If you've toured the campus and classrooms of a business school, you may have noticed something: On average, roughly 70 percent of any given MBA program's students are male. While this may make a nice pool of dating prospects for the women who are enrolled, it's not something business schools are happy with—far from it! In fact, it's something they are working to change as quickly as they can.

Top-flight schools typically see higher female enrollment, in part because of all they offer, but also because, just as males do, women want to benefit from the status of an elite school. Stanford, for example, had a 26 percent female enrollment 10 years ago; now, women make up 38 percent of the class of 2004. While 38 percent may not match the 50 percent male-to-female ratio at other grad schools, closing the MBA gap is only a matter of time.

School Initiatives
How can we be sure? One reason is that getting women enthused about a career in business is a sky-high priority at business schools across the country these days. To wit, many business schools have launched their own women-only outreach and recruiting events. New York University's Stern School aptly calls its initiative, "Opening Doors for Women." Sessions are generally held in the fall in cities nationwide and are offered through the admissions offices. Receptions like this one aim to dispel myths, address the perceived lack of role models, and help women make informed decisions.

Stanford's events, says Wendy Hansen, Associate Director of Admissions at the Stanford Business School, "focus on the educational experience, but also on the unique types of issues women have, such as: how does getting the MBA fit in with having a family or having a spouse? How do I make this experience fit in with my life?"

Julia Minn, Director of Admissions at Stern, says attendees often find comfort in numbers, "Roughly 400 women attend our events. Seeing such a large presence of women is empowering. They realize they're not in this alone, that there are other women around like them." Eileen Chang, Associate Director of Admissions at the Harvard Business School notes Harvard's attendees are similarly impacted: "Women may come in skeptical and curious. But they come out energized that the MBA is a real opportunity for them."

If all this sounds like good public relations, it is. Schools want to get the word out: MBAs offer women viable opportunities. But if the business schools are talking the talk, they're also walking the walk. There's nothing superficial about this campaign. Bit by bit, the MBA landscape for women is changing.

Opportunities begin even before the first day of class. At Stanford, admitted women are treated to one-on-one admit-lunches with female alum. Once an admit gets to campus, they find MBA life is chock-full of student-run women and management programs, support groups, retreats, executive conferences, mentoring programs, and other dedicated resources for women-only.

For many years now, most business programs have had an on-campus Partners Club for spouses and significant others-a benefit to both female and male students. Newcomers to the business-school scene now include groups like The Parents Club and Biz Kids where students can find family-oriented classmates and activities. Perhaps the most symbolic gesture of the increasing influence of women in business school is Stanford's provision of a private nursing room for MBA-moms and their babies in their main classroom facility.

More Flexibility and Making it Work
Of course, there's still room for improvement. A continuing problem at business schools is a lack of coursework and case study material featuring women leaders. Likewise, there is an absence of female professors on the academic scene.

Apart from these lingering issues, business schools continue to tackle the particular issues women face. Still not sure it's for you? The late starting age can be a turn-off. But even here, there are new options and opportunities to consider.

If you are stressed out from trying to have it all and have written off getting an MBA, new early-initiative programs might make you pause and reconsider your decision. Harvard and Stanford have developed an early career track that aims to minimize the importance of the biological clock in a prospective applicant's decision to pursue an MBA. Other schools are likely to follow suit.

The early career track offers a solution that is as simple as it is practical: admit women (and men) to the MBA program either straight out of college or with just a few years of work experience. Chang says, "We're hoping that this spurs more women to come to Harvard Business School when they realize they can attain this degree earlier. This gives them a bigger window in which to achieve their professional and personal goals. One might argue that at a younger age, you have fewer ties. As you go further into your career, by nature of many things, you loose that flexibility."

Beginning a business career earlier eliminates the immediate problem of timing. But what happens down the road? While it helps to remove one timing issue, it can't indefinitely postpone the balancing act that shadows many women's careers. It's hard to rationalize the opportunity costs of the MBA knowing the investment might be forsaken when tough choices have to be made.

To this, business schools blame misconceptions about the utility of the MBA. They feel that many women underestimate the broad reach of the degree. The MBA is not just for hard-core careers like banking and finance, but also for not-for-profit work, less high-stress industries such as consumer goods, and leadership positions in a wide range of fields.

Further, says Hansen, "There is a tremendous amount of flexibility in a general management degree. The MBA positions you much more effectively to make an impact wherever you fall at different points in your life. It gives you the tools and framework to apply those skills at different levels and in different intensities. For example, women can rise to a partner level or a senior leadership position and then scale back to a different role within the organization. They can also scale back to part-time work." In other words, the investment doesn't have to be forsaken, it might instead be redirected.

There's no doubt the return on investment (that's ROI for business speak) for the MBA is high. Six-figure salaries and sign-on bonuses that pay you back your MBA tuition are hard to beat (and unlike medical, veterinary, and law school grads, you won't have malpractice premiums eating into your take-home pay). Ironically, the cost of getting to this point has, thus far, simply been too high for women. But times are a'changin'. If you've thought business school might be right for you, keep investigating—you might be right.