Just wanted to add what I know here. A good friend and fellow part-time MBA student (Tepper) got pregnant and just had a beautiful baby girl a couple of months ago, and ended up taking a semester off school to deal with all of it. (This is her first child) I fear that she's going to drop out due to the stress of juggling work, family and school.

There's at least one other mom in my part-time program (had kids before the program), though I'm not close to her. There are tons of male classmates with kids - some have wives who have given birth since we've started the program - but I assume their wives are the primary caregivers and may be stay-at-home moms.

I'd recommend asking the admissions team at the schools you're targeting to see if they can put you in touch with existing mothers.

Good luck!

How familiar are any of you with commuting students? The school in my town (my undergrad school) is not an option, and a school of choice for me is about 2.5 hours from my work (I'd be driving). My company will cut me slack in terms of attending class, I'm just worried about having time to get the work done.

I know people that have to catch FLIGHTS to get to their part-time classes, which seems extreme to me. So is a 2.5 hr commute (each way) a crazy proposition as far as part-time goes? FYI, school in question is Ohio State.

I knew only one person in my part-time MBA program who was commuting to GW from Baltimore. Taking into account traffic it was taking her about two hours to get in, and a bit less on the way back. In your case it sounds like you would have to put five hours solid for a round trip. Some people do that long commute to their work almost every day. So it mostly depends on your commitment and determination.

Also, depends on how many days a week you would have to do it.
Three obvious drawbacks of such long commute: 1) additional exhaustion; 2) not likely that you would be able to participate in many (any) extracurricular activities at school; 3) you will often think that you would rather spend this time on doing your homework than driving the car.

Generally, it's doable, but of course this long commute will take its toll on you. So if you think that the program is really worth it, muster up your stamina and get used to caffeine overload.

Quick question about how many hours you would recommend taking. I work 40hrs a week, and I am in a part time MBA program. Should I take 6 or 9 hours?