The Owen School MBA Program is offered by the graduate business school of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1969, the school has been accredited by the Association of Advance Collegiate School of Business (AACSB). The Owen School MBA Program has been ranked #45 by the Financial Times in its Global MBA Ranking 2020. The school has produced several notable alumni. Some of the renowned alumni of the school are Anu Aiyengar (Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at JPMorgan Chase & Company), Megan Barry (Former Mayor, Nashville), David Farr (CEO, Emerson Electrics), Adena Friedman (CEO, American Stock Exchange NASDAQ), Bruce Heyman (Former VP, Goldman Sachs), & Doug Parker (CEO, American Airlines Group). For the batch of 2021, 147 students from 25 countries enrolled for the Owen School MBA Program. The average age of the class is 28 years. In this article, we shall let you know all the information you need to know before applying for the Owen School MBA Program.
Curriculum
The program structure for the Owen School MBA Program is based on a modular system and requires a minimum of 62 credit hours. There are four modules per year. You’ll be required to take 11 core courses. The majority of the core is taken during the first two MOD. Some of the core subjects include Managerial Finance, Managerial Accounting, Managerial Economics, Operations Management, Financial Accounting, Strategic Management, Marketing Management, etc. The school gives you the flexibility to shape your curriculum to meet your needs and career goals. You can start taking electives as early as from the third module of the first year.
During the second year, you will be required to take a mandatory ethics class, and then you can customize your program with electives. Students are free to take a wide variety of elective courses that best match their career goals. Some of the elective subjects offered by the school include Accounting Information System, Risk Management, Negotiations, Consumer Behavior, Pricing Strategies, Business Forecasting, etc. In addition to the core & electives, each student is required to complete at least one concentration, which consists of 12 credit hours in a single discipline.
The school offers several career-focused concentrations in Accounting, Finance, General Management, Healthcare, Marketing, Strategy, etc. The summer internship is yet another major highlight of the MBA program. Last year, 100% of the students took a summer internship in various companies in the United States. Out of the 100%, a record 50% of the students came back with a full-time job offer.
The curriculum also focuses strongly on global experience. Students get an opportunity to spend a semester in an overseas business school. Students take this program during the fall or spring semester of the second year. Some of Owen’s partner institutions for the exchange program include HKUST Hong Kong, NUS Singapore, Melbourne Business School, IPADE Business School, Fudan University School of Management, & Wits Business School.
Eligibility
The school looks for students who are inquisitive, self-aware, adaptable, & driven.
Academic Requirement:
The school accepts a 4-year US Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent.
A three-year bachelor’s degree from India will be accepted when accompanied by a WES evaluation certifying that the degree is equivalent to a four year US Bachelor’s degree.
Professional Requirement:
Students are required to have a minimum of two years of full-time work experience to be eligible to apply for the Owen School MBA Program. The average work experience of the class is generally 5-6 years.
Standardized Tests:
A valid GMAT or GRE score is a must requirement to apply for the MBA program. The school does not give preference to either of them. There is no minimum score requirement mentioned on the school’s website. However, a competitive score will give you an edge over others. Moreover, international students are also required to submit English proficiency tests like TOEFL or IELTS. The minimum score requirement for TOEFL & IELTS is 100 and 7.0, respectively.
This requirement can be waived if you have scored 90% or higher in the verbal section of GMAT/GRE. Additionally, if you have earned an undergraduate degree from a country where English is the official language, or have lived/worked in an English speaking country for the past two or more years, you will not be required to submit this test score.
Course Fee
The one-year tuition fees for the Owen School MBA Program for 2020-21 are $60,750. There is also a maintenance fee & student service fee of $1,250 and $542, respectively. Other than this, your books & supplies will cost you $500 and a health insurance cover of $3,655. Additionally, the estimated living expenses for a single student for one year come at $24,290. It includes rent & utilities ($12,160), meals ($5,976), transportation ($1,484), & personal expenses ($5,670).
Scholarships
The school offers several merit-based scholarships to exceptional students. The scholarship committee looks for your career potential, demonstrated leadership, interpersonal skills, & personal achievements. The scholarship amount ranges from $5,000 to full tuition fees. All the applicants are considered for the scholarship awards.
Some of the scholarship options provided by the school are as follows:
Dean’s Scholarship:
It is the flagship scholarship program of the school. The Dean scholars receive full-tuition scholarships and an additional $15,000 yearly stipend. To be considered for this award, you must have outstanding academics, notable professional accomplishments, excellent communication, demonstrated leadership quality, & interpersonal skills.
The Forte Fellowship:
This fellowship is awarded to exceptional female candidates. The award amount ranges from $10,000 to full tuition fees. This award is very competitive, and the final decisions are based on the applicant’s academic achievements, career progression, & a vision to create an impact on the world.
Reaching Out MBA Fellowship:
The Reaching Out MBA fellowship, or popularly known as ROMBA fellowship is offered to students from the LGBTQ background. Selected candidates are awarded a minimum of $10,000 per academic year. All these scholarships are automatically renewed in the second year as long as you maintain a 3.0 grade point average. Other than the above scholarships, you can also take financial assistance from private lenders like Prodigy Finance & MPower Financing. Both of these financial institutions do not require a co-signer.
Placements
For the class of 2019, 97% of the students received a job offer within three months of graduation. The average starting base salary reported was $118,888, a 7% increase from the last year. Also, the average signing bonus received by the class was $25,642. 98% of the students accepted the offer within the United States. Students placed in the consulting industry packed the highest median salary of $140,000. For complete details, you can check here.
The top industries with the largest acceptance rate are as follows
Consulting 27%
Healthcare 19%
Technology 18%
Financial Services 15%
The top job functions for the class were
Consulting 31%
Finance 25%
Marketing 15%
General Management 14%
The top recruiters of the placement session 2018-19
Deloitte
Amazon
PwC
American Airlines
Ernst & Young
Infosys
KPMG
Goldman Sachs
Application Process
Online Application checklist:
- Academic Transcripts
- One-page CV
- One letter of recommendation
- GMAT/GRE score
- English Language Test (if applicable)
- Video response
- Four short written statements
- Application fee of $200
Interview
The interview for the Owen School MBA Program is by invitation only. All the interviews are conducted by a member of the admissions committee and last for 30 minutes. The interview consists of standard MBA interview questions and is structured like a professional interview. So, one should prepare accordingly. The interview can either be conducted on-campus, at major hub cities around the world, or via Skype. It is highly personalized and based on your whole application. The admission committee primarily looks for candidates who want to make a positive impact on the world through their careers.
Essay Details & Tips
You will be required to submit four written statements to successfully complete your application for the Owen school MBA Program. Three of these statements are career-focused, and one is a more creative statement. The word limit for all these statements is 75 each.
Statement 1: What are your short-term career goals after obtaining your MBA, and what functional area do you plan to study while in the MBA program?
Statement 2: What are some specific skills that you want to develop during your time in business school to help you achieve your career goals?
Statement 3: The role of the Vanderbilt MBA Career Management Center is to partner with students to discover and define their career goals; to educate and coach students in developing and refining skills and experiences to achieve their career goals; to facilitate partnerships among students, the business community and the Vanderbilt community. How do you plan to direct your career search and collaborate with the Career Management Center to work toward your career goals?
Statement 4: Our mission is to provide world-class business education on a personal scale. What does a personal scale mean to you?
Optional Explanatory Statement: You may provide an additional statement to explain anything that you think is important for the Admissions Committee to know about you that is not already addressed elsewhere in your application. Many applicants use this statement to explain significant gaps in full-time employment, lack of recommendation from a current supervisor, or subpar academic performance.
Your written statement gives the school a great insight into your unique qualities, goals, & personality. Through these essays, the admissions committee will look forward to knowing more about you, your career goals, & who you are as a person. So make sure that your essay reflects all of these. For more essay tips, check here – 1,2,3,4
Owen School MBA Program is counted among the most prestigious MBA program in the world. Consistently ranked among the top 50 MBA programs globally, it is a dream institution for thousands of business enthusiasts.
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