Here is summary of recent Owen Adom chat. Special thanks to
for taking time to participate in the chat and answering applicants' questions.
Hi Bailey, Could you please talk about any concentrations which could help a student progress into an IT Strategy Consultant role?Owen_Bailey: The great thing about our curriculum is that you can customize it to work for you. We have concentrations, specializations and emphases. Everyone has to have a concentration and after that, you can really maximize your potential by adding others. For a role in strategy consulting, you would likely want to concentrate in strategy and specialize in consulting. Other concentrations include Health Care, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Human and Organizational Performance, and Operations.
Hi bailey and AJ Could you please let me know how a student from mechanical engineering background make use of whatever he/she has learned into a MBA Course, And which course is ideally suited for that person.Owen_AJ: Engineering has a lot of good aspects that translate to an MBA. I would say the quantitative aspects of engineering work well in roles like business analysis, finance, marketing analysis, consulting.
Hi Bailey & AJ, thank you both for doing this. When putting together applications, what is the best way to "make up" for a relatively poor element?Owen_Bailey: When you're looking at the class profile the best way to offset something that you're less comfortable with is to focus on the things you can control and work at being above the average student in something else. You can also use your interview and essays to your advantage; The interview and essays are one of the opportunities you have to set yourself apart and to strengthen your application.
I am highly interested in the Healthcare concentration, which is actually why Owen is one of my top choices. I am curious if there are select numbers you allow into that concentration? Also, if waiting to submit until the second round could ultimately hurt my chances.Owen_Bailey: We are a small program so if you are admitted and want Health Care you can concentrate in Health Care.
The pool gets more and more competitive as the year goes on, but the 2nd round is usually the largest round. At that point we will still have scholarship money available so waiting until that round will not hinder your chances.
AJ, can you tell us what motivated you to choose Owen over other schools?Owen_AJ: I have posted a long explanation of this somewhere one Gmatclub. If you search why Owen I think it comes up. But in short it falls into a few buckets. 1. The people. This place has an amazing culture. I was accepted to other schools such as Tepper, Duke, Kenan Flagler, Cornell. This place by far had the best culture.
The school as a whole has a really strong reputation in the U.S. The university is ranked 15 in the US and when you are recruiting you see that the reputation precedes itself. The city is amazing. It’s growing incredibly fast and there are a ton of things to do plus the weather is great
Any cutoff for TOEFL?Owen_Bailey: The average TOEFL in our program is a 107. Typically, our admitted students have above a 100.
Is there scope of Graduate/Teaching Assistantship?Owen_Bailey: We are a private institution so we do not offer Graduate Assistantships. We do give out a fair amount of scholarship (60% of our students receive some sort of scholarship). All scholarships are merit-based and evaluated at the same time we evaluate admission. We also have student worker roles on campus that pay an hourly rate.
What is the standard interview protocol for Owen? Specifically dealing with out of state students.Owen_AJ: For out of state students we review the admissions packets then schedule interviews after approval. There are Skype interviews available if necessary although we recommend coming to Vanderbilt to experience the culture but understand if that is not possible.
On forum applicants are asking about deadlines for sending online recommendations. Are they displayed anywhere on the site?Owen_Bailey: For those asking about online recommendations - The deadlines for admission are posted on our website. We understand your recommenders are busy so the closer to the deadline they can get their recommendation in, the better. We will not make a decision on your application until the application is complete.
What is scope and involvement from outside companies for investment banking or finance?Owen_AJ: We have a large number of banks that recruit here for IB. DB, Goldman, Jefferies, Citi, Credit Suisse, Wells Fargo, Houlihan Lokey, Piper Jaffray, Deloitte, Black Arch, Sun Trust, Key Bank and others. For corporate finance the companies are pretty broad.
I did my undergrad here in USA, do I need to take the TOEFL again?Owen_Bailey: There are a couple of cases where we would waive the TOEFL:
- 1. I have earned an undergraduate degree in a country where the official language is English (not just an English-speaking institution or just a country where English is spoken.)
- 2. I have lived and worked, for the past two or more years, in a country where the official language is English (not just a country where English is spoken).
- 3. I have scored in the 90th percentile or higher on the verbal component of the GMAT or GRE.
How competitive or collaborative have you found your fellow students during your time at Owen? Also How often do you interact with professors outside classroom? How easy it is to do this?Owen_AJ: The students here are incredibly collaborative. I would say this is one of the strongest part of Owen. I know all of my classmates and honestly like them all. Being able to integrate into the culture is a big part of what I think admissions looks at.
I interact a lot with the professors. I had lunch with the past chief economist at the Federal Trade Commission and go ride bikes with him on the weekend. The professors are extremely open to have a relationship outside of the class with students. We have a small classes and that helps facilitate this.
Can you shed any light on those who would be using the MBA to change industries and what sort of things to highlight in order to stand out for admissionOwen_Bailey: Great question! We have a fair number of students who are coming into the program from non-traditional backgrounds. The number one way to stand out in the admissions process is to craft your story. Tell us about your experience, why the MBA, why you want to do that what you want to do and how your experience will help in that transition.
Can optional essay be used to justify low GPA?Owen_Bailey: I usually tell candidates to write the optional essay if you would feel more comfortable with your application/you feel like it is relevant for the Admissions Committee to know.
Bailey and AJ: Can you shed some light on employment process. What support do students get from career services team during internship/employment? Which companies, and from which sector, generally recruit at Owen?Owen_Bailey: Here is the link to our Class of 2015 Employment Report:
https://issuu.com/vanderbiltowen/docs/ow ... 9/10584070. It will have a list of companies that have hired, geographic regions, etc. My favorite number in the report is that one that says 78% of our students get their jobs from school-facilitated activities. Every student has a personal career coach based on your functional area and there is a lot of support from our Career Management Center because of our size.
Owen_AJ: The CMC here is amazing. I would say it is one of the strongest parts of Owen. I think it goes back to the class size. Since it is small they really get to know you and are able to invest time in you. They also work hard to keep the communication open with Alumni so when a student reaches out it is a warm call not a cold call. There are also a ton of companies that come here. Since I did investment banking I know that recruiting process the best. In IB we had more offers and companies come to campus than we had students trying to get jobs in IB.
Chat TranscriptAttachment:
06 Nov 2015, 02:17
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