Hands-on Opportunities

Hands-on experiences complement, extend, and continually refine the curriculum. Texas MBAs have an array of opportunities for hands-on learning—from independent studies to summer internships to research projects with our business partners. Students initiate some of the best experiences, like Austin Power, which helps local companies recruit students who want to stay in Austin. It makes sense that recruiters routinely tell us our graduates are ready to work from day one—their enthusiasm shows.

• MOOT Corp®
• Austin Technology Incubator
• MBA Investment Fund
• Academic Challenges
• Venture Fellows
• The Washington Campus

MOOT Corp®

Founded in 1984, the MOOT CORP® Competition is the first, longest-operating, new-venture competition for business students in the world. Each spring this high-stakes game draws student entrepreneurs to the McCombs School from all over the world. The MOOT CORP® process is a dynamic one that enables the sharing of new venture proposals among entrepreneurs. It is instrumental in the continuous improvement of entrepreneurship education.

Austin Technology Incubator

An off-shoot of the IC2 Institute, the Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) has nurtured dozens of start-ups, including many new ventures created by Texas MBAs. Each year the winners of MOOT CORP® earn a year's office space plus overhead costs at ATI, a head start that has led to seed-stage and initial round funding for teams like Isochron Data, Inc. and the InfoGlide Corporation.

MBA Investment Fund

Established in 1994, the MBA Investment Fund, L.L.C. was the first legally constituted, private investment company to be managed by students. The Fund offers graduate students a real-world experience in managing investment portfolios, running a business, and developing client relationships. With the addition of an Endowment Portfolio, the student managers on the Fund now have the opportunity to manage both equity and fixed-income investments using both value and growth strategies. Visit the MBA Investment Fund's site.

Academic Challenges

Each year student teams spend several days working on simulated cases for corporate-sponsored academic challenges. The teams make presentations to executives, who select winners and offer industry-specific feedback.

Challenges include:

• Consulting Challenge
• Finance Challenge
• Marketing Challenge
• Information Management/Operations Challenge
• Real Estate Challenge
• National Energy Finance Challenge
• Global Business Challenge

Venture Capital Fellows

Venture capital has long been known as an industry with a large barrier to entry, but at McCombs, the Venture Fellows program is now bridging this gap. Formed in 1999 by James Walbom, MBA 01, the VF connects the thriving Texas venture capital community with the most talented MBA students at the McCombs School. We believe VCF is the only organization in the country that presently offers MBA students the chance to gain real-world experience through an internship program with major VC firms integrated into a unique venture capital-focused curriculum.

The Washington Campus

The Washington Campus consortium seminar, “Understanding Washington: Business and the Public Policy Process for MBA Students” is a week-long intensive seminar that addresses the intersection between political economy and business strategy. Each spring and summer, students from 17 consortium member schools have the unique opportunity to gain a comprehensive understanding of how regulatory, economic, tax, and trade policies are made. Seminar faculties are noted scholars, research fellows, and university professors who specialize in the government/business relationship and who have served in high-level government positions.