Meet Vanderbilt Owen’s MBA Class Of 2023

AN INTERNSHIP FOR EVERYONE

Last year, Owen received 1,159 applications for a spot in the Class of 2023, ultimately enrolling 182 students. The class is comprised of 37% women and 23% minorities, with another 15% bringing military service. As a whole, the class averaged a 690 GMAT, as scores ranged from 630-740 in the mid-80% range.

Overall, the class hails from 27 countries, including Chile, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, and Singapore. A quarter of the class was born outside the United States. Among American students, 41% were born in the South, followed by the Midwest (16%), Southwest (15%), Mid-Atlantic (11%), Northeast (10%), and West (7%). Before enrolling at Owen, the class earned degrees at 117 universities and worked at 132 companies, including JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, PwC, Deloitte, and Ernst & Young.

What has been the big news at Owen? For one, starting pay and bonuses increased for the Class of 2021, as employers hired 97% of spring graduates within 90 days of leaving school. True to form, 100% of Owen first-years who pursued an internship ultimately landed one — a testament to both the school’s reputation and its highly engaged career services team. At the same time, Owen is nearly finished with its $55 million dollar renovation of Management Hall, which is slated for completion over the summer. How will this expansion enrich the Owen experience? That’s one of the questions that P&Q posed to Sue Oldham, the associate dean of MBA operations. From its legendary Leadership Development Program to its most popular courses, here are Oldham’s thoughts on what makes Owen such a unique MBA experience.

AN INTERVIEW WITH SUE OLDHAM

P&Q: What are the two most exciting developments at your program and how will they enrich the MBA experience for current and future MBAs?

Oldham: “First, the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management began work on the renovation and expansion of Management Hall in March 2021. The estimated $55 million project will extend the business school’s space by 50 percent, encompassing a total of 48,000 square feet. The expanded building will include areas to better accommodate the wider Vanderbilt and Nashville business communities and is expected to be complete August 2022, just in time to welcome the incoming classes.

Here is a statement from Daniel Diermeier, chancellor of Vanderbilt University: “This expansion reinforces Vanderbilt’s long-term vision and commitment to excellence in everything we do. Despite the difficulties of the current moment, we provide world-class facilities that set the stage for the best in scholarship and education. This new space will make a profound impact on our mission and common purpose for years to come.”

Coming on the heels of the Owen School’s 50th anniversary, this project has received significant support from donors like the Owen Century Partners. Here is another statement from M. Eric Johnson, dean of the Owen School: “We are so grateful for the visionary support of the Owen Century Partners, and all of the alumni who have given to help achieve this milestone. This show of commitment during a very challenging year shows their resolve to successfully launch the Owen School into its next 50 years.”

The new and expanded space is being built with the core mission of the school in mind, Personal Scale.  The design is to preserve the sense of community and connection and will also extend out into the greater Nashville environment as the building sits alongside a major road that runs through the heart of the city.  The new spaces will advance Owen’s continued commitment to collaboration, innovation, and inclusion.

You can take a virtual tour by clicking here.

Second, there is a commitment to our strategic partnerships with NBMBAA, Prospanica, Forte, ROMBA, JumpStart, AdmitMe, and MBA Veterans. We are focused on these loyal partners. While we have been long-time partners with many of them, we recently “doubled-down” on our commitment by not only increasing our scholarship dollars but working with our partners to offer Fellowships to these partners organizations so that our students can take full advantage of programming opportunities outside of the Vanderbilt program. These relationships are built early on while starting this MBA program and will continue for years to come.”

P&Q: What are two biggest differentiating features of your MBA program? How do each of these enrich the learning of your MBA students?

Oldham: “Two major differentiating features of our MBA program are its tremendous complements to the existing rich and rigorous MBA curriculum: the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Leadership Development Program.

The Center for Entrepreneurship (“C4E”) at the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management was created after the generous gift from Jack and Carolyn Long (both Owen alumni) in 2016. Its mission is to build and grow a productive entrepreneurial ecosystem conducive to creating new and innovative businesses. The C4E accomplishes this mission through structured programs, financial support through grants and scholarship, and network connections through alumni in Nashville, throughout the US, and across the world. There are thousands of Vanderbilt and Owen alumni in the startup and venture capital space looking to help and support current students and other alumni. The breadth of entrepreneurial focused classes, along with Firestarter pitches, grants, and scholarships, allow Vanderbilt Owen students to delve into the world of entrepreneurship while being a part of the MBA program.

The Leadership Development Program at Vanderbilt Owen was built upon the best of industry and academic research. It stands out because the tools we use are the ones used by Fortune 500 companies to drive leadership development, like the Hogan Leadership Assessment and executive coaching. In industry, these tools are reserved for a small subset of high-potential employees. At Vanderbilt, these tools are open to ALL students and applied in a way that is personalized and tailored to the individual student throughout their MBA journey. In the first year, through the Hogan Leadership Assessment, executive coaching, and one-on-one support from the LDP Team, students can individualize the resources to their own unique advantage to develop whatever skills and behaviors matter most to them. We build on their learning in year two wherein a cohort of second years works on the process of crystallizing their authentic leadership philosophy. Once students become alumni, we continue to support them with the same tools and resources. While the hard work is up to the student, our holistic commitment to their development is what makes our Leadership Development Program stand out.”

P&Q: In recent years, there have been several areas that have gained increased prominence in business school programming, including STEM, analytics, artificial intelligence and digital disruption. How does your full-time MBA program integrate these concepts across its curriculum?

Oldham: “Vanderbilt has always supported STEM in its curriculum with the breadth of courses, leading the way in 2019 by designating the Finance concentration as STEM-certified.  In May 2020, we added the STEM designation for our Operations and Data Analytics concentration. The STEM designation allows our international students the eligibility to prolong their post-completion Optional Practical Training (OPT) in the U.S., which is a tremendous opportunity to remain in the U.S. for an additional 24 months.

In addition, Vanderbilt offers 8 courses specifically around data analytics: Healthcare Analytics, Data Analytics for Business, Employee Engagement and People Analytics, Marketing Analytics, Sports Analytics, Business Analytics, Investing in Big Data and Analytics, and Spreadsheet for Business Analytics.  The breadth of classes across many functions is an attractive draw for prospective students!”

P&Q: Owen’s Career Center consistently ranks among the top career centers in surveys conducted by The Economist and The Financial Times. What does Owen’s Career Management Center do that enables it to receive such high marks from students and alumni alike?

Oldham: “Vanderbilt MBA is known for a key part of its mission: “Personal Scale.” We deliver personal scale throughout a student’s entire experience – from prospective to enrolled and beyond. With our intentionally small class size (average 175 MBA students per class), our team of career coaches can provide one-on-one coaching and advising to create actionable career plans for each student. When you’re able to meet each student on a regular basis, you’re building a relationship that will grow and pivot along the MBA journey. The career management process can be stressful, fast-paced, multi-dimensional, and extremely rewarding. Our career coaches walk alongside each student through every step of the process, and when you share the highs and the lows, that experience goes far beyond a “job placement;” that experience is embedded in you for life.

Second, the CMC partners with the Walker Management Library to provide real-time offerings and skillsets to complement the MBA curriculum and career development programming. Having its own business school library (housed within the business school) with a fully dedicated professional staff is a differentiating factor for our students. The library team provides relevant workshops and classes that directly add impactful skills and learning  Topics include Introduction to Python, Getting Started with Tableau, Business Mapping with ArcGIS Business Analyst, Focused Capital IQ training and certification, Bloomberg training, Bloomberg Market Concepts, and Introduction to FactSet. Employers are always impressed that our students have not only the MBA curriculum under their belts, but the addition of these high-impact skills add immediate value on-the job.”

P&Q: What makes Nashville such a great place to earn an MBA, both from a professional standpoint and just pure fun? Are there any particular locales around campus that Owen MBAs love to visit?

Oldham: “Nashville has several things going for itself: Momentum, Diverse Economy, and Talent.

Momentum: Nashville is the 2nd hottest job market in the country (based on job, wage, and labor force growth). With major company relocations and expansions to Nashville (Amazon, Facebook, AllianceBernstein, General Motors, SmileDirect, Ramsey Solutions, August Bioservices) along with a robust pipeline of current projects (spanning a variety of functions including supply chain, corporate operations, music and entertainment, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare) representing over 5500 jobs, the momentum that is happening in Nashville right now is simply palpable.

Diverse Economy: There are at least 12 active industries in Nashville that are driving the diverse economy with over 50,000 business establishments. Industries include Management/Technical/Professional services, Transportation/Warehousing/Wholesale trade; Healthcare; Retail trade; Finance/Insurance; Food Services; Construction; and Arts/Entertainment. Nashville’s diverse economy goes beyond healthcare and entertainment, and the breadth of economies is a huge contributor to the momentum. In addition, Middle Tennessee is seeing an explosion of tech companies and tech jobs, with a projected 15% growth rate compared to 9% nationally. Tech companies relocating or expanding to Nashville include Amazon, Apple Music, Google Fiber, Eventbrite, Postmates, Lyft, WeWork, Google Cloud, and Warby Parker.

Next Page: In-depth Profiles of 11 Owen MBAs