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| Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management |
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1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics Graduates' Comments: Rice is exceptional in that the class sizes are very small (especially electives), the teacher-student ratio is high, and the access to the professors is incredible. The Finance Dept. is outstanding and the true cornerstone of the program. The new dean is extremely in-tune with students and is responsive to their needs and wants; he strongly supports most if not all student-led initiatives and programs such as our newly created Leadership Development Program. --Finance I believe that the new leadership at the Jones School is charged up to make a real difference in the quality of MBA experience -- from hiring new faculty to totally reengineering the curriculum. They are addressing the leadership aspect of an MBA education and also are serious about attracting the best of students -- this is evident in the expansion of the school. Although I would rate my experience as very positive on the whole, I think the students graduating out of Jones School in the coming years will have a richer experience. --Finance Dean Gil Whitaker has put a charge in this school that didn't exist before. In the short time that he's been here, he has made sweeping changes to the curriculum, faculty, and administration. Dr. Whitaker is positioning Jones to become the nation's leading graduate business school for leadership training and experiential-based learning. Jones, to the best of my knowledge, has one of the strongest student-initiated and -led leadership training programs in the nation (Leadership Development Program or LDP)... Activities over the past year have included a high-adventure ropes course, student-run "leadership challenges", charity projects at Texas Children's Hospital, Habitat for Humanity, a 150-person student-run corporate golf tournament, and dozens of others... All LDP activities are "owned" by one or more Jones students, providing these students with an experiential exercise in leading a team of their peers to make that activity a success. --Finance With the recent changes at Jones, including Dean Gil Whitaker from the University of Michigan, the school is only going to get better and better. Long-range strategic efforts to improve the school include becoming accreditted (accomplished April, 1998), construction of a new building, expansion of full-time faculty, expansion of the student enrollment, newly revised curriculum, and improved marketing efforts to the business community and media. The school's reputation as the "go to" school for finance and energy-related positions in the Houston area continues to grow. --Finance With a new dean, a new curriculum, and a student-run Leadership Development Program, the school is finally on track to become one of the nations top five schools. The school's new Leadership & Managerial Skills course will be a core curriculum course, which will differentiate Jones grads from all other MBAs. --Consulting Jones has taken great strides to improve the program after hiring Gil Whitaker as Dean. He has gotten Jones accredited,...has assisted in getting a new business school building approved for $45 million, to be built in the next two to four years subsequent to funding, and has empowered the administrative staff to change things for the better. There is a concentrated strategy for the school to grow and become a nationally recognized program, whereas currently it is only recognized regionally. The program's size and intimacy, and low cost, as compared to other top 25 graduate schools make it an excellent buy. Speaking as a volunteer in the admissions department, the incoming class will be better than ever. GMAT scores will approach 645 or 650, GPAs are up, and diversity will be substantially improved. JGS has made more changes and improvements in the last nine months than it has in the past five years. --Finance My experience at Rice was unique since I attended school during an administration changeover. My first year was completely and utterly miserable; however, my second year completely exceeded anything I could have hoped for. I am very glad to have had the opportunity to influence the vast number of changes that occurred at our school. I am somewhat sad that my first year (and thus a good portion of my experience) had to be tainted by the old administration. --Marketing The Finance department at Rice University is young, with cutting-edge knowledge of trends taking place in the industry...particularly in the derivatives markets. Their energy and enthusiasm is refreshing and inspiring. --Finance Jones is really an undiscovered, top-tier program. A recent study by a professor at the University of Chicago ranked the student quality No. 17 and the starting pay No. 16 among the top 80-90 business schools. The school is especially strong in Finance, Accounting, and Entrepreneurship. In quantitative areas, Jones is probably a top 10 program. I received job offers from two different Harvard grads, both of whom loved Jones and repeatedly hired our alumni. In their view, Jones is the only program in Texas comparable to the better programs in the Northeast (Columbia, Cornell, etc.). --Finance The Jones School has what it takes to be a first-tier school. It has to improve in attracting more and better foreign students as well as in aiding these in landing a job. Most of the companies that recruit at the Jones School will not hire foreign students from the school. Also, I think that more courses should be offered, and I think that this will occur once the new facilities are in place. --Finance The career planning center compromises what would be one of the finest institutions in the U.S. --Information Technology Some of the best things about Jones are the small class size, accessibility to faculty, and the motivation from the faculty that we can do anything. I started a business on the World Wide Web during my first year, largely due to my interest in online commerce that was developed in my course work. --Marketing Back to Top 1999 Profile Update School Profile School Statistics |
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