Meet The McCombs’ MBA Class of 2018

John Adamo

The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business

(Note: John is earning a dual MBA-MS Energy & Earth Resources through McCombs and the Jackson School of Geosciences) 

Hometown:  Garden City, NY

Pre-MBA Location: Austin, Texas

Fun Fact About Yourself:  I enjoy jumping out of perfectly good airplanes as a licensed skydiver.

Undergraduate School and Major: Princeton University, History Major and Certificate in Near Eastern Studies

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:

• NRG Energy (Austin, TX)
  • Summer Fellow
• Booz Allen Hamilton (Washington, D.C.)
  • Associate
• THiNKGREEN! Global Advisors (New York, NY)
  • Capital Markets Associate
• United States Marine Corps (Texas)
  • Ground Intelligence Officer
  • Active Duty and Reserve Officer, Rank: O-3/Captain; Major-Select

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Helping Department of Defense clients make progress towards aggressive energy and vehicle fleet mandates and goals.

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? Think about what your professional priorities are and identify the schools that have programs that align with those interests. Many MBA students apply to business school without having an idea of what they want to do afterwards, while others are looking to pivot to a new career or advance in their current profession. All of those mindsets are perfectly fine. For me, I knew I wanted to accelerate my career in the energy industry and there are only a handful of programs that are truly geared toward providing that focused preparation – and UT Austin is right at the top of that list.

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? Choose your top school and put everything you are into that application. Paying attention to every detail is imperative. You need to also tell your story for what it is – not what you think the admissions staff wants to hear. The most powerful story you can tell the admissions staff and your interviewer is the one about your real journey and why the choices you’ve made have led you to applying to that particular school. You also need to tell your recommenders that “why” – it will give them the perspective they need regardless of how well you think they know you.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? Like I said above, UT Austin and the McCombs School of Business are without question top schools for those that want to pursue careers in energy. Combined with the Jackson School of Geosciences MS in Energy and Earth Resources, I am confident that this MBA degree will give me the tools I need to grow as a leader in a career that keeps me jumping out of bed in the morning.  And let’s face it: Austin is a pretty incredible city, too. Amazing music, BBQ, and fit talented people – ‘nuff said.

Tell us about your dream job or dream employer at this point in your life? After graduate school, I’d like to work in commodities trading, but eventually I would like to start my own energy consulting firm focused on bringing emerging technologies to market that further diversify national and global energy supplies.

What would you like your business school peers to say about you after you graduate from this program? I hope that my peers would view me as enthusiastic, focused, and helpful in shaping their own experience during the MBA and career path afterwards.