Trivia Tuesday: Innovation and Creativity at McCombs
It’s Tuesday again, and that means it’s time for some trivia! As our regular readers know, each Tuesday we take the opportunity to highlight some of the programs, policies or predilections of the leading business schools. Our goal is to help applicants learn more about the most popular schools while also discovering some of the important differences between them.
Today, we’re taking a peek into the Clear Admit School Guide to the McCombs School of Business to share with you a passage about the school’s IC2 Institute, which provides opportunities for interdisciplinary research pertinent to the MBA curriculum.
“The IC2 Institute, an interdisciplinary research unit at the University of Texas at Austin, works to confirm and extend theories of entrepreneurial wealth creation by conducting real-life tests on businesses that opt to participate. IC2, which stands for “innovation, creativity and capital,” conducts its research through three principal subsidiaries: the Austin Technology Incubator, the Global Commercialization Group and the Bureau of Business Research. Continue reading…
UT Austin / McCombs Evening MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 4 / Admissions Director / On Campus
I submitted my application and received interview request that evening. The interview dates were 1 week from the application date, and I was given 2 dates and 4 time slots to choose, but 1 interviewer.
I interviewed for the Evening MBA program with the Associate Director of Admissions on campus. The interview was formal, but comfortable in the private office of the interviewer. The interview was blind, and the interviewer made that clear at the beginning. The interviewer explained that the interview and application would be put together for review later.
-Describe a leader you admire. How are you applying the qualities that you admire in this leader, in your leadership?
-Why an MBA now?
-What do you want to see in your fellow students?
-Tell of a time in your professional life when you worked with someone who was not pulling their weight?
-Why this evening MBA program? What attracts you the most in the MBA program?
-How would your boss describe you? How would your co-workers describe you?
-What will you bring to this program?
-What would you look for in a successful team?
-Describe an achievement you accomplished in your professional life?
-A couple of resume/life/work specific questions.
-How would you contribute to the school as a student?
-What is the weakest part of your application? What is the strongest part of your application?
-Asked if I attended information session.
The interview felt very standard, and was not really surprising at all. The interviewer appeared quite relaxed and took notes throughout. The MBA office & staff seemed very relaxed and informal, but then UT (and Austin) is like that.
UT McCombs Alumni Give $25 Million to Build New Graduate Business School Building
A Dallas billionaire and his family have pledged $25 million to fund a new innovation-minded, 458,000-square-foot building to house graduate programs at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, the school announced yesterday.
The gift, from Robert Rowling (BBA ’76) and his wife Terry Hennersdorf Rowling (BBA ’76), launches an effort to raise $58.25 million in donations, which, along with other institutional funds, will be required to complete a three-phase project to replace and renovate facilities used by the McCombs School of Business. Continue reading…
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Second-year student / Skype
I had read some of these reports prior to my Skype interview, so the questions were pretty similar. This was my last interview, and I found that it was also the most structured/formal wise. It was pretty clear that they have a list of questions that they requires the students to ask, and at times it felt more like a job interview than a conversation. Some of the questions are, it was a blind interview, she only had my resume to go off of.
There was a focus on leadership type questions, to the point where I felt that I was being asked essentially the same thing in different formats.
- Tell me about your background/story (resume summary) + some follow-up job description questions
- Why do you seek an MBA now?
- What do you consider your biggest accomplishment professionally?
- Experience leading a team
- When have you put forward an idea and failed, what happened? When have you succeeded?
- At a cocktail party, how would you describe and introduce yourself?
- Why McCombs?
- Do you have any questions for me?
Near the end it was more of a conversation, and it was very friendly once I asked her about her experience at the school and about Austin.
About 50-55 minutes.
Good luck everyone!
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1 / Off-campus / Alumnus
The interview was very simple. Very conversational in nature.
Questions asked- apart from the basic questions such as:
- Why mba?
- Why now?
- Why McCombs?
They asked:
- How will you contribute to the class?
- What will your colleagues say about you?
- How do you want to be associated with McCombs 10 years after you graduate?
- What qualities do you like in your teammates?
- What other colleges have you applied to?
Hope this helps future candidates.
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 3 / Alumnus / Skype
I was invited to interview at McCombs 6 days after I submitted my full-time MBA application on Jan 23, 2013. I was not able to visit Austin because of my business travel schedule, so I decided to reach out to an alum in the New York area. I reached out to an alum who had a similar background as mine (consulting) and was currently working in social enterprise (which is my eventual career goal). Turned out he was in India when I reached out to him, so I conducted the interview by Skype last night. It was lasted about 35-40 minutes and was VERY informal and conversational. He was very nice, and asked me expected questions but very few of them. We digressed many times on various tangents. He spent a lot of time telling me about his time at McCombs and how he loved the small class size and collaborative culture, and highly recommended the leadership programs and Venture Fellows program. I think he was really trying to make sure that I am not uber-type-A and was aware of the smaller class size etc. about McCombs – was judging my personality to see if I would be a good fit at McCombs. Overall, it was all really positive.
These were questions I was asked:
(1) Tell me about yourself.
(2) Why an MBA/McCombs?
(3) What do you bring to McCombs?
(4) How will you contribute at McCombs?
(5) What do you want to do after business school?
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-campus
Received a request for interview about one week after submitting the R2 application on the day it was due. Email said an adcom was going to be in my city and we could meet then. I had already been to campus so didn’t see a need to go back. I think the deadline for all other interviews was yesterday (1/23).
I met him in the lobby of a downtown hotel and it lasted about 45 mins, despite being scheduled for an hour. It was pretty low-key and did not feel like an interrogation. Lot of emphasis seemed to be around being a good fit with the program.
He asked me:
- Tell me about the highlights of your career thus far
- ST/LT goals
- Why do you want an MBA, why now, and what is it about McCombs that will best position you for your future?
- Describe a work scenario that was outside your comfort zone and how you handled it with a creative solution
- Describe the team dynamic (in the situation I described above)
- What do you look for in a team? Most important qualities/traits
- What would you not like in a team member
- 3 ways you will uniquely contribute to a team
- How will you add value to the McCombs community as a whole?
- If you had 2 round trip tickets to anywhere, where would you go and who would you take?
Ended with me asking him a few questions. Overall it felt like a very positive conversation. The interviewer was very relatable and engaged in two way dialogue
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: R2/ Alumni/ Off-campus
The interviewer was in a hurry so he asked quite many questions but one after another. The interview was completed in 25 mins.
Following were the questions asked-
1. Walk me through your resume
2. 3 reasons for why MBA
3. 3 reasons for why McCombs
4. Short term and Long term goals
5. An instance when you faced a tough client member
6. An instance when you improved a process (Process improvement was mentioned in my job roles)
7. Strongest and Weakest part of application
8. 3 qualities which your colleagues would say you have and then a question on one of the qualities
9. What would you not like in a team member
10. What did you learn about yourself after going through the complete application process
Then he asked me to ask few questions to him. I ended up asking 2 questions to him.
It was a smooth interview and the alumni was very nice all the time.
Hope my interview exp helps others.
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Adcom / Off-campus city location
Interview was with Adcom member in comfortable setting in hotel lobby. Had reviewed only my resume and prefaced the interview by saying that some questions would overlap with information covered in the essay questions and application, which was okay.
1. Walk me through your resume, and tell me specifically why you choose your undergrad school.
2. How did you hear about McCombs, and how does McCombs fit into your career goals (why McCombs)?
3. Give me an example of leadership in your career? How do you define leadership in that moment?
4. What is the most difficult professional career decision you have made?
5. Imagine it’s the first day of class, and your new classmates are introducing themselves. What do you look for during the introductions?
6. How would you engage with the UT-Austin community?
7. What other schools are you considering. If you were to get into all of them, how would you make your choice?
8. If I was to stand up in the Adcom room to discuss your candidacy in 30 seconds, what would you want me to say?
Left time for questions. He was taking notes on my resume during the whole conversation. Overall, great interview feel and format.
Trivia Tuesday: McCombs’s Venture Fellows Program
Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday, where we profile special offerings that help distinguish the top business schools from each other. Today we’re sharing an excerpt from the Clear Admit Guide to UT Austin / McCombs about the school’s Venture Fellows program.
“Founded in 1999 by a first-year McCombs student seeking to make inroads into the extremely competitive venture capital industry, the Venture Fellows (VF) program extends the school’s venture capital curriculum by providing hands-on internship opportunities with top funds in the industry. The Venture Fellows exist as an organization independent of the McCombs MBA program, sourcing their own funds and working to foster communication between Texan venture capital professionals and interested students. Each year, competition among first-year applicants is intense for one of the program’s 15to 20 seats. Interested parties must submit an application, cover letter and résumé in order to be considered and must additionally conduct a face-to-face interview and submit an analysis of an assigned business case in the later stages of the application process. Continue reading…
UT Austin / McCombs MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 1/Alum/Off-Campus
The interviewer was easy going and an alum. He started with a bit of small talk and then asked the following questions:
- Walk me through your resume and how you got where you are today?
- What is the strongest part of your application?
- What are you most passionate about?
- Tell me about a team scenario where you faced challenges from a team mate ?
- Where do you see yourself in 10 years ?
- What other schools that you have applied to ?
Surprising: Did not ask if i had any questions.
Not Surprising: The questions asked.
School experience: Alum seemed good so have a good impression of school too.
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