McCombs (UT Austin) 2013 Calling All Applicants

Thank you very much for the information. that is very good to know.

If there's a particular strength that both Austin and NYC share, it's high tech start-up business. While Silicon Valley still is king, these two are 2nd and 3rd in the country. Essentially having the community exposure to these companies (knowing full well my time to get involved would be several years after b-school) was something I sought in my applications. So far I'm reweighing the factors which led to my applications in the first place (student community, network, brand, etc.).

I don't know much about Columbia's entrepreneurship/startup focus, but McCombs is very strong. You nailed it, Austin is an awesome place to get exposure to start ups and tech. A big draw to McCombs is the Venture Fellows program. From what I understand you work closely with Venture capital firms throughout your time in the program, and then you are placed in an internship with one of them as well. That would give you excellent exposure to the Austin startup community.

For tech ventures I'd say McCombs is one of the best programs you'll find. Columbia has a stronger overall brand and reputation, but finance is really their bread and butter. Plus its hecka expensive, both for tuition and cost of living, with the UT scholarship the difference is even bigger. Also, I know they are working on this, but Columbia seems like more of a commuter school, rather than a tight knit community like McCombs. Again, these are differences that you should weigh. It just depends on whether you think the benefits of McCombs are worth the drop in brand reputation. Some surely wouldn't.

You say it would be several years before you really got involved with the high tech start ups, what do you plan to do directly after school? Will you be attending preview weekend? Might be a good chance to see what you think and how you feel about the program.

I have declined McCombs offer earlier this week. Hopefully this helps the people on the waitlist! It's a fantastic school and I am bummed out that I won't be spending the two years in sunny Austin. Best of luck to you guys and hook em!

Let me guess, you will be accepting tepper ... if not tepper than kelley...

Archit

Do you know which school are you leaning towards? You have some great options and hopefully Kellogg will come through this weekend also.
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I hope Kellogg comes through tomorrow as well but I am going with the assumption that I will not be admitted. I am deciding right now between Ross, Johnson, Kelley, and Tepper. After attending the admit weekends, I am hoping things will become more clear for me - though the problem is that all 4 programs have admit weekends in the same weekend. I'll be making a holistic decision based on all the factors but no particular strong lean as of right now.

How about you? I think I remember seeing you broke the 700 mark on your re-take so congrats on that!

Things don't really look good for me. I am fighting a Duke WL and checking my inbox every 20 minutes for a Johnson invite. To make things even worse, I am an old man (28) and will be much older next year, so not sure if I will reapply next year. I will probably apply to couple schools in R3.

Well all the schools you mentioned are good, but I think you got to pick between Cornell & Ross, unless you have $$$ offers from other two. Either way, you will have a good time anywhere. We might run into each other at DJ
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Hey hailmary620 have you heard anything from McCombs?

Seriously man. The process is much more competitive than I'd thought it would be.

Shoot off a few apps in Rd 3 hopefully you'll get something. I also don't think 28/29 is too old, I think you could reapply next year without them holding that against you. Just depends if you're up for the long haul.

same... I had anticipated my chances at McCombs being around 80% with an interview invite being all but a sure thing. Apparently, I over-estimated my credentials.

... and the fact that a 780 only got admitted to McCombs out of all their applications pretty much confirms that thought. Also, I'm 29 (got 1 more year under my belt than you). I agree that the ROI begins to fall quite a bit after about 25. With an average starting salary for grads of 105ish, I barely justified to myself even this year to go for an MBA. Next year would be out of the question.

Yeah, I'm doing a slight career change which was the only reason I applied. From a dollars and cents perspective, it would have been pretty hard to justify. Anyway, I'll keep crossing my fingers; maybe I'll see you in class next year.

Hope so man. Your stats look solid so I'm surprised you haven't heard back too. Best of luck.

I applied round 3 to McCombs, haven't heard anything back from them yet after the interview. No one else has heard back yet right? However, I just got an email from them that was an update to the MBA waitlist and addressed to the MBA waitlist - am I to take that I'm on the waitlist now or is it some kind of mistake they sent out to other applicants too?

I applied on 1/23 and never heard anything back. No interview. No Ding. Nothing.
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Thanks for the vote of confidence guys. Maybe you're right. I'll start doing some research on consultants, it couldn't hurt to shoot out a couple last apps in round 3. Thanks for the input, I'll keep you guys posted.

I got the email and I am on the waitlist...

I am 33, 1.5 years back during my performance review my supervisor put on a serious look and said I would no where be making 90K (I am a Civil engineer in Chicago) even after a promotion THREE years from now, when I questioned him about promotions and pay raises. I felt no incentive to get out of bed the next day & that is when I decided MBA was the path forward. Now again I would not just work for the $ but the kind of work would matter to me a lot. So the point I was trying to make is age is not everything, so let that not be the biggest factor in your decisions.

I did get an email for WL update. I am on WL since my R2 WL notification. I have not been invited for an interview but still on WL so I plan to use the video as a interview substitute. There is confusion about dates mentioned in the email but a phone call to the admissions office should get it answered.



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