Texas MBAs Talk

Straight from full-time Texas MBA students

Texas MBAs Talk

My Experience At The University of Texas

Posted by  on Tuesday, May 15th 2012     

This post is courtesy of guest blogger Michael Tonhaeuser, a Double Degree student who came to McCombs from WHU Koblenz-Otto Beisheim Graduate School of Management in Germany.

I’m Michael from Bendorf, Germany, and I had the opportunity to join the McCombs MBA program for two semesters. After months of great events and challenging projects, I have found that the program unlocked potential I never thought I had. And it was a lot of fun, too!

The community at McCombs has made a real difference throughout my stay. Along with other international students, I got an idea of that community right in my first “onboarding” week. Chris from the MBA Program Office and Bernice from Career Management gave us a nice welcome and introduced us to all things UT – including a refresher about American Football rules! The early cultural immersion process continued at an international student luncheon, where I met my student mentor Angela. A second-year MBA student herself, she shared her experiences of the first year at McCombs and brought me up to speed on student activities. It was so impressive to hear how much students do besides coursework! Before long, I found myself a member of the local American Marketing Association chapter and a registered participant of rhetorical trainings.

Then the classes began. Back in Germany, I had heard a lot about how much professors at McCombs involve their students. And this turned out to be true across the board! The discussions in class with professors and fellow students with so many different backgrounds were more lively and profound than anything I had seen before. At this point, distinguished McCombs lecturer John Doggett deserves a special mention. His two classes pushed the boundaries of an entrepreneurial class by including case discussions about ethics, law, finance, and even the purpose in life. But other classes were quite unique as well: in team projects, I helped Austin restaurants overhaul their pricing, analyzed the market of telephones for the hard-of-hearing, and found clients for a new Internet startup.

Atop Mount Bonnell

Atop Mount Bonnell

In Austin, the Longhorns experience goes well beyond the classroom. Everywhere you go in the city, you are also reminded of UT’s great accomplishments in sports. I was therefore particularly excited to see the atmosphere of Longhorns football at DKR stadium. I went to see the team during a sweeping home victory, which made the experience even more special. On days like this, Austin’s famed sixth street is definitely at its best!

After these two semesters, I leave for Germany with great memories inside and outside of the classroom. The friendly and laid-back people of Austin, the natural beauty of Mount Bonnell and Zilker Park, and many other impressions leave me convinced that I will be back again soon!

 

category: Diversity, Guest Blog, Student Life
tags: , , ,

Ten Lessons For a First Year

Posted by  on Tuesday, May 8th 2012     

It’s hard to believe the first year is coming to an end! With just a final exam, a paper, and a presentation left, I am definitely in the home stretch. I wanted to take a moment to share some of my thoughts from the past year.

1. Business school is full of rejection. I’m not going to lie – my first semester was the four most difficult months of my life.  I applied for jobs, went to a national career fair, ran for club positions, tried to get A’s, and tried to act like I had it all together.  And I got rejected. From companies, from positions, from top grades… and meanwhile it seemed like everyone around me was doing great without a care in the world. It wasn’t true. The majority of us were are all swimming in our own insecurities and feelings of not being good enough.  But you have to keep at it, hold your head up, and realize that you will make it through and it will all be okay. Did you read that? IT WILL ALL BE OKAY.  I promise.

2. You don’t have to be friends with everyone, but it doesn’t hurt to try.  You never know who might end up in your study groups, as future colleagues, and as best friends. Besides, when no one else understands what you are going through, your MBA friends will. They will keep you going, build you up, and make sure you succeed.

3. Don’t expect to have a life outside of school. Say goodbye to your pre-MBA friends. Oh and the fact that there is no class on Fridays? The truth is that you will be at school or working on projects or traveling or something. We all thought we would be taking it easy on Fridays, but instead we ended up working harder than we expected.

4. Prepare for school as soon as possible. Review finance, accounting, economics, statistics. Find the syllabus and read what you can early. Make sure you know Excel, Powerpoint, and the power of the Outlook calendar.  Then start looking for an internship. Think about where you want to work and start your research. Start networking. You will be drowning as soon as school starts, so get a head start. You think I’m crazy right? You’ll thank me, trust me.

5. Take advantage of everything cool that you can. If you miss something important because you were too worried about studying, then you have missed the point.  You may never have the opportunity to have conversations with the people that come to McCombs. I met countless executives this year who have all added some piece of insight and value to my experience here. I don’t regret going to a single event, even if I was bogged down with work.

6. Get to know some second years. It may take effort, but it will be worth it. In addition to my wonderful peer adviser and mentor, I was fortunate enough to get to know some pretty amazing second years from almost day one. Not only were they great friends, but they advised me, talked me off the ledge a few times, eased my fears, and made me feel at home at McCombs. (One year was not enough time with them!)

7. Get to know your professors. You will utilize them long after their classes are over. Plus, there is a reason McCombs is recognized for having top faculty, and it serves you well to get to know them. Besides, they like to get to know us too! Get to know the staff, too. They are equally helpful and can make your life so much easier.

8. Take recruiting seriously from day one. Every contact you make is important. Every chance you have to make an impression is important. Recruiters are paying attention, and it serves you well to step up early. Always be professional, courteous, and follow up. Be prepared. Attend every event you can. It is tedious, time consuming, stressful… and it’s going to help land you a job.

9. Never be afraid to ask for what you want. What’s the worst that can happen? A no? But say you get a yes, then your doors can be open to some incredible experiences and opportunities. (see below!)

10. You will at many times wonder, “why did I think coming back to school was a good idea?” It was. Trust me.

As for me, I would say that everything worked out just as it should. My second semester was absolutely incredible. I finally started getting internship offers. I accepted an offer to intern at the Boston Consulting Group. I went to India for 2 weeks. I applied to study abroad, and was selected to attend ESADE in Barcelona next Spring. I was a teaching assistant for Dr. Vijay Mahajan and had an amazing experience working for a brilliant man.  I was selected to be a TA for two classes next semester.  I did two real and meaningful projects for Nordstrom and Frito Lay. I heard brilliant speakers. I made brilliant friendships. And I set myself up to have an amazing fall semester.

I’m going to let you in on a secret. When I finished my last exam of fall semester, I went outside and nearly cried. I questioned my intelligence, my value, and my ability. I wondered if I had made the right decision to leave my company, my income, my friends, and my lifestyle to come back to McCombs.

I can tell you now. I did.

Best of luck to all of you!

category: Erin Whalen, MBA '13
tags: , , ,

Just In Time

Posted by  on Wednesday, May 2nd 2012     

Business school teaches you a lot about the way things work – yourself included.  While I used to consider myself to have a fairly “Type A” personality, I’ve learned that must not be entirely true, for I am constantly sliding into home plate at the very last second possible, so to speak.  This tendency is at least partially attributable to the fact that I have stretched myself quite thin here at McCombs – there’s just so much exciting, engaging, worthwhile, once-in-a-lifetime stuff happening here all the time.  I still haven’t quite learned how to say, “no” – nor am I sure that I really want to!

It comes of little surprise then that with only one week of classes remaining in the semester, I just wrapped up my summer internship search.  I’ll be going to work for WhaleShark Media, a late stage startup based here in Austin.  This opportunity will allow me to gain experience with marketing on behalf of a web-based platform, an objective I formed for myself through participation in the activities referenced above that keep me so very busy.  It will also give me the chance to see what it’s like to work on the opposite end of the spectrum from the 40,000 employee, hierarchical, publicly traded corporate giant that I was with prior to school: there are just over one hundred workers at WhaleShark.  So while I’m sure it would’ve been nice to have established the details of my summer plans months ago, for me the search process was worth every minute that it took.  I am extremely excited for the experience that lies ahead, I am proud of achieving the objective I had set out for myself, and it all came together just in time…

 

Soaking up the end of my Just-In-Time job search in Texas Hill Country

Soaking up the conclusion of my Just-In-Time job search in Texas Hill Country

category: Career, Caroline Kolb, MBA '13, Internship
tags: , ,

Red McCombs at McCombs

Posted by  on Friday, April 27th 2012     

“Never in my life did I dream they would put my name on this school,” laughed Red McCombs this afternoon. “But we are creating a strong enough brand that I know this school is going to be one of the greatest schools ever. I’ve already seen this school change the world.”

It was a privilege to see Mr. McCombs in person at the newly launched Graduate Business Council McCombs Speaker Series.  I loved hearing his life story, his thoughts on business, and his thoughts on donating to this school.

Red McCombs has been fascinated with business for his whole life. Growing up in a small town in West Texas, he was always asking questions about the businesses in his community. He had a fascination for taking things that didn’t work, making them better, and then turning them into something successful. This entrepreneurial spirit was seen in high school, when McCombs declared himself a senior (instead of a junior, which was what he actually was), graduated early, and hitchhiked around Texas to earn a football scholarship. After graduation from Southwestern University, he was drafted into the army, and then came to the University of Texas to study law.  This is when his business roots really came forward. Upon realizing that law was “too tedious,” he consulted with a professor in the business school who recommended,”you need to sell, Red!” Sell he did, taking his skills first to the auto industry and eventually to some of the most successful companies in the world, including Clear Channel Communications, Koontz-McCombs, and McCombs Partners.

“I don’t have toys in business” was the response to a question about McCombs’s investment in the Minnesota Vikings. He said his sports affiliations were never hobbies, rather he was just good at sports.  A highlight was turning a near bankrupt baseball team in Corpus Christi to Sports Illustrated’s 1954 Best Lower League Operation in Baseball. McCombs did this at just age 27.  He would later go on to receive the NFL Owner of the Year with the Vikings, and own both the NBA Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs.

At age 84, McCombs is still making business magic. He is heavily involved with successfully launching Formula One in Austin, claiming “F1 isn’t an impossible project, but I don’t believe anyone else can do it. If we make it work, we will really make a difference in Central Texas.”

McCombs offered the following advice to MBA students. “Pick something you like. Be smart and aggressive. The opportunities are so vast and there is not a better time in the world to be in our position.” He also spoke about what’s most important to him. “When I’m with my family, there is nothing else. Nothing interferes.” He also talked about overcoming setbacks, and how his greatest accomplishment is his wife of 62 years Charline. His secret to overall success? “If it’s possible, I will find a way.”

I was most surprised to hear that McCombs had never intended to donate $50 million to the business school. However, after constantly asking questions like, “what difference would this make to the business school” McCombs was impressed when he saw what could happen.  Thanks to his donation, we are well on our way to being one of the top schools in the world. And what happens here does change the world – largely because of the opportunities he has afforded us.

Bravo to the GBC on a great first event, and on behalf of all the McCombs MBAs, we want to thank Mr. McCombs and his family for their continuous support and generosity.

category: Erin Whalen, MBA '13, Events, Student Orgs
tags: , ,

My Summer Internship and the Power of Networking

Posted by  on Thursday, April 19th 2012     

Way back during orientation (I can’t believe that was eight months ago), one of the instructors asked us to raise our hands if we don’t like networking. I raised my hand pretty high, and so did about half my classmates. When we were asked why we don’t like networking, the general consensus was that it feels forced and awkward. The instructor didn’t disagree, but he went on to explain the usefulness and necessity of networking. I knew he was right at the time, but my summer internship search proved his point further.

I want to work in healthcare after I graduate from McCombs, and consulting appealed to me because healthcare reform is creating a ton of opportunities in the field. Plus, I felt like consulting would be a great way for me to learn more about the industry and work on a variety of interesting projects. However, with a few exceptions, the big consulting firms that recruit heavily at McCombs want you to be a generalist during your summer internship and first year or two after business school. Only later would you start specializing in an industry such as healthcare. The firms have good reasons for this, but as someone wanting to specialize in healthcare right off the bat, the generalist model didn’t appeal to me.

So, I was thrilled when a classmate referred me to an internship posting on one of the McCombs job boards for a relatively small firm called ECG Management Consultants that specializes exclusively in healthcare. Wanting to learn more about the company, I visited the website and combed through the consultants’ bios to see if there were any McCombs MBAs. There were none, but there were two graduates of my undergrad alma mater, Notre Dame, which, like McCombs, has a very strong network. …..click here to read more

category: Career, Internship, Jim Ryan, MBA '13
tags: , ,
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