Chris Hallman/University Photography

Stephanie, Jayson and baby Elle Wenstrup in front of the Johnson Graduate School of Management in Sage Hall. The baby, conveniently born after exams in December, was a popular visitor with faculty, staff and students while the couple pursued their MBA degrees.

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Timing, people say, is everything. For Stephanie and Jayson Wenstrup, two professionals who needed more expertise and credentials to advance in the competitive pharmaceuticals industry, the time was right two years ago to pursue MBA degrees together at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management.

And for Elisabeth "Elle" Wenstrup, the time was right to enter the world Dec. 9, 2004, a week after the final day of classes last semester.

With exams over and papers in, the couple then drove with their newborn baby to Philadelphia, where they camped out at Stephanie's parents' house. "We had five weeks," she says, "to learn how we would manage" in the final semester while caring for the baby. To prepare themselves for the sleepless nights ahead, "all we wanted for Christmas was a cappuccino maker," Stephanie recalls.

Their strategy was to take classes at different times, so that one of them was always home with Elle -- home being an apartment in Cayuga Heights filled with new-baby accoutrements and toys being wielded by the now smiling, active 5-month-old. Friends and the spouse of another MBA student filled in for them when both needed to be at school -- and Elle was a frequent visitor to Sage Hall, with faculty and staff helping find places to feed her and change her diaper. But doing homework became more challenging. "Elle loves to grab all of our notes and papers," comments Jayson. "Hey, that's a great excuse, 'I can't take the test, my baby ate my notes,'" he jokes.

In the first semester they developed a strategy to undertake MBA studies together "without killing each other," Stephanie quips. After Jayson scored a point higher on an economics quiz and irked her by saying she had missed an easy answer, they established ground rules: no competitive behavior, no sharing of grades. "We decided we were here to better ourselves," says Jayson. They agreed to help one another in those areas where each was strongest. Their shared interests, though, led them to take the Brand Management Immersion course and become officers in the Healthcare and Biotechnology Club together.

Both were interested in medicine at an early age. Stephanie was premed as an undergraduate, but her father, a physician, discouraged her. "He said the field has become more complex, with ever-demanding HMOs," she says. Jayson worked at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation before deciding that being a doctor was not for him, yet "I still wanted to do something where I could add value. Pharmaceuticals was the next best thing," he says.

They were living and working in Washington, D.C., when they were introduced in October 1998 at a party. "I wouldn't let her leave. I wanted to talk to her all night," says Jayson. Recalls Stephanie, "I said, 'This guy's interesting, perhaps I'll stay for a while.'" They married two years later and moved to the Boston area, where Jayson became an associate manager in business development with the biotechnology company Biogen Inc. and Stephanie became a consultant with the Healthcare Management Council, which helps medical facilities run more efficiently.

When they jointly decided to pursue MBAs, they chose the Johnson School because they liked its collaborative, team-oriented approach as well as its size (small) and location (non-urban), "where you could enjoy hanging out with classmates," says Jayson. "Overall, it's been the best two years of our lives." Stephanie agrees.

After graduation, Jayson will work for Merck and Co. in North Wales, Pa., and Stephanie will work for Wyeth, in nearby Collegeville. "We just lucked out that two of the great pharmaceutical companies are in the same area," says Jayson. And not too far from one set of grandparents, either.