Updated from original post that was published on 05/07/2020.
Rice Business Equips You To Excel In 21st Century Business
We're living in extraordinary times right now — times that demand thoughtfulness, strength, and maybe above all, preparedness. An MBA can be a powerful way to meet this demand. In a strong economy, an MBA readies you for top roles in your field. But in an economy like the present one — with industries transforming before our eyes — an MBA can help you flourish in opportunities that previously didn’t exist.
Unlike stock portfolios or restaurants, a business education that's strong on fundamentals such as finance and accounting can’t be drained or shuttered by outside events. It's a long-term asset — and a valuable one, as Rice Business professor James Weston shows in a popular video. Weston calculated, the ROI on a business degree comes out to 20 percent.
A business school degree also equips graduates with less quantifiable assets:
For many employers, in fact, the credential itself is a kind of short-hand for a high performer.
"There's nothing about getting an MBA that doesn't require initiative from that point all the way through your career," Elissa Sangster, CEO of the Forté Foundation, told U.S. News and World Report. The nonprofit Forte Foundation, with which Rice Business is a partner, focuses on encouraging women to attend MBA programs and pursue ambitious career goals.
In particular, Sangster said, an MBA can clear a path to hard- to -access industries such as Silicon Valley or Wall Street. It can also be helpful for candidates who want to work with major employers outside their own communities.
There's another reason to invest in an MBA: the wide-ranging, ambitious network of students and alumni that will now be your peers. In business, just as in other fields, job boards and public announcements only account for a fraction of important hires. The quality and reach of your personal network will likely offer you far more opportunities. At Rice Business, 71 percent of graduates’ jobs were generated by the school community (2024 Full-Time MBA stats).
In fact, most graduates find, some of the most educational business school experiences happen after graduation. Top MBA programs take their alumni seriously, inviting them to collaborate, support recent graduates – and keep acquiring business skills as permanent members of the school community.
“Business school emphasizes working in groups, and MBA students often learn as much from their peers as they do from faculty,” executive coach Ed Batista pointed out in Harvard Business Review. “Those same people will become your fellow alumni, and access to that network is one of the most valuable benefits an MBA program can offer.”
Business schools themselves have changed. Top business schools have been changing their models, adding more leadership and critical thinking courses to core subjects like finance, accounting and marketing. According to the Princeton Review, 71.1% of MBA applicants surveyed were aiming for senior leadership positions, and 94.4% were considering changing industries.
Rice Business alumna Marjorie Ma was one such candidate. Working as a consultant in China for Deloitte, she enrolled in the fulltime class of 2012 to prepare for a different type of corporate job. “I wanted to do an MBA program to enrich my experience,” she said. It worked. After graduating from Rice Business, Ma pivoted from both her job title and her firm itself, and became vice president of product management and market intelligence at AIG.
With its small classes and supportive culture, Rice Business is designed to help that kind of career change. You can see the results in recent class profiles. Financial services led the way for the Class of 2024, with 27% of graduates securing roles in the sector, followed by consulting (20%) and energy (18%). Rice MBAs who took jobs in the finance sector earned an average of $176K. Overall, members of the class of 2024 reported an average base salary of $150K.
To ensure that graduates have these kinds of choices throughout their careers, a top business school invests enormous attention on both its curriculum — and each student as an individual, Rice Business (Former) Dean Peter Rodriguez said.
“In the past, we thought a lot about deep quantitative skills and core competencies. All that is still very necessary,” Rodriguez said. “But today you also need enhanced skills around being a leader. Those skills will help you make great decisions, express wisdom, show empathy and lead organizations through tough times. They will help you give purpose to work.”
Rice MBAs receive unmatched entrepreneurial support, beginning with a curriculum that teaches collaboration and innovation and amplified by a community dedicated to giving back. Considering launching? Here are a few tips Rice Business entrepreneurs have shared on our podcast, Owl Have You Know.
Rice Business is home to many stellar professors who bring cutting-edge research, real-world business expertise and a deep commitment to mentorship. We turn to current MBA students to hear how a couple professors have defined their experience so far.
Wondering why Rice Business is a top MBA for healthcare professionals? Between access to the world’s largest medical center and a robust healthcare curriculum, Rice delivers an MBA experience that’s immersive, entrepreneurial and globally relevant.
