Srija Dasika, MBA 2019
Srija Dasika, Texas McCombs MBA ’19, recently shared her experience of becoming a new mom while working and being part of the Evening MBA program. She is originally from Portland, Oregon and works as an R&D engineer at Verizon. She says it was, “tough, but very rewarding and not impossible!” to become an MBA parent. Srija had her first baby in April 2017, during her first year as an MBA in Austin.
Being A Student and a Mom
“Becoming a new parent is one of the best things in the world, but it’s not easy. Your whole world changes, your responsibilities and priorities shift, you are actively learning to live a new way of life with very little sleep. The moments that make parenthood wonderful are what inspire me to do well and work hard. Having strong support at home, school and work helped me a lot. My MBA cohort is very close and that was a huge motivation for me to work hard and stay with my class without taking a break. My company also had a generous maternity policy that allowed me to recover and bond with my baby before going back to work. Overall, I have learned a lot, it has been a satisfying experience and I am very thankful for my support structure.”
Juggling School and Parenthood
“Becoming a new parent while getting an MBA and working full time is not a decision that you make lightly. It’s all about you and your partner getting into the mindset that you will both be extremely busy and knowing that there will be days where you will feel like you have a lot more on your plate than you can handle, but also knowing that you can push yourself past those times to succeed. You will become very strong and eventually learn to become much more productive and efficient.
Before I enrolled in the program, my husband and I did a lot of research and what helped us the most is that we were able to connect with other Evening MBA students that had gone through this and talked to us about their experiences.
I did learn about The Parental Accommodation Policy, but it was not yet in place when I gave birth during the program. However, my professors, my classmates, the career management team and the program office team were all very understanding and accommodating and made sure that I was able to get what I needed in order to stay the course without falling behind from the rest of the cohort. I am very thrilled to hear that this policy was officially adopted by the Evening MBA program because it gives students an extra layer of support if they choose to expand their family while working and going to school!“
Biggest Challenge
“Time management was my biggest challenge. I thought I have always managed my time well – but realized how much more efficient I had to become in order to balance parenthood, school and work. I had to learn how to make my time work well for me. Maintaining an up-to-date calendar, trying my best to stick to a routine – but also allowing slack when plans need to change is how I have been able to overcome this challenge.”
Srija’s Advice
“It’s a joint decision, so do your research together! Talk to the program office and students/partners that have gone through this before to get their insight and learn more about their experience to see if that is something that you and your partner are ready to do.”
We encourage you to review our Parental Accommodation Policy for details on the kind of accommodations it can provide. When you enter a working professional MBA program, we understand that family support is a key element. Please let us know if you have any questions or need further info.
