Texas McCombs MBA Essay Tips 2024-2025

The following essay tips examine Texas / McCombs (McCombs) MBA admissions essays for the 2024-2025 admissions season. You can also review essay topic analyses for other leading MBA programs as well as general Essay Tips to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.

Texas McCombs MBA Essay Tips 2024-2025

Let’s take a closer look at the McCombs MBA essay prompts.

Preamble

The essay prompts serve as a powerful storytelling tool, allowing you to share narratives and insights that may not be captured elsewhere in your application. The essay section has been refreshed for the 2024-2025 cycle, now featuring three prompts with a 250-word limit for each response. These are purposefully designed to elicit thoughtful and introspective responses that reveal your motivations, values, and aspirations.

Please complete the required essay prompts below and upload them to your application prior to submission.

Essay 1

At Texas McCombs, we do things a little differently. We embrace those who take the initiative and forge new paths. What ambitious goal or change do you aim to achieve with an MBA, and why is Texas McCombs your ideal launch pad? (250 words)
Applicants should concisely describe their plans after graduating from McCombs. While you can cover the particular role and responsibilities you are interested in, McCombs emphasizes anticipated impact. With this in mind, you should be sure to account for your desired impact in both the short and long term. Then, priority should be given to how McCombs is the ideal launching pad for your goals. This can involve talking about courses you hope to take, clubs you plan to be active in (and how), and what you hope to gain from joining the McCombs community. Taking the time to learn about the school’s curriculum, special programs and extracurricular activities—whether by seeking out alumni or current students to engage, or connecting with resources through the McCombs website—will pay dividends here.

Essay 2

Here, you are what’s next. At this pivotal crossroads where you’re deciding your future path, the Texas McCombs MBA experience will equip you with the tools and mindset to make “what’s next” happen in your career. Please share unique qualities you possess that highlight your potential to shake up the status quo in your professional life. (250 words)
This is a chance to tell the adcom who you are. It is also a good place to highlight an instance of resourcefulness and persistence, in line with shaking up the status quo.

Following a brief assertion of your qualities, you’ll need to back them up with a supporting example of impact. Once you settle on the related example, consider the following structure in telling your story:

• Situation – Set the stage or identify the professional situation and related challenge.
• Action – Describe the actions you took that challenged the status quo.
• Outcome – Summarize the (positive) result and how the status quo changed.

Space permitting, you may then conclude with how your demonstrated qualities will translate to your future goals.

Essay 3

The University of Texas at Austin’s motto, “What starts here changes the world,” embodies a spirit of impact and transformation. What fuels your drive to lead change and make your mark in the world? (250 words)
While Essay 2 was about a recent example of your impact, Essay 3 is trying to get at the root of your motivation. This is a chance to tell the adcom where you come from and what you care about. You can provide insight into your personal and professional maturity and collaborative nature over the course of a narrative. An effective approach might be to describe an initial experience (the “fuel”) and its broad implications in a few sentences, followed by a brief reflection on how the experience has shaped who you are today. You can then conclude with how you will carry this “fuel” forward to make an impact, whether at McCombs or in your career.

Optional Statement

Please explain any gaps in work experience, choice of recommender, and/or academic performance issues that may help the admission committee in reviewing your application. (Limit: 250 words)
Both the tone of this prompt and the examples of potential topics the candidate might address suggest that this essay will be best used to address liabilities or extenuating circumstances related to one’s application rather than to provide “bonus” information to the adcom. Candidates with questionable quantitative records, gaps in employment, or unusual recommenders should take advantage of this opportunity to offer explanations or outline plans to address potential issues. As is always the case with this sort of response, the comments in this essay should be straightforward and fact-focused, offering explanation without making excuses and humbly suggesting other areas of your candidacy that might compensate for identified weaknesses.

Clear Admit Resources

Before you start crafting your UT Austin McCombs essay responses, check out some of our resources to help you along the way:

• UT Austin McCombs School of Business Profile on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
• Clear Admit LiveWire: admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to McCombs
• Clear Admit DecisionWire: school selections in real-time by admits to McCombs