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To the Poets and the Ladies

Cross-posted from MIT Sloan's Admissions Blog, where I will be writing about my experience in the MBA admissions process (painful!) and my first semester as an MBA student (glorious!).

This post goes out the poets, the ladies, and anyone from a non-business background who shudders at the world “derivative.”  Hear ye, hear ye: You are my people!
My name is Caroline Mauldin, and I am a first year MBA candidate at MIT Sloan School of Management.  I have never worked in finance, or commercial real estate, or energy, or management consulting.  Until recently, I thought PE was an acronym for that treacherous elementary school class in which we had to run a mile and do push-ups in front of our pre-adolescent classmates (physical education, also not my thing).  Turns out it stands for Private Equity.  Right!
Though originally from South Carolina, there’s something about Boston that keeps pulling me back.  I received my Bachelor’s degree from Tufts University, later worked at a Boston-based nonprofit, and now am thrilled to call Cambridge home.   I spent the last five years living and working in Washington, DC, most recently at the U.S. Department of State, where I was an advisor and speechwriter.   Before that, I worked in communications for Accion, a global leader in microfinance.
In the extraordinary ecosystem that is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I am what they call a poet (vice a “quant”).  And here’s what I’ve learned in my first two weeks here: MIT loves poets!  
Why would a Southern wordsmith with international inclinations slog through statistics and econ for two years?  Two answers: First, business makes the world go round.  From Bhutan to Botswana to Boston, social progress is the shiny result of smart management decisions.  B-school will sharpen the skills I’ve gained in policy and public service, and make me a more impactful manager and implementer.
Second—and this is for the ladies out there—business needs women!  I’m serious y’all.  Go watchSheryl Sandberg’s TEDtalk or read Anne-Marie Slaughter’s Atlantic cover story,Why Women Still Can’t Have It All.  Regardless of your feelings towards either treatise, the reality that they are describing is the same: our society is not advancing enough women leaders.  I’m proud to be a Forte Fellow at Sloan, and I hope sharing my experience inspires more women candidates to take on the application process, MIT Sloan, and the world of opportunity that lies ahead.
With that, more soon!
Warmly,
Caroline
@onwardcaro 


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