Calling OWEN-Vanderbilt Applicants(2015 Intake)Class of 2017

Hey, I am a current student going into the class of 2016. If anyone has any questions I wold love to answer them. Anything seriously. Class, admissions, essays, city, why I chose this school. Thanks and look forward to hearing from you.

Hi, It would be interesting to know why did you choose Owen over all other schools you've been accepted to. Also, how is Owen's focus on General Management & Strategy, something I want to take up.

Thanks !

Certainly. First, the school has a unique feel. The class is very intelligent and inclusive. The admissions team and the students here will do what it takes to get a person with the right fit to come to this school. It is very inclusive as compared to the other schools I visited and was accepted to. The school is on the rise and is one of the most prestigious and selective schools as a university across the board. The undergrad is ranked 17th and I am sure that will go up this year as the class and placements were better. Needless to say the Vanderbilt is more prestigious than other schools in the same ranking tier as us for MBAs. NYU, Texas, UNC, Indiana, Georgetown, Norte Dame and Carnegie Mellon are all good schools but do not carry the prestige that Vanderbilt does. This is on the rise too! The city is amazing as compared to other schools in the same tier. Ithaca is pretty but in the middle of nowhere. Chapel hill isn't too great, Durham is worse, South bend is in the middle of nowhere, Austin is ok, bloomington is in the middle of nowhere, DC is ok and NY is cool. The school is in a great part of town and is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. not to mention a huge tourist destination. Also there is the live music and soul of the city which is awesome. The placement is good at the school in multiple areas. We just replaced Harvard on Deutsche banks core school list. We also recently added Wells Fargo, Jefferies, Piper Jaffray, Deloitte Corp Fin (McColl Partners) and Houlihan Lokey, so again the school prestige is on the rise not only in the rankings but in the eyes of recruiters. Bill Bain is an alumni so is the founder of BCG and there is a renewed interest from those employers in the school. Goldman Sachs takes a few a year. The associate dean from Tuck has come to Vanderbilt and Associate Dean of admissions from Tuck followed him. They are definitely driving the rise in the school and you can tell with the last few classes and placements. But above all was the people here. Other schools came across as stuck up but here there is a sense of community and you don't find many people that seem entitled. Honestly it was my favorite school.

Wow, thanks for the detailed insight into your decision criteria, I am sure it would have been a tough choice. I have a real good vibe about Owen and am definitely applying in R1. Any suggestion for the application will be really helpful

Hi All, I am part of MBA class of 2016. I'll be happy to answer your ques during & after your application.

Hi I have a query.

Does OWEN accept GRE score??

I have a GRE score of 1400 and a GMAT score of 610.

Confused which one to apply with??

Your guidance will be much appreciated.

You can apply with GRE score too. I recommend you to retake GMAT. It is always good to have your GMAT score for your recruiters.
GRE is new for b schools and I don't know how they evaluate candidates using both GRE & GMAT.

When did you take GRE? I think GRE is graded on a scale of 130-170 for both verbal & quant. Is you score still valid?

Can you please tell me more about your background?

I am from india.
24 M
working in a top tech firm.(20 months experience as of today.)

I am working on a business tool, with finance as my module.
I took my GRE in 2012 ....so yes the score is still valid

my academics are good
plus my Extra circular is very good.
working with many NGOs. founder of
an NGO myself.

Hey prospective Class of 2017ers! I'm also a current student in the class of 2016 and would be happy to answer any questions as well.

A lot of great things going on at Vandy at the moment - excited to be here!

Owen is now among core schools for Amazon Ops recruiting.
We have alums, 2nd years (with offers) and interns at top consulting companies - Deloitte, Bain, BCG, North Highland to name a few.
Healthcare companies on campus - Cardinal, Cigna, Humana, DaVita, McKesson to name a few industry giants.
Tech - LinkedIn, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Cisco, Samsung, all these companies hire Owen students and there are alums all over.
Nashville is an upcoming startup hub, there is lot of entrepreneurial opportunities here especially in healthcare.
Corp Finance & IB are going very strong.
Marketing placements are also strong.

There are great things happening and lot of great things are planned. Dean Eric Johnson is fantastic and he is doing lot of things.
Owen is now on 25th position in US News rankings, an impressive 10 places jump from last year.
Avg GMAT of incoming class is going up. 40+ points increase in last 4-5 years. This year avg GMAT is 688 and avg work exp is 5.5 years.

Discover Weekend at Owen - 14-15 Nov
This is your opportunity to connect with admissions, current students, faculty & CMC. Visit Owen to know more and find out what do we have for you here.
This is a great way to explore Nashville too.
https://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/admissio ... events.cfm

Latest tuition fee chart -
https://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/admissio ... beyond.cfm

Owen CMC is very strong, it is very well connected with hundreds of companies and alums -
https://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/employers

Hi, I am in the process of writing the essays and I'm a little overwhelmed with the number of essays that I have to write.
On top of the application page, I found a section which provided a link to the application instructions to identify which essays are mandatory. However, the link just led to a page where it said to write the "required essays" not specifying which ones. So which are the mandatory and optional essays?

Here is the list of essays. Explanatory essays are optional.
I recommend you to connect with admission team and ask specific question. You can send email or call.

Mandatory Essays -
1) Explain your post-degree short-term and long-term career plans as specifically as possible. When combined with your studies at Owen, how will your background, experiences, interests and personal attributes enable you to pursue these goals successfully?
2) Vanderbilt looks for individuals who will make an impact. Discuss a time when you made an impact in your professional or personal life. How has this experience equipped you to contribute to the Vanderbilt community?

Explanatory Essays
1) You are strongly encouraged to provide an additional statement to clarify and explain any of the following: gaps of more than three months in full-time employment, lack of recommendation from your current or most recent supervisor, limited full-time work experience (ignore if you are a recent undergraduate), poor academic performance, weak test scores, academic misconduct, violations of the law, or anything else you think is important for the Admissions Committee to know about you that is not already addressed elsewhere in your application. Applicants reactivating a previous application submitted within the last two years should provide their additional statement here.
2) You may provide in the space below any additional information you would like for us to consider that would strengthen your application. (For MSF / JD applicants please use this space to upload your Statement of Purpose.)

Activities -
1) Professional Activities: Describe any professional, academic, and community activities or organizations with which you have been involved that are important to you (description, positions held, responsibilities/accomplishments, dates of involvement)
2) Personal Activities: Describe any personal or community activities or organizations with which you have been involved that are important to you (description, positions held, responsibilities/accomplishments, dates of involvement).
3) Cross-Cultural Experience: Describe any significant periods of time you have spent living, working, studying or traveling outside of your home country (location, purpose/description, starting and ending dates).

The Admissions Process Chat
Thursday, October 2, 2014 11:30 am - 12:30 PM CDT
https://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/admissio ... 664=112505

Hi mbanerd16,

You mentioned IB & Corp Fin. Could you please elaborate on which banks/groups/location ? I

Mises,

IB firms that have come to campus are Wells, Piper Jaffrey, Citi, Nomura, SunTrust, Key Bank, Deloitte Corp Fin (which is IB), Goldman, BAML, Houlihan Lokey, Citi-energy, Credit Suisse- Energy. We are also currently in NY meeting with UBS, BAML, Citi, Credit Suisse, Jefferies, Nomura and Goldman. Even more do interview days but I think you get the idea. Strong southern MM and the budge bracket banks take one or two a year too. Corp finance has a ton. Name a company you might want to work for and ill tell you. Too many to write.

Update " I am going to Wells Fargo for IB this summer" ask any questions you have about that. I had offers from Deloitte and Wells. I wanted to go back to Charlotte so stopped the search after I got Wells. It was my #1.

I would be mostly interested in Houston IB.

[quote="thisisatestonlyatest"]Mises,

IB firms that have come to campus are Wells, Piper Jaffrey, Citi, Nomura, SunTrust, Key Bank, Deloitte Corp Fin (which is IB) and Stephens is coming. We are also currently in NY meeting with UBS, BAML, Citi, Credit Suisse, Jefferies, Nomura and Goldman. Even more do interview days but I think you get the idea. Strong southern MM and the budge bracket banks take one or two a year too. Corp finance has a ton. Name a company you might want to work for and ill tell you. Too many to write.

[quote="mises"]Hi mbanerd16,

You mentioned IB & Corp Fin. Could you please elaborate on which banks/groups/location ? I

Hi thisisatestonlyatest,

I'm looking for an MBA in Operations + Analytics dual focus - hopefully with a couple of pertinent courses from Strategy too. Got about 8 years work experience (M.E./SE Asia, in the Energy & Infrastructure Sector) in this broad area and don't want to 180 degrees-switch careers.
I planned to apply to Owen initially but backed out off the first round because my search led me to believe Operations, and especially Analytics, was not a strong area in Owen. Also the recruitment numbers didn't show detailed breakdown - i.e. analytical consulting, general strategy consulting, finance strategy, ops & SCM etc. As an insider, do you have some information on this? Thanks.