Here at the GSB, its pretty laid back, though there are people who seem to spend with a little less care than others. No one drives around in a Cayenne with Veuve, and although I have a bottle in my fridge, I'm saving that for when I get my internship. Special occasion and all.

I really haven't seen much flaunting of cash - not even from the ex-bankers or people who I know have lots and lots of money. Pretty much everyone lives in a reasonable 1bd, and the few people who you know have a lot more $$ don't seem to make a point of showing it off. The only differentiator I've seen is that some people don't seem to mind going out to a $50 / person dinner followed by a night of drinks at the clubs for another $75 -- they seem to spend with a little less care than some others. I imagine that will come back to bite them...

As to how much you need for recruiting, I'd say it depends on what you need - if you have suits and ties and all that, great. If they suck, consider blowing some cash on some new ones. If you are recruiting for banking, it'll have to be a good suit. If you aren't, you can probably get away with something cheaper. No matter what, have it tailored. I saw a kid at the GSB the other day with a suit that was easily twice as big as necessary. It was nice, but the sleeves, when he put his hands down, covered his knuckles. It looked ridiculous. Anyway enough about that. Keep in mind that there are other costs too -- say for instance you want to do high tech and want to go visit silicon valley. Most schools organize a trip that you can go on, but it'll cost you to go. The GSB for instance has various such trips -- bank week, high tech week "west quest", etc.. I don't know exactly how much each costs (I didnt go on them), but you should probably expect that you will need to spend about $1,000 to go on something like that. Its not mandatory, but depending on what you want to do, it can be important. The GSB also had a trip to London for banking stuff. Going to both the London bank event and the NY bank events probably cost upwards of $2,000.

As for other recruiting expenses, there aren't a whole lot. Flying around to second rounds is almost always covered by the firm. So are hotels, and food while you are there. All dinners are always paid for. You might have to budget a little for some cabs during recruiting season, but its not going to be a whole lot. As for other expenses, the thing that I didn't consider (and should have) was the cost of trips like a ski trip with the ski club, a weekend away with friends, spring break, pre-term trips (which I highly recommend if your school does it)

To give you an idea, here's roughly my breakdown of expenses, excluding rent and utilities for last quarter:

Trip to Galapagos for pre-term: $2000
Ski Trip, New Boots, tickets, etc: $2,500
Trip to the Bahamas with friends: $400

These three trips were totally discretionary, but all of them were worthwhile. I took the trip to the Galapagos with 13 other people and had a blast. They are all very close friends now. The ski trip was a ton of fun as well, and the cost of the trip includes some new custom fitted boots, which admittedly were a bit of a splurge. The trip to the bahamas was a reward over thanksgiving break for having bust my butt recruiting all quarter. Although I didn't go on the bank week trips, or the trip to silicon valley, or the trip to London and such, I'd expect that my expenses weren't all that dissimilar from those who chose to do those instead of the ski trip. Going forward, I don't expect to go on many more trips this quarter. Maybe back to the bahamas for spring break, or maybe to cancun or something, but generally speaking, thats probably it in terms of big trips between now and next fall.

As for other key expenses:

Cash, used for lunch at school for 3 months, dinners, beer, various other expenses: $2,200
Food, mostly eating out, some groceries, some eating in: $1200
School related expenses, including books ($600), club memberships ($400), parking fees ($300 I think), etc: $1500

So roughly speaking, excluding books and trips, I spent about $1000 a month on dinners, beer, lunch everyday at school, breakfast coffee every day, etc. If that sounds high, keep in mind that it includes lunch 5 days a week. Also keep in mind that I'm in Chicago - cost of living here isn't cheap. Depending on where you end up, you might find that things are substantially cheaper.
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Four of the huge b-school locations also happen to be near or in 4 of the most expensive areas in the country. NYC, Boston, Chicago, and San Fran area.

Of those Chicago is probably the cheapest and $1500 for a decent 1 bedroom apartment in a nice area is pretty reasonable. Evanston and the northside of the city are more expensive seeming than south. If you go to GSB and live near campus in Hyde Park its cheaper than going to Kellogg and living near campus in Evanston. That said by looking at nicer apartments in the more desirable locations 1500-1800 seems fairly common...add 300-500 for each bedroom.

Boston is slightly more than Chicago, can be a lot more depending on the area though. There is a lot of competition for apartments near the schools because of all the students. There are a lot of 4-5 bedroom places if you get a bunch of roommates together though. Its a very college based city so tons of leases start in the mid to late summer, so there is a huge selection in the spring but the good ones go very fast.

NYC in a nice section of town (near NYU especially) rent is crazy. My brother has a brownstone in park slope brooklyn and pays like 4k a month. Trying to find a nice place near where you want can be tough. You might end up having to use a broker, at which point its going to cost you about a months rent for them to find you a place. If you dont have a broker you wont stand a chance at a lot of places, its all a scam the control those people try to hold over apartments.

Parking in chicago seems to be pretty common with apartments or is at least reasonably priced. In NYC or Boston parking is a nightmare so dont get a car, I know in parts of boston and NYC parking can be $500-1000 a month for a space. Parking on the street is possible but very tough in a lot of neighborhoods, forget about it when it snows...in Boston if you dont clear your space and keep it you are in trouble. If you take someones shoveled space your car will be ruined if you are lucky, if you are unlucky you might get shot.

Check craigslist its a great way to judge prices for apartments...make sure you talk to current students or people that live in the city or you might think you are getting a great deal on a nice looking apartment but end up in a crack neighborhood.
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haha - yes they do, the Palladium. I would really only consider that if I were an International student who couldn't get someone to back my lease, and was on my own. Fortunately I have a relative in the city who has guaranteed my rent - which saves me paying a years rent upfront!

Palladium is pretty fun though. The rooms are small but the MBAs have a floor or two to themselves, so they can break out the booze if they want to (undergrads are on the other floors). The rent there is about $1700 for a small room (twin bed) with internet and bobbins I believe. You can rent for more value on your own if you put in the work, and it is more of an experience. Just you have to be able to secure the lease somehow without it being punitive.

They also offer apartments in Stuyvesant, which are priced absurdly and really in a pretty weird location. I prefer living in my apartment with crackheads next door, but that is me. I can walk to school (though many other students think it is way too far - 15 mins, no alternative to walking really - no subway, no real bus service) and hang in all the great bars round here. Plus my girlfriend can live with me, which is impossible in the Palladium.

That way I was looking at here ($1800 1bed, 7th & Avenue B) versus about $3000 for a 1-bed in Stuyvesant. And trust me, my apartment is was the 20th I saw and worked out cheap. I have seen some bat-shit crazy apartments in my search (showers in the kitchen of $2000 1-beds where you could touch the stove while washing)
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I thought American beer comes watered down from the brewery...

(snicker)

Okay, how many of those are there?

And concerning recruiting: If I fly out to a company, invited to interview, do I have to carry the cost of travel? Over here, companies that invite you to interview actually have to reimburse, unless they explicitly say they will not.

Rhyme do you have a 1 or 2 bedroom? My wife and I are trying to decide if we need a second bedroom to act as an office with all the class work I will be doing. Seems like there are a lot more 1 bedrooms available and of course those are cheaper.
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I know at Kellogg significant others are encouraged to join the pre-term trips. Not sure if other schools have the same policy, I know Kellogg is supposed to be one of the more family friendly schools. If your wife does go on the trips just double all those figures, so yes its going to add up that much faster. Especially if she cant get a visa, it seemed common for internationals to both go to grad school at the same time...I have met more than a few students and alums whose wives/husbands were doing in some sort of advanced degree program at the same time.
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I have a 3bd, but I own... Some families, particularly those with dogs or kids opted for 2 or even in some cases, 3bds. Some chose a 1bd. Honestly, I think a lot of it just depends on where you want to live and whether or not your spouse works / makes good money / how much you care about having stainless steel appliances instead of a 1970s gas stove, etc...

Personally, I find myself on campus so often that I use the office less now than I did when I wasn't in school. Of course, it is helpful to have it at night or on weekends when I study and don't want to make the trek to campus. If you end up living next door to Kellogg, (check out the park evanston and evanston place), having a 1bd will be less of an issue since you can just walk to campus to study. Also, my friends at Kellogg talk (and often complain) of the frequent group meetings, so there seems to be a tendency for people to end up on campus pretty frequently anyway. Also keep in mind that, even though Kellogg's facilities don't really support the class size, they have finally added locks to their study rooms, so at least you wont get undergrads squatting in there anymore.

If you are looking for a good place to live check out http://www.evanstonplaceapts.com/ -- I lived there for two years while I worked at Kellogg, its a two minute walk and it was fine with my girlfriend at the time.

http://www.evanstonplaceapts.com/unit_f ... n_id=10649

I lived in that unit, and turned part of hte living room wall into a study area. If you go there, consider getting a unit on the 6th (i think) floor - its the floor with the pool, so you can walk in and out of your unit directly onto the sun deck (rather than on to a small deck). Back then it ran me about $1500 a month I think.
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are kids encouraged to come along?

Just as well i didn`t apply for GSB No community support for children is a big no no for me.