Harness the analytical skills and innovative thinking of our MBA talent pool through our 8–10-week micro-consulting projects. Our teams of motivated students bring varied classroom knowledge and professional experience to address your specific business needs – whether you’re a startup, established corporation, non-profit, government agency, or any organization with a well-defined business challenge. We welcome partners of all sizes and sectors who can present meaningful projects for our students to tackle.
Next Steps to Engage with McCombs+ Projects
Join our Community
Register to receive more information about sponsoring a project and submitting proposals
Explore Opportunities at an Information Session
Join the McCombs+ Experiential Learning team for a virtual introduction to our program. Learn about project scope, timeline expectations, and how to write a strong project proposal. Register
Submit Your Project Proposal
Share your business challengewith us. Our projects work with all five MBA programs (Full-Time, Evening, Executive, Dallas, or Houston), giving you access to talent that matches your needs.
Prepare for Team Matching
As the Project Partner, you’ll have final say in the team you’d like to work with. Once applications for students close, our team will be in touch with you regarding next steps for selecting your project team. Please note that not all projects are matched with teams.
Launch Your Project
Selected Project Partners will participate in a comprehensive virtual orientation, covering collaboration best practices, project timelines, and communication protocols to ensure a productive 8-week engagement.
What is a McCombs+ Project Partner?
A +Project Partner is the sponsoring organization who submits a +Project Proposal and is interested in working with our MBA student consultants to solve their business issue.
In order to establish a successful project experience, we ask that every +Project Partner agree to assign a representative from their organization who will be responsible for coordinating the project’s materials, communication with the team, and any opportunities that allow for the student team to get to know the organization better.
Consider attending one of our info sessionsto learn more about McCombs+ Projects process, writing a strong +Project proposal, and best practices for success.
What level of time commitment is expected from partner organizations?
Our best practices suggest that partner organizations designate a lead +Project Partner to complete the +Project Proposal, gather any data associated with the project, and guide the student consulting team through the 8 week project cycle. A +Project Partner can approximate one to two hours per week during the project cycle.
What types of projects work best in this format?
Projects that involve a business issue that needs recommendations. Strong +Projects include any of the following: competitive analysis, financial analysis or modeling, data analysis, Market expansion recommendations, go-to-market strategy.
What is the difference between a consulting project and an internship?
This is an important distinction! A consulting project is a business issue that is finite and achievable yet requires recommendations. These recommendations are a result of analysis from data and research provided by the organization and are strategic in nature.
An internship is task based employment where work is done for immediate feedback and is short term. Internship work is often used for to provide support for current workload and is often not strategic in nature.
How much does this cost?
McCombs+ Projects are free to participate. In order to participate, an organization will need to identify a representative willing to work with a project team, agree and understand the +Project program objectives and complete the McCombs+ Project Proposal.
How are intellectual property and confidentiality handled?
+Project Partners are welcome to provide NDAs to their student teams, which will ensure protection of sensitive data. McCombs+ Projects are co-curricular, which means that while students apply what they are learning in the classroom, the project is not for class credit and therefore the final project, when covered under an NDA, will stay within the team and their sponsoring company. For more information on NDAs, reach out to the McCombs+ Projects team.
What do I need to do to prepare to sponsor a project?
Identify a current business issue that is facing your organization and is finite and achievable, which also requires recommendations. You’ll want to also identify the scope of work and the deliverables your team will be expected to complete with the final recommendations. All of this information is required to submit a +Project Proposal.
Your business issue should be supported with data and research your organization has available for the team to analyze. You’ll want to gather this information well before you meet with your project team. If your +Project Proposal does not have substantive data and research, you may want to rethink the business issue you plan to submit.
Consider attending a McCombs+ Project Info Session! This is a great way to learn more about McCombs+ Project, how to write a strong +Project proposal, and best practices for successful +Projects.
Will my project be chosen?
McCombs+ Projects is a very competitive program for our +Project Partners. More +Projects are submitted than teams available. Students choose to apply to 6 projects and are matched based on interest from both the student and +Project Partner to work together. While it’s hard to know what students’ preferences might be any given +Project cycle, well written +Project Proposals documenting a strong business issue with supporting data and research often do quite well.
Attending a McCombs+ Project Info Session is the best way to learn how to write a strong +Project Proposal as well as how +Projects are chosen.
Is there a way to find out more information?
Yes! The best way to receive more information is to attend an info session. This will ensure you are always in the known about the next +Project cycle and opportunities.
This is a great way to learn more about the +Projects program and to understand how to write a strong +Project Proposal.
Lastly, you are more than welcome to reach out to the McCombs+ Projects team at plusprojects@mccombs.utexas.edu and set up a call to discuss your specific situation.