Calendars and Areas of Study

Academic Calendars

• Full-Time MBA: Calendar | Curriculum
• Professional MBA (Evening): Calendar | Curriculum
• Professional MBA (Weekend): Calendar | Curriculum
• Executive MBA: Calendar | Curriculum

Coursework in accounting provides a broad understanding of the use and importance of accounting information to decision makers within the firm and to external users of financial statements. The core financial and management accounting courses provide a basic understanding of accounting principles. Completion of coursework in accounting will serve to reinforce the fundamental concepts from the core and to provide additional insight into accounting processes and principles and enhance the ability to analyze and interpret accounting reports.

Typical electives may include:

• Financial Statement Analysis
• Management Control
• Business Taxation
• Issues in Financial Reporting
• Accounting & Data Analytics

Coursework in energy provides commercial acumen and leadership perspective to students who have a technical background and develops their capability for taking additional responsibilities and higher-level management roles at companies in the energy and oil and gas sector. Courses in finance, operations, and product/customer focus are widely regarded as conduits to leadership positions in energy industry midstream and upstream organizations. Learn more about how the concentration in Energy provides students with a profound examination of crucial topics that define the scope of this dynamic sector.

Typical electives may include:

• Geopolitics of Energy
• International Energy Development
• Managing Energy Transitions
• Energy Derivatives
• Capital Formation in the Energy Industry

Coursework in entrepreneurship provides students a framework for establishing, growing and modeling a business. Core entrepreneurship courses equip students with the tools and processes for starting a business. Elective courses allow students to select specific entrepreneurial topics suited to their objectives. Learn more about our exciting Entrepreneurship@Rice initiative.

Typical electives may include:

• The New Enterprise
• Financing the Start-Up Venture
• Enterprise Acquisition
• Social Enterprise
• Commercialization in Pharma/Biotech

Finance coursework provides students with a broad foundation in financial management principles and an opportunity for further specialization. Students complete core finance electives in the MBA program, and may continue with courses such as financial statement analysis and at least two more specialized offerings from a list of approved courses.

Typical electives may include:

• Futures & Options
• Financial Markets & Instruments
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Real Estate Finance
• Equity & Fixed Income Practicums (M.A. Wright Fund & Rice FI Fund)

The focus of coursework in health care is to provide students with an understanding of how management principles are interpreted and applied in the different inter-locked sectors (providers, hospitals/small practices, payers, pharmaceutical, biotechnology) of the health care industry, and how the different dynamics in these sectors make it uniquely health care. Learn more about our Health Care @ Rice University initiatives.

Typical electives may include:

• U.S. Health Care Management
• Health Insurance in the U.S.
• Life Science Entrepreneurship
• Negotiation for Health Care
• Capital Investment in Health Care

Coursework in marketing prepares students for careers in strategic marketing across a wide range of organizations, markets and industries. It provides critical knowledge for understanding and analyzing customers, and emphasizes the development of requisite quantitative and conceptual skills for contributing to the firm’s overall success. Among the career trajectories for which students will be prepared are product management, customer analytics and customer insights and management consulting.
 
Marketing courses are particularly valuable preparation for careers in consulting, strategy, operations, financial services and investment banking. These courses include Customer Analytics, Marketing Analytics and Customer Relationship Management.

Typical electives may include:

• Marketing Analytics for Managers and Consultants
• Managing Customer Perception
• New Products
• Brand Strategy
• Consultative Selling

Coursework in operations management presents students with a framework for design, planning, control, coordination and improvement of business processes, systems and resources essential to meet consumers’ needs. Instead of the technical engineering view of operations, the focus is on managing the business well. Core operations courses provide students with a deeper understanding of the match between the firm’s operational competencies, processes and supply chain and desired business strategies. Elective courses aim at sharpening the skills in more specific industry and firm domains.

Typical electives may include:

• Operations Strategy
• Supply Chain Management
• Applied Business Process Optimization
• Leading Operational Change
• Strategic Innovation Management

Coursework in real estate prepares students for a career in the real estate industry. The required course, MGMT 659, introduces a series of basic business concepts commonly used in the real estate industry and it covers in details the application of the discounted cash flow model to real estate decisions. The elective courses provide for both a depth and breadth of understanding of the industry.

Typical electives may include:

• Real Estate Finance: Asset Valuation
• International Private Equity Real Estate
• Real Estate and the Law
• Real Property
• Real Estate Lab: Development, Design and Construction

Coursework in strategic management prepares students for careers in strategic planning, management consulting and global business management across a variety of industries such as health care, energy, high tech, consumer products and professional services. It provides analytic tools for students to understand why some companies are financially much more successful than others and to analyze how executives (at different levels) can devise a set of strategies and design processes that allow their companies to achieve competitive advantage.
 
Beyond the essential analytical frameworks and skills in strategic management, strategic management courses offer students the opportunity to develop expertise in a number of areas including strategic alliances, merger and acquisition, global market entry and management, strategy and business model innovations, organizational change, and corporate entrepreneurship.

Typical electives may include:

• Strategic Issues in Global Business
• Strategies for Growth
• Business-Government Relations
• Competitive Strategies & Emerging Markets
• Reputation and Crisis Management