A UT Austin / McCombs MBA interview questions and report were submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant.
The interview took place on a Friday when the school was also offering tours, student and alumni panels, etc. After meeting my interviewer, we walked to a small room with one table with two chairs; I’m guessing it was a team study room. The interview was blind but it looked like my interviewer had made a few notes on my resume, so I believe she had spent a couple minutes with it before we talked. While we were performing the interview, my interviewer had an actual interview form in front of her with questions in one column and then a space for her to write responses. This was different from my other interviews where notes were taken in a notebook (or on my resume) and the interviewer didn’t have a list. I think this made McCombs interview feel a little bit clunkier / less freely flowing than some of the others, but it was still largely conversational and behavioral.
Questions
A lot of boiler plate type questions:
- Why MBA/Why McCombs
- Tell me about a time you worked in a team
- Tell me about a time you faced a challenge at work
- Describe your leadership style
- What types of activities will you be involved with at McCombs
- What questions do you have for me
I was also asked a few specific questions about my background and my resume (what does XXX on your resume mean, etc), so it is important to know where you’ve been and where you want to go.
Two questions that caught me off guard:
- What do you like to do in your spare time
- I was asked a few follow ups on this, and it came at the end of the interview so I think it was more about assessing fit than it was to open me up/make me feel comfortable.
- Where else are you applying and where do you rank McCombs
- I was able to truthfully answer this in a positive manner because at the time I really loved McCombs, but it was also more in kind of my safety range which made it important for me to stress how much I loved the school, how good of a fit it was, etc. I can see this question tripping someone up, especially since McCombs is a little lower on the rankings, smaller, etc.
Clear Admit Resources
Preparing for your UT Austin / McCombs MBA admissions interview? Check out Clear Admit’s other resources:
- Clear Admit UT Austin / McCombs Interview Guide: Strategic tips for approaching UT Austin / McCombs’ interview questions, and more.
- Interview Archive: More firsthand accounts from UT Austin / McCombs MBA applicants themselves
- Understanding the MBA Admissions Interview: Blind vs. Non-blind Interviews
- Podcast Episode 23: 5 Most Common MBA Interview Questions You Need to Ace
