This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Xavier Sztejnberg, a finance professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas Austin, who previously worked in M&A. He founded the Wall Street for McCombs Leadership Program in 2016. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
When I started Wall Street for McCombs a decade ago, we sent fewer than 10 UT students to New York for investment banking. UT Austin was a powerhouse in Houston, but we realized we needed a major presence in New York to become a powerhouse school in finance generally. For the summer of 2027, we’ve helped around 150 students land internships at more than 50 banks, and we’ve focused on growing our market share at the very top firms.
There’s a very rigorous admissions process for my program now that interest has swelled. Students apply during their sophomore year, and we usually get almost 500 applications for only 75 spots. Applicants draft resumes, write essays, and go through two rounds of behavioral and technical interviews, the first with student leaders in the group and the second with me.
The training program
The students who do get in focus on three things: formal training, one-on-one coaching, and mentorship from the alumni board. I view Wall Street for McCombs as a leadership program, not an internship training club. When we identify students, we look for the ones who will become successful alumni and give back to UT.
Interviews for junior summer internships are happening earlier and earlier, starting now in November of sophomore year. The timeline can be penalizing for later bloomers, but we’ve just had to adapt to the reality of the marketplace and have shifted our admissions timeline from October to September. The freshman-year investment banking clubs are helpful, since they train students who eventually enter my program and sit for early interviews.
Landing the internship is only half the battle — the other half is getting the return offer, so we spend a lot of time coaching kids to succeed at their summer jobs. We really focus on the fundamentals and technical skills, which are still important on the job, even with AI. They still have to understand the concepts of building a model, since they can’t sit in a board meeting and open ChatGPT.
We run a banking simulation during the course, where students create a pitchbook for a real corporate client, like Nike or Pepsi. The project trains them to work in a team and with a client, and getting practice with the grunt work helps them hit the ground running at their summer internships. The winning teams present to the client, usually to the company’s CFO.
The alumni base is incredibly engaged, and they make it a mission to hire more Longhorns. Alumni take ownership of a student every year, coaching them through the process, and ultimately try to grow the UT presence at their firms.
Unfortunately, it’s a changing world, and a lot of schools are mimicking our model, so we’ve had to step up our game to make sure UT students still excel. The secret sauce is in the execution and finesse.
Succeeding when there
We have a nearly 100% return-offer rate, and placement is a big part of why. We’ve built strong relationships with the firms, and I know where students will thrive. Investment banks are like people, with different personalities and needs. It’s about optimizing for cultural fit.
Beyond being well-prepared, UT students are uniquely humble. They’re very collaborative, and the banks love that — I’ve even seen groups of students preparing for the same interview together.
My program has become a positive feedback loop: the more students we place in New York, the more people want to come to UT, which makes the student body even stronger and helps us place more people.
