I'm bringing my girlfriend to business school, and was hoping that people here could comment on the experience from their point of view.

She's certainly not going to join the I-banking club, but what about her ability to join me at "social" events and clubs - maybe coming on a ski weekend with the Outdoors club, joining me for a tasting with the Wine club, attending the weekly beer bash on Thursday night, and so forth. Can she use the gym at school? The tennis courts? Library?

I already know that B-school going to be tough, from a relationship point of view. Since we're moving across the country to a new city where we will know far fewer people, I'd really enjoy being able to integrate her into my life, which would make the experience significantly easier for both of us.

She owns her own company and is incredibly busy, so its not like she would want to, or have time to come to a ton of events. So is an occasional spouse or girlfriend "tag along" on a weekend ski trip considered OK?

Thanks!

Hey man, I'm married and my wife has come to a good number of events. It just kind of depends on what the event is. Tailgates: yes. Guest speaker: probably not.

I know some guys who have had a spouse join them on a study abroad. You just have to feel that stuff out and sometimes talk to the people who are planning it.

Oh and have fun balancing a relationship and B-School. It ain't easy. At least you don't have any kids.

Same situation as you, dude. At least I will be if I get into B-school this year and if I'm still with the gf. But right now the plan is to move together to whatever school I get into. I have the same concerns you do.

I think to some extent it depends on the school. Some schools, such as Tuck, are known to have partners involved in everything. Others, not so much. I think city schools (like CBS, Chicago) have much less active partners clubs and there are generally less partners integrated in school activities/parties/etc. At Tuck I think a partner might go to as many of the drinking nights, social events, parties, pub crawls, etc that she can handle. But on the other hand, at a place like Tuck that is almost a necessity because they they have 0 chance of meeting people or making friends outside of people in their program and their partners. While at a city school they have all of Manhattan/Chicago/etc to meet people, make friends, etc So, I don't really know which is better. I wonder if anybody has any opinions? Another thing I was curious about is how many people bring a girlfriend rather than a wife? I plan to bring a gf, OP plans to bring a gf. But will nearly all "partners" be wives? And when schools give percentages with partners - is that spouses only or does it include gf/bf? Are non married couples rare?

I guess one other thing I'm concerned about is that spouses will be "accepted" in the group, but girlfriends will not.

t'll make my girIlfriend nuts. Obviously we plan to get engaged, but these things take time and the pressure to pop the question will increase dramatically if her "girlfriend" status does not gain her entire into some of my social calendar.

I assume like the first responder said, its basically a "just figure it out with the organizer" type of thing, in which case I believe we will be fine. My GF doesn't want to come to everything, but I'd just hate leaving her home if I went off on a weekend trip or had a fun social night or something.

Also though, can they typically use the facilities at school? Gym, etc?

From what I heard from my fiancé after visiting the Fuqua and Kellogg admit weekends, the majority of significant others were either spouses or fiancés, but there were a few girlfriends/boyfriends. Most of the girlfriends/boyfriends were not actually moving, but checking out the school (maybe in hopes of an engagement prior to school starting). Also, there is a notable discrepancy between schools for the role of significant others. I know that Fuqua allows them to participate in happy hours, nightlife, etc, along with using the career services office for resume reviews and local job resources. Kellogg goes a step further allowing them to join on the pre-term KWEST trips and the annual ski trip in February. In addition, I believe significant others can audit Northwestern classes. I know other programs have similar attitudes towards significant others, and others are not nearly as open.

Disclaimer: I am attending Kellogg.

I'm currently working in IT consulting as a Project Manager and want to do an MBA to increase my chance of getting into a positon of a Director / VP.

I'm looking to attend a part time program in the DC Area for Fall 09, due to family commitments I also need a flexible program with options such as attending one evening a week.

The main programs in the area are:

Georgetown - Highest Ranked but 3 year cohort
Maryland/Smith - Second Highest Rank but 3 year cohort
George Washington/GW - Unranked by US News this year, FT ranks it at 71, Flexible Program
Johns Hopkins - Unranked as it's not AACSB, Flexible Program, new dean may improve ranking etc.

I'm left deciding between Johns Hopkins and GW as they have the flexible programs, Hopkins has a better brand name due to medicine but it's only a part time program the new dean Yash Gupta (ex USC Southern California, Colorado & Washington) may improve things.

GW has had the business school for longer and I might have a better alumni network after graduation. Opinions are appreciated.

I'm also in IT Consulting and looking at Georgetown and Maryland for Fall of '08 (part-time). Despite Maryland's reputation for having a solid IT track, I'm leaning towards Georgetown, for a variety of reasons. I do agree that its 3-year cohort is pretty inflexible, so it wouldn't be a good choice for you if that's the deciding factor.

Maryland, however, does not have a strict 3-year cohort from what I remember from the information session that I attended. I think the first year is structured and in a semi-"cohort" format for the "core" classes, but after that you are on your own at your own pace, with the only stipulation being that you have to finish your degree within 5 years (I think). They also have a weekend program, which meets on Saturdays and might work for you.

I did attend information sessions for GW and Johns Hopkins, but to be honest, I wouldn't consider either of them to be at the same level as Georgetown and Maryland. With GW, I left the information session unimpressed; I can't really put my finger on it, but their program just didn't seem as polished. Hopkins was another story ... I wanted to leave their information session after 5 minutes; it was even more painful as it continued. I got the impression that they just threw the presentation together that very day, and threw the entire program together the day before. Granted, they are a new program, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, even if they work in a medical field.

I would recommend checking out an information session for UMD, it's probably more flexible than you think.

*I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of others in the DC area about available part-time programs, particularly Georgetown and Maryland. Did anyone recently choose one over the other?

Hello,

I am a current Georgetown PT MBA student. I looked at UMD and GU. I ultimately decided on GU due to the smaller size and the commitment to maintaining quality. With 1500+ (I think?) students in the EP program at UMD - it seemed like a Happy Meal factory. One of my co-workers went through the UMD program and he mentioned that he thought they admit a lot of lower quality students to fill seats.

Not everything is rosy at GU - they keep changing parts of the curriculum but it is settling down now. Also, the Car Barn is totally outdated but the new building is supposedly going to be up next Spring and apparently its going to be much much better. Also, the three year program length is very long - too long for some people but personally I like it and the tighter cohort. It is probably the least flexible PT program in the area. For people with a quant/engineering background some of the 'quant' core courses will be boring but I think that would be true of any program. A lot of the value for me (coming from an engineering background) was the strength of the Professors in non-quant fields such as corporate strategy, public policy, etc.

Overall, there just seemed to be more commitment to high quality and improvement at McDonough than at Smith. I can deal with some inconvenience if the end result is superior education and future opportunities.

I considered Georgetown, Maryland and George Washington as well for their part-time programs and decided on Maryland because they were more flexible than Georgetown. With GWU I agree with one of the opinions above - the program still seems a little rough, and the curriculum has been revised starting this fall for the first time since the 1990s - somewhat of a warning sign. They also don't have the prestige outside of the region that the other schools do have. Some things I did like about GWU however were the smaller cohorts and somewhat new facility, and they seemed very interested in having me attend by providing some personal attention and offering me a scholarship. With Maryland, there are more elective classes offered at their campuses and it is possible to finish in less than 3 years - an important factor for me since I will be in the DC area for about 30 months (military officer) before I most likely move again. They also recently added an accelerated option which allows you to finish in 24 months, but given that I have a little extra time, I didn't look into this option very much. Additionally, should I decide to resign from military service after earning an MBA, the career services at Maryland seemed very willing to help their part-time students with a career transition. The other schools offered recruiting events, but not necessarily tangible services. Secondary factors in my decision were that Maryland's DC Evening program is in a much more accessible location than Georgetown's - especially considering I would be commuting across town at the end of the day during rush hour to Georgetown had I decided to go there - and of course the overall cost is somewhat less.

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So I am currently waiting on three different jobs that I have interviewed for. One (boutique investment bank) told me that it may take a month or so before a decision is made (it has been over six months, but I attribute part of this to the market turning south and the company being a bit unsure of the future), the second (major consulting firm) told me they would definitely contact me in three days and it has been over a month (I have heard from numerous insiders that the firm regularly does this), and the third (large bank) told me during the first interview that the process may take awhile (which is the first company to be honest) and it has also been about a month. Granted these are full-time experienced hires, but how long does it take to make a decision between a handful of people? Is there anyone else out there that has had this experience or that works in HR that can calm my nerves and tell me that it has nothing to do with me?