Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/54913
your turn by Tami Fassinger Women and the EMBA AS A WOMAN growing up proficient in math and science, I was lucky to have a father who steered me toward a career in business. I went to business school the old-fashioned way in 1985: I enrolled right after college, my parents footed the bill for living expenses, and I paid for everything else out of scholarships and school loans. I was able to pay off my academic debts by about age 30, feeling certain that the investment would be worth it. I was right. Today, anyone who decides to enroll in an MBA program might be a little less sure. Business has gotten a bad reputation, academic choices are overwhelming, and the degree itself is under fire. Working profession- als who pursue an MBA also have to balance their jobs, their home lives, and their academic commit- ments. That balancing act is a particular struggle for women, who are still less likely than men to enroll in mid-career business programs for executive, part-time, or specialized MBAs. I believe biological reality is a major reason for the discrepancy. The average age of a student enrolled in an EMBA program is 36, a time when women typically are having and raising children. While many of them believe they don't have time to pursue a degree, many would find an EMBA program extraordinarily useful—especially a young execu- tive who wants to move into senior management or a woman who wants to return to the workforce after stepping out for a few years. And an MBA from an executive program is demonstrably valuable. According to a 2010 survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council, 77 percent of EMBA grad- uates say that, within two years of Women are still less likely than men to enroll in mid-career business programs. 74 May/June 2011 BizEd graduation, they have recovered half or more of what they paid for the degree; 21 percent have more than recouped their total investment. At my school, Van- derbilt University, the average salary increase for 2010 EMBA graduates was 20 percent over where it was when they started their two-year programs. However, if business schools don't let women know how valuable an EMBA program can be—and if they don't accommodate women who believe they're too busy to go back to school—they'll see a sharp decrease in the number of women who enroll. At Vanderbilt, we learned this the hard way. In 2008, the number of women enrolled in our EMBA program dropped to 9 percent from about 20 percent in previ- ous years. Part of that decline could be blamed on an economy in shambles and a reluctance on the part of companies to pay for their employees' degrees. But when we surveyed potential applicants, we found another root problem. Many were concerned about asking to take Fri- days off from work during a time of layoffs and cutbacks. So in 2009, we abandoned our Friday-Saturday for- mat and switched to two Saturdays per month. This required pushing the pro- gram from 21 months to 24 months and adding two brief summer sessions. Our market research suggested this format would work, but personal expe- rience was also my guide. I'm a working mother with two daughters who play soccer. I knew they would forgive me for missing games every other week, but not every week. I figured other moth- ers could set similar expectations with their children. One high-level executive told me the bi-weekly Saturday schedule allowed her to be available to clients every Friday and still be home with her family two weekends a month. She had put off pursuing her degree until she found a schedule that worked for her. Our 2010 enrollment numbers con- firmed that we made the right move: Women made up 20 percent of that class. I'm hopeful that, as the word spreads, that percentage will go even higher.