MBA Life of Couples

Let me complicate the question...I have a 3 months baby as well

Yes bb, upon admission, I will move from middle east. I heard that an MBA from top tier school requires burdensome work and study.

Well it's certainly not a 9-5 job and your family should be comfortable with the idea that a substantial majority of your day will be devoted to school, but you will have a lot of flexibility in how you set your schedule so you can usually work around family commitments. Time management at bschool is all about looking at the time demands of academics-career-social-family, and deciding which one are you willing to scale back on to meet the demands of the others. Most successful couples here tend to scale back a bit on the social aspect of bschool in order to spend more time with their families.

If your spouse/significant other is not relocating with you that presents a whole set of additional challenges related to distance and, to be completely candid, a lot of those relationships did not survive bschool. The ones that did tended to be more committed relationships at the outset (e.g. marriage vs. dating), and both people were very diligent in scheduling times to talk to and visit each other into their schedules.

I can't really answer this question from personal experience, but I have known couples who have been separated for pursuing business school and as Jerz rightly said, it took them a lot of effort to make it through. It helps if you're very open about the kind of change you're expecting to have rather than disguise it in any manner. Having been in a long distance relationship for two years, I can personally vouch for the fact that it sucks. But if you make time for it (which is even harder if you go to a top school in the US), then it could work.

Thanks whiplash,
Well, I have to mention that I am married, so supposedly I will move together with my wife upon admission to US.

I'll likely be in a similar situation. I'm looking at an MBA starting in March 2013 (my goal is to get into Ivey)... my boyfriend is currently starting his training to become a military pilot while I'm in the process of releasing from the military... we're looking at a few years of him bouncing around the country while I get my process figured out and start the MBA applications/savings... should be a challenge for at least the next five years.

Oh, and since he's older he wants to start a family once all our training/life preparing is done... yikes!!!

Make time for each other.

Is in't so personal.!

Hello all, this seems like as good a topic as any to break the GMATClub seal. I too am in the process of applying to B-School and getting married next month. My fiancee is justifiably concerned about how much or how little time I'll have available to her, both during and after my tenure at business school.

What I'd like to know is this: at approximately how many of the social / networking type events are spouses of students welcome? It will be a poor substitute for a real date but at least it will be time spent together.

I don't believe spouse are allowed at the corporate networking events. For the social events, Spouse are always welcome (at least at Duke). You may always want to look into schools with a strong partners club. I know quite a few people who chose Duke because of the partners club, which not only organize social events, but also help partners with finding work and relocating to Durham.

If your significant other goes with you that is one thing...if they dont that is a complete different thing. If you leave your significant other in another city/country, your chances of surviving 2 years of business school are slim unless you are married or give up lots of what school has to offer.

As a married man, I can tell you my wife loved our time in Evanston. She met some of her bestfriends there, both classmates of mine and spouses of classmates. You will be busy but how you use your time is completely up to you. A lot of my friends who are married/engaged had no issues because they had their priorities aligned with their significant other's.

If you have kids, that does add some complications but it is more common than you would imagine at some schools.

If you are bringing a significant other, especially if you have children, I would suggest looking at schools with reputations of a tight community for your family and not just you. If you are committed to each other it wont be a problem, especially if you live together. Dating couples broke up pretty easily, especially if there was any distance. I know lots of people from Chicago whose relationships didnt last because their boyfriend/girlfriend lived downtown and they lived in Evanston and the student got wrapped up with school and forgot their partner.