Happy National Student Parent Month! This month, the Office of Graduate Education is featuring one graduate student parent per week, highlighting their academic work and parenting journey at MIT. Please check back weekly for more student parent features!
Elizabeth Doherty
Family: Husband, Taylor, daughter Piper (2.5 years), and son Cameron (2 months)
Degree program: Sloan MBA
Years at MIT: Entering 1st year
Elizabeth Doherty is brand new to MIT and is excited to join both her MBA cohort and the MIT student families community! As a parent to two young children, she did significant research when selecting an MBA program, and she was impressed by MIT’s support and resources for student families. Last month, Elizabeth’s family of four moved into an MIT graduate family residence, and her children began daycare at one of the on-campus childcare centers.
A career change
Elizabeth began her career as a lower elementary school teacher, working in both public and private schools, in California, New York, and Boston. In 2022, she decided to switch gears and took a job as a Senior Digital Learning Specialist at Bain & Company. In this role she recognized the importance of company culture and gained business experience, which led her to pursue a Master’s in Business Administration.
“Being a student at MIT Sloan will open so many doors for me career-wise, and I can’t wait to be a role model for my daughter as a working mother,” Elizabeth says.
When she completes her program, Elizabeth intends to use her education and business experiences to create inclusive workplaces and positive company culture working in the Human Resources space. For now, she’s excited about the opportunity to raise her kids on MIT’s campus.
Joining the MIT Families community
The east coast has many compelling MBA programs, but for Elizabeth, MIT’s resources for student families stood out. She shared that family support was the most important factor when deciding on a Master’s program. Even though she and her family lived close by in Boston’s South End neighborhood, they decided to move into campus family housing in Cambridge for the full graduate school experience. Now the family enjoys the convenience of living next door to campus childcare, close proximity to classes, and becoming neighbors with other student families. Elizabeth felt affirmed in her decision to attend MIT when she enrolled and the Sloan school reached out with a welcoming note and a gift. “It highlighted how thoughtful MIT has been about creating a strong infrastructure for student parents,” she said.
During the summer before starting her program, Elizabeth connected with other “Boston admits” over WhatsApp, and was able to make it to some meet-ups. This fall, she looks forward to connecting with more student families on campus and enrolling her kids in swim lessons at the MIT pool.
When asked what she hopes her children gain from MIT, Elizabeth said, “I hope they see that anyone can go back to school!”
For more information on MIT’s support for students with children, please visit the MIT Families website or contact gradfamilies@mit.edu.
Photos by Corban Swain.
