Tyler O’Neil
Texas A&M University, Mays Business School
“An upbeat leader and people person with occasional sad spells due to Aggie Football.”
Fun fact about yourself: I enjoy disc golf and once drove over an hour to watch a tournament in near-freezing temperatures with 30 mph gusts.
Hometown: McKinney, TX
High School: Frisco Independence High School
Major: Business Honors & Supply Chain Management
Minor: N/A
Favorite Business Course: BUSN 101. I loved it so much, I took it 3 times! (I was a peer mentor for 2 years).
In all seriousness, while I know there are other business courses that are more challenging and provide more in-depth learning, BUSN 101 is my favorite because it fulfills its mission extremely well: It provides a community for students who have just entered college and teaches them the basic aspects of business while they are learning about themselves as people. In my case, BUSN 101 was instrumental in jump-starting both my professional and collegiate career. In terms of my collegiate career, I became close with my peer leaders and looked to them for early college advice. They set me on a great path and helped me find a passion for mentorship, in which I later looked to do the same for my students as a BUSN 101 peer leader. In professional terms, I came into college not knowing what I wanted to major in, but BUSN 101 sparked a passion in supply chain for me. This led to my first internship in operations the summer after my freshman year and helped me ultimately find my passion for consulting. Reflecting on my college experience, the platform that BUSN 101 gave me to impact the lives of others, as well as my own, is something I will never take for granted and is a huge part of my story over these past four years.
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:
Leadership:
Co-Director AVID – AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) is a national program that enables grade schools to encourage college and career readiness. Our Business Honors AVID program provides customized content to classrooms of local Bryan/College Station grade schools through the mentorship of current Business Honors students.
Co-Director Horizons Consulting Guild– The Horizons Consulting Guild connects students to top consulting opportunities and provides extensive resources to help them accomplish their career goals.
Freshman Business Initiative (FBI) Peer Leader – FBI works directly with BUSN 101 by allowing upperclassmen students to lead a section of BUSN 101. These peer leaders present a combination of standardized and customized content regarding personal and professional development.
Business Honors:
Business Honors Recruiting Committee (BHRC)
Business Honors Spring Admit Interviewer
Business Honors Invitational – Case Study Co-host
Business Honors Internship Panel for Underclassmen – 3-time panelist
Additional Roles:
Aggie Supply Chain Professionals (ASCP)
Freshmen Organizing and Running Mixed Events (FORME)
Awards:
McKinsey Case Competition – 1st Place
CollegeBoard National Recognition Scholar
Landen Family Scholarship
Where have you interned during your college career?
Accenture – 2024 Summer Analyst – Strategy & Consulting Division – Austin, TX
Crowe – 2023 Consulting Intern – NetSuite Cloud Solutions Division – Chicago, IL
GEODIS – 2022 Operations Intern – Samsung Ecommerce Account – Coppell, TX
Where will you be working after graduation? McKinsey & Company – Business Analyst – Dallas, TX
Who is your favorite business professor? My favorite business professor is my SCMT 390 professor: Todd Stech. Professor Stech stood out to me due to his industry knowledge, personable character, and motivating teaching style.
In terms of industry knowledge, I really enjoyed learning about the connections between our course content and his experience in the real world. He would often give us “lessons learned”, which were short stories that brought powerful advice to guide us in our personal decision making.
In terms of his personable character, I always appreciated how he started every single class by asking us what was going on in our lives. Even though there were times when he got no responses, he always made an effort to get to know us and be there for us – personally or professionally. On top of this, he even welcomed us into his own life by doing things such as baking us bread or bringing us an international game to play (to help us determine presentation order of course).
In terms of his motivating teaching style, it was evident from the beginning that Professor Stech was going to challenge us to think critically. Not only did this support an actual team framework we learned in class, but he constantly challenged us to iterate as a team and rethink our decisions. Often in group work, it can be easy to simply take the first idea mentioned and run with it. However, professor Stech encouraged us to challenge ourselves and dive deep, ultimately helping our team produce a much stronger solution.
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? The importance of people. Although businesses drive large monetary value and may appear to be their own entity, it is the people behind the dollar signs who truly create large-scale impact. Especially in the context of studying digital transformations, you cannot simply implement new information technology and expect it to be successful. It is paramount to consider involvement, relationships, and interests between different stakeholders to drive a successful transformation. Change is hard, and it is important to have a plan that is people-centered in order to deliver successful execution, especially as the end users will likely be your employees or customers.
What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Find something you are passionate about and pursue it to the fullest. There is not one single career that all business students should try to mold themselves into doing. There are so many opportunities in business, and it is up to you to seek out your interests and pursue them. A great way to do this is to seek mentorship from others who have started down their career path and ask for actionable advice. It is equally important to give back to others after you find yourself in a similar position.
Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? One thing I would do differently is to make a larger effort to get to know more people. Coming into Mays as a spring admit to Business Honors, I knew it would be difficult to merge into the larger group of 90 current Business Honors students (as a group of 8 spring admits). I felt a tendency to gravitate toward the few that I knew rather than try to assimilate into the larger group. While I am fortunate to have developed many relationships with the larger group of BH students, I still think there was an opportunity for me to pursue it more fully and make a strong attempt to get to know everyone – especially as I reflect on the powerful influence that mentorship from others has had on my life.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What is one insight you gained from using AI? One way AI has been integrated into my course programming is through the addition of the “Blockchain & AI” Supply Chain elective. This class dove into the different aspects of AI and was very helpful in my understanding of how AI is being leveraged today.
One insight I have gained from using AI is the importance of people amid its rise. While it may seem like AI is going to take away jobs, it’s truly opening the door for more strategy-focused roles that require strong critical thinking. These skills are paramount to developing as a professional and AI will be a large contributor to growing them.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? My most proud achievement is the full circle moment of my college career: being selected as a Business Honors Spring Admit Interviewer.
Entering the back half of my high school career, I was dead set on attending Texas A&M, more specifically, the Business Honors Program. I poured as much time as possible into readying my application and researching the program so that when I received the rejection letter, it was extremely difficult for me to handle the news.
Upon discovering the spring admit process, I was inspired to apply again, but knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it myself – I didn’t understand where I went wrong. Through the generous guidance of a former spring admit, I learned that I needed to discover who I am and find what makes me unique. By doing so, I pushed myself to discover my passion in supply chain and this led me to quickly get involved within Mays, as well as accept an internship. I was fortunate to be selected as one of eight spring admits and felt very accomplished. This, however, was just the start of my journey.
The mentorship I received from the former spring admit, as well as my BUSN 101 Peer leaders, inspired me to dedicate my college career to pursuing peer mentorship. Specifically, I have leveraged my experiences with FBI, Horizons, AVID, BHRC, and BH internship panels/invitationals to make an impact on others around me. In addition to this, I have had the opportunity to support 10+ students one-on-one regarding personal and professional advice. In order to summarize my experience as a mentor and as a mentee, I am currently developing a Business Honors capstone project in which I highlight the power of peer mentorship and share insights to maximize it.
Bringing this back to the beginning: through these experiences and a growing relationship with the Business Honor Leadership team, I was ultimately offered an opportunity to serve as a spring admit interviewer. I will never forget the opening line of the email notifying me. It read, “You are receiving this email because we trust and respect you.” This was truly a full circle moment for me, as my journey through this process led me to find what makes me unique after an early rejection, find my passion for mentorship (as a mentor and a mentee), and ultimately display this while investing in the Business Honors community. As a result of these experiences, I am privileged to get a seat at the other side of the table – the table that I worked so hard to even get the chance to sit at.
Which classmate do you most admire? The classmate that I most admire is Will Craft. I admire Will not only for his intelligence and work ethic, but also for who he is as a person.
Will and I chose to mentor each other over the case preparation process for consulting interviews. This process is very intensive and involves many hours of prep time, often the heaviest during the summer – in which we both worked internships. We would come home from work to practice cases and he would provide me with incredible guidance that encouraged me to think through things differently, challenging me to reach my full potential. I am extremely grateful for this, but who he is as a person is truly what makes me admire him the most.
The interview process can last months, and yet he always knew what was happening in my life. Through the early rejections, he was always there to comfort me and encourage me while helping me learn from my mistakes. He always made a note of when I had an interview and would text me or call me to provide some last-minute encouragement. Even in his extremely busy daily life, he kept me accountable and was always there for me. We both ultimately landed our dream jobs, and he is someone I will always admire as he was there for me in the highs and lows.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? Claire Raabe is the person I want to thank the most for my success. When I am on the phone with prospective students as a part of my role with BHRC, I always emphasize the strength of the advisor/staff component of Business Honors. Claire was initially my advisor before earning an incredibly deserving promotion to program director. Yet, the promotion and increased responsibility never affected our relationship. She was there for me through good and bad times and always helped me think through tough decisions while making sure I focused on the thoughts and feelings of others. She connected me to others where I had strong interests and celebrated with me when I achieved large milestones. I would not be where I am today without her support and encouragement, and I am very grateful that she is a large part of my journey.
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?
1. My goal is to obtain an MBA. Not only do I believe an MBA program offers a great opportunity to expand my worldview and strengthen my business acumen, but I am especially excited about the opportunity to learn alongside some of the most driven individuals.
2. I hope to found or work for a startup in the future. I think there are many factors that make a startup unique – such as the ability to craft a specific proposition to drive value to others, all while having an increased responsibility to make that happen on a smaller team. This increased accountability is something I look forward to engaging in at some point in my career and I hope to leverage my consulting (and hopefully MBA) experience to do so.
What made Tyler such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025?
“From the moment I met Tyler, I was struck by the unique combination of humility and confidence he embodies. Tyler has always had a sure direction and vision for the way ahead and has never faltered from that vision. He has been determined, focused, and disciplined in pursuit of his goals. However, what makes Tyler special, is the way he prioritizes relationships, mentorship, and friendship along the way. While chasing excellence, Tyler never saw anyone or anything as a threat to his success. Instead, he goes out of the way to uplift others and offer help and support to assist others in becoming the best version of themselves. When I need someone who represents a culture of care, collaboration, excellence, and humility, Tyler is one of the first students who comes to mind. He has my highest recommendation for this recognition.”
Claire Raabe | Director, Business Honors
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