Rice Business is the right place for students planning a career in finance. And we’re competitively positioned to prove it. Our finance faculty has a reputation for excellence and our students are recruited by corporations across all financial sectors, including investment banking, corporate finance, private equity and venture capital. That’s why we’re ranked the #5 Best MBA for Finance (Princeton Review, 2023).
Our program gives you a competitive advantage in the job market, and major companies know it. Rice Business students are equipped with the critical-thinking and leadership skills needed to make a lasting impact on organizations. Just a few of the companies our students have gone on to fill finance roles at are:
Bank of America
Citigroup
Credit Suisse
Evercore
Goldman Sachs
Greenhill
Jefferies
JP Morgan
Lazard
Morgan Stanley
RBC Capital Markets
Wells Fargo
Our most popular career path within the financial services industry is investment banking and almost a third of our full-time MBA graduates are hired for specialized financial roles. In the 2023 full-time class, an impressive 19.3% of students accepted jobs specifically within the financial service industry and Rice Business saw an 11% increase in the average starting salary for full-time MBA students entering the sector.
Our finance professors are passionate about what they research and teach. When asked, they say there are four things that uniquely prepare students for the next phase in a finance career:
Grounding their curriculum in the best ideas from evidence-based research
Applying concepts with practical applications from the field
Helping their students develop market-valued skills and tools that are immediately useful on the job
Staying current with real-world developments and trends in products, markets, regulation and practice
Students in every course learn from accessible, involved and energetic faculty members. With a 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio, you’ll delve deeper into the subjects your professors teach and make lasting connections with them. You might even catch them all eating lunch together at one of the cafeterias on campus, talking about the latest trends or problem they’re trying to solve.
The MBA program presented a lot of opportunities. During the fall semester, I was taking a corporate financial restructuring class. When my professor found out about my background in capital markets and finance, he thought I would be a good fit at his newly-launched financial advisory practice. Two weeks later, I joined his team.
Adrienne Mangual
Executive MBA
A Program That Caters to Your Career Path
At Rice, you can choose from over 100+ electives in our STEM-designated curriculum, including a robust list of finance electives like Corporate Investment Policy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Real-Estate Asset Valuation, Portfolio Management and more.
Plenty of Opportunities to Build Your Network and Leadership Skills
Candidates engage in a diverse array of dynamic programs to grow professionally.
The Rice Business Finance Center offers hands-on training to our MBA students. It’s home to the M.A. Wright Fund and Rice Fixed Income Fund, giving students the chance to manage investment funds in equities and bonds, and offering career support including bi-annual investment management and private equity networking events.
Rice Business also hosts the Rice Energy Finance Summit (REFS), an annual student-led conference promoting forward-looking discussions on the most relevant energy finance, investment and strategy topics affecting the global energy industry. With over 400 energy industry leaders and professionals, as well as Rice University students, alumni, faculty and staff attending, it’s a great opportunity to engage with the community and build your network.
Rice holds relationships with every bank in Houston and has a very structured recruiting process. The alumni base is very strong in Houston, and guidance from the Career Development Office and second year students in the Finance Association was invaluable.
Kyle Olsen
Full-Time MBA
Personalized Career Support
Our Career Development Office partners with each student to deliver education, training and recruitment opportunities. This year, our largest class of investment banking interns accepted positions for summer 2022 internships, a nearly 20% year-over-year increase. This fall, our annual Week on Wall Street trek gave our finance students an opportunity to meet with Rice Business alums in the banking industry in person.
We’re ready to invest in you. Apply today to jumpstart a successful career in finance.
