Meet The UT-Austin’s McCombs Class of 2017

Margó Hufstetler González

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

Hometown: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Undergraduate School and Major: Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service, Culture and Politics major

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: Project Specialist at CARANA Corporation

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? Once you decide to take the test, in my case the GMAT, take an initial practice test to assess your strengths and weaknesses. This will help determine your main focus areas and give you an idea of how much time you might need to prepare to reach your target score. Next, set the date. Having a deadline will help keep you on track with your plan, but be sure to give yourself a cushion —after a full workday, it’s easy to want to put off studying sometimes. You may have to sacrifice some happy hours for a few months, but there will be plenty of networking opportunities when you’re in b-school!

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? This ultimately comes down to what each person prioritizes. It’s key to consider a number of factors, such as programs’ strength in your focus area, size, teaching method, location, etc. Look at the schools’ employment and salary statistics—is the program successfully placing MBAs in the industries/functions/companies you’re targeting or might be interested in? If it doesn’t check the box for most of your priority factors, don’t apply. This is an expensive and time-consuming process, so don’t waste energy that you could be spending on perfecting the application for your top choice on a place that you know you wouldn’t be thrilled to attend.

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?  Do your homework! Take the time to truly know each program you are applying to. Be specific about what draws you to each beyond what’s in the school’s website—you don’t want to talk about generic traits that could apply to any MBA program. A good way to do this is to reach out to the admissions team and ask if they can put you in contact with one or two current students involved in X student group, participating in Y fellowship, or taking Z class that you are interested in. Not only does this show the admissions team that you are interested, but it gives you the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge on what you care most about and (perhaps more importantly) gauge whether the school would be a good culture fit for you—things you can highlight in your essays and interviews. However, don’t leave it at why this particular program is great for you. Make sure to show them what you bring to the table as well! This is why it’s important to choose recommenders who know you well professionally and can speak to the quality of your work – and not necessarily the ones with the most impressive titles.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Most—if not all—top MBA programs will offer you excellent academic preparation, an outstanding faculty, and myriad leadership opportunities – all of which will get you one step closer to your dream job. So at the end of the day, my decision come down to the intangible: Where I fit. I’m certainly not the first to say this, but it’s a cliché for a reason. I’m passionate about social impact and found in McCombs a community that shares and actively cultivates this passion through its curriculum, student organizations, events, and even a career conference dedicated to “business for good.” I could not be happier with my choice!

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? For me, this experience is ultimately about improvement—of myself and my peers, McCombs and business more broadly. I want to learn how to manage and lead effectively and help my classmates do the same. I also want to, even if in a small way, contribute to make a difference and leave McCombs even better than it already is. And finally, I want to graduate knowing I will be in a position to influence the way businesses think about the creation of social value.