The
McCombs School of Business is undisputedly the most highly-ranked
business school in the very vast southwestern region of the country. Quite
simply, there is no comparable school within quite a large radius of Austin,
Texas.
Amongst the business school's many advantages are its Plus program,
market-driven specializations, and student-run investment fund. The school
has an undergraduate program, a part-time MBA program in Austin, and
Executive MBA programs in Austin, Dallas, and Mexico City. And this fall, they
will be adding a new Executive MBA program in Houston.
Below is the three-page transcript of our interview with
Daniel Garza, Assistant Dean of the MBA Program.
This past summer, you were
named the new Assistant Dean of the MBA Program at the
McCombs School of Business. With this
new role, in addition to your responsibilities as Director
of Admissions and Program Director, how do you see the
school evolving?
Well I think one of the main
things is, under the strategic plan from our dean that was
rolled out about a year ago, we have been able to move
toward two major areas or initiatives. One is enhancing the
student experience and the other is connecting students
with their professional goals and career objectives. There
are many other aspects, but these two are the most relevant
to the MBA program. We are planning on decreasing the
student/faculty ratio by increasing the number of faculty
hires. We also admitted a smaller class this year.
Traditionally we have entered a class of around 400; this
year it will be closer to 325.
Do you just have this full-time MBA or do you have other variations of the MBA like an
Executive MBA or part-time MBA?
The school has an
undergraduate program and it has an Executive MBA program
here in Austin, another one in Dallas, one in Mexico City
and then we have a part-time or evening MBA program here in
Austin.
What general advice would you
like perspective applicants to know about McCombs School of Business?
I would like to stress two
things. One is that they understand the resources and
opportunities at our school and in our program, everything
from our Plus program which is our professional development
program, and other aspects like our investment fund or
customer insight program. The second is that they should
understand what we are about and then try to match that to
the professional objectives they are seeking.
When is the best time to
apply to the program?
We have a rolling admission
process. The actual application will become live somewhere
in mid-September. The first suggested deadline is November
1st. For international applicants, the deadline is February
1st, and then the final deadline for our domestic
applicants is April 15th.
When you are reviewing an
application, are there specific characteristics in the
applicant or in the application itself that you target to
identify a "best fit" candidate?
Sure. I think two things are
sort of the initial filters or the initial pieces that we
seek. One is definitely academic potential. How
will that
person fare in the classroom. Then the second piece is
around the professional career objectives and why they are
getting the MBA. We want to make sure those dimensions are
squared away with an applicant and then beyond that it
becomes more of the qualitative aspects of the applicant,
everything from their personality and fit with the program
to their personal reasons about why it makes sense to get an
the MBA and what certain aspects about the McCombs MBA interest
them. All these aspects are very
important.
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