Calling all Rice(Jones) Professional MBA Applicants: Class of 2018!!

This is part time MBA thread. Are you a PT applicant?

For Professional and Executive MBA, does applying in the 5th round lower your chances of acceptance?

Interview is scheduled.

Interview also scheduled. R3.

Mind sharing gmat scores? Working on application.

Posted from my mobile device

I used GRE Scores instead.
Verbal: 159
Math: 165

Should be the equivalent of 680-700ish
Undergrad GPA: ~3.2
Masters degree GPA: ~3.7

I had my interview a few days ago. First interview in 3 years, and despite some preparation, it didn't go great. I don't think I failed it, but all the questions were specific enough that I didn't use my canned stories and had to think of examples on the spot.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

I answered this question in the Full Time MBA thread, so I missed responding to this post. Sorry!

I changed my strategy the day of and messed up quant because I ran out of time. 38/85% Verbal, 25/13% quant, 6.0/92% AW.
Poli Sci/Psychology undergrad. Note, I had a friend apply for PMBA with a 560 and was accepted. They asked him to retake GMAT, and he made the same score. Rice looks at your application holisitically so if you have a unique story or can offer some diversity and/or leadership skills, stress that in the essays.

I had my interview yesterday. My questions were:

Tell me about your resume.
Why MBA?
Why Rice?

Have you worked with a difficult person before and how were you able to get through that? I had another question that was very similarly worded to this one but i cant remember what the secondary question was.
Tell me of a time when you had to enlist help.
How do I see myself contributing to the Rice community/program?
How do you plan on managing FT work and FT MBA (professional MBA at rice is NOT part time. It is still full time).
What are you excited about at this point in the application? What are you worried about?

My interview went well over 30 minutes. We had a strong rapport. Also, because of inclement weather, my interviewer was a bit late, so Gem gave me a tour of the campus and really gave me a preliminary interview.

Fellow applicants - I am planning to apply for R5. Registered for today's (3/22/2016) information session. Anyone here attending? Also, any idea about the recommended dress code?

Thanks!

Hi,

I will be attending tonight. I am planning on wearing business casual. I attending the FORTE MBA information session in the fall and typically everyone wore business casual (slacks/blazer).

Great! Thanks for the information. I can head over straight from work then.

See you there.

I got my acceptance yesterday.

Congratulations!

P.S: Did you attend any of the info sessions/class visits? If so, how helpful were they?

I attended one info session. They offer several in different flavors I believe, and I can't remember which one I attended. Though, I went to Rice for undergrad, and was able to schedule 3-4 coffee chats with recent alumni of both the FT and Professional programs. The info session wasn't super helpful for me, since I had already poured over all the information on the website, but I did get to meet the admissions team and ran into an old classmate. So it wasn't a total loss.

I received offers from both the UT (in Houston) professional program and the Rice professional program. I really want to do an MBA, but I'm still on the fence, mostly because of the cost - no help from my employer. I've got about a week and a half to make a decision. I've scheduled another 4 or 5 meetings with different business people in my industry to see their viewpoints on my career's cost/benefit. Hopefully they help me decide.

Congratulations, Patrick! I am in the same boat as yours. Gave both the interviews last week and waiting for the responses. Do you know how long they take to get back with the answer?

It would be helpful to know what you ultimately decide. Let me know your thought process as well on choosing what you end up with.

UT quoted me 3 weeks, Rice quoted me 4 weeks and both were true to their word.

I'll be sure to update you with my decision, and would be happy to discuss with you if you want - personally, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the UT program, since I haven't talked to as many people from it as I have from Rice. I'm in downtown and it's pretty easy for me to bounce out for a coffee.

I rarely write on forums but I will offer why I chose the MBA for professionals at Rice. I was accepted in R1 pretty quickly after the interview. I had the same 2 concerns that you did:

1) Program Decision: I started out wanting to consider UT along with A&M and Tulane. Eventually, it came down to to Rice and A&M. The reason I took UT out was simply because it was the Houston based program and not the one in Austin. I worked alongside a guy that was going through the UT-Houston program and had to attend a lot of sessions in Austin and he felt that the network was not as powerful as it is in their hometown. He did receive offers from Bain and Alvarez among a few others. A&M has been established a bit longer in Houston and cost was less than both Rice and UT so I kept it in the running.

2) Cost: Let's be honest this is a huge deal for professional programs because the cost is so high and it takes a lot of justification to take the plunge into 6 figures of debt. I have the option of receiving minimal (20k) help from my employer but I am not choosing that option because I want to keep my options open and doing so ties you down for 2 years in addition to the 2 years needed to complete the program. I realized if I was going to do a program I want to do the best possible program in my area, which would be Rice. No means an insult to the UT program (overall ranking better than Rice for MBA), but I am not convinced that the Houston version is as effective and makes a terrible ice breaker (networking is half the cost of an MBA). "Oh, you went to UT?", "YA!! The one in Houston", "Oh...".

Round 3, which if you interviewed in March you were in R3, should be hearing back by APRIL 1st. I believe they send an email saying the application status has been updated and a phone call.