With its focus on diversity and ethical leadership, McCombs is at the top of the list for an increasing number of applicants who seek to pursue (or continue pursuing) a high-impact, global career.
Despite this fact, many applicants dedicate countless hours to writing essays and then rush through the video essay component.
This is a huge mistake.
In addition to giving the admissions committee the chance to “put a face with a name,” the video essay is an essential part of the McCombs application, as it allows committee members to determine if your communication style and values are a good fit with the McCombs community.
In fact, in our experience helping our McCombs applicants secure a place at the school, we have noticed that the video essay can be as influential in an applicant’s admissions decision as the admissions interview.
That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to help you understand how the McCombs video essay works and have shared a list of McCombs video essay questions to ensure you put your best foot forward!
Why does McCombs require a video essay?
The video essay gives the admissions committee at McCombs the chance to see how you think on the spot. In my opinion, video essays are also becoming more popular with the rise in popularity of AI. This type of exercise really tests your communication and critical thinking skills and gives McCombs one more chance to get to know you better.
With that in mind, it’s extremely important to ensure that you fully understand this application component.
How does the McCombs video essay work?
The way the video essay works is very simple.
After completing a system test to ensure your video and microphone are working, you will get four video essay questions in written format on the screen. After receiving the question, you will have 30 seconds to think and then 1 minute to answer. There are no opportunities to redo the questions, and you only get one chance to provide your answer.
The format
If you’ve taken the TOEFL exam, you’ve already practiced for the type of format you can expect in the McCombs video essay!
After completing the test and “starting” the session, the question will appear in written format on the screen and your 30 seconds of thinking time will automatically start.
After the preparation time runs out, the clock to answer (60 seconds!) will start, and you will need to give your answer during this period of time. Remember: you cannot redo the question.
After you answer the question, the system will upload your answer to the server (depending on your connection this can take a while) and will return you to the main application form.
You cannot “reload” the page while the answer is uploading to attempt to get a second try to answer.
Technical requirements
Given past applicants’ issues with iPad and mobile versions of the application, we strongly suggest you record your answer on a computer.
If you do end up experiencing technical issues, access the support page here.
Deadlines
Once you submit your application and pay the application fee, you will receive an email with a link to complete the video essay. You will have 7 days to complete the assessment after receiving this email.
Answer time limit McCombss
You will have 30 seconds to think and 60 seconds to answer the question. Remember: you cannot redo the question.
Which types of questions are asked?
McCombs asks four randomly generated questions. The questions will be similar to a behavioral interview-type question.
The questions may be focused on your characteristics, or they may allow you to share a professional example that highlights your personality traits.
The best advice for this assignment is to think about what it’s asking you and what you can show about yourself, your achievements, and your values.
When answering, try to draw on examples. Furthermore, make sure to show your human side and demonstrate that you genuinely care for others and want teams you join to succeed. It can be easy to answer in a very conversational way, but doing so can often lead to an answer without a point, so make sure you use your planning time to structure the key elements of your answer.
Regardless, be careful about what you choose to show here. Keep in mind that McCombs highly values adaptability/resilience, empathy/inclusivity and ambition, so don’t miss an opportunity to reinforce your personal brand and your fit with the school’s values.
Here is a list of the types of questions you can expect (we suggest preparing your answers to these questions as part of your preparation).
- Introduce yourself to your future classmates.
- What are your short-term and long-term goals?
- What is your plan B in case your goals don’t work out?
- What achievement are you most proud of and why?
- Tell us about a time a classmate or colleague wasn’t contributing to a group project. What did you do?
- Describe a time when you faced a significant amount of conflict in a job, school or internship.
- Tell us about a time you found out you couldn’t do something alone. What was it? When did you realize that you couldn’t do it alone? What did you learn?
- Tell us about a time you took a risk. What did you learn?
- Tell us about a time you experienced a professional failure. What did you learn from it?
- Tell us about an organization or activity to which you have devoted a significant amount of time. Why was it meaningful to you?
- What will your classmates be most surprised to learn about you?
- What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received that you also shared with other people? / What is the most important feedback you’ve ever received?
- Tell us about a time you worked with diversity
- in the workplace. Tell us about a time you contributed to improving a process in your organization.
- Tell us about a time when you faced a conflict on a team that affected its productivity. How did you face it?
- Tell us about a positive impact that you made. Why was it important to you?
- Whose leadership style do you admire and why?
- Tell us about a time you contributed to your company or community.
- Tell us about a time you created a good environment in your personal or professional life.
- What’s the biggest misperception co-workers might have about you?
- Tell us about a time when you had to reshape a strategy due to a sudden change in the scenario.
- Tell us about a relationship you leveraged to reach your goals and how you did it.
- Tell us about a time when you had to deliver a tough task at the last minute.
- Tell us about a time when you solved a problem in a creative way.
- Tell us about a time when you had to give a colleague feedback.
The difference between a good and great video essay
Given the importance of the video essay in your McCombs application, it’s crucial to make sure you don’t just have a good video essay, but that you have a great video essay.
Now that you’ve learned how the video essay will work, we’ve gathered our top 5 tips here to ensure your video essay performance brings you one step closer to reaching your goal of attending McCombs.
Make sure you get into UT McCombs
You have stressed about every aspect of your McCombs application, and now you are ready to record your video essay! With the right preparation, this can be your chance to shine and get a highly-coveted spot at McCombs.
However, maybe you don’t know where to start in preparing, or maybe you ramble on and lose your focus while answering. Maybe you’ve even downloaded the sample questions and written out your answers. The problem is, when you try to apply these templates to your own story, it doesn’t quite work.
Our video essay prep focuses on helping you determine how to present yourself to McCombs while using appropriate, impact-driven language without being artificial, or worse, robotic.
That’s why 98.9% of our clients pass into at least one of their top-choice business schools.
Want to put the Ellin Lolis advantage to work for you? Schedule your preparation session with our team of interview experts today!
Real MBA Essays That Got People In
School-specific sample essays that got our clients accepted
