Krista Despotovic-Jacobson, M.A.

Like all of the McMillan Education team, Krista’s knowledge of education and, by extension, the admission process is informed by her student-centered experience teaching high school and middle school-level students. Beginning her career at Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich, Connecticut, Krista taught Spanish and history for eight years. She then started what would become her permanent international post in Zurich, Switzerland, where she continued to teach history and Spanish and took on the role of University and Career Counselor at the Zurich International School. After close to a decade in Zurich, Krista moved to the International School of Geneva (Ecole Internationale, birthplace of the IB), where she was the school’s University Counselor and a Class Dean, and continued to teach a wide variety of courses in the International Baccalaureate program. In addition to her impressive educational career, Krista has been a reader for the admission department of the University of California Los Angeles and is Head of Brown University Alumni Interviewing in Switzerland.

A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Krista attended The Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts. She then earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island and master’s degree in Spanish from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. In addition to her native English, Krista speaks French, German, Spanish, and Swedish fluently.

Krista lives outside of Geneva, Switzerland with her husband Milan, a native of Switzerland. She travels frequently to the U.S. to see McMillan Education families, as well as her own family and friends. Her daughter, a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, is a nurse at a local Boston hospital and her son is an officer in the Swiss Army Special Forces. Krista loves to spend time with her family in the beautiful Swiss Alps. She also loves to sing and eat lobster in all its forms.