Meet The McCombs’ MBA Class of 2018

Marcelo Degani Tschiedel

The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

Hometown: Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Pre-MBA Location: Sao Paulo, Brazil

Fun Fact About Yourself:  I am a terrible soccer player. Lots of people invite me to play soccer when they learn I’m Brazilian but to their surprise, I always  end up turning them down. That applies to many other sports as well. Fortunately, I have recently found a sport that I managed to be ok at after lots of training and effort, and that is snowboarding. I really like doing that so, to all of you out there thinking on coming to McCombs, count me in for snow trips in 2018!

Undergraduate School and Major:

• Graduate: Fundação Getulio Vargas, Specialization in Finance
• Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul , Business Administration Major

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

• PricewaterhouseCoopers (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
  • Senior Associate – Corporate Finance and Recovery
• PricewaterhouseCoopers (Porto Alegre, Brazil)
  • Consultant and Senior Consultant – Governance, Risk and Compliance

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: I can definitely say that my biggest accomplishment so far was succeeding in juggling the demanding work back at PwC Brazil with the preparation for both TOEFL and GMAT and the finance post-grad finance course I took at Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV). It was very challenging and involved many all nighters, but I kept my productivity level, delivering all the projects I’ve been assigned to, reached my target TOEFL and GMAT scores, and got a great GPA from FGV. The result of this effort came in late 2015 when I got accepted by McCombs.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf?  Getting recommenders to write letters for you shouldn’t be difficult if you are already working. In my experience, it was as easy as asking both my direct manager and my career coach and they were happy to help me. It may be a bit harder if you are not yet ready to tell your bosses about your plans. In both cases, make sure the person you are asking cares enough about you so as to spend the required time needed to prepare an adequate letter.

As for the essays, you should keep in my mind that they represent one of your only chances of standing out amidst all other candidates. The essay not only allows you to write your story (and you should definitely take advantage of this opportunity), but also gives you an opportunity to prove that you’ve done your research about the school’s culture and that you actually fit. In the end, the whole application process ends up being an interesting tool for you to check whether you really want to join the schools of your choice.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA?  Austin is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States and one of the main reasons for that is the bursting tech and startup scenes, both of which I’m really interested in. That made UT Austin and the McCombs School of Business an obvious choice for me when I was doing my research back in 2015. Also, both UT Austin and McCombs are very well known and respected throughout the United States, so I knew I was getting a respectable degree. That, however, is only one side of the story. The other side I discovered when I travelled to Austin for the Preview Weekend for admitted students in April 2016. After spending a day in Austin, I was already feeling right at home because Austinites, in general, are really inviting and welcoming. Aside from that, the city is really beautiful, has great weather, food and many, many entertainment options. Live music lovers will feel right at home!

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? I would really like to work in the tech industry in a way where I can have a broad, even if indirect, impact on people’s lives. That could either be in a Fintech startup helping people in need get access to credit with fair rates, or in a major tech company delivering software and solutions all across the globe to both business and end consumers. I really believe in the reach of the technology industry and in its power to change people’s lives for the better.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program?  I have a firm belief in collaboration and mutual respect and it brings me great satisfaction to know when I managed to create a positive impact in someone’s life. Thus, it would be really cool to be known as the person who was always there to help when people needed, be it for academic, career related or personal reasons.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? My main goal and drive when I decided to pursue an MBA was to switch industries. That hasn’t changed and now, after meeting many first- and second-year students, I’m feeling very confident that I’m in a place that will provide me all the tools, knowledge and support I might need in order to achieve that objective. I’m also really interested in meeting people from different cultural backgrounds and learning how people see and solve problems in the U.S. and around the world. I really expect to become a more creative and resourceful professional when I graduate.

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE CLASS OF 2018 SERIES