MBA applicants can get carried away with rankings. In this series, we profile amazing programs at business schools which are typically ranked outside the top 15.
Many MBA programs offer their students an opportunity to manage “real” money during their two years of study. Some schools give their students a few thousand dollars to work with, while others give their students a few million in endowment funds, but none offer as much as the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, where students manage $15 million (yes, $15 million!). Through the MBA investment fund—the first legally constituted private investment company managed by students—students manage funds contributed by 60 investors in the Growth Portfolio, Value Portfolio and Endowment Fund. Each year, 20 students are selected as portfolio managers through an application/interview process, and these students work with investment counselors on economic forecasting, risk management and pitching stock and bond ideas, and then report to an advisory committee made up of faculty from the University of Texas Department of Finance and members of the investment community. If you are interested in investment management, would you not want to be able to say, “I helped select stocks for a $15 million fund”?