Calling all Jones (Rice) Applicants! Fall 2013

Thanks destroyer. How is your application coming?

It's coming along slowly. I am retaking the GMAT soon so I have been focusing on that.

How is your application coming?

Pretty good! I'm in between my second and third drafts on all of my essays.
If you have any questions on the GMAT I'd be happy to try and help you out.

@texigan ; You have amazing stats , any specific reasons why you applying to Rice? you can get into any of the top 10 schools and leave a seat for poor souls like me

hah thanks. Well I'm already a masters student at rice, and I have had the priveledge of taking one of the mba strategy classes - I really like the strong emphasis on teamwork that Rice and I think that the Jones School is an up and coming great.

@texigan : Wow the privilege of attending a class is so valuable , I cannot tell you how enthusiastic I am regarding Jones. But not able to find enough resources on the internet to show that spirit in my essays

Jones loves teamwork and group contribution. I would think that Jones wants its students to both be able to contribute effectively in a group and to be able to learn from others.

And I think I am going to submit my app this week... wish me luck

All the best with your apps , I m still in the first round of drafting my essays

If it's not too indiscrete how old are you? Rice seems to favor older applicants compared to other schools in the same bracket (the student profiles presented on the website are quite experienced) and I believe the average work experience is 4.7yrs while I will only have 2.5yrs of work experience at matriculation (if I matriculate).

Also, considering you already took a class at Rice what can you say about the courses difficulty. I heard that some schools are really intense academically - which in itself is great - but to the point where it becomes tough to look for internships and get deeply involve in extra-curricular activities.

Being in Houston must be great for people interested for a career in the O&G industry but did not you feel that in Texas UT is and will be for a long time the reference business school? Plus Rice is the geekiest school for undergrad in the south by a long long shot, is it the same for business school students?

Thanks, texigan, I appreciate that.

I recently met Rice Jones Adcom and an alum at the World MBA tour in Bangalore. I've shared my experiences here. Hope this helps.

https://amitkpandeyece.blogspot.in/2012/ ... -2012.html

Thanks a lot amitkpandeyece , its insightful ..

Rice is one of the schools that pushes students academically very hard. The school prides itself in pushing students to the limit as far as balancing all the work.

Rice has really started to put a lot of money in improving the image and reputation of the business school. They recently hired a new career management center director who had been working for a top business school and supposedly has many connections to top PE, VC, and NY investment banks. It will be interesting to see if any of those connections translate into opportunities at Rice. As most people only recognize the school for being a regional (primarily Houston) school, the school is making an effort to expand the brand nationally. Whether or not the moves will help with the rankings is unknown.

Does anyone know if R1 for Rice is binding (Early Decision)? I tried to look this information up online but had no luck. Thanks in advance!

Interesting question -- I don't believe that it is binding. If it was binding, I would imagine that the Jones School would make that information readily accessible -- that fact that we see nothing of this nature points to the fact that it is not binding. Besides, I havn't heard of too many binding first rounds. I have only heard of binding admissions in specifically marked early round deadlines -- I wouldn't consider a "Round 1" in this category.

Hey,

Thanks. I am applying to Rice for two reasons: (1) In my experiences with the program, I think that the program fits well with me. I also really like the academic push and rigor and the general group approach that Rice uses; (2) I am already a masters student here, making the Jones School very convenient for me.

I'm on the young side of the curve too -- I have heard that there are many students from similar situations as us from current MBA students. Just because the average experience is ~5 years does not imply that they necessarily hate younger applicants, this statistic could just be the effect of the general older applicant pool for MBA programs.

The courses require a lot of work. I can say this from direct experience in the course that I took and from talking with the students here. It's not a cake walk, but I wouldn't say that it is suffocating to the extent that we would not be able to have our own time or search for internships or participate in extracurricular activities. I have heard that most of the work is analyzing and writing cases (usually in a group, but I believe that some courses, particularly electives, may require individual write-ups). On one level, it is a lot of work, but at least it would involve interesting discussions with other Rice students.

In terms of UT vs Rice, I think that although UT may be currently winning the battle for Texas "reference" school, Rice has far more potential. Rice is a top knotch university and its business school will invariably grow with it, especially given the Jones' schools effort and people. Rice Jones has been climbing the rankings and I don't expect it to stop. I would say that a 2015 Rice MBA will be a top 20 MBA if not a top 15.

As far as geekiness, this is a funny and good question. It's not the same for business school at all. Everyone in the business school is very sociable and personable. I would guess that this is because of the two way natural filter process into business school (geekier students generally don't go to business school and business schools screen based on personality).

texigan- Some very useful info there , thank you. I am an international applicant applying to Round 1. Giving some final touches to those long, protracted essays. Say, when does Rice begin to send out interview invites? And who conducts them normally(adcoms/alumni/2nd years)?

Btw, its really great to see your loyalty to the Rice brand. You have some frighteningly unreal numbers that would easily get you anywhere you wish, as somebody rightly mentioned.
All the best with your application my friend!