Meet The UT-Austin’s McCombs Class of 2017

Ahn Taehoon

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

Hometown (City and State): Seoul, South Korea

Undergraduate School and Major (Include Graduate School if Relevant): Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

SAMIL PRICE WATERHOUSECOOPERS, Seoul, Korea, Financial advisory service of PWC, a multinational accounting firm, Associate CPA

FINANCIAL SUPERVISORY SERVICE (fss), Seoul, Korea, A Government regulatory body overseeing Korea’s financial market, Senior Manager

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? I know it is not that persuasive advice for those preparing GMAT, but I like to say here that GMAT score is a only small part of factors for adcoms in deciding your acceptance. Unlike other undergraduate and graduate programs, admission to MBA programs is based as much or more on qualitative factors than quantitative factors. Save your time and spend it on other elements of application set such as the essay and resume. Strategically, focusing on the quantitative section will help students whose native language is not English (and have low degree of comfort in it) to receive a high score. Last but not least, take the GMAT early. My best decision was to get it over with well before applications were released with enough time for concentrating on applications.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? I believe there is no better way than talking to current students or alumni. I strongly recommend meeting with as many as students from your target schools. They will get you to the right school.

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? My best advice is super-common, but it’s hard to remember sometimes: BE YOURSELF. Be honest. I am a totally a-typical applicant and felt enormous pressure to try and seem like a “business school student.” But that means nothing. Who knows what a “business school student” should be? And make sure to have prior accepted students read your essays as many times as possible.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? As one of the top business schools in the world, McCombs’s reputation, collaborative environment, top-notch faculty and academic resources, and enthusiastic culture are my reasons to choose this school. In addition, those Longhorn co-workers in my company ( Financial Supervisory Service) are the people I most want to thank because they strongly recommended and helped me to join this school.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? I want to broaden my skill-sets and access additional resources to upgrade my career successfully. An MBA degree will prepare me to move into a managerial position within my field. Networking is another key benefit I really want to pick up. McCombs encourages teamwork, so, over the course of an MBA program, I’ll develop important relationships that can serve me well throughout my business career. And I can get plugged into a network of alumni working at a wide range of companies. This will also become great asset for my post MBA career.