MBA MoTM, Rachel Clare — Part 1
Rachel Clare is our inspiring August MBA MoTM. This engineering mama shares how she chose her program and managed her roles as mom, students, and cabinet member of multiple clubs.
What motivated you to pursue your MBA? How did you know it was the right time to pause your career and start your MBA?
After completing my MS Chemical Engineering degree, I went to work as a chemical engineer/contractor for a firm in the environmental space. Through this position I learned a great deal about what it means to work as a consultant and to have a hand in business development and client management. I quickly realized that while my engineering background provided me with excellent analytical and problem solving skills, I was missing the fundamental business knowledge of how a company operates both organizationally and financially. Prior to this position, all my research and experience had been within the healthcare sector and I too realized I missed being involved in healthcare. I knew I needed to make a change, and an MBA provided me with the tools I was missing and the opportunity to easily transition back into the healthcare industry.
Why did you choose Fuqua at Duke? What activities were you involved in on campus?
When choosing to begin the MBA journey, I simultaneously decided this was the perfect opportunity for my husband and I to begin our family as I saw the business school experience to have greater flexibility than a full-time job. I chose Fuqua as they have a great community for parents and support for moms on campus. They were one of the few schools where admissions put me in contact with a mom currently in the program to discuss her experience, which was invaluable in making the transition. During my time at Fuqua I was involved in the Association of Women in Business (AWIB), Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum, and Healthcare Club.
What time management tips do you have for other moms who want to be involved like you?
Be intentional with your time
While at Fuqua, I was very intentional about my time on campus and made this known to my team members. I was on campus every day from 8:30 AM to 5:15 PM as this was when my son was being cared for by a nanny (up until 13 months) or in daycare. Luckily, my team members were understanding of this arrangement and made efforts to adhere to this schedule for in-person meetings. We often would have phone calls later in the evening if the team needed to discuss an upcoming deliverable.
Stay organized
Outlook was my best friend during school and allowed me to let others know my availability for meetings, and to set reminders and “internal” deadlines for myself to complete my course work and projects. At the beginning of each of the six week terms I would set up weekly meetings with my team to work on upcoming deliverables or to serve as a pulse check to see how everyone was doing when we didn’t have coursework. It was known among my team that team meetings were for school work and we could get together during other times for socialization.
Even though you were super on top of all of your time management, what were your biggest challenges as an MBA mom? How have you overcome those challenges?
The biggest challenge for me was being actively engaged in the social aspect of the MBA. My family was and is my first priority which means my social activities were always well planned and intentional. Setting expectations is key for overcoming this and knowing that you will leave this experience with a handful of invaluable friendships.
Can you tell us more about your kids and what childcare solutions you utilized during your MBA program?
Vaughn was 6 months old when I began the program. He is now a spunky and energetic 2.5-year-old who loves dinosaurs and trains. We began school with a nanny, whom we adored, which allowed us greater flexibility in coverage. When he was about a year old she moved back to her home state, and we decided it was the perfect time to transition Vaughn to daycare. Duke has wonderful on-campus childcare centers and we were lucky enough to enroll him in the one year old class.
Harris was born in January of my second year. Fuqua’s curriculum (after core classes) allows you to create your own schedule, and I was able to take a significant number of credits in my first year through both in class courses and experiential learning. This allowed me flexibility in creating my schedule for my second year to lessen my load while pregnant and only take a single class in each spring term to complete my MBA. The professors were flexible in accommodating my request to take a course remotely during the first spring term as I knew my son would be younger than two weeks old. The flexibility of the program allowed me to stay at home with Harris for the remainder of my time at Fuqua.
Be on the lookout for Part 2 of Rachel’s Q&A later this week.
