Calling all Owen(Vanderbilt) Applicants: (2016 Intake) Class of 2018!!

Hi kheown,

I'm glad to see you're interested!

There are a few reasons I chose Owen.

1. Career Center. Read McNamara and the CMC team here at Owen are outstanding. This was one of the most important pieces for me. Vandy has had excellent on-campus recruiting, it has had enormous success placing people in internships, and the job rate is among the highest in the country. Owen also does not mess with the job numbers like some other schools do. You can see the complete report/PDF for each of the last several years.

Employment report: https://www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/employer ... report.cfm

Poets and Quants article about employment report: https://poetsandquants.com/2014/11/05/op ... mba-stats/

Economist ranking of Owen's Career Management Center (9th in the world!!): https://www.economist.com/whichmba/mba-r ... er-service

2. Financial Aid. Owen has been known to be generous with its financial aid packages for qualified students. I felt I got a very competitive offer. You can see from the following article how it compares to other schools. https://poetsandquants.com/2014/11/20/mb ... schools/2/

3. Size. Owen is not a large program. I have found the small size to be a big advantage for me. Faculty are willing to work with students one-on-one on academic projects and professional endeavors. It is easy to get to know everyone in the class. People are very helpful and receptive.

4. Vanderbilt. Owen is a Top 30 MBA program. Vanderbilt is a Top 15 National University. The school is very highly regarded in the marketplace. Also, I've found the student body has all of the brains of the 'elite' East Coast schools...but it also has all of the down-to-earth niceness of the South and Midwest. It is a very happy atmosphere. It's a wonderful culture.

5. Nashville. It is a fun place to be. It is wayyyyy cheaper than Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. I don't think people should overlook how important it is to decide *where* they will be for two years getting their MBA. This is a one-time event in your life. Find somewhere where you'll enjoy yourself. Nashville is certainly that kind of place for me.



Last year I lived walking distance from campus. I lived with another first-year MBA student and we got a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment for $1,580/month. We each paid $790. After utilities and cable/internet, that came out to about $900/month. It was a very nice complex.

This year I live driving distance from campus (though also on a main bus route that is a straight shot to Vandy if you don't want a car) and I am living with a recent Vandy grad in a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for $1040. We each pay $520 and after utilities and internet the total is about $600/month.

I made the move strictly for financial reasons. I loved my set-up last year. BTW, if you live walking distance from campus, you also live walking distance from downtown. So that is a big deal for some people.



Typical outdoor activities that I know of are hiking/biking on the Natchez Trace https://www.nps.gov/natr/index.htm, road trips to Atlanta/Memphis/Louisville/Bourbon Trail/New Orleans/Chicago/etc, and I've seen students go rafting and many climb walls in Nashville.

Any Vandy undergraduate or graduate student can join the outdoor adventure club/class. https://studentorgs.vanderbilt.edu/wilskills/ To be perfectly honest though, I don't know anyone who has and I doubt an MBA student would find the time to do it. (Especially in their first year.) There are a variety of other outdoor activities available in Middle Tennessee. I'm just not the best person to ask. //sorry

Let us know if you have any other questions!

~Anchor Down