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...for what may lead to a life altering association!
The full-time MBA at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University is delivered over approximately 20 months and traces its roots back to the Graduate School’s founding in 1969, when the first class of the MBA programme was launched. The curriculum begins with a required foundation year covering business fundamentals such as finance, marketing, operations, analytics and leadership. After the summer internship, students enter the second year to tailor their path through concentrations that include Finance, Strategy & Analytics, Operations & Business Analytics, Marketing, and Healthcare Management. The programme emphasises leadership development, immersive business experiences, global treks, and a close-knit community in Nashville’s vibrant corporate ecosystem. With the newly renovated Management Hall at Vanderbilt hosting the class of roughly 160–180 students per year and an average pre-MBA work experience of five years, the Owen full-time MBA offers a clear path for rising professionals ready to accelerate into strategy, consulting or analytical leadership roles.
Experts Global, the boutique MBA admission consulting firm active since 2008, has helped students worldwide secure admissions to the world’s most prominent MBA programs. If you seek authentic, result-oriented professional help, inquire with us for our MBA admission consulting; we will get in touch for a free strategy session. Before that discussion, we perform a thorough profile evaluation and issue a guarantee statement with 100% feedback. The guarantee statement in our MBA admission consulting includes assured admits and, often, scholarships within a defined range of schools, set after the evaluation.
| Vanderbilt Owen MBA Class Profile | |
|---|---|
| Average Work Experience | 6 Years |
| Average GMAT Score | 703 |
| Average GRE Score | 318 |
| Average GPA | 3.4 |
| Class Size | 175 |
| US News Rank | 18 |
| Financial Times Rank | 52 |
| Women | 29% |
| International | 30% |
| Pre-MBA Experience | Government: 18% Financial Services: 14% Healthcare: 14% Other: 13% Consulting: 10% Technology: 9% Consumer Products: 4% Manufacturing: 4% Media/Entertainment/Lodging: 4% Real Estate: 4% Petroleum/Energy: 3% Retail: 3% Education: 2% |
| Pre-MBA Education | Business/Economics: 33% Engineering: 20% Accounting: 12% Science: 11% Other: 6% IT/Computer Science: 4% Humanities/Fine Arts: 3% Mathematics: 1% |
| Tuition Fee | $74,500 |
| Vanderbilt Owen MBA Placements | |
|---|---|
| Average Base Salary | $150,246 |
| Average Joining Bonus | $34,849 |
| Employment 3 months after Graduation | 91% |
| Employment by Industry | Consulting: 32% Financial Services: 23% Healthcare: 14% Consumer Products: 10% Technology: 8% Manufacturing: 6% Other: 5% Retail: 2% |
| Employment by Function | Consulting: 34% Finance/Accounting: 23% General Management: 14% Marketing: 11% Operations Management: 6% Business/Data Analytics: 4% Human Resources: 4% Other: 3% Information Technology: 1% |
EY-Parthenon, EY, Amazon, Deloitte Consulting, L.E.K. Consulting, Mars Petcare, UnitedHealth Group, Wells Fargo Corporate & Investment Banking
The employment data above is for the class of 2024.
Vanderbilt Owen MBA program page
Vanderbilt Owen MBA application details, essay questions, deadlines, and more…
Vanderbilt Owen MBA admission consulting by Experts’ Global
Begin by specifying the industry, function and region you intend to pursue after graduating. Do you aim to move into strategic consulting for healthcare providers, assume a business-analytics leadership role in operations, lead brand management in consumer goods or pivot into finance strategy? With Vanderbilt Owen’s 20-month full-time format, each core course, elective, internship, leadership activity and networking interaction must support that destination. Map your current capabilities, note what you need to build — for example advanced analytics, cross-functional leadership or global exposure — and connect how the Owen MBA’s components (core year, summer internship, second-year concentrations and electives) will close those gaps.
During the first year you will engage in core modules: Financial Accounting & Reporting, Marketing Management, Business Analytics, Operations Management, Strategy, Leadership Foundations and Data-Driven Decision Making. View each module as an opportunity to build something you will reference later. If your target is analytics strategy, use the Business Analytics module to build a dashboard or predictive model using Nashville-region or corporate data. If your aim is brand-strategy leadership, use the marketing and strategy courses to craft a repositioning plan for a consumer-goods firm. Document each deliverable: context (business problem), action (what you did), measurable result (quantitative where possible) and your role. These become tangible artefacts you can show in interviews and networking.
In year two you will specialise by selecting one of the concentrations: Finance, Strategy & Analytics, Operations & Business Analytics, Marketing or Healthcare Management. Choose the path that reinforces your target role. For example, if your aim is analytics leadership in operations, select the Operations & Business Analytics track and choose electives like Predictive Analytics, Supply Chain Strategy or Emerging Technology Platforms. If your goal is consulting for healthcare, select Healthcare Management plus electives in Strategy, Innovation in Health Systems or Business Analytics for Healthcare. For each elective identify a signature project — such as a consulting report for a client, an analytics tool built for a firm, or a capstone in healthcare strategy — and include it prominently in your portfolio.
Vanderbilt is located in Nashville, a growing corporate hub for healthcare, operations, culture, finance and technology. Use this ecosystem intentionally: secure your summer internship within a Nashville-based or regional firm aligned with your target industry — for example a healthcare provider, operations firm or analytics company. Then align your second-year elective or co-op project with the same industry or company to build continuity in your narrative. Additionally leverage global immersion opportunities and treks offered by Owen: if your target role has a global business dimension, choose an elective or global seminar that provides real-world international exposure — for instance a supply-chain project in Asia, a healthcare strategy assessment in Europe, or a tech market analysis in Latin America.
Your Owen cohort will be compact, highly collaborative, and drawn from diverse backgrounds. Form your core peer team early — the group you will study with across modules, labs, and labs. Rotate leadership roles, practise peer-feedback and hone your ability to influence the team dynamic. With faculty, engage proactively: attend office hours, propose your elective or consulting project idea early, ask for industry linkages or mentoring. A professor who knows your ambition and work becomes a compelling reference and guide. Also leverage the Owen alumni network – tap Vanderbilt alumni working in your target industry for short informational meetings, site visits and mentorship.
Leadership beyond coursework will set you apart. At Owen join or launch a student-led initiative aligned with your target role: for example Analytics Club, Strategy & Consulting Club, Healthcare Business Association or Operations & Supply Chain Association. Then lead a measurable activity: host a case-competition, organizer a company trek, run a start-up pitch event. Track metrics: number of companies engaged, participants, sponsorship dollars, outcome achieved. Use these metrics in your deliverables portfolio and résumé: for example “Led Analytics Club hackathon engaging six corporate sponsors and 120 participants; two winning teams entered pilot phases; role: president”.
By graduation aim to have three to five signature deliverables you can confidently discuss. Examples may include: an analytics model you built for a Nashville company; a consulting strategy report completed during your summer internship; a brand-strategy roadmap from your electives; a leadership initiative you founded and led. For each deliverable capture: context (what business challenge), action (what you did), measurable outcome (quantitative if possible), your role, and relevance to your target role. Example narrative: “During my Owen MBA I led a four-person team at a healthcare firm in Nashville to develop a patient-flow optimisation model which projected a 9 % throughput improvement; my role was team lead; relevance: analytics strategy in healthcare operations.” Store these in a digital portfolio, create brief 60-second summaries for interviews.
Owen’s Career Management Center offers coaching, employer access, recruiting events and alumni engagement. However, your career transition remains your responsibility. Early in Term 1 schedule a meeting with your career advisor and present a one-page plan: target companies, roles, timeline, networking milestones and skills you must build. Set weekly metrics: alumni chats, company visits, internship applications. After your summer internship, review what worked and revise your plan accordingly. When your deliverable portfolio, network and internship outcomes align, your job-search narrative becomes strong and coherent.
Your network comprises classmates, faculty, alumni and industry executives primarily in Nashville, the Southern US and globally. Build a list of 30–40 targeted contacts aligned with your target role or industry. For each outreach prepare a one-page brief: your background, one deliverable you produced, and your ask (insight, referral, meeting). After each meeting, send a concise follow-up summarising your takeaway and next step. Attend Owen alumni events, corporate treks and industry gatherings. Track metrics: number of meetings, referrals, applications influenced. Networking becomes strategic, measurable and outcome-oriented.
Technical or functional proficiency may be assumed of MBA graduates; what differentiates you is leadership presence, adaptability and ability to influence across functions. Allocate one hour per month to reflect: What leadership behaviour did I develop this month? What challenge did I face and how did I respond? What leadership link will I focus next month? Use peer-team feedback, leadership labs, faculty coaching and internship reflections to build self-awareness, cross-functional influence and decision-making under ambiguity. Maintain a leadership journal and pull one story per week — for example “led cross-functional team through tight-deadline case competition in Nashville” — to build your narrative bank for interviews and future leadership roles.
As graduation nears, synchronise your résumé, LinkedIn profile, deliverable portfolio and interview narratives around your target role and the evidence you built at Vanderbilt Owen. Secure two strong references—internship supervisor and a faculty mentor who understand your deliverables and leadership growth. In interviews say: “During my Owen MBA I led an analytics project at a Nashville healthcare firm that projected a 9% improvement in patient-flow; I led the team; I now bring data-driven strategy, healthcare domain exposure and my Owen alumni networks to your role.” Keep your story concise, outcome-based and employer-aligned.
Graduation marks a milestone, not an endpoint. Stay active in the Vanderbilt Owen alumni community, participate in regional chapter events, mentor incoming students, update your deliverable portfolio quarterly and revisit your leadership journal annually. The habits you formed — purpose clarity, deliverable creation, leadership through action, structured networking and reflection — will serve you across your career. Your Owen MBA becomes the foundation; the trajectory you build thereafter defines your professional legacy.