During the summer before the one-year Rice Master of Accounting program, Rice MAcc student Jasmine Lee interned with EY, one of the “Big Four” public accounting firms. She writes firsthand about her experience.

Initial Expectations

Image

As a psychology major who had taken just three accounting courses by the time I completed my bachelor’s degree, I came into my summer audit internship at EY not knowing what to expect. Many of my soon-to-be coworkers had graduated as accounting majors, and a few of them had even previously completed other accounting internships. I initially wondered whether I was going to be behind, but my concerns disappeared as we began our training. Critical thinking, the ability to learn and adapt quickly, and an engaged mindset were really the core of what we interns needed to be successful. Once I understood this, I realized there was no reason to be afraid of falling behind or making a fool of myself. All I had to do was ask questions when I had them and stay engaged as I learned.
 

The Work Environment

When I started my EY internship, the other interns and I completed our training virtually. Nevertheless, we came into the office to meet with our teams for most of the week. I worked from home on Mondays and Fridays while commuting to the EY office or the client’s site for the remaining three days. This balance was amazing! Most public accounting firms are transitioning into this hybrid environment, and I believe it is likely to remain in the long run because employees have responded so well to it. I enjoyed the opportunities to work in-person with my team because it allowed me to build closer relationships with them and really experience what it is like to work as an auditor at EY.

I had two clients during my ten weeks, a technology company and an oil & gas company. Though my internship was during the summer, which is typically a slower season in the audit service line, I still learned a lot through my work. I sat in on update meetings, learned about the different steps in the audit process, and produced worksheets of my own that I got to sign off on at times! I appreciated feeling like my team trusted me to take on challenging tasks, especially when using database applications like PowerBI that I had never used before. I asked questions freely and made sure to take detailed notes whenever a “senior” explained a task to me.

Plentiful Future Opportunities

Throughout the summer, EY hosted several networking events, including an international intern conference. The conference in particular allowed interns to get to know each other better, which I really appreciated because they are people likely to be my future coworkers. EY had a myriad of engaging speakers at the conference who demonstrated how versatile and expansive a career at a Big Four firm can be. It was eye opening. It struck me that as someone continues working, different experiences in different projects will present opportunities to pursue arenas that suit their strengths and interests. 

By the end of my time with both client teams, I felt welcomed by everyone like I had been working with them for longer time than I had. I made wonderful friends and connections with not only my teams, but also with fellow interns! While I didn’t experience the most technical aspects of an audit in my summer internship, the environment that EY facilitated gave me insight into what it would be like to work at this firm. They provided the skills to succeed and the confidence to be ready for a full-time job. Beyond the professional aspect, I formed relationships I will rely on into the future. I know that many of my fellow interns had a similarly good experience, and I will be working with many of them at EY as staff after I graduate with my Rice MAcc degree! 
 

EY extended Jasmine a full-time job offer at the end of her internship. She will start as an audit associate following her graduation from the Rice MAcc.
 

Interested in learning more about the Rice MAcc program or the career opportunities the Rice MAcc opens up?  Visit our Admissions page or email us at RiceMAcc@rice.edu.

By Scott Sonenshein, originally published in The Conversation

One thing that’s become clear in the past few tumultuous – and for many, traumatic – years is that it’s easy to feel like there is no control in our lives. Control is a basic psychological need that helps people feel like they have agency, from how they live to where they work. One area where people have tried to wrestle back control is around work.

As a Rice University business school professor and author, I’ve examined through my research, teaching and readership the complex relationships between employees and their employers for nearly two decades. The aftermath of the pandemic is the latest iteration of a timeless negotiation between labor and management over control that took on added significance these past few years.

The pandemic accelerated a development that began years ago when workers realized they needed to take on more responsibility for directing their careers. This major shift reflects a potentially exciting but also unnerving reality for millions of workers.

From lifer to independent worker

For decades, employers had the upper hand in negotiating terms with employees. People exchanged unconditional loyalty to an employer for lifetime employment and a secure retirement. That model started to erode with an increase in corporate restructuring in the 1980s and 1990s. With the prospects of a secure job and comfortable retirement more elusive, employees switched jobs to regain some control. They sought the promise of a higher salary and a better work life. In the past decade, the average tenure at an employer dropped nearly 10%.

During the pandemic, a tight labor market allowed employees to use job mobility to feel greater control over their lives. Additionally, the freedoms afforded by remote work offset some of the losses of control caused by the pandemic. But the reality is that while changing jobs leads to a short-term boost in job satisfaction, that feeling is usually only temporary.

In a post-pandemic world, a new model is emerging that reflects concerns of a slowing economy and more uncertain future. Employees are increasingly rejecting the belief that a single job can satisfy all of their financial and psychological needs. Instead, people are turning to building a portfolio of simultaneous roles to create their career.

With “career portfolioing,” employees become free agents, relying increasingly on themselves to carve out a meaningful and rewarding professional life. They put together a mosaic of positions to collectively fulfill their aspirations around income, advancement, skill development and enjoyment. They are no longer subject to a longstanding relationship with a single, lifetime employer, or dependent on a strong job market.

One sign of the rise of career portfolioing is the increase in side hustles. In 2021, 34% of Americans reported having a side hustle, and over 60 million people planned to start one. As inflation rose, side hustles provided extra income in the face of soaring prices. But people also turned to side hustles for new learning opportunities (28%) and to find more enjoyable work (38%).

In research I’ve been conducting on side hustles in the sharing economy, I am finding that many people take these gigs to compensate for limited control in their “traditional” jobs. Although gig work comes with its own set of challenges – lack of benefits is a key one – people feel liberated by greater control over where, when and how they work. Switching on an app shifts allegiance from one company to another. Turning off an app ends the workday in an instant. People rely on side hustles to earn additional income but also because of the freedom that comes from being an independent worker.

Another benefit of portfolioing is hedging risk. Sudden layoffs, such as those recently affecting the tech industry, leave people feeling exposed to financial hardship and identity loss from being involuntarily sent to the exit. When facing difficult times at one job, people can turn to other parts of their career portfolio for security and stability.

Taking action on values

During the pandemic, people’s sense of mortality increased as the threat of serious illness or even death spread. Such times often prompt a deep reflection on values, including the purpose of work. When people took stock of their jobs, many did not like what they saw and quit at record numbers. Or, if they stayed, they increasingly pushed employers to align better with their values.

Historically, business organizations stayed quiet about controversial social issues, such as LGBTQ rights, racial justice and abortion – unless there was a very direct profit motive. That’s changed dramatically as employees increasingly demand clarity on company values – and actions to back them up. Sixty percent of workers approve of business leaders speaking out on social and political issues, and one quarter of respondents to a recent survey reported turning down a job opportunity because of a company’s position on social issues.

Employees, too, appear to be more comfortable expressing their views. At the beginning of the century, I conducted one of my first research studies on understanding how employees convince their workplaces to take a stance on divisive social issues. I found that employees concealed their values by framing them as economic opportunities. For example, sustainability initiatives around energy efficiency were cast as good for the bottom line.

When I recently ran a similar study, the dynamics had shifted. Employees were much more willing to talk about moral values and less willing to translate social issues into business issues. Such a dramatic reversal reflects employees’ growing sense of empowerment to make work more aligned with their needs. It’s hard to feel in control of your life if you need to suppress or even contradict deeply held values at a place where you spend most of your waking day.

A better future for work

Career portfolioing reflects a future in which uncertainty is too high to rely on a single institution to fulfill basic needs, and a failure of modern work organizations to deliver what employees truly value.

For employees, career portfolioing means more latitude over how their career unfolds. Instead of rising to the next rung of an often pre-defined and inflexible corporate ladder, they might instead think about the next addition to their portfolio, whether starting a new part-time job, taking a new class or pursuing a business idea. Elements of a career portfolio not only get added to produce income or personal growth, but also to support a person’s values.

No doubt, there are potential obstacles. Taking responsibility for a career portfolio requires additional effort. In our book “Joy at Work,” co-author Marie Kondo and I find that it’s all too easy to take on too many tasks and subsequently burn out. People get trapped into thinking the more they do, the better they’ll feel. Avoiding burnout starts with anchoring a career portfolio based on values and an ideal work life.

For employers, career portfolioing means competing for the full attention of their own workforce. I believe it should prompt a deeper reflection about how to better meet the needs of employees – or else they may leave or quiet quit.

For the latest insights, check out our post on the return on investment (ROI) of the Rice MBA.   

We know your decision to earn an MBA is a big step. You want your degree to pay off in meaningful ways — and not just in the short term. That’s why Rice Business is committed to helping you accelerate your career at any stage and supporting your professional growth long after graduation. And, when it comes to earnings potential, the numbers show investing in a top-ranked MBA program is well worth it.

Numbers Have Shown the ROI of an MBA is Strong

Over a 35-year career, MBA graduates reported earning a median cash compensation of $5.7 million, according to a PayScale analysis for Poets&Quants. In contrast, those with only an undergraduate degree earned $2.3 million less in lifetime earnings.

The study used salary data shared by graduates from the country’s top 50 business schools. The compensation figure is considered a low estimate, given that it does not factor in other earnings like stock-based compensation or the cash value of retirement benefits.

Seasoned business school graduates agree that earning their degrees was a smart move. More than 85% of graduates surveyed over 12 years said their graduate business degrees offered a positive return on investment, according to a Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) report featured in this article in Fortune.

Want to crunch the numbers yourself? Let our professor of finance James P. Weston show you how to estimate ROI for the full-time MBA program (since the professional, hybrid, online and executive programs are fully employed while earning their degrees). In this quick video, Weston explains why he considers the MBA “one of the greater return-on-investment degrees you can earn.” 

Powerful Community and Career Services That Grow With You

When you choose to pursue an MBA at Rice Business, you also gain full access to our Career Development Office, which has a proven track record of helping students accelerate their careers. We remain in your corner as your career advances. From one-on-one coaching to targeted programming and workshops, we offer individualized career services for alumni at all levels of experience as they pivot, grow and evolve.

Plus, as a graduate, you’ll have access to a slate of robust lifelong learning offerings, including opportunities to officially audit classes that pique your interest, or take an Executive Education course at a reduced alumni rate. Great leaders never stop learning.

But one of our most powerful resources remains our alumni network. When you graduate from Rice Business, you join a network of more than 10,000 alumni working around the world and across every major industry. One word comes up repeatedly when describing our community: responsive. That’s why we’re constantly connecting alumni whose paths may inform each other, or matching alumni to job postings submitted by other alumni.

Over and over, we hear the same feedback from Rice Business graduates across class years: The alumni community is one of their most valuable tools. Relationships built here last a lifetime.

Enduring Value in a Dynamic Landscape

Your MBA also offers an edge when it comes to leadership advancement as well as flexibility in an ever-shifting professional landscape. According to the GMAC survey cited in Fortune, 38% of business school graduates reported changing industries after earning their degrees. Further, 90% of corporate recruiters plan to hire talent with an MBA, according to a 2025 GMAC survey.

Our podcast, Owl Have You Know, is one way to hear directly from alumni (and others) about the impact of the Rice Business experience. During a September episode, Pierre Aristide ’22 described how the Executive MBA program gave him the tools to leverage his 27-year career in the military and private sector experience to pivot toward entrepreneurship. Aristide is committed to improving mental health treatment and is the co-founder and CEO of Impireum Psychiatric Group, as well as other ventures.

To get started earning a degree with staying power, check out our many MBA program options — including full time, online, professional, hybrid and executive.

Explore Our Rice MBA Programs

MBA@Rice, the online program at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business, climbed higher in four categories in the latest edition of U.S News & World Report’s Best Online Programs rankings out today.

The categories:

• Best Online MBA Programs: tied for No. 12 (tied for No. 20 last year).
• Best Online MBA Programs for Veterans: tied for No. 10 (No. 14 last year).
• Best Online Business Analytics MBA Programs: tied for No. 10 (tied for No. 12 last year).
• Best Online General Management MBA Programs: tied for No. 7 (tied for No. 11 last year).

In addition, Rice Business rose 22 spots in the Online Master’s in Computer Information Technology Programs category, tying for No. 27 after being tied for No. 49 last year.

“We use the same professors to deliver the same rigorous, high-touch MBA in our online MBA as we do in all our campus-based programs,” said Rice Business Dean Peter Rodriguez. “The strong national rankings recognize our success in reaching highly talented working professionals who don’t live near enough to our campus or for whom an online program is the best option.”

Designed using extensive research on how online MBA students learn best, Rice Business’ purpose-built digital campus creates a collaborative space to advance a student’s education and connect with accomplished business leaders from around the world. To learn more about MBA@Rice, click here.