If you’re considering enrolling in a part-time or full-time MBA program but are worried about whether you can maintain any semblance of work-life balance, Eddy Villalta has some advice for you.

“If you want to break out of your comfort zone and achieve everything possible, you’ll need balance to do it,” says Villalta, a Bentley Professional MBA student who will graduate this May.

But it won’t be easy, he admits, and his wife Andrea emphatically agrees. They stress that it takes two to make it work — or in their case, four, when you factor in two young sons who are very much part of the work-life balance dynamic.

What can help you get through the sacrifices? Here are the main the things that the couple says are important:

• Watch your finances, especially if you have kids and have decided that one spouse will stay home with the children.
• Have a mentor, someone who can advise you about your career and the relative benefits of getting the advanced degree. In the end, though, you must be the first to be convinced that it will all be worth it.
• Don’t compromise your long-term goals even if opportunity seems to strike. When you’re focused, you’ll be able to tell if it the timing is not right. 
• Set guidelines from the beginning. For example, perhaps you’ll decide, like Villalta, that Sunday is always a day off: No work, no study, no group projects, even if other members of your team would like to meet.
• If you have a spouse or partner, make sure you can count on him or her to be there for you. You will need someone you can confide in, someone who will encourage you when things get tough.
• Surround yourself with a network of people who may or may not have a lot in common with you but whom you can rely on for help, for friendship, and for guidance.
• Take advantage of the resources and connections at the university where you enrolled and try to ascertain if there’s a supportive culture. You might find it will pay off in ways you never imagined.
• Get ready for a shock, especially if you haven’t been in school for a while, because the academic challenge will be substantial. But you’ll survive.
• If you can “fast track” your program of studies, by all means do it. Sprint toward the finish as long as it doesn’t kill you!

That advice comes from a couple whose need for balance has been especially pronounced. Enrolled in Bentley’s part-time Professional MBA program, Villalta works during the day for EMC Corp., commuting about an hour each way, and takes his courses on certain evenings and occasionally on weekends. 

In part-time programs, that schedule is not uncommon. But what really makes Villalta different is his decision to give up a 13-year, highly successful career in Costa Rica and move 2,400 miles to earn this Bentley MBA. He knows why he’s here, and strives to do everything in his power to be successful.

Before deciding to get a graduate degree, Villalta worked in both product development and call-center operations in Central America after graduating with an undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering. In his last position with COINCA Telematics, he had major responsibilities for developing and executing a business plan that included product development, procurement of hardware and software, personnel, and sales and training, all spread across six Central American countries. 

After five years, Villalta was a C-level executive. But he knew that he wanted more, that he wanted to test himself and needed “to break out of my comfort zone.”

And did he ever. Encouraged by a former supervisor who was “like my father,” Villalta decided he had to get an MBA because it would provide a comprehensive perspective that he knew he didn’t have and would need. And while he could have studied in Central America, he decided that if he was going to break out of his comfort zone, he might as well go all the way.

Villalta opted for the Bentley Professional MBA instead of the Bentley MBA, which is an 11-month, full-time intensive program. While that may seem surprising, he was again influenced by his mentor, who said that the opportunity to experience the American culture in every way, especially in Boston, was one that Villalta ought to grasp, something that would have been more difficult in the shorter, immersive program. As things turned out, Villalta will gain his degree in less than two years, a very fast pace for a program that caters especially to people who are working.

“Andrea and I both quit our jobs (she was in private equity), sold everything we had (except their house) and moved to Massachusetts,” he says. “I did it for myself and for the kids,” both of whom now are excelling in the highly regarded schools in Belmont, where the family lives. His landlady, who has an Masters in Taxation from Bentley, made it clear that being a Bentley student mattered. “It was another indication to me that Bentley had a culture of people helping each other out,” adds Villalta.

With a concentration in Business Analytics, Villalta is considering several employment opportunities and, consistent with his goals, he plans to be selective, looking not just for a good job but for a clear path to success. Wanting to give his family a boost while ensuring that they are safe and happy has always been part of work-life balance, Villalta insists, especially during his time as a student. “If I get the best job in the world but I don’t have them, then it will not have been worth it.” 

Once he’s fully launched, the focus on balance may well continue in the Villalta family as Andrea considers her own turn at graduate school.