Matt Zeis

Professionals - Evening
Current Industry/Job: Crude Oil Marketing - Manager of Marketing Administration
From: Houston, TX

Favorite quote and why:

“Brevity is the soul of wit.” This is especially useful to remember in business school. Many situations and assignments require you to explain complex subjects in a short space. This is also an entertaining quote because Polonius was the least brief of all the characters in Hamlet.

If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor and why?

I am a big fan of history and would love to be mentored by Adam Smith. His ability to distill a changing and complex economic system into a set of maxims that still describe our basic economic system today would be great to witness. I wonder how he would adjust or change those maxims in describing capitalism in its current state.

Best memory from your first year in the MBA program:

I have three favorite memories: Immersion, the flag football tournament and the Capstone Simulation. Immersion helps you learn about your team very quickly and while it may be one of the most challenging weeks of the year, looking back it was a great experience. The flag football tournament was just a lot of outdoor fun with new friends. It is a great experience and the second years look forward to seeing you on the field! The Capstone Simulation is great because it allows you and your team to take all of the things you learned of the last nine months and put them into practice to solve a complex problem.

What story does your family always tell about you?

I grew up in New Hampshire and our house backed up to a small stream that ran to the next town. During the winter the stream would freeze hard enough to skate over. When I was 10 my friend and I left early in the morning and skated to the next town, about 10 miles away. From a young age I have always been curious and loved to explore. There are so many things to explore at Rice, and so little time.

What advice would you like to provide incoming students?

Communicate your expectations to your team regularly and hear their expectations. Establishing expectations for each class and each assignment at the beginning will help avoid a lot of frustration down the road. Prepare for class. Even if you can’t read every article or chapter before class as thoroughly as you may like at the very least scan them. This will enhance your understanding of the material in class.

Any additional unique facts you would like to share:

Make friends with everyone you can in the program. Networking is critical in the program just as in life. Study groups, guides and happy hours are all enhanced by your network. Attending PCFs (post-class festivities) early on is critical in building relationships. See you at Valhalla!