get engaged before bschool?

I would say yes. If you would get married to her if B-school was not in the path, then definitly yes!

I'm recently engaged and we will have been together 4 years (in about two weeks actually). However, my girlfriend/fiance will be coming to school with me (possibly Cornell ). I think the 5 hours will be brutal. Hence, I voted to have you wait.

To explain why I said no (to start the year with)...and that can easily change between now and then but here is my take on things I have seen. Some people get engaged before school since they think that added commitment will keep them together. I am of the mind that if you need a ring to keep you together then you probably aren't meant to be anyways. So if you are meant to be you wont need a ring to stay together. However, if you stay together because of a ring, then thats going to be destined to fail.

B-school is a strain on and a test of a relationship if you are living together. The honest opinion is that it can be a near death sentence if you are apart...not all relationships fail due to distance but it is extremely challenging if they dont understand what you are dealing with on a day to day basis.

However, 5 hours isnt that bad...as long as she is willing to make the trip up to visit you since you are going to be too busy to do it as often then you can easily make it work. Either get engaged right away or do it later in the fall. Doing it shortly before you head to school probably wont get her as excited haha.

young_gun, I hope your girlfriend doesn't read gmatclub. My girlfriend would kill me if I polled a bunch of strangers on an forum for that kind of decision.

uhh me too

Taking away the romantic considerations for a moment, people are cool with tossing an extra 10k on top of cost? Added strain if you're making payments while taking on debt. Or using money at 8.5% to pay off money at X%

Definitely go for it. It's a nice gesture, showing that despite your b-school plans and career goals you are firmly committed to the relationship. It isn't the ring that keeps you together, but the commitment that the ring symbolises.

I'm in the same situation. We've been dating for more than five years and soon to be engaged. I don't know whether she should come with me or not..

By the way, there's going to be a time difference of 7 hours between her and me. We are used to having it long distance, since we were in different cities while we were both undergraduates..

Dont know what to do yet..

Wait one full year. If you still feel the same way then, buy the ring over the summer, propose, and get married the following summer, when you should be raking in the big bucks.

I've always felt you can't lose what is already yours, and this rule is particularly true when it comes to women. If you lost her over going to Cornell to better yourself for about 1.5 years (minus vacations), she is really doing you a favor in the long-run.

Do you realise how much women hate this attitude? My $0.02 - when you take something for granted, you lose it, and this is particularly true when it comes to women.

I said yes. Grad school really isn't THAT much work.

I can't believe this is a post - why don't you talk to your significant other and make the decision together.

i think jj must mean "you can't lose what ISN'T yours"...right?

if it's easy for her to move with you, then why not? but what would she do in ithaca, for example?

I strongly disagree. Nobody is talking about taking anyone "for granted". I've been with enough women to know that the only sure fire way to lose one is to fear her loss, and allowing that fear to drive you into action. But that's just my humble 0.02

thanks young gun

anyone just throwing in the towel prior to school?