Life of an MBA Wife: Part One

I was motivated to write this post after a friend inquired as to what life with my husband around 24/7 would resemble. There are a lot of misconceptions surrounding business school and I thought I would clear some up. I want people to understand the life we will be living for the next two years. That way you know that some of my whining and caterwauling is not for naught. My husband was previously enrolled in an MBA program part-time while he worked. He took evening classes and that was it. Of course he spent some time on weekends working with class groups on projects but he was home most of the time. The school he attended was not an elite school but it was a regionally respected school. A degree from that institution would have sufficed if we wanted to settle down in Vermont. We decided that we did not.

I encouraged my husband to apply to different business schools. His resume was impressive and he is intelligent. I could tell that he was not always sufficiently challenged in his current program. His grades were excellent and I was confident in his ability to gain entry into a more challenging and nationally recognized program.

K studied and researched and studied and obsessed and was admitted into the SC Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. We were elated but I knew I had a challenging 2+ years ahead of me. Pursuing a full-time MBA from an elite institution as a father of two young children requires a lot of support. I knew that I would spend the majority of my time alone with the children.

My husband will be traveling, meeting with recruiters, participating in important school clubs, and networking constantly. His schedule will always be packed especially once classes and studying are thrown into the mix.

It is not a lifestyle for the insecure. K will constantly be around ambitious, impressive, brilliant, and interesting people. He will come home late, travel often, and schmooze constantly. MANY people end up divorced before the two years are up. There is a lot of temptation and strain that is placed on a relationship. Am I worried? Nope. Worrying is a waste of time. I trust my husband and know that I am pretty much the most awesome person he could ever meet so what is there to worry about? Also he is way too cheap to even want to think about divorcing me so I have that going for me : )

A good friend of mine is a Harvard Business School graduate. He told me he was worried about the effect the next two years would have on me. I thought he was referring to the statistical probability of one's spouse cheating. Turns out he meant that he was worried that I would cheat! It isn't the first time I have heard about business school spouse/partner shenanigans.

I have a lot more to say on the topic but since this post is quickly becoming a novel I will stop for now. Here are some pictures from our first family visit to Cornell a few months ago.

pretty ithaca