Meet Jolene Monson
Jolene Monson, deputy director of admissions, is the newest member of the MBA Admissions team.
In rural Idaho, where I grew up, there weren’t exactly a lot of opportunities to meet people who came from different backgrounds. And attending school in one of the lowest-funded school districts in the country didn’t allow me a lot of opportunity to take elective classes. I wasn’t able to start learning a foreign language in the classroom until the age of 16.
All that to say: learning three languages and traveling the world wasn’t part of the original plan. But it was the original dream. I got very lucky, actually, and I’ve had opportunities in life that would have seemed completely unreachable to my 16-year-old self. I arranged ways to study abroad in France and Egypt in college, and I loved it. My classmates in the study abroad programs came from across the country, from Ivy League colleges to small public universities. And, of course, I had classes with students from all over the world, too.
I loved living in a global-minded environment with diverse people around me. And I got to continue that experience when I completed a graduate degree in Germany and lived as an expat for almost 10 years. During that time, I entered the world of international education, helping more people travel, integrate, and broaden their global perspective. I worked for the MBA program at ESMT Berlin, an active member of the Global Network for Advanced Management.
Returning to the U.S. and joining the MIT Sloan admissions team, I’ve remained in education, seeking out institutions that have a commitment to global mindsets and diverse experiences—that’s what drew me to Yale SOM. I wanted to work in a place that sees the value and responsibility of business leadership. I want to help people experience that transformative environment where you become close to others by exploring differences, not just by agreeing with similarities.
As deputy director of admissions overseeing operations and yield, I will be working on our internal databases and helping to make the application process as smooth as possible for all our applicants. I’ll also be helping our senior associate director plan events to welcome newly admitted students. I look forward to meeting current and prospective students and becoming even more a part of the Yale SOM community!