The perpetual job hunt

Talk to current MBA students about life in MBA programs (not for app advice/discussion)
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The perpetual job hunt

by CPA2011 » Fri Jul 01, 2011 5:25 am
Now that I've basically made the decision to apply to B school next summer to start Fall 2013, I'm starting to get a little worried. I'm currently a CPA in a small city, married with a dog. My wife teaches/substitute teaches while she's finishing grad school. I make a solid salary, we save quite a bit of money, have reasonable cars, basically buy anything we want without any real consideration of "can we afford this?"

That being said, it's going to be a HUGE change getting back into "student" life. I'm going to be without income for 2 years, and my wife will likely have a difficult time getting teaching jobs due to the fact that we aren't "locals" at any of the places I'm applying to. Ok, so where I'm going with all of this is: when I graduate, I WILL NEED A JOB ASAP. Along with groups, academics, etc... is B school basically a perpetual 2 year job hunt? If you look at a solid 2nd tier school, say Vanderbilt or Ohio State, the employment stats are about 80%ish employed 3 months after graduation. Were the other 20% actually doing everything they were supposed to, getting A's in classes, networking, etc... and just totally unable to find jobs?? Were they poor students? Are they going on to get PhDs and therefore not even seeking employment?

Sorry if this seems a little bit manic. But man, what a change of lifestyle this is going to be! I'm currently saving as much as I possibly can, but I'm sure that I won't have saved enough to live on for 2 entire years by the time I go to school. Can you get loans above and beyond the cost of tuition to cover living expenses?

So many questions...thanks for any responses! Also, personal stories are welcome!