McCombs (UT Austin) Class of 2016 Calling all applicants!

Hi everyone,

Got an admit email today morning 5 am... Round 2 applicant from India..

Good luck everyone, hope to see y'all there!

Just Got an email!! IN!!!

I'm in. Got the email a few hours ago, but no phone call.

It's been 18 months, dinged six times without interviews, four GMAT attempts, laid-off and I am finally into a top 20 business school. Such a stress relief.

580 GMAT Admitted with Fellowship at Mccomb. Good luck!

Third bleeping waitlist. I'm exhausted from these already. I almost wish I got rejected everywhere so that I could just move on with my life.

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I just got the call and was admitted! Good luck to everyone!

Admitted! Received a call from Brodie today. No email yet. It looks like they are making calls/emails as they get through each application through the 20th.

The hour of notifications is nigh,
We are almost to the end of round one;
Whether an admit, waitlist, or deny,
At least all of the waiting will be done!

This forum has been a source of support,
Seriously folks it's been lotsa fun;
When y'all are notified please here report,
Wishing the very best to all...Hook'em!

-teleste '13

Interview debrief:

I applied in R1, received an invite to interview in late October. I interviewed in mid November, over Skype, with a 2nd year student. I live within a few hours drive of Austin, but I was unable to make the trip for an in-person interview. Overall, I did horribly in the interview. I was less prepared due to work demands, last minute room change before interview, never having interviewed on skype before, etc. The interviewer was very nice, it was very laid back (though I wasn't relaxed), the questions were pretty standard:

-Why an MBA now?
-What do you want to see in your fellow students?
-What will you bring to this program?
-How would you contribute to the school as a student?
-At a party, how would you introduce yourself/what topic would you bring up to talk about? *this one threw me, I gave a really lame, discombobulated answer about how it depends on what type of party/who is there, and something about how I would talk about work (which I most likely wouldn't do). I think I just made it so confusing the interviewer moved on out of mercy.
- If you had 2 round trip tickets to anywhere, where would you go and who would you take?
-Where do you see yourself in 5 yrs, 10 yrs?
-What are 3 of your strongest qualities?
-Weaknesses?

*this link has a good list of questions https://blog.clearadmit.com/category/int ... l/mccombs/

The interview only lasted 20 minutes, maybe slightly longer but it was under 25. And that was after the interviewer had answered my questions.

Needless to say, I thought the interview sealed my fate, especially since my scores/gpa aren't amazing. I was mad at myself for opting for Skype, I thought that they might hold it against me/not think I was serious about the program. I also got dinged from Duke, so that added to my anxiety. Leading up to the notification date, I was on this thread constantly checking posts. It was torturous to see others receiving news well before the Dec 20th notification. Compounding the misery was the lack of uniformity- some people just logged in to see their status updated, others had calls, others had an email, etc. I was about to start drowning my sorrows when I got the admit email at 4:55pm CST on the 20th.

So, never lose hope! Even if you have a bad interview or don't interview well, my feeling is that they must already be leaning a certain way before your interview. There's just no way I would have been admitted if the interview was weighed more heavily.

PM me for more detail on scores, background, titles etc

Good morning all!

At the request of jkaustubh, I am here to report on my McCombs interview experience. In a nutshell: a very disappointing experience and easily the worst interview of my b-school application experience. (Yes, I was wait listed; no, the school's decision does not color this report; yes, take my comments with a grain of salt.)

1. Location

I'm in Colorado; my interviewer was in Austin.

2. Interview Type: Skype/On Campus etc

Skype.

3. Number of panelists

One.

4. Adcom/Students/ Alumns etc

A second-year student.

5. Your take from the interview

The first thing that threw me off was an email about 10 minutes before our interview saying my interviewer couldn't find a copy of my resume in the system for some reason, so I sent him one right away. Don't know whether he had a chance to look at it before we spoke. Having done a few Skype interviews in the preceding weeks, I had a basic idea of what to expect: someone in a suit or business casual dress in an office or study room, running through a list of questions and taking notes as we talked. Instead, my interviewer popped up on the screen wearing a hoodie and messy hair, apparently in a dark apartment somewhere. Our conversation started normally enough, but after a couple intro questions (walk me through your resume, why UT, etc.), he was flipping through his list of questions and saying things like "That's a dumb question, I don't feel like asking you that." It eventually devolved into him staring at the screen and mumbling "Let's see, what else can I ask you?"

I had learned from a couple prior interviews with second-year students at other schools that sometimes the interviewee needs to manage the interviewer and work to keep the conversation going a little more than with an adcom member, but it was awful. Because of the time slot I picked I was probably his last interview of the day, and the entire time he seemed preoccupied, like he just wanted to get it over with so he could get back to studying or whatever he had planned. There was no energy on his side of the conversation. After being accepted to Cornell and Michigan with a scholarship, I was honestly not surprised at all to be wait listed at McCombs based on my experience that day.

If I could offer Texas one piece of constructive criticism, it would be this: Remember that the second-year students that interview applicants are also ambassadors of the program. Yes, they are there to judge applicants on fit and worthiness to be admitted, but applicants are also using the time and their interactions with the interviewer to judge whether the program is a good fit for them. I found it was not, and apparently the feeling was mutual, so no hard feelings.

6. Duration

Approx. 40 minutes.

I'm sorry, but I find this statement to be very arrogant. If you have already been accepted to other schools and you are neutral or lukewarm about McCombs, please withdraw your application so those of us who are very interested in the program may stand a better chance. Personally, it is very frustrating to be checking my inbox religiously hoping for the interview invite and reading about someone who may not even give the school a second thought.

delijamal is in an envious position, but isn't being arrogant or flaunting it in the face of those who haven't been invited. The time and expense required to interview, especially on campus for applicants living outside of central Texas, is a real commitment. Even if he (or she) regards McCombs as highly as the rest of us, which he does indicate in the post, it's still a tough decision to make with acceptances in hand.

Many people will get accepted to McCombs and choose to go elsewhere. That's just the way the process works. The admissions staff accounts for it in their interview and acceptance rates. All you can do is look out for your own best interests while supporting others on these boards who are doing the same. That said, I'm in the same boat waiting for an interview invite, and completely understand the frustration. Hope you get good news soon.

McCombs jumped up two spots in the US News ranking! Now #15

Long time lurker first time poster (on this thread) I'm in!!! R2 waitlist! Dont lose hope guys! Good news are coming!

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

To all current and future applicants:

I wanted to write this because I was unhappy about my experience in applying to Texas. To put it succinctly, I submitted an online video for essay one and I know through YouTube analytics that the most anyone from Texas watched the video was 16 seconds (of a one minute video.) The reason I bring this up is because I spent untold number of hours preparing my application and spending $175 to apply, and I feel that if the school could not spend a full minute watching my video, what does that say about the rest of my application? I don't know any more information about what happened with my application, but I was extremely disappointed. I know there was a lot of talk about Texas being inundated with more applicants than expected, but if true, it does not change my opinion on my treatment. Frankly, if the school could not handle the applicant load and properly review my application, they should have been forthright and refunded my money.

I debated whether to write this post, as I am afraid it will come across as a disgruntled applicant who didn't get in. I would have loved to go to Texas and I do not harbor any ill will towards the school. Furthermore, I am fortunate to be going to a school that I know wants to do everything to make me happy and successful. I just wanted to post this so those who may also feel they were mistreated are not alone and for any future applicants to please consider how a school treats you as part of the decision-making process.

Thank you for reading.

I also had an incorrect name in the interview invitation salutation. Mine was addressed to Divya, which is not my name. Were all of the incorrect names the same?