What are you doing to prepare students for the ever-changing global economy?
Global perspectives infuse our courses. Nearly 20% of our MBA students are from countries other than the U.S. and 18% of our faculty was born outside the U.S. A number of our faculty conducts research on business outside the U.S. We don't try to offer a single trip abroad or a single course labeled "global."
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| "Always accept the challenge; don't take the easy way or coast on prior knowledge. By seeking challenge you will learn more and be more confident in your knowledge; such confidence will inform your career search and enhance your job opportunities." --Dean Whitaker, The Jones School
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Have you witnessed changes in the types of students sought by companies?
Companies increasingly want students who are broadly educated and able to assume leadership roles, as we learned when we surveyed CEOs about what they found lacking in the MBAs they hired. The importance of communications, as well as analytical skills, is increasingly recognized and our students are exceptionally well trained in communications. Business also values diversity, recognizing that their customers are diverse and will be even more so in the near future.
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Has the earning potential for B-School graduates changed in recent years?
Not over the long run. Starting salaries have become more realistic, as have signing and guaranteed bonuses. These more realistic salaries increase the number of companies which believe they can now afford MBAs thereby improving how business is run.
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What is your MBA Program doing to educate students on valuing diversity in the workplace?
Diversity is a very high priority of the Jones School; we strive to attract good candidates from every race and both sexes among our students, faculty, and staff. Over the last six years we've gone from having one black student to having 78 black and Hispanic students in the MBA program (total enrollment 359). Women make up 33% of the MBA students, one of the highest percentages among the leading business schools. The Financial Times 2003 ranks us 4th in the U.S. and 6th in the world for percentage of women students and No. 1 in the U.S. for percentage of women faculty. Experiencing diversity is the best preparation for valuing it in the workplace.
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Do you have any special programs or events for MBA Women?
The Jones School is the national headquarters for Graduate Women in Business, and we have a strong local chapter as well. Each year the Rice GWIB chapter has a conference on women in business which attracts hundreds of women in the Houston business community as well as Jones students. The chapter has a full program of speakers and events and charitable activities. Having a high percentage of women on the faculty, while not a special program or event, is probably the most significant way in which we encourage women to seek MBAs and to understand that they can be leaders in business.
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What's the one piece of advice you'd give to someone considering Graduate Business School?
First make sure you want to do the work necessary. Graduate business school is demanding and your life will change radically for two years. Visit several schools, of different sizes, with different programs. Talk to the students and faculty at each school and see if the program and the environment fit your interests, style, and personality. There are many excellent business schools and you will be well educated at all of them, so choose the one which you like the most.
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What advice or tips for success would you give MBA candidates to help them make intelligent career choices?
Good business schools offer many, many opportunities to observe and explore a variety of careers. Use every chance you get to observe and explore career options. Talk with alumni and company representatives at every opportunity. Attend lectures and company sponsored social functions. Choose your career based on your interests, not on the size of the salary you will be offered. Your first post-MBA job is a beginning, not an end.
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What would you recommend that current MBA students do during school to enhance their career potential?
Be active--in class and in activities. Always accept the challenge; don't take the easy way or coast on prior knowledge. By seeking challenge you will learn more and be more confident in your knowledge; such confidence will inform your career search and enhance your job opportunities. The Jones School offers many opportunities to learn in various ways, take advantage of them!
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What advice would you give someone considering your MBA Program?
If you are interested in a constantly challenging environment, small so that you will be personally known by the faculty and your classmates, an environment in which you will, as one of our prize winning faculty puts it, be expected to learn more and dig deeper than in most business schools, even the most highly ranked, then the Jones School would be a good choice. You will find here an emphasis on leadership and communications which will prepare you to lead and a faculty which will ensure that you are as well prepared in the basic knowledge and skills of business as possible. Your classmates will be diverse and interesting and highly demanding, as are the faculty. You'll join a small but intensely loyal group of alumni when you graduate, many of whom will be friends for life and all of whom will be prepared to help you succeed.
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Thank you Dean Whitaker, for sharing your insights and expertise with mbacareers.com
http://www.jonesgsm.rice.edu
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