Interview guides UT Austin McCombs
UT Austin McCombs interview guide
McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin
Interview Intelligence Series · 2026 edition
The interview, decoded from real MBA Protocol client reports
Get the full UT Austin McCombs guide (PDF)
Prepared by MBA Protocol from first-hand client reports. All names removed. Interviews from recent cycles.
UT Austin McCombs · At a glance
Relaxed, conversational, optional
Two parts today: a recorded video assessment every applicant completes, and an optional, relaxed virtual interview with a current student. Earlier clients met an adcom member or an alum.
Who interviews you
Today every applicant completes a recorded video assessment shortly after submitting, and the live interview is optional and open to all applicants: a 20 to 30 minute virtual conversation with a member of the McCombs Ambassador Committee. Earlier clients met an adcom member or an alum.
Where
The optional interview is virtual. In earlier cycles, live interviews were sometimes in person, in a hub city or with an alum off campus; everything our clients reported since the 2021/22 cycle has been virtual.
Interview style
Conversational, alongside a recorded video assessment
Adcom and alum interviews were conversational with a few behavioral questions, and the video assessment is timed behavioral prompts. In the 2024/25 cycle, optional student interviews were get-to-know-you chats where the applicant asked most of the questions. The school describes the interview as behavioral, so bring two or three stories as well as your questions.
Blind or application read?
Mixed. An adcom interviewer asked about the strongest and weakest parts of the application and other schools applied to, which suggests familiarity with the file. An alum interview was described as 'a very typical blind interview.' Student interviews were resume-based at most, and the video assessment has no interviewer.
Scheduling
Recent clients scheduled through the McCombs portal. For the optional student interview, applicants registered and chose their own interviewer from a long roster of students showing clubs, industries and interests; one client picked someone with a similar background and found it super helpful. The video assessment link also comes through the portal.
UT Austin McCombs · What clients report
Inside the interview
What our clients say happens
What clients report depends heavily on when they applied. Earlier live interviews followed a familiar pattern: tell me about yourself or walk me through your resume, goals, why MBA and why McCombs, then a few behavioral or diversity questions, with time for your questions. Interviewers may offer to connect you with current students if you ask. Some interviews were much tougher, with long questioning, deep probing on goals and a preference for post-college examples. The video assessment, which every applicant completes, gave clients in the 2022/23 cycle five or six timed prompts with 30 seconds of prep each, covering motivating teammates, using data, goals with a backup plan and proudest achievement outside work. The most recent student interviews were relaxed and optional, framed as your chance to learn about McCombs; one student asked only 'tell me about yourself' and another asked nothing at all. Across the live reports, interviewers were pleasant and the pace unhurried.
Very laid back and friendly; an optional interview the school framed as a way to learn about the community, and it felt like a get-to-know-you chat.
The rest of this guide
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- The questions you are almost sure to get, and the others our clients reported
- 4 curveballs that caught our clients off guard, and what to do about each
- Coach’s notes: what we tell our UT Austin McCombs clients
- One real interview, every question in the order it was asked
- Where to focus your prep, with the Interview Hero frameworks that fit this school
- The full 6-page PDF guide
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FAQ
UT Austin McCombs interview, quick answers
What is the UT Austin McCombs MBA interview like?
Relaxed, conversational, optional. Two parts today: a recorded video assessment every applicant completes, and an optional, relaxed virtual interview with a current student. Earlier clients met an adcom member or an alum. Our clients describe the style as conversational, alongside a recorded video assessment.
Who interviews you at UT Austin McCombs, and how long is the interview?
Interviews typically run 20-30 minutes, virtual. The optional interview is virtual. In earlier cycles, live interviews were sometimes in person, in a hub city or with an alum off campus; everything our clients reported since the 2021/22 cycle has been virtual.
Is the UT Austin McCombs interview blind, or has the interviewer read my application?
Mixed. An adcom interviewer asked about the strongest and weakest parts of the application and other schools applied to, which suggests familiarity with the file. An alum interview was described as 'a very typical blind interview.' Student interviews were resume-based at most, and the video assessment has no interviewer.