gains in the number of women entering MBA programs, with nearly two thirds of member schools reporting gains in the last year.