Rachel MacLean ’25 MBA

Finding focus and purpose 

“I had major imposter syndrome.”

Rachel McLean, ’25 Evening & Weekend MBA, wasn’t sure she should be at Kellogg. She wasn’t even sure she should pursue an MBA.  

Rachel studied English and history in undergrad then started her career in museums and nonprofits. When she decided to go back to school, she toyed around with a few ideas for graduate programs, including a PhD in history and a Masters of Library Science. It was only after she attended a Kellogg Preview Day that she could picture herself at Kellogg.

“It really opened my eyes to how an MBA could fit into my life,” Rachel says. “I had all of these ideas and all of these goals I wanted to accomplish with my life and ways that I wanted to see the world change, and I wanted to make progress toward that.”

But even after her acceptance into the Evening & Weekend MBA program, Rachel still felt the impostor syndrome. It lasted until an in-class exercise asked each student to explain what they were at Kellogg to accomplish. 

“I said a lot of what I thought people wanted to hear, but I felt dissatisfied afterwards,” she recalls. “Finally, I was like, guys, I'm just going to talk about this uncertainty I’m feeling, how the major changes in my life left me feeling unsure of where I was heading, but also that I liked myself more because of it.”

Facing her uncertainty and being met with openness and reception from her classmates helped change the way Rachel thought about herself and her Kellogg experience. “I have my classmates to thank for making me feel so embraced, like this was a safe place to try on that kind of vulnerability.”

As a current student, Rachel centers a good amount of her studies around the Social Impact Pathway, which is a series of courses students can opt into that focus on different elements of social impact in business. She also served as the VP of Operations for the Social Impact Club.

“Impact has a broad application, and it can be done across any industry,” Rachel says, recalling what she learned from Professors Megan Kashner and Richard Jolly about impact outside of the non-profit space. “It doesn’t have to be a 501(c)(3). In the Power and Organizations class, we talked about ethical power, how to use your power for good and what it means to have [it].”  

Rachel has spent a good portion of her time at Kellogg figuring out what kind of impact she’d like to make, aided not only by pathways and clubs, but also by the Kellogg Leadership Journey.  

“It’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve done at Kellogg,” she says of the optional program specifically for Evening & Weekend MBA students. “I measure every opportunity against what I’ve learned in the Kellogg Leadership Journey and ask myself, ‘Is this supporting what I know about myself? Is this supporting who I am? What kind of impact do I want to make on the world.’”

As she nears the end of her MBA program, Rachel would eventually like to go back to non-profits, especially museums, but she’s also reaping the benefits of her MBA training in her current position at McMaster-Carr Supply Company as a purchaser and product line developer.  

She encourages prospective Kellogg students who might be struggling with the anxiety and imposter syndrome she faced to acknowledge what they’re feeling and leverage it in their favor.

“Don’t be afraid to be vulnerable in your application process,” Rachel advises. “That’s something that’s really celebrated here. It’s much more about being willing to accept that you’re not a super polished version of yourself – nobody is – and that you are trying to do better and help everybody grow as a team every day.”