<p>How is Rice for students interested in business? It seems to me that Rice is only popular with incoming pre-meds and engineers. I have been told on multiple occasions (albeit by peers that don't have firsthand experience attending Rice) to NOT go to Rice if I am interested in business because "Rice is not for business" and instead go to one of my other choices which are not ranked as highly as Rice on the overall rankings but are ranked better in business and actually have a good portion of students going into business.</p>
<p>I cannot comment specifically to the business program at Rice. I expect it is strong, as Rice is overall a strong school, but I know nothing about its particulars.</p>
<p>I will comment to the idea of which school to choose. </p>
<p>Yes, there is validity in going to a school with a particularly strong program that may not have the overall reputation of another school. It’s one of the things we look at when deciding which schools to apply to. Where are you going to get the best education and references and job opportunities for your specific program? One doesn’t typically attend MIT to get a degree in English… choose the school that is best for you.</p>
<p>However… make sure that you research each school’s (business) program thoroughly before assuming one is stronger than another. </p>
<p>Also… recognize that many, many students will graduate with a different degree than they intended when they started school. Does the school that you choose have strength in other programs that you could potentially see yourself switching to or being interested in? You don’t really want to be at a school that is good in only one subject and if you decide to switch out of that subject, now you find yourself needing to switch schools and potentially losing credits in the process.</p>
<p>Also, in regards to business specifically… this is one of the things that bugs me about business. Business is not a business in itself. What are your interests? What kind of business do you want to do business in? Do you want to be a marketing manager for a car dealership? a financial company? a pro sport team? an engineering firm? It’s more important IMO, to know the business (field) than to know how to sharpen pencils. </p>
<p>Are you going to graduate college and walk into a random company and say “I have a business degree and I want to run your business”… they will say… “Well what do you know about the widget business?”. You probably know nothing about widgets because you didn’t study that business in school.</p>
<p>There is absolute validity to getting your MBA after you get your UG degree in a specific industry… then you know about an industry AND how to make a company successful.</p>
<p>So there you go… very long answer :-)</p>
<p>There is actually no business major at Rice, although there is a business minor.</p>
<p>^But there are several business related courses/majors.</p>
<p>I am a rising sophomore interested in business, so I will tell you what I know. There is no business major at rice. There is a business minor that covers several topics, with a few courses in financial accounting, marketing, communication, and advertising. There is also a minor called financial computation and modeling, which has several higher level economics and statistics courses and, from what I understand, seems good for a student interested in finance. You can also major in economics or mathematical economic analysis, which is economics with more math requirements. There is no minor in economics. Like crazymomster said, you do not need to major in business to get a job. I am a physics major and might go to graduate school for business.</p>
<p>[Study</a> Hacks » Blog Archive » Want a Job? Don?t Major in Business.](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2009/02/18/want-a-job-dont-major-in-business/]Study”>Want a Job? Don't Major in Business. - Cal Newport)</p>
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<p>I think everyone knows an undergraduate management degree is useless unless you do a concentration in accounting/finance.</p>
<p>My friends who have done accounting and economics classes at Rice get jobs around Houston and beyond at good clips, and from what I can tell, have been pretty successful in their careers. A number of them ended up getting MBAs fully paid by their companies. I’d say that the lack of a dedicated business degree should NOT be a deterrent. Furthermore, the entrepreneurship program in the business school is one of the top 25 in the country the last I checked.</p>