The Naked MBA

“O my Love's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Love's like the melodie
That's sweetly played in tune.”

- Robert Burns

I wanted to start this post with a quote from a famous business school love poem. The trouble is, there aren’t any. Apparently it wasn’t a favorite topic of Shelley or Longfellow. I can’t imagine why—late nights spent discussing discounted cash flows and buying each other rounds of Heineken at the local undergrad bar are so romantic. And between the job hunt, classes and extracurricular activities, you have so much spare time for candlelit dinners. Yet, amazingly, a lot of couples do meet in business school. (The only thing that remains to be seen is whether they stay together).

The high-stakes environment of business school causes you to bond quickly with your classmates. Since most work is done in groups, you learn to count on each other—first to get your project turned in on time, but then for friendship, moral support, and (if you’re lucky) romance.

I wrote before about how hard it is to maintain a relationship with someone who is NOT in business school. It’s easier to date a classmate (at least in the short-term) since they understand the pressure you’re under and the demands on your time. You are also ALWAYS together, because MBAs socialize in herds. It’s called “networking”.

Your network is the best thing you’ll get out of your MBA. It functions not only for business purposes, but for romantic ones, too. Even if you don’t date another MBA, there is a good chance you’ll date someone you meet through a classmate. For example, a bschool friend of mine met his wife at an MBA Halloween party that her friend had brought her too. They were a perfect match from the start; she was dressed as Marilyn Monroe and he was Sponge Bob.

At this point, most of you are probably muttering disparaging remarks about me, and telling yourself that you’re going to business school to land your dream job, not a husband or wife. But the truth is that some people do go business school to meet a mate. One friend of mine chose her school based on where she felt there would be more guys with whom she would be compatible (though for her it was a religious issue). And as a woman, the odds are finally in your favor. However, this also means that your love life gets more scrutiny than you may be accustomed to. My school newspaper ran a column listing all of the “date-worthy” MBA women and their relationship status. No comment.

Speaking of publicity, it’s important to know when to go public with your new flame. Due to the number of random hookups and the rumor mill, a lot of couples wait until things have turned serious before revealing their new status. One couple I know was in the same study group, so they kept their relationship on the down-low for a long time to avoid disrupting the group dynamic.

Your MBA is a formative time, both in terms of professional and personal development. Your goal is to graduate with a fantastic job, and an amazing network of friends and professional contacts. If you’re lucky, you’ll even pick up a new main squeeze. But if not, you can always go get a law degree.