I’m going to countdown my top ten reasons why you should get your MBA at McCombs. Note these are my top 10 reasons, not the administration’s. I’m also not necessarily a representative sample of the student body. I did ask about 50 current students what their top 3 reasons are, and used that to inform some of my recommendations.

Without further adieu, here goes:

# 10: You get to be a Longhorn.
When you look at anyone’s list of the top mascots in college sports (Sports Illustrated, Fox Sports, ESPN, etc) Bevo (the real Texas longhorn that attends football games and other university events) is always in the top 10. But Bevo himself is just the tip of the iceberg – the Longhorn brand is so universally recognizable and unique that in the college football hall of fame, every school but one has letters representing their school’s logo. Texas has the longhorn logo, as that’s all that’s needed to identify the university.

The power of the brand is evident – Texas is the #1 school in terms of raking in licensing royalties, according to Collegiate Licensing Company. The new Longhorn TV Network should only increase it.

The fact that the shape of a longhorn’s head naturally lends itself to the greatest hand signal in sports doesn’t hurt. Nor does the accompanying phrase of “hook’em horns” either. The burnt orange color is unique as well – classier than traditional oranges, it is said to have been picked by Darrell Royal to match the color of a football in order to confuse opponents.

Especially if you went to a school with a color for a mascot (like I did), coming to Texas is like hitting the jackpot. You’ve got an endless supply of awesome swag to wear around, people on the street to flash the hook’em to, and a brand to be proud of.

#9: Electivity

MBA students pose with traditionally dressed Indians on a McCombs global study trip in 2010.

You may have heard the first semester at UT is a bit of a punch in the face with a lot coming at you all at once. It’s true – we took 9 courses in the first semester, and even though we spent only 7 weeks doing basic accounting and finance, our professors crammed in a full course’s material in the short time frame. This meant an all-out blitz and many long days trying to synthesize what was coming at us.

But it also meant that after the first semester, we were mostly done with our required courses. And that means more electives over the next 3 semesters. Required courses are good – employers expect newly minted MBAs to have certain skills, after all – but it also means you have less time to take the classes you really want to take.

Overall, what I found most refreshing about my liberal arts undergraduate experience was the opportunity to take classes I was interested in, rather than having to take a prescribed list of courses that were necessary to get a certain degree. It’s been nice to know that I can continue that experience in business school.

#8:  Leadership Opportunities per capita
With over 40 clubs and organizations but just 260 students in your class, there’s an outsized opportunity to take on leadership opportunities at McCombs.

Think about it this way – every business school is going to have a consulting club, a marketing club, and a finance club. But every club can only have one president and a few other officers; this is a huge benefit in McCombs’ favor.

Our clubs at McCombs range from the industry/professional clubs like the aforementioned to affinity clubs like Latin American and Hispanic MBA to purely networking clubs like the MBA Golf Club. Students have the opportunities to join as many clubs as they like, but most find it difficult to take on leadership in more than two clubs.

For a listing of the organizations on campus as well as more details about each of them, see http://new.mccombs.utexas.edu/MBA/Full-Time/Student-Life/Student-Organizations.aspx.

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