Regan told audience members to ask themselves, "'What do I want my life to look like? Where do I want to invest my time and energy?'"

Rogers, the last member of the panel to speak, is Harvard's director of University Capital Projects. She described the path that led her from being a housewife to a traveling working mother.

"My idea of a career evolved while I was raising a family," she said.

The discussion became especially lively when Beth D. Welty '95 asked the panel members what a career woman should do if she has a baby and can't face leaving her child.

After all four panel members had discussed the intricacies of their balancing act, they all answered: a woman should do what makes her happy.

"No one was on their deathbed and said 'I really wished I'd spent more time in the office.' But more say 'I really wished I had spent more time with my family'," Rogers said.

Welty said she came to the panel discussion to find out the experiences of other woman who tried to do it all. Just recently, she said, she decided to go to medical school and is now trying to fulfill the pre-requisites.