McCombs draws students from not just all over the United States, but from all over the world. And while 30% of our class is made up of Texas residents, the majority of these Texans have moved from Dallas or Houston. Overall it’s safe to say that we’ve made some pretty major life changes to be at McCombs: not only have we relocated, we’ve left our jobs (and consistent paychecks), sometimes our families, and, in my case, all of my furniture. At least a third of our MBA class is married, and in most cases the wives and husbands of the Texas MBAs have made some major sacrifices to accompany their spouse to Austin.
While most of these major life changes are obvious, I’ve started to notice some amusing, minor life-style changes within the MBA circle. So, I did a quick survey of my McCombs friends: what do you do differently, or what happens now that never would have happened in your pre-MBA life? Hopefully the results give you, the reader, a glimpse into the exciting lives of us Texas MBAs:
How to spot an MBA student
- Eating microwave rice for dinner (unfortunately cooking is a thing of the past) and the return of the frozen meal
- Bringing my Texas MBA backpack — loaded with books and binders — to a bar (no time to go home between class/meetings)
- Wearing cowboy boots to a football game
- Loading a lunch box with everything and anything available in the kitchen to sustain myself for hours on campus
- Digging through my closet for anything in Texas burnt orange and realizing I can’t get enough of it
- Working myself into a panic at the beginning of class as I search through my backpack for either my name tag or financial calculator
- Avoiding household chores and cleaning for quarters at a time
- Spending hours online shopping for text books, trying to find a balance between price, new or used condition and shipping arrival dates
- Riding my bike 35 miles in the summer heat to eat in barbecue in Lockhart, the barbecue capitol of Texas (and then riding back to Austin on a full stomach)
- Buying a reusable coffee mug to mitigate the paper waste created by non-stop coffee drinking
- Giving someone from the University of Oklahoma a hard time, regardless of if I’m a football fan
- Waiting for “all ya’ll” to appear in Webster’s Dictionary
