There's never been a better time for women to get an MBA, given the efforts business schools are investing in attracting professional women to their programs. From networking events to special workshops, women are feeling a warm welcome from the MBA world. But, if you're considering a career in business, you'll still need to put some serious thought into how the degree will help you in your career trajectory. Apart from all the trends and initiatives aimed at encouraging women to apply, making the decision to go should be a highly personal process. To start, you'll need to ask yourself some critical questions…

Check Your Motives
First off, what do you expect the degree to do for your career? How much will it help? Will you use the MBA to switch careers into an entirely new field? (67% do). If so, it may be an invaluable stepping-stone. Or are you simply looking to the MBA to gain credibility, build new skills, sharpen other skills, or accelerate your career? These too, are good reasons-though in these cases you may find that a part-time program satisfies your career needs even better than a full-time program.

If the only thing that has been holding you back from considering business school was a sense that it was still a male domain, consider yourself freed up from that notion. That's becoming less and less the case. Of course, the knowledge that business schools have created a more welcoming environment, rich with opportunities for women, is enticing. But the bottom line is you—and making the decision to go should depend mostly on your personal values and criteria. Where are you headed and how can the MBA help you get there?

Check the Costs
If you can't articulate some idea of what the MBA will do for you career-wise, it won't matter that business schools are implementing additional resources for women. You won't know what to do with them. Being paired up with an executive mentor in finance only helps if you know you want to be a banker. To take full advantage of all the newly established female-only networks and seminars, you'll need some kind of game plan. (This applies to men too; a clear idea of what you want out of a business school education is critical to a successful experience.)

The costs are clear enough: two years out of the workforce and not advancing in your profession, two years of lost salary, and don't forget the $60,000 to $100,000 in school-related expenses. (Now would be a good time to see if your employer is willing to reimburse for some or all of the tuition. Couldn't hurt to ask!)

It's no wonder business school enrollment has suffered this year. We stand by the statement that grad school in general is a popular destination during bad times. Business school can still be a great place to wait out the storm. But as the recent sequence of events (the dot.com bust, economic fallout from 9/11, and continuing unemployment issues) makes clear, it's anybody's guess just how long the storm will rage on.

When the economy is ailing, it's the rare MBA student who will get three or four job offers thrown at her. One or two is more like it. And, chances are that getting even that number is going to entail a fair amount of work. While there are still six-figure salaries out there, they aren't as prevalent as they were in the '90s. Your fast track may be strewn with a few bumps in the road.

Check the Big Picture
For both women and men, the decision to pursue an MBA requires a decent tolerance for risk as well as the willingness, if necessary, to be a bit patient for a longer-term payoff. On the positive side, a smaller applicant pool means admission to the top schools may be less competitive for qualified applicants. And it's at these top schools where you are likelier to find higher than average female enrollments. Indeed, this could be a great year to go to business school.

To get you started on your MBA journey, you might want to consider The Wall Street Journal Guide to the Top Business Schools 2003, in which it ranks the "Top Schools for Recruiting Women M.B.A. Graduates." Columbia Business School came out on top, followed by Northwestern (Kellogg) and Dartmouth (Tuck).

According to Ron Alsop, staff reporter to the Journal and editor of the guidebook, "Recruiters named these schools most often when asked which MBA Programs are best for hiring women graduates." Although this ranking does not directly consider how female-friendly the environment is at these schools, it's a safe bet that women here are doing okay.

You might also focus your search on those schools that lend continued career support long after the ink on your sheepskin has faded. At Stanford, the Women In Management program continues to partner recent graduates with more experienced alums. At Yale, a yearly MBA Women's Summit brings current students, alumni, faculty and distinguished female panelists together for networking and learning.

The opportunities for women are too numerous to mention in this article. You'll have to do your homework. Wherever you land, know that you too have just altered the landscape for women and the world of business.