UT Austin McCombs Business Honors Ranking
Hello, I am a high schooler who has been lurking on WSO during college admissions seasons and just got some decisions back. Though I got rejected Wharton ED which is a rip, I just got into UNC Chapel Hill, and more importantly: UT McCombs BHP!! Was very very surprised as I am an out of state student so acceptance rate is around 4%-5%.
Of the schools I am still waiting on, Right now it is kinda my understanding that my rankings (if I could go anywhere) a:
Cornell, Duke, Columbia as top 3 tied and then Gtown, UT BHP, and Ross tied right below them along with NW and NYU (don’t want to go cuz city & sweaty) below pretty close.
I was wondering if anybody knew how well BHP places in Investment Banking along with possibilities for UMM PE and MF PE as getting in PE would be great as either PE or fundamental/activist HF would be my dream jobs long term.
Along with this, where would you place BHP in regards to the 7 other schools mentioned as UT will probably end up being only 15k-20k cheaper than these other schools and luckily, my parents would pay that difference if I really did like something over UT.
Also I am not diversity but I do know the routes to wall street in terms of clubs at McCombs and know BHP has higher odds for these clubs and I know some chill people in these clubs who are family friends. So I feel like with my current resume and knowing more about how to get where I want to be compared to the average kid entering McCombs and possibly BHP, I should have a strong head start.
Are you Indian American?
Jewish, white
Duke and Columbia worth the $15k-20k, Cornell and Gtown probably worth the extra $15-20k, and everything else isn't worth the extra cost if comparing strictly BHP based on their placements
Yeah kinda figured with BHP, that makes UT equal to Ross or maybe even slightly better (negligibly). Thanks for the comment.
IMO, UT BHP is the best "value" out of all the programs u listed, especially if you are able to get the in-state tuition (which a ton of my out-of-state friends ended up doing via residency/other hacks and they only pay 6-7k per semester now). Placement wise, there's a ton of people in BHP going into BB/EB IB in NYC every year but a lot of that is attributed to the other selective finance clubs (stock teams + WSFM/IBA), not necessarily BHP itself (yes there's a ton of BHP people in these clubs, but it's also due to the fact that BHP tends to have smart students in general who would probably have been able to land their placements even if they weren't in the program). As far as PE/HF goes, I have personally seen a few BHP students get offers at BX, KKR, Citadel, BainCap, P72, etc. the past few years, but again this was less due to BHP and more due to the strength of the students themselves. I will say that BHP does help a lot for MBB, particularly in Texas offices, but seems like you don't care much for consulting atm
Another factor I'd consider is how you want your college life/environment to be - UT culture is way different than Gtown, for example, and you should consider what you're interested in and if you can see urself having a good time in too. You'll be able to recruit competitively from every school you listed, but it'll obviously be an easier path at some vs others. If you get a school like Columbia/Duke/Cornell and can afford it, then yeah I'd honestly just go there if recruitment is ur biggest priority, but otherwise, UT BHP is a great option and you'll still be able to land the offers ur looking for if you put in the effort.
Thanks this helps a lot, yeah def planning to use the housing loophole if I end up going. Thanks for shedding light on how BHP preference for recruiters is a bit more local. Do you think that BHP kids are preferred in clubs like WSFM, I know someone who is an officer at WSFM and said that like 70% of them are BHP, that may just be strength of student. Yeah the more I look into it, the more I seem MF PE out of undergrad, no matter which target you go to, is just about being lucky and applying yourself a lot.
Also yeah I am definitely considering other things. I like economics, math, and especially history also and would probably want to minor in these also. The good thing about UT Austin is I can also do the Plan II liberal arts honors program at the same time and major in finance (interviewer told me it is def possible and many people just add a year). At Georgetown, if I get in, I would major in finance and maybe double majors in Accounting and Business Law or the Business Political Economy Major for the history/politics exposure. I also really do like Dyson with applied econ & finance double major with very cool buyside focused classes. I am def not a frat type of person, love to sociably learn and chill, but I know you can find your people anywhere and I’ve heard many BHP students don’t do frats anyway which is nice, though my personality definitely meshes well with DC/Gtown, Columbia, Cornell, and Duke rather than the state school vibes of UT and Umich.
There's a preference for BHP for WSFM since it's faculty-led, but as far as the student-run clubs go, it doesn't make too much of a difference. That said, BHP is really good at creating a tight community, so odds are that one of your friends from BHP might end up on the leadership team of one of the clubs you want and they could help pull you through when you recruit.
Also to your other point, you definitely don't need to be in greek life to enjoy UT. I have friends in greek life who love it and have a great time, but basically every club will do their own socials/formals/retreats/boat-parties and other events so there's plenty opportunities to have a fun time once you find your people.
WSFM/IBA (as well as most finance organizations) do not give preference for BHP, more dependent on the student themselves. Much different story for consulting however...
Hi, I just wanted to say thank you again for the information and your opinion on BHP, I ended up committing! I just visited and really liked how it had it own big yet concentrated campus while being right in the great city.
Also after doing the financials, I realized ppl thought the COA difference was 20k total, I meant per year. And looking at it now, the actual cost difference for all the other schools was 140k-180k below total which is just not worth it besides maybe Wharton or harvard lol.
One last thing, I talked to some BHP people and though BHP has an advantage with non-WSFM clubs mainly through small amount recognition and larger part tight-knit community, it actually does have a recruiting advantage with BHP having exclusive company networking events and even a lyceum class lectured by F500 executives. So it doesn’t seem to be all selection bias, but that def plays a large part. Just an FYI I found out.
The investment banking association at UT cranks out the most cookie cutter investment banking analysts I’ve ever seen. Better than Wharton or Chicago or NYU or whoever. I swear those kids can recite the vault guide front to cover. Many schools are distancing themselves from banking as a career or are not target for many banks, but that’s not the case at UT. They do phenomenally well and everyone hires from there. While many folks definitely head to Houston, there are definitely a lot of kids who make it to New York or elsewhere. Great brand and great place to go to college
Thanks for the insight. Planning to also do the plan II liberal arts program along with finance and the business honors program major if I go, heard from by BHP interviewer that he said the Plan II program helped him with strategic thinking to be a bit less cookie cutter (probably more useful for consulting but he said in PE it helped late in career). I may instead do an applied math/econ minor with business honors major and finance major.
I’ve heard the NYC pipeline is getting much stronger in recent years, hoping that with my early head start (already have a family office internship last summer, getting another internship this summer), I can get into a MF/UMM PE analyst program out of college.
Crazy how kids in high school are already thinking about this stuff, go enjoy your senior year. No matter where you go but especially if you end up at UT, keep in mind reputation matters a ton — pretty tight-knit finance community within the greater UT McCombs. People who heavily index on internships instead of genuine passion when going through org recruiting tend to not fair as well
hey, thought id throw my comments in. i was in a similar situation recently, and had some options to choose from, including a deferral from wharton ed, and an oos acceptance into the bhp program. i would say that you are clearly a qualified candidate because the acceptance is no joke. wait for rd to come around, see if you can get into a similar state school (think bu, uva, gt, etc) and see if you can get some aid from them and use that as leverage to get a better fin aid package from bhp. if you are oos there are things that you can do in this department too! apart from that, youll get an offer to go visit ut austin only with the other bhp acceptances, and see how you like it there; personally, i found myself in a group of really smart and motivated kids, similar to what i see in my college now (hypsm+).
if you have any questions about the whole process, feel free to pm me, or just comment here, id be more than happy to share my experience and how i navigated it.
I got postponed from Umich unfortunately but that doesn’t mattter much as they auto post-pone a large amount of applicants, but also got waitlisted from UVA though I wouldn’t have put them over UT anyway given quality of program/placements and cost being higher than even umich. Right now, I am just waiting on a bunch of colleges, though the most important are Cornell, duke, Columbia, Umich, Georgetown, northwestern, NYU along with less likely ones like Vandy and UC-Berkeley.
I am applying to Texas exes to try to qualify for some merit aid along with being auto-considered for BHP specific merit aid, hopefully can get some but I don’t if I could leverage any other school financial wide wise as I don’t qualify for any need-based aid at all and so FAFSA would only make sense if I needed loans and UT and other schools say it doesn’t impact my qualification for possible merit aid.
I do have one question, I received aid from was IU-Kelley for 20k/yr (highest level possible besides wells full ride), being an HHMC scholar (most prestigious merit scholarship besides wells) and auto admit into Hutton honors, along with the fact I might receive a $2,500 for being a national merit finalist. Even though Kelley ranks lower than UT Austin, do you think there is any chance that I can use this as leverage for UT Austin given that compared to a 50k out of state tuition, 16k a year in tuition at Kelley could convince them??
Also as a Florida resident with national merit, I will receive a full ride to UF (likely to get in ofc) with national merit covering everything including room and board, do you think I can also use this??
we seem to have been very VERY similar candidates. i dont want to dox myself anymore, but see if you can reach out through dms and we can talk more there, always willing to help. as an oos trying to go to ut austin, there are ways that you can get in-state tuition. again, dm me and we can talk more! (and if anyone else reading this has similar questions, feel free to reach out).
Take Indiana off your list. Not worth it given you got into BHP.
post back when financial aid comes through. Georgetown and the better schools will probably smoke UT BHP on cost of attendance in a good way - they have good financial aid / scholarships, etc.
Kelley student who has friends at McCombs, hope I can give some clarity on this. IU always gives a bunch of financial aid and given how competitive instate admissions are and how kids at Texas will do anything to get into McCombs, albeit BHP, leveraging IU will not help your case imo. As other suggested, would strongly suggest to wait for other decisions and then see if you can use it as leverage. I wouldn’t rely entirely on IU’s financial aid to have UT to budge on financial aid. Also, Hutton Honors isn’t the equivalent to BHP so no worth in mentioning that.
In terms of opportunities, from what I heard from my friends, you will have a lot more optionality in terms of what you want to do and such. You seem pretty interested in banking but if you decide you want to do something else, UT has a plethora of opportunities (esp more than Kelley). I would strongly suggest to visit downtown Austin, as campus is basically the city and social life is a big scene over there. Clubs like IBA and WSFM are really strong for banking there too. You are in a really good position and I would suggest to talk to people at UT if they can help you give an idea if UT would give an experience you’d like. Hope this helps and free feel to PM me.
Fwiw I picked georgetown over bhp - others might disagree but I think georgetown gives you a higher floor and slightly higher ceiling than bhp in terms of IB placement (for NY EB/BBs) and for MF PE analyst programs. Not sure on Ross vs bhp, I’ve seen successful kids from both
Yeah from all the comments on WSO, it seems that the floor is pretty high, and looking at the number of elite placements and placements per capita compared to Ross along with club placements on the buyside (seems to average 5-15 in MF PE), Georgetown seems to slightly beat out BHP and Ross.
I am just not sure it would be worth the cost purely on the placements, but honestly, just looking more into what I know abt the student life at Gtown, looks more my thing compared to a large state school. I feel like as someone very motivated with BHP and getting into WSFM, I would probably end up at the same place regardless with only slightly different odds.
Former longhorn here and I’m in levfin at a BB in NY without even BHP. I would say BHP is more focused towards consulting but if you join IB student orgs you will be just fine. UT is my favorite place on Earth and you will have so much fun
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