Tareck Haykal

Rice University, Jones Graduate School of Business

“I am an MD/MBA candidate interested in plastic surgery as well as entrepreneurship.”

Hometown: Houston, Texas

Fun Fact About Yourself: I love ceramics (making pieces on a wheel).

Undergraduate School and Major: Rice University – Kinesiology. Medical School: Baylor College of Medicine

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: I worked as a food chemistry researcher for the restaurant Underbelly.

What has been your favorite part of Houston so far? Why? Having lived in Houston my entire life, I have to say my favorite part will always be the food. You can find absolutely any type of food from anywhere and know it will be amazing.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key part of the Rice Business MBA programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? I am very interested in entrepreneurship and Rice has been #1 for four years now. I was very proud to see it just received #1 for entrepreneurship for this past year!

What course, club or activity have you enjoyed the most so far at Rice Business? I think my favorite course has been finance mostly because of a conversation I had with an executive of a local, large hospital. He also had his MBA and was telling me about some of the ways the hospital makes decisions I loved that there were aspects I could only truly appreciate due to what I already learned in my finance course.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I feel like some of my biggest accomplishments in my medical education thus far have honestly just been the amount I have learned alongside the amazing experiences I have had. I have been a part of cases, particularly during my plastic surgery rotations, that I probably would not have even thought were possible before I was in medical school. I look forward to continuing my learning going forward.

Describe your biggest accomplishment as an MBA student so far? I would have to say that was placing second in the Deloitte Case Competition, despite it only having been my second competition, was very gratifying.

What has been your best memory as an MBA so far? I absolutely loved going to Valhalla, Rice’s on-campus graduate student bar, to celebrate with some of my classmates after our midterms. It was lovely being with some of the excellent people in our class celebrating all the hard work we have continuously put into our studies. I also loved the negotiations competition we had – I learned so much and our team ended up in first place!

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into the Rice Jones MBA program? As simple as it is, show that you love to work hard. The Rice MBA is not easy and really is designed for people who enjoy working and improving upon their knowledge base. Show that you can do that, and I am sure you will be a great fit!

DON’T MISS: MEET THE RICE JONES MBA CLASS OF 2024