How you can fit your MBA into your professional working life

Studying an MBA can be a life-changing experience─but it doesn’t have to be life-consuming. Nowadays, many MBA programs offer freedom and flexibility, meaning you can work your studies around your other commitments in life.

That was certainly the case for MBA graduate Natasha Tejeda, who enrolled in the Part-Time MBA at Bentley University and was able to take almost five years to complete her degree as she navigated significant changes in both her professional and personal life.

We spoke to Natasha to learn how the part-time program offered her the flexibility she needed to fit studying into her busy work schedule, while helping her pivot into her dream role in the life sciences sector.

A highly flexible study format

For Natasha, the ability to fit the program around other commitments was crucial, particularly as events in her life were placing extra demands on her time.

“Between me starting my master's degree and graduating, I ended up giving birth to three children,” she explains. “So, the flexibility was very important.”

The Bentley University Part-Time MBA is flexible in a variety of ways. Students can take between 18 and 60 months to complete the program depending on their circumstances, they can attend classes either online or in-person, and they can choose to start the program in the fall or the spring.

Both the study formats and graduation dates are offered on a highly flexible basis within the Bentley Part-Time MBA, which gave Natasha the space she needed to fit her life around the demands of the program.

That degree of flexibility meant that, even while Natasha was starting a family, she was able to continue studying and working on her professional development.

The MBA learning experience

Natasha decided to study her MBA with an additional elective in Information Systems Technology. She soon found that she could take many of the learnings from that concentration into her then job at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a leading multinational firm where she worked as a portfolio manager.

“There was one class that I took in management mapping, which was about the best way to create the most efficient ways for processes to go through,” she explains. “And it just so happened that at that same moment we were going through the same thing in my team at work, so it was very interesting to be able to apply it to a hypothetical situation in class.”

One of the biggest benefits of the part-time MBA is that the learning can go both ways—not only can you apply business school lessons in the workplace, but you can bring the real-world hurdles you face at your job straight into the classroom.

“I had decided to see how my career could grow, and then what an MBA could add to it,” adds Natasha. “It worked out great for me, especially being able to apply things I learned in real time.”

Beyond applying these learnings to her current role, the MBA equipped Natasha with the skills, knowledge, and experience to make a career pivot into the life sciences sector.

She has now left the BCG role she held at the start of her degree, securing a new job leading the corporate real estate division of a life sciences company while in her last month of business school.

“The Bentley internal job board is how I received my first role in this new industry,” she shares, explaining that the school hosts lots of career fairs, resume clinics and networking events, and there were always plenty of internship opportunities.

Natasha’s career progression was also made possible through another highlight of her MBA experience—learning from expert professors. She found that professors always maintained an open dialogue with the school’s MBA students, which meant they formed close bonds with students and would be “open to stepping in” whenever challenges arose.

The professional experience that Bentley faculty possessed was similarly influential. Often Bentley professors come from more than just academic backgrounds, with many having started companies themselves and moved into teaching after spending several years in industry. Natasha believes that mix of perspectives elevated her learning experience.

“I think it was interesting for me to hear the professors’ experiences,” she says. “You can learn from your professors not just what they’re teaching, but from their own personal lives as well.”

Advice for working professionals considering an MBA

As a premier, highly regarded qualification, an MBA is undoubtedly a considerable effort, and an intense study experience for many.

However, Natasha maintains that it’s “definitely” possible to fit an MBA around a full-time job: “I would say sit down, look at your schedule and look at any gaps,” she advises.

“You don't have to take a ton of classes every semester if you want to go part-time. It still works, you're still learning, and you're meeting new people.”

Choosing the program that best fits your own needs is therefore crucial if you’re thinking of studying an MBA as a working professional. Picking a school with the resources and people to support you as a working professional should be top of your search criteria.

Besides providing flexibility and support to continue her professional development alongside achieving personal milestones, Natasha’s MBA has also helped her achieve the career goals she set out to accomplish prior to the program, pivoting from portfolio management into a leadership role at a life sciences company.