The Other Half

Applying for business school is a little different when you're married. Choosing schools becomes as much about fit for us and our lifestyle as it is about fit for me and my goals.

The biggest element that is probably higher on my priorities than single folks is location. I don't want my husband to have to move somewhere that he doesn't want to go. Before this whole thing started, I said "honey, where would you be willing to move?" He said Chicago, Boston, and maybe New York. We've lived in Chicago and absolutely love it, I lived in Boston for a short time and we liked it there as well. New York ... well I know hubby kinda hates to visit New York because it's so busy, but I'm sure living there would better, albeit expensive. So, that narrowed down my school choices a bit (i.e. no Duke, no Michigan, no Tuck, no California schools).

Next, the concept of a safety school was thrown out the window. If my husband is going to be working while I get my MBA, I need to be getting an education that is totally right for me and that is going to really propel me in my career. It's not worth it and not fair to take two years off and go to a school that is only a partial fit or that I applied to just so I would have somewhere to go. It's all or nothing! (Well, not nothing ... my backup plan would be to stay in my job, which is a good job, and get a part-time MBA.)

Finally, the way a school treats "partners" is very important to me. My biggest fear is for my husband to feel cast aside while I gallivant around with my new friends and my new social life. That's an exageration of course, but I want to go to a school where the culture embraces significant others and includes them in the social fabric of the school. Obviously I will not be able to spend as much time with him as I want. And since he's a businessperson himself, there will surely be things I get to do that he'd love to do himself. But it's really important to me to know I can bring him to parties and other events and know that my classmates will be inclusive. Incidentally, Kellogg is phenomenal in this regard. Partners are encouraged to attend the KWEST trip with the students, are invited to join any club (regardless of whether the student is a member), are allowed to lead clubs and events, are allowed to audit classes, and are just generally encouraged to take part in the entire experience as if it is their own. I really liked that. Wharton doesn't seem to be quite as organized, but I was assured by many married students that their SO's were very involved and were, in fact, better friends with some of their classmates than they were.

In At Wharton!!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesss!!!

I was so nervous this morning, I thought I was going to throw up multiple times. Finally my status was updated. I must have read the word "admitted" about 5 times before it sunk in!

The Waiting Is, Indeed, the Hardest Part

T-minus 24 hours until Wharton decisions are released. I feel like time has never passed slower! The nice thing about decisions coming out during this week is that many of my colleagues are already on vacation. So I won't feel so bad checking my email every 5 seconds. The bad thing about decisions coming out this time of year is that it is so slooooooooow. Nothing is going on, there are no meetings to break up the day. Every hour feels like 10.

Making matters worse, my husband had to go out of town for work. He's only going to be gone for one night, but it is THIS night. So I'm going to have to distract myself for an entire evening alone. Plus, I usually have trouble sleeping when he's not around anyway (I know, I'm an annoying married person) so I can't imagine what it will be like tonight. Perhaps I should drink a bottle of wine to *ahem* help me sleep?

The Wharton S2S folks are hosting an all-night chat tonight. I haven't decided yet whether to participate. On the one hand, it would be nice to commiserate with the only other people who know what I'm going through right now. On the other hand, would it be better to try to think about something else as much as possible so that I don't drive myself completely insane? Maybe I should pull out a classic chick flick like Bridget Jones or Love Actually. Hmmm ….

Things to do to distract myself until Wharton decision date …

- Finish reading Getting Things Done
- Attack pile of hand-wash only clothes in closet. For that matter, attack needs-to-be-ironed pile and laundry mountain.
- Socialize (it is the holiday season after all!)
- Brave mall to finish Christmas shopping (gulp)
- Wrap presents
- Go through huge pile of catalogs that I can't afford to order from now that I have to prepare for the student lifestyle but that have lots of fun things that I'd love to order
- Go through huge pile of mail and other paperwork and file it
- Watch all Planet Earth episodes on DVR that I didn't have time to watch because I was busy with applications
- Begin actually using that Netflix subscription

Hmmmm … I have a lot of piled up tasks (literally) that I neglected while I was busy applying to business schools. I think this is probably too much for one week, but maybe that is a good thing!

The Cat's Out of the Bag

So we had an "end of the year review" tonight (read: holiday party masquarading as a meeting so as to be able to spend money from the company budget). My boss's boss came up to me and said "So I hear you are applying to grad schools. Where did you apply?". GULP! I tried to play it cool, but I'd just drank a large glass of wine and I'm sure I looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar! [My boss knows of my plans and wrote recommendations for me, but I had the impression he had not told anyone else.]

Anyway I couldn't lie ... he was going to find out anyway. Unfortunately, when I told him, he looked surprised. Oops. He probably knew about how I was planning to apply to part-time programs, but that information is several months old. He was nice about it and told me about the guy who'd had my job before me and went to Kellogg. Then he asked if I'd heard from either school yet. I said no. I haven't even told my boss I got into Kellogg yet. End of year ratings and raises are coming out soon. I'm sure nothing would change if they knew I was leaving for sure, but I still feel like I need to hold on to the information for a little bit longer. He said they would fully support me and that if I got in, they would try to hook me up with an internship or full time position. So, no harm done I suppose.

Ugh, but it was so awkward!