UT-Austin McCombs School of Business - Admissions Stats

Oasix21:

Yeah I have, but I would rather see response from people.

Yes, and we all know that people can only be found on WSO...

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trailmix8:

Key Admission Stats – McCombs MBA: (class of 2011) Applicants accepted to most recent class - 27% try to get as close as possible, and better, at the below. Also you should probably get familiar to what makes UT MBA unique and see if those strengths fit you. A couple of the things that I can think off the top of my head are it is a target for the Energy industry and they do an exchange with a school in Brazil.

Applicants invited to interview - 60% Admitted applicants who enrolled - 49% Class size - 261 Median GMAT - 681 Mid 80% GMAT Range - 620-730 Avg. undergrad GPA - 3.45 International students - 25% Women - 26% Avg. age - 28 Avg. work experience - 5.2

I believe he is referring to undergrad, correct?

And top 8% won't cut it for mccombs. It's top 7.5% for UT (liberal arts) and about top 1-2% for auto into mccombs. If you're top 3% you might still be safe but you won't be an auto admit.

So

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Wow

Do you know anything about transferring as a sophomore from Canada?

Cornell is a long shot at this point, however you never know. You should wait until all your options are laid out. In terms of recruiting, your know where near that yet. Enjoy the time you have now and just work your ass off when you get there and see what type of GPA you can pull. Worry about all that bs later, go out and get laid.

worry about it junior year... the UT alum base is top 5 in the nation... longhorns everywhere love to hire fellow horns.

well, I do kind of need to know about it right now, because if I get into Cornell, then I'll have to make a decision relatively quickly. So yeah.

I go to UT and I'm a sophomore in the BHP. Recruiting is great here.....if you are in BHP. From what I heard from some of my junior friends is that about 90% of all BHP/Finance juniors got into a BB or a top boutique (both New York and Houston). And this includes both S&T and IBD. We also have pretty much every big bank recruiting here including Evercore, Greenhill, and Blackstone. I actually think Bear was the only bank that didn't show up this past winter (for obvious reasons I guess).

For BHP the classes are small, the student body is great (mostly), the girls are incredible (especially during warm months), and the teachers are truly some of the most intelligent individuals I've met.

If you don't get into BHP as a freshman, definitely aim for a 4.0 during your first year and get in as a sophomore, because from what I've experienced so far, it's absolutely worth it. In fact, for most of the interview lists that I've seen, 75-80% of the ten spots are BHP students.

PM me if you want some more infomration.

The "90% of all BHP/Finance juniors" line is a gross exaggeration. At any university, don't expect to be given a free job. However, McCombs has an amazing career services center, and like grandpabuzz said, just about every BB and boutique recruits here (main offices).

BHP is a definite plus, but if you can shine without the BHP label (ie. have a fair amount of extracurriculars), you'll be fine too.

Of the Blackstone M&A and Restructuring interviews, I believe there were 3 separate finance majors that had interviews out of an interviewing schedule of 24 people (One guy had both M&A & Restructuring interviews).

For Greenhill - I believe that there was 2 finance majors / 12 possible interviewing slots.

Take from that what you will.

Dude DEFINITELY. Texas is a top-tier public school - do well there and you will certainly have a number of opportunities coming out of undergrad.

Of the Blackstone M&A and Restructuring interviews, I believe there were 3 separate finance majors that had interviews out of an interviewing schedule of 24 people (One guy had both M&A & Restructuring interviews).

For Greenhill - I believe that there was 2 finance majors / 12 possible interviewing slots.

That Greenhill stat is definitely not true, there were more than 2 finance non-BHP majors. Also, the girl (Ella) they took last year for both intern and FT wasn't BHP either. BHP does have a great name that opens doors, but there plenty of non BHP people that got offers. Keep in mind, the people selected for BHP already have great stats and would likely do well ANYWHERE - BHP didn't transform them into "superstars".

By the way, this is all for the undergraduate level. From what I've seen, the McCombs MBA program seems to be weaker.

the 90% statistics very hard to believe. I don't think even 90% of Wharton grads get into top BBs or boutiques.

their alumni are absurdly helpful - the alumni network for longhorns is almost as strong as say dartmouth, harvard or princeton. texas will give you a ton of career opportunities, and also, it's easier to differentiate yourself from the pack at a school like texas than it is at an ivy.

"...it's easier to differentiate yourself from the pack at a school like texas than it is at an ivy."

^^ Why is this the case?

I'm from a target school and at a top BB superday, there were 3 school represented; two ivies and a third was UT. U of Texas sent just as many people there as each of the ivies...

how come nobody has yet to mention that UT-Austin has some of the most attractive women in the country? i know recruiting is important and all, but surely something as significant as that might be worth considering in your decision process.

Hook em

The 90% stat is too high, but BHP is a small program, and a great deal of them do get banking jobs. Also, for BHP, a 4.0 alone is not always enough to transfer in, they actually care about extracurriculars sometimes. But plenty of finance majors get BB offers too.

PPA is another option. Though most PPA students go to Big 4 (by choice), banks seem to really respect this program and a decent amount go to banks every year (probably about 10-20)- it is the top ranked accounting program in the nation, and you graduate with a CPA and Masters in Accounting. Additionally, you get to go to school an extra year/ live in Austin an extra year/ have an extra football & bball season; its a 5 year program.

Also, while plenty of people go to BBs in NY every year, getting BB jobs in Houston (energy) could almost be called easy nowadays (relatively speaking of course). Bottom line, you can definitely get banking jobs out of UT.

Girls, athletics, and location should be really important in deciding your college. There are VERY few schools in the country better than UT in those areas, and probably none with a better total package. UVA is an awesome school too, and better academically of course, but at this point that is out of the question. Go to UT, we have the POM squad.

If you don't know what the POM squad is, they're the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders of the college world. Hot, good at dancing, and a pleasant "break" from the game.

true story. my best friend got into wharton & UT and did BHP - worked at GS in S&T last summer, but had offers at 4 diff BBs as well and is going back for full time. she opted to go to UT because she felt like she'd be able to more readily succeed at UT, whereas at Wharton, even if she did incredibly well, she'd be one of many. the UT alumni @ GS mobilized around her like none other last summer, it was ridiculous. and whoever clarified my earlier comment was correct in their clarification - that was what i meant, although note i'm not implying that people at UT BHP aren't smart, they just aren't all superstars, because let's be honest, if they were, unlike my friend, most of them would have ended up at wharton, stern etc. also, austin is freaking sweet. plus don't discount the amazing weather, as someone from chicago, trust me, it makes a difference. :)

It also helps that like 66% of bhp isn't even interested in strictly finance(law/med school, consulting instead).

Dont know much about the other schools, but I know, first hand, these stats for people from UT.

1 - Greenhill, now is going to Tiger Global. 1 - Greenhill, then went to providence private equity 1 - Blackstone M&A fulltime. 1 - Blackstone private equity out of undergrad 1 - girl in Blackstone restructuring 2 or 3 at first reserve 2 or 3 at Hicks, Muse 1 - summer at blackstone, now at Lazard restructuring(I think he turned down MS m&a and GS) I know they had two at Blackstone last summer

This is all info from the past two years ( i think the blackstone pe guy is from a few years ago). I'm only citing people that I know of, and those that are at what most of us would call top places. Texas has an inordinate amount that go to GS, MS and the rest of the BB's, so i wont list those. Look at the Texas Cowboys if you do go to Texas - they are a top org. on campus and tend to have pretty good connections.

I go to UT, and recruiting is very strong if you're in BHP. All of my friends in BHP placed with one of their top 4 choices, except for one girl shooting for M/B/B. A 3.9-4.0 and a normal freshman year(get involved in some clubs, get to know at least one professor) will get you into BHP. We also have another program called the Financial Analyst Program that has incredible placement. No pre-med/pre-law people in this program, so you get a truer understanding of the placement. Pretty much everyone in the program places into BB's, top boutiques, or M/B/B. Most of the kids in FAP are BHP, but if you have a 3.9 going into junior year as a finance major, you have a good shot.

I'm not in BHP or FAP, and recruiting is decent. I don't have an incredible GPA(3.7), and I interviewed with a BB and several regional boutiques. The UT name will help a lot also. In my cold-calls/emails, the only responses I got were from alumni.

One thing you need to consider is where you want to work. It's definitely possible to go to NYC from UT, but when I say BB's, I'm mostly talking about their Houston offices.

Just curious - how many people are in the BHP program?

A lot of what has said has been true, but there are some definite exaggerations here. I started college at BHP (got tons of money and didn’t get into Wharton), but transferred to Wharton after my first year. BHP is unique in that a decent amount of the people are not very interested in finance. I knew a lot of people who went into the PPA program or non-finance jobs. BHP does very well when it comes to Bulge Brackets’ Houston offices. Some people love that, others want the NYC/London/etc experience. Its record with New York, Int’l, etc is less sparkling. I currently work at a BB in NYC and there were 0 UT alums in my S&T trading class (I am in Prop, so I read this board along with the trading board). There are a decent amount of Cornell alums, but as many have mentioned, it can be harder to stand out at an Ivy/target.

Overall, the Ivy’s place a LOT more people into the ‘top’ finance jobs. Out of my class at Wharton, the placement stats were essentially unmatched. After Wharton, most banks & consulting firms feed from Princeton, Harvard, MIT & similar schools. The top public schools are always represented, but if you look at the ratio’s, the Ivy’s do extremely well (everyone already knows this). I would go to UT if you can get into BHP and think you can do well in the program. For the record, UT was MUCH easier GPA wise. The social life aspect is debatable. Austin is a great city and the women at UT are unmatched, but it’s also very concentrated with Texas people (duh). At Penn/Wharton, I met people from around the world and of all different backgrounds. I was born & raised in TX, so I benefited greatly from seeing another part of the US.

Not a cut & dry decision. Good luck

For the record, UT was MUCH easier GPA wise

This is another great point. BHP has some of the easiest/highest % of A classes on campus. Almost every BHP class has 70%+ A's, which makes it easy to get a 4.0 and look very good. The same is true of the financial analyst program (FAP).

There's about 125 students in BHP per year.

Edit: And the grading scale is true; about 50-60% get As--as anyone with a 3.25 GPA or lower automatically gets kicked out of the program.

There is no doubt that McCombs is not Wharton. But if you are the type of student who is getting accepted to Ivys, then you will be one of the standout students at McCombs anyways and should have a pretty good shot at getting a NY BB job if you want it; and getting one in Houston could almost be called easy.

GPAs are traditionally higher at UT (should be changing with the addition of the plus/minus system), but recruiters know this and discount it accordingly. When deciding which students to interview, you are choosing among a pool of resumes from that school, so it is on a level field. Once you get to the interviewing stage, then your GPA isn't that important anyways.

Also, I know people will not like this, but people are talking about BHP like it is an Ivy League within UT... this just isn't true. Almost every student that gets into BHP has a 4.0 and good ECs, which is enough to get good banking interviews whether or not you are in BHP... don't confuse correlation with causation. I have sorted through plenty of UT resumes and I don't even notice when a student is in BHP. I know lots of analysts from UT, and I couldn't tell you which ones were in BHP & which were not (though I know most were not, because the program is not large).

It is a good program, but definitely nothing to base a college decision on- BHP kids will agree with that. FAP is a very good program from what I have heard, and they do care quite a bit more about whether or not you are in BHP. In my opinion, that is the biggest advantage of BHP.

I know some of these are blanket statements, but they are just based on my experiences and those of ex-UT bankers that I know.

I know PPA instituted plus/minus this year. Anybody know if the rest of the business school has done so too, or when they will?

I have heard from PPA students (which has traditionally been a grade inflation program too, in which making C's pretty much took effort) that the plus/minus system is bringing down GPA's considerably.

Plus/Minus grading will begin Fall 2009, and I think teachers have the option to use it or not. And just by curiosity jbc, have you already graduated and are you working at bank right now? You can pm me if you want.

The plus/minus deal will definitely bring grades down, which is probably a good thing, since GPAs are very inflated @ McCombs. All the BHP kids were crying about it at the recent student forum.

I would recommend looking into the FAP if you come here. You learn a lot of useful modeling skills, at the same time the FAP classes are 90%+ A's.

OK, well to update, I got waitlisted at Vanderbilt, and somehow of so many people Cornell doesn't have my online decision yet!! So I have to wait 1 or 2 more days probably. But in the meantime, would you take Vandy or UT? I need to know so that I can figure out whether it's worth accepting the waitlist spot or not/trying to get off the waitlist.

Vandy cannot compare to UT in terms of:

1) Career Services, 2) Education (particularly the Business School), 3) Athletics, 4) Extracurricular activities, 5) Nightlife, 6) Beautiful, southern girls 7) Live music

And it's all in a great city. Austin isn't congested like most metropolitan areas are, but it's no college town.

To be honest, I wouldn't even choose Cornell over UT. If I was going to fork over 40k for my education, it would be at Wharton. But even with that, Texas, in my opinion, provides you with a better college experience while preparing you for the real world.

I got accepted to Vandy, considered it strongly and visited it, ultimately chose UT and am extremely thankful I did. It is the kind of thing people that didn't go to UT won't understand, but there are only a handful of schools in the country that would have left me as "happy" with my overall college experience (sports, social life, academics, exit ops, etc- basically the total package). A few that come to mind would be UVA, Harvard, & Columbia. (I am not saying I could get into all of these, just speaking hypothetically).

Vandy is not one of them, even though it is a great, fun school and more respected than UT from an academic standpoint on a whole. As far as JJC's list, I would give Vandy the edge in academics (from outsiders' perspective, no clue if the actual education is really better or not), probably call it a draw in career services. But I think the other items Texas takes pretty handily.

Disclaimer: Again, this is all personal preferences; I am definitely biased towards UT. Also, and importantly, when I say that I could not possibly be happier about my decision to go to UT, that may not be the case if I hadn't got a BB job.

OK, another update. I GOT WAITLISTED AT CORNELL!! UGH!!! So now I really, really need your opinions about Cornell vs UT only. This is important because I need to know honestly whether Cornell is worth the extra money, being at a place I like less, spending money to visit to help get off the waitlist, etc. So please, if possible, limit the discussion from now on between Cornell and UT-Austin (non-BHP...I'm assuming worst case scenario)

If money is the issue, I would go to UT, study hard your first year and get into BHP (worst case scenario). However, I'm biased, and probably my opinion won't matter much.

I'm biased, but I'd say Texas. Really, once you get here, it's all on you. The Career Services, from what I've seen, are second to none. Texas is a huge state that has 3 cities with lots of finance opportunities. Houston is probably as good as it gets(in term of finance opportunities) after NYC, SF, Chicago...probably on par with LA. Dallas has a ridiculous number of regional boutiques, and Austin has a good number of PE/HF/VC. Every firm in this state will recruit UT first(Rice also, but the school is so small, that it won't affect numbers too much). Like I said earlier, I don't have a great GPA, and I'm not in BHP, and I still interviewed with a BB and several boutiques for SA positions. AND this was a very down year for UT recruiting.

Come to Texas, get involved, and you won't regret it. Ithaca vs. Austin is probably no comparison. I've never been to Ithaca, so I can't comment definitively, but Austin is a very fun city.

PM me if you have any questions.

so I keep reading that UT is great for Texas recruiting, but not in the north. How well does it do in other large southern cities, like Atlanta, Charlotte,the big cities in Florida,etc.? I don't care too much about NYC or the north for that matter, but I might want to live in a big southern city, so does UT work for these?

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I don't know how transferring fits into the admissions equation, but I do know that this year has been even worse than past years for admissions in general, because of the damn top 10% rule which will eventually destroy the school. I have heard that estimates are that top 10% students will account for 80% of admissions.

Regular undergrad admissions are getting unreasonably hard for a state school because of the top 10% rule, and I would guess that this would make transferring more dificult too. Again, I don't know about transferring, but I am pretty familiar with regular admissions, and the outlook is not encouraging. On a positive note, every year we are getting closer to getting the top 10% rule repealed.

so no one can comment on the whole southern cities recruiting thing?

Thomas, I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but transfer admissions is 95% GPA based, meaning that if you don't have a 3.8+, it's gonna be extremely tough to transfer in.

I had a 3.7 and transferred in to McCombs from a UT satellite school (think UTA, UTSA, UTEP, etc). It's extremely competitive to transfer externally - they only accepted ~8% the year I transferred.