Welcome from Jones Student Association President, Joanna Nathan

To the incoming Class of 2020,

Welcome to Rice Business! As your Jones Student Association President, let me say on behalf of the entire school that we cannot wait to meet you. The next few months are going to fly by, and before you get here, I want to introduce you to some of the defining aspects of our culture:

Academic Excellence

Over the past year, Rice Business has challenged me to grow academically and intellectually in ways I never expected. The academic rigor of the program pushed me outside my comfort zone to gain an understanding of every major business function -- a necessity for each of us as future business leaders. Our core curriculum combined with a heavy emphasis on teamwork is a great model of what it's like to work at a top-tier company, and after a year, I can definitely say I am well-prepared for my summer internship. Embrace the challenge and learn as much as you can along the way.

Chasing Curiosity

The clubs at Jones were a great way to both deepen and broaden my horizons: I got to take on the role of consultant and venture capitalist at case competitions, go to wine and tequila tastings, and join a non-profit board. I would encourage each of you to take some risks while you're here: learn about a new industry by helping organize a conference about it, explore roles or hobbies you may not have considered before, and have fun with it!

Inclusive Community

My absolute favorite thing about Rice Business is its warm and inclusive culture. Here, diversity is not just pursued to meet metrics; each of our educational experiences is bolstered by those around us with different perspectives and backgrounds. We hold each other accountable to represent Rice Business well through our student statement of values: Integrity, Respect, Excellence, and Kindness (#IREP). Because of our small size, the relationships I have built here are not just additional LinkedIn connections, but lifelong friendships as part of an incredible new community.

Each of you will be a member of the Jones Student Association (JSA). The JSA represents and advocates for you as part of the student body. Our goal is to maximize student access and opportunities, optimize learning, and, ultimately, improve the value of the Rice MBA. We are excited to get to know you, to help you build your career, and to welcome you into our Rice Business family this fall.

MBA Quantitative Toolkit

Preparation is important for your success in the MBA program. One of the areas we encourage you to delve into in preparation for your classes is quantitative skills. We have created the “MBA Quantitative Toolkit”, which is available to students on Canvas all year round.

The “MBA Quantitative Toolkit” is a resource focused on preparing students to engage in quantitative reasoning across the disciplines during the MBA program. The resource represents a carefully assembled collection of references to external sources (tutorials, videos, etc.) which will help students refresh their basic math and statistics knowledge, as well as insure their Excel skills are adequate to hit the ground running in all of their courses.

We encourage you to review the toolkit’s “Table of Contents” prior to the start of the semester, and identify any gaps in knowledge you might have. Identify them early, take some time now to go through the tutorials, do additional research and study, if necessary, on the topics listed in the toolkit, and fill any of those gaps. It will save you a great deal of time and frustration when classes actually begin.

Even though the toolkit is available to you throughout the program, and you can always revisit any topic you need to refresh your knowledge of, you’ll be glad that you took the opportunity to fill the gap early, this summer, before your classes begins.

What should I be doing now?

This week you should be working through the MBA Quantitative Toolkit. The Toolkit was put together by Rice Business Professors to make sure that you are fully prepared for your quantitative classes here at the Jones School. You can read more about it in this edition of the Scoop.

You should still be working your way through your Onboarding Checklist and the Career Development Office assignments. Make sure that you are keeping up with the assignments and are turning them in by the deadline.

We will start sending out emails on Wednesday, June 20th for those who have not completed assignments by their due date. The deadlines of these assignments are very important because the assignments give us the information that we need to be fully prepared for you to start the program in a few weeks. Please make sure that you are keeping up with deadlines and turning things in on time.

If you are on top of all of your assignments and you are still looking for something to do, here is a list of recommended reading:

Naked Economics
mindset
Naked Statistics
Wall Street Journal
Economist
The Accounting Game: Basic Accounting Fresh from the Lemonade Stand

Rice Facts

Baker 13

A long-standing tradition, which began within Baker College in 1975, takes place the 13th of every month (and occasionally on the 31st or 26th for special occasions) at just after 10 PM.  Students are encouraged to apply copious amounts of shaving cream and while donning nothing more than the foam and a pair of shoes, they run a somewhat standard trail, making sure to leave their mark at various points on campus. 

To add some structure to this streaking ritual, there are six rules, which are read preceding every run. 

1. Stop at all stop signs (very important)
2. Pose for all pictures.
3. Attack only if attacked. MORE...

Summer Social

July 19th
4:00pm - 6:00pm
Rice Univeristy, Moody Center for the Arts

Please join us for the Class of 2020 Full-Time MBA Summer Social. It will be a great time to meet your classmates, staff, and faculty that you are going to be spending your time with over the next two years!

RSVP HERE