Cox vs. McCombs BBA?

[tristatecoog]

If you just want a great business job, versus specific interest in IB, Big 4, etc., and you get into Cox and UT's McCombs School directly, which school do you pick and why? McCombs is now $10,800 per year for tuition. Let's say Cox costs $10K more after getting a half tuition merit scholarship.

[Junior]

Good question. I don't see either hurting you on a resume.

[NY Pony]

In that scenario I think the most important thing to consider would be size of undergraduate student population. You've set up a hypothetical where they are virtually the same offering. SMU and UT are very different undergrad experiences from a lifestyle perspective. SMU would offer smaller classes in non-major programs for sure.

[Grant Carter]

Another thing to consider is if you have a preference for which city you want to live in after graduation. Obviously you could potentially get a job anywhere in Texas (or beyond) with a degree from either school but if you want to be in Dallas then SMU is going to be a better choice because of proximity for internships/networking. Vice versa for Austin of course.

[gostangs]

if you are using student quality as the barometer, SMU BBA is a better BBA program than UT's BBA. UT MBA is a better MBA program than SMU using that barometer.

Our undergrad standardized test scores are much higher than UT undergrad McCombs - mainly due to the Cox scholar program that gives pre-admittance to the business school to high scores. The Cox scholars average over 1450 SAT's and are a pretty big percentage of each class. In fact that program is probably responsible for a significant amount of our overall SMU SAT average increase in the last few years.

[tristatecoog]

SMU's average starting pay for 2012 class was $54K.

http://www.cox.smu.edu/web/recruiters-bba-msa/hiring-companies
Bain is represented but no BCG or McKinsey, which is surprising.

McCombs' average pay for 2014 class was $59K. They have an MIS major that gets $62K in pay on average and Marketing grads make a bit more too. Accounting and Finance are about the same, and SMU's data appears a couple years old so there's inflation. Only 6% of McCombs' entering class consists of non-Texan U.S. residents. They have a huge class of 4,500 and avg SAT of 1361 with GPA average of 3.42.

Just from perusing both career sites, it looks like SMU's could use some enhancement. However, as mentioned, classes will be smaller and student body will be more geographically diverse, which is an added plus.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

My perspective:

1) think this boils down to a key factor whether you want to go to a private school where you're in a class of 30 to 50 students or one of hundreds. I never wanted the public school environment and never applied to UT for instance. Think this happens to a lot
2) they're both the top two ug business programs in the state. However, IMO and absent point 1 above unless you get into the ut bba honors program I think the education at smu is much better at the ug level (different story overall at the graduate level). I do think that if you like the big state school and get into the ut honors program I could see how that is a very attractive opp since from my experience the most successful guys from mccombs I've come across were part of its honors program.

[mustangfan01]

You're getting overfed information but I can quickly speak to Big 4. I worked there for 7 years and helped lead recruiting teams at SMU and Texas.

From an accounting perspective, both programs have formal, structured recruiting programs to get a job in the Big 4. SMU has the better accounting program and places nearly all of its undergraduate students into the Big 4. Texas has a great program and places more students, but a lower overall ratio, due to its size. If you're looking more for a finance job in B4, you'll do better at McCombs unless you get your MBA at SMU.

It will be easier to stand out at SMU and the degree carries enormous weight in the Dallas market. If you're looking to go the finance route, I recommend UT.

Can't speak to IB but you're a little late in the cycle for that run. Dallas is ripe with PE and hedge, don't bother selling yourself to an IB in 2019.

[whitwiki]

UT MBA is top 20 international isn't it? Per the financial times...
There's probably little difference in undergrad.

Get an engineering degree

[NewAgeMustange]

Get an engineering degree

Step one: Get both.

Step Two: ????

Step Three: Profit

[Mustangs_Maroons]

Unless you're talkin ut bba honors program the. It's smu by a landslide. The only kids worth their salt that have chances outside of tx that most smu cox kids don't are the top students from their honors program. And what % is that out of the overall bba students or overall ut student body?

Very few schools are able to place most students outside of their home state and UT ain't one of those. uT also very much regional but because of its size has more national reach. But wouldn't call it a national school by any stretch.

Smu cox on avg > ut mccombs

[mustangxc]

The best from UT is better than the best from SMU, but I agree that the average from SMU is better than the average from UT.

[Digetydog]

UT MBA is top 20 international isn't it? Per the financial times...
There's probably little difference in undergrad.

Get an engineering degree

Those ratings on "international" are full of crap.

My MBA is from a top 1o program on that list. While many of my classmates went overseas to work, almost 100% of them were foreign students. Of the "American" students that went overseas, almost every one of them (1) spoke a foreign language and/or (2) had the ability to "claim" another nationality for work permit purposes.

If you meet the criteria, working overseas is easy.

[Mustangs_Maroons]

The best from UT is better than the best from SMU, but I agree that the average from SMU is better than the average from UT.

I don't agree with that. The best from SMU can go against the best from UT and do. The difference is the best in UT have a broader network outside of TX to give them more opps. But it's still a very small % of their student body.

again unless you got into UT honors program not only are you not going to have better ops but you're also not going to on average get the same learning environment than at SMU.

[tristatecoog]

True. UT Honors puts you on par with Cox because you get priority registration and smaller classes. Due to Cox's size, neither of those are needed. Cox Scholars is probably a smaller group than McCombs Honors, and i know the Cox Scholars get a lot of cool benefits. I talked with a current Cox BBA at church today. He's one of three interning in IB in NYC this summer. Not sure how that ratio compared to UT. Do they have 10-15 in NY IB?