Home Region

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Munich, Germany

Undergrad Education

Undergrad Education

University of Tubingen, Art History and Anthropology, 2011; Business Administration, 2009; Ecole de Management Strasbourg and University of Tubingen, International Management/Banking and Finance, 2011

Previous Experience

Previous Experience

Simon-Kucher & Partners

“HBS has broadened my horizons more than I had anticipated.”

Carolin Oldenbuettel has deep interests in art and languages, but has focused her career aspirations on business. “Business administration is a very international skill,” she says, “and I’ve always wanted to work internationally.”

Drawn to consulting for its “diverse set of skills,” Carolin worked for more than three years with Simon-Kucher & Partners. “I did projects across Europe: food, telecommunications, manufacturing, a fashion project in France, a banking project in Switzerland.”

Next stop? The United States. “My uncle and step-uncle got their MBAs in the U.S.,” Carolin says. “It’s always been my childhood dream.”

Developing new interests

HBS struck Carolin as a “great place” to get her MBA for three reasons: “You learn from the best professors. The diversity, in nationalities and backgrounds of the student body. And for its general management perspective.”

“Everyone has something super-interesting about them,” says Carolin. “HBS has broadened my horizons more than I anticipated. I had never been exposed to anyone doing VC or PE before. And I’ve developed a new interest in technology.”

Last summer, Carolin opted for a change of pace by interning with BMW in Munich. “I worked on a project to optimize the target costing management system, aligning new car models to feasible costs,” she says. “What I like about the auto industry is that they’re more and more influenced by tech—self-driving cars, for example.”

Now completing her EC year, Carolin is considering a career in consulting, “but I want to see how it works out.” After graduation, she will join Bain & Co. in Boston. “I’ll start as a generalist, but there’s a high probability of conducting due diligence for PE clients and getting projects in tech.”

In the meantime, she has not abandoned her interest in art. Carolin plans to serve on the Museum of Fine Art’s Museum Council, a membership group of young supporters between the ages of 21 and 49. “Business and art have always been parallel interests,” she says. “I hope to combine them at some point.”