raghavendra256 wrote:
queries for my peers on this thread
1) Are there international exchange programmes of the Rice Jones MBA program with other univs?. The main site
doesnt give data on this except maybe the exchange program in Mexico.
The jones specific site seems to be under maintenance or sumthing.
2) How would you compare Smu Cox and Rice ? since FT ranking puts cox at 96 and rice at 44, but BW keeping
cox at 12 and rice at 29. And how come Cox annual fees comes to 60k while Rice annual fees comes to 77k ?
1) Yes, there are semester-long exchange programs in Mexico and Costa Rica. However, there are also several international trip opportunities to China, Africa, India, South America, and Hong Kong. These trips last a few weeks and take place over semester and spring breaks. There is a really nice PDF presentation on the Rice website that details many aspects of the program. I think you will find this document helpful. If you can't find it I'll email it to you.
2) SMU and Rice are both solid choices. Although I didn't apply to SMU, I seriously considered it and and did quite a bit of research on the school. There are a lot of great corporate connections in Dallas through SMU, so that is definitely a positive. However, Rice also has similar connections in Houston and throughout Texas, especially in the Energy industry. Rice also places quite a few students in Investment Banking (which has a large presence in Houston because of all the activity in the Energy space) and Management Consulting. I wouldn't worry about the rankings so much. People make quite a "to do" over the rankings and after the "Ultra-Elite" schools, I personally don't think they make a lot of sense. I would conduct extensive due diligence on each program and see which one fits your short- and long-term goals. Visit each school if possible and get a feel for the atmosphere and the student body and see which one "clicks". Look at each school's career placement data including compensation, hiring firms, and geographic placement. See which hiring firms fit your interests. Ultimately it was this coupled with my solid visit which led me to choose Rice. I even picked Rice over some "higher ranked" schools because I was so impressed by the quality of the students, facilities, and career opportunities. However, you might find that SMU is the best fit for your goals. The point is that if I would have looked strictly at the rankings, I'd be matriculating somewhere else. Hence the importance of extensive research.
Financially speaking, the tuition at the two schools is almost identical. I'm not quite sure where you pulled that financial information. From a scholarship perspective, Rice is pretty generous if you have a solid profile (I can personally attest to that). I'm sure SMU is too, but I just don't have the first-hand experience with Cox in that area. Reputationally speaking, perhaps one of the Texans on this board could provide better insight into that.