One Student’s HBS Journey
Wallace
Photo by Susan Young
Christina Wallace (MBA ’10) applied to business schools knowing that the best financial aid offer would determine where she earned an MBA. Her job as a rehearsal associate at the Metropolitan Opera came with many benefits, but a large paycheck was not among them. When Wallace received HBS’s acceptance letter, her excitement was tempered by the realization that she might not be able to afford to attend.
“Imagine my surprise when I discovered that HBS was not only the best school but also offered the best financial aid,” said Wallace, who spoke at the April 14 fellowship dinner, an annual event that brings fellowship recipients together with their benefactors. This year close to 600 students and donors spent the evening in Shad Hall, getting to know each other; exchanging stories and business cards; and hearing from Dean Jay Light, Senior Associate Dean for External Relations Nabil El-Hage, and Wallace.
A Michigan native, Wallace described being raised by her grandmother, a woman who believed in her and made many sacrifices for her granddaughter’s education and music training. “She bought my concert attire and made sure it was clean and pressed for every performance, even though she wore the same black skirt for over a decade,” Wallace recalled.
Similarly, she added, “two years ago someone in the Admissions Office saw potential in me,” despite her untraditional background as a performer and arts administrator. “This has been an experience beyond anything I could have dreamed of,” said Wallace of her time at HBS, during which she cochaired this year’s Social Enterprise Conference and the Democrats Club, participated in the 2009 New Orleans service immersion, and acted and played cello in the HBS Show.
Wallace, a math and theater major at Emory, counts among her interests choral conducting, prime numbers, carpentry, writing, and yoga. She spent the January Term backpacking around Africa by herself before joining the HBS Outdoors Club to scale Mt. Kilimanjaro. In a regular Harbus column, titled “Emerging from the Bubble,” she has written about making the transition from HBS back to the real world, encouraging classmates to regularly reflect on their choices and continually examine their priorities.
In the fall, Wallace will join Boston Consulting Group’s Washington, D.C., office. “Thanks to this fellowship program, my loan burden won’t be crippling,” said Wallace, who estimated that the value of fellowship support she has received since attending boarding school exceeds $400,000. “Maybe I’ll be lucky enough to give that amount in cash someday,” she concluded. “But even if I can’t, I can certainly use my time and skills to invest that much in other students.”
