While there are no required majors for Texas MBAs, about half of the student body chooses to concentrate in an academic discipline. While optional, these market-driven concentrations are designed to position graduates for outstanding employment prospects and can offer an advantage in today’s dynamic workplace.
Each year, approximately 20 percent of Texas MBA graduates go into consulting, joining an industry that is home to some of the brightest and most versatile talent in business today. Whether students specialize their studies or take a more generalist approach, they leave McCombs prepared in all the core business disciplines, with a foundation to rely on time and time again in any number of consulting engagements.
Students who concentrate in McCombs’ top-20 management program choose from an array of courses designed to increase skills in developing and strategically managing people and processes. Regardless of business area, consultants must have the knowledge and understanding to quickly adapt to each new project while serving as both problem-solver and creative strategist.
“Consulting requires skills that allow one to make sense of complex situations, solve difficult problems and develop creative solutions. Our program provides students with countless opportunities to develop those skills,” says James Frederickson, a professor in the department of management here at McCombs.
Click on image to download our Consulting Brochure.
The flexible, interdisciplinary approach of the consulting concentration allows students to tailor their own consulting specialty (e.g., marketing, management, IT, public policy, etc.), while courses common to all specialties in the concentration teach students those consulting skills essential for rapid advancement in a consulting firm. The hands-on, team-based approach used at McCombs develops critical thinkers that can successfully analyze, manage, and sell projects as consultants.
Courses in the consulting concentration prepare students to lead through experience in teamwork and relationship building. Students take on roles as both leaders and team members in classroom cases, simulation exercises, and real world consulting projects. Through intensive review of business cases and participation in company projects, students learn to solve complex issues using analytical rigor, in-depth research, and strategic thinking.
Additionally, McCombs offers ample opportunities to gain hands-on experience outside of the classroom through the Graduate Consulting Group, Deloitte Consulting Challenge, and MBA+ Leadership Program.
For more information on this concentration, visit the consulting page on our website and download the brochure above.
