How Far Did Usha Vance Get In School? (Spoiler: Farther Than JD)

JD Vance may be the second most powerful man in the United States, but when it comes to academics, there's someone way ahead of him in the game — his wife, Usha Vance. While the power couple are both Yale Law School graduates, Usha's academic resume reads far more impressively than that of her husband. From a top-rated public high school to an education from a world-class institution, Usha's elite academic path upstages JD's more unconventional, hard-earned journey. 

Usha is the daughter of Indian-Americans, Krish and Lakshmi Chilukuri. And unlike JD's seriously chaotic childhood, it's clear that Usha's parents, whose lives revolve around academia, made a positive impact on her upbringing and education. Her father works in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at San Diego State University. Her mother is a molecular biology professor and Provost of Sixth College at the University of California, San Diego. With the utmost scholarly role models right at home, it seemed inevitable that Usha would follow a similar path. 

The second lady isn't just a graduate of Yale's prestigious law school. It's also her undergraduate alma mater. In fact, Usha graduated summa cum laude before going on to earn her master's degree at Cambridge University as a distinguished Gates Cambridge scholar. After completing her studies in the United Kingdom, she returned to the States to pursue her Juris Doctor degree at Yale, where she would meet her husband. We know, it's beyond impressive. 

Usha Vance is an accomplished woman who happens to be linked to a powerful man. In addition to  having degrees from Yale and Cambridge, she had a previously successful career as a lawyer for Munger, Tolles & Olson, one of America's top law firms. She tends to be primarily described by her domestic titles, such as wife, mother, and second lady, but she is much more than that. 

Pop culture has depicted the imbalanced dynamics of publicly facing political couples time and time again. For instance, in the Emmy-nominated Netflix series, "The Diplomat," the husband of a powerful ambassador frequently jokes about being "the wife," and while you might not think much of it, the line cuts deeper than it seems. It's a reminder that in this modern day and age, there is still the societal expectation that a woman's ambition comes second to her husband's, even for women as successful and driven as Usha.

While it's understandable that the Vances' parenting three young kids while juggling JD's vice presidency requires a lot of attention, it's worth noting that Usha has pressed pause on her legal career to support her husband. Politics aside, the second lady is a highly educated person who excelled at some of the world's most distinguished universities.