By Francesca Di Meglio

BABY ON BOARD.  Just about every woman who talked with BusinessWeek Online said she needed to see more role models who were successfully balancing the needs of their family with their careers. Timing is everything. Most students are around 28 when they enter an MBA program, which is about the same age many women are thinking about starting a family. After graduation, most MBAs are expected to get on the fast track in the corporate world to make up for lost time and salary. As a result, applicants are getting the message that you can't be both an MBA and a mom, and they need examples to the contrary.

And they don't just want to see women doing the juggling act, they're looking for a few good men, too. "Raising kids is a family issue, not a women's issue," says Tinsley. So, a father taking paternity leave could just as easily serve as a useful example.

Having students talk to MBA moms might help. Joan Lavis, managing director for Global Strategy & Business Development at investment bank UBS (UBS ) in Stamford, Conn., and a 1983 MBA graduate of the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, says women need to know that it's possible to have it all -- as long as B-schools and employers are flexible.

HIGHER PROFILE.  "I'll do a 6 a.m. phone call for work, but I'll also be the mystery reader at my daughter's school that day," says Lavis, who in the same week won the Chairman's Award at UBS and recognition for being the mom who volunteered the most for her daughter's fifth-grade class.

The bottom line is that B-schools need to make role models a part of their strategy when trying to attract women students. Institutions like the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and London Business School already offer scholarship money -- and assigned mentors -- to outstanding women applicants. But most students, alumnae, and professors say that schools won't get credit for these gestures until more women earn an MBA and land important jobs in the corporate world that allow them time for a family, too. After all, seeing is believing.

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