Ian Zlotnik

Home City: Montville, NJ

Undergraduate Institution: Penn State University Park

Undergraduate Degree and Major: Accounting and Labor Employment Relations

Pre-MBA Industry: Education, Consulting

Pre-MBA Company: HISD

Pre-MBA Title: Business Teacher

Desired Industry Post-MBA: Consulting

Desired Job Function Post-MBA: Federal Transformation Delivery Consultant

Student Organization Membership: Consulting Association, The Adam Smith Society

Officer: Adam Smith Society President; Planning on being an Rice Business Student Association for Professionals (RBSAP) Committee Head

What has been the most surprising part of your Rice MBA experience? The immediate impact and the learning curve of the consulting industry. While consulting had always been my goal, the ability to learn and connect with consultants, as well as being able to characterize my skills at another level, was the most surprising part of the MBA program. The credit there has to be due to the second-year students, as well as the CDO, for preparing me ahead of time for these opportunities despite working full-time.

What has been your favorite thing about your MBA experience so far? The mindset shift that I have experienced. My operations class and my strategy class have taught me to not just settle for data, numbers, or surface-level facts, but to dig deeper to root causes and to gain an understanding of what those numbers and data mean and how they can be manipulated or misinterpreted to make a point that may not be correct. This mindset shift, I believe, was critical to solving complicated issues within the MBA program and beyond as my supervisor immediately noticed it.

What do you love most about Houston? The diversity. As a foodie and as someone who is Jewish, finding the ability to assimilate into a community moving halfway across the country was one that I did not think was possible; however, for the past eight years, Houston has become my home, my community, and my family. It has taught me valuable skills for growth in my own personal life and has taught me to know my audience. Whether a situation would require more "Yankee bluntness" or "Southern Hospitality" touch is something I have Houston to be thankful for. In addition, meeting friends from entirely different backgrounds, religions, sexual orientations, and races than that of my own has allowed me to truly embed myself in other cultures beyond gaining a better understanding of my own.

What is one piece of advice you would share with a prospective student? Be yourself, ask for help if you need it, and never give up.