Calling all Texas - McCombs Fall 2011 applicants

I got put on the wait list in February, I withdrew from the waitlist in May, and then they dinged me today.

Pahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I know this is not a Rice thread but my head is kind of exploding (has been for the past 10 days or so) about what to do.
In a nutshell, I live in Houston TX and work in oil&gas (risk management). Have applied to MBAP (weekends) to Rice and McCombs. Both programs have the same format (Fri afternoons-all day Sat), the same duration of 22 months, almost the same tuition (actually McCombs is slightly cheaper this year).
Got accepted to both schools and have to decide where to go this Wed.
The big difference between both schools is, Rice has a great campus and I can reach their faculty any day (10 minute drive from work!) while UT rents a building in the MD Anderson Cancer Center complex downton and flies their faculty here twice a month, for classes. Rice has a very impressive array of energy electives in their second year while UT's program is more generalized and pretty rigid, everybody takes the same classes without much focus on the particular industry.
I am not from TX (actually not even from the US) and after several years in Houston still cannot get used to all this heat and humidity. I might want to move some place else after I graduate but I am also realistic, and TX is cheap to live in and jobs are plentiful, esp in Houston.
I always wanted to go to UT over Rice, Rice was my backup school. But then during the admission process UT seriously disappointed me, they kind of dropped the ball: too disorganized, too slow to respond. If they are like that now, then what is it going to be like down the road?.. Rice, on the contrary, was much more structured and easy to work with. "Anytime" availability of their faculty is another big plus. I know I am probably going to be happier at Rice during the next two years, just form the comfort level standpoint (the professors availability/nice campus)... but here comes the big "BUT": I will readily go with McCombs if their bigger and better known nationally name will help me in my career more then Rice's. Here in TX, and esp in Houston, the dif between two schools is a wash; but out of state?..
I have talked to numerous people, both in the industy and academics, and surprisingly, all but two (out of at least a dozen+) say Rice ("private, "small", "prestigious", "well run", "your school will matter only in your first job after this MBA anyway").
I guess I am looking for more opinions... mortified that I might make a wrong choice in something that will contribute a lot to the course my life will take after these two years.

It all depends on what you want to do, where you want to live, and if you are looking to switch careers.

I live in Houston too and I extensively researched both schools.

A lot of the strength of UT's program doesn't carry over to its part-time Houston program. If you want to go and do tech or PE, you really don't have the same resources (clubs, electives, Leadership+ micro projects, Venture Fellows, etc) that you have in the full-time program. By contrast, as a Rice part-timer, you would have access to most of Rice's full-time facilities and you can take electives. At Rice, the only thing you miss from the full-time program is internship recruiting which is only available to full-time students.

I think that if you want to stay in Houston in your current industry, there isn't a material difference between the two. Both will get you the interview, but it will be up to you to get the job.

The bigger companies - Exxon, Chevron, etc - favor "prestige" slightly more, but I believe that they all recruit at Rice.

New Guy Here. 2nd Post. I applied to the Texas MBA in Houston and interviewed last week.
Stats:
Sex: M
Age: 32
Race: White
Nationality: American/Texan
GMAT: 670 (q45 v37) AWA 5.0
GPA: 3.3 (small private school, unranked) BS Bus Mgmt
WE: 6 years at mu current job (sales exec oil and gas). Worked my way through undergrad and graduated May 09.

I also applied and interviewed at Rice for the MBAP (weekends program). Im hoping to hear something this week from both schools.

mreevit pointed out some good points. If you want to stay in Houston, I think Rice's part time program would be a better choice. Just make sure you can participate in the clubs and other students events. Some schools don't allow part-time students to access those, and they are an integral part of the MBA experience, in addition to recruiting. Personally, I don't find access to professor and the academic learning too useful. The reality is that you probably won't use most of the book learning at work, similar to undergrad.

If you are looking to go outside of Texas, McCombs would be a MUCH better choice. Don't underestimate the ability to network into a job. A large portion of my classmates networked their way into companies that don't recruit on campus. Having a large and a successful alumni across the world is a huge plus for Fuqua, I'm sure it's similar with McCombs, especially if you can also leverage their undergrad alumni.

Be careful about the logic that so-and-so company recruits at both McCombs and Jones, the roles that are recruited for may be different. My current internship employer recruits MBAs from all over the place. But for the leadership program that comes with executive mentorship and preferential rotational treatment only take candidates from Fuqua, Kellogg, Wharton, Darden, and Ross.

Admissions and administration are two different areas. Many times admissions may seem disorganized but administration run like a well oiled machine.

Completely agree with lagomez. Oftentimes, the admissions office have a small/overworked staff. I'm not sure if the MBA program also share resources from the BBA program. If so, the office would be even more understaff, since UT-Austin UG probably gets a TON of application being a top 5 BBA school. Schools as highly ranked as McCombs would not be where they are without having a well run program in academics, research, recruiting, and networking.