Owen Graduate SOM

The decision to start a business school at Vanderbilt was taken in the late 1800s. A tenacious group of university trustees took up the cause to get the school approved decades later. 

However, it was the otherwise unanimous board decision that gave Vanderbilt the green light to start looking for its first dean of the business school and establish the two-year Master of Management (MMgt) degree, which gave rise to the school’s flagship Master of Business Administration (MBA) program today. The institution began operations in 1969 and conferred its first class of graduates in 1971.

Top Employers:

• Amazon
• Goldman Sachs & Co L.L.C
• Ernst & Young
• The Boston Consulting Group 
• Deloitte
• Emerson 
• Johnson & Johnson
• West Monroe Partners 

Application Essay Questions:

Applicants to the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University must also complete a 90-second video and submit two briefs (150-word) statements as part of their application.

Short answer essay question

What are your immediate professional objectives after earning your MBA, and which functional area do you intend to focus on while enrolled in the MBA program? What specific abilities do you want to work on acquiring in business school that will help you advance your career? (150 words)

TIP:  Like all prestigious MBA programs, Owen is curious to know why prospective students pursue an MBA. Simply put, the admissions committee desires to see that you have carefully considered your professional path, have determined where you want to go, and have considered how an MBA will help you get there. The specific goal you outline is less crucial in this situation than showing that you know what it takes to advance toward your goals and know the academic areas in which you should concentrate.

The next step is to delve a little deeper into the study area(s) you have stated you want to focus on and identify the skills and information you currently lack that are essential for success. We assume you are well aware of what you anticipate from a business school, given that you have reached a point in your career development where you realize that you need an MBA to advance further, and this is where you would outline that for the admissions committee.

Short Essay Question

If there is anything about you that the application still needs to get, please highlight it. (150 words)

TIP:  Let us start by calling attention to the word “highlight” in the prompt. There are better places to justify a gap in your employment history or an academic weakness. Save such tales for your explanation statement if you have any. Instead, use this as a chance to tell the admissions committee something interesting about you that they would not otherwise get to know but that you think will leave a good impression. Though we caution you not to frame your response that way overtly, what you present in this brief statement should ideally show how or why you would be a good fit with the Vanderbilt program. Create a brief submission highlighting a novel and insightful aspect of your candidacy that demonstrates your potential for academic success at Vanderbilt and your potential for success in your post-graduate professional life. Your objective is to provide the school with some important additional information that they can use to determine whether or not to accept you into their upcoming incoming class.

Video Essay 

The online application must include the video response as a required element. We hope to get a real-world, unstaged glimpse of your individuality, creativity, and communication style by asking you to submit a brief video. 

TIP:  You will be given a question when it is time to record your video submission, and you will have 30 seconds to think up an answer. Following that, you have 90 seconds to record your reply. After reviewing your submission, you can record a replacement video if you are not happy with it. The catch is that you will not get the same question twice, and you only get three chances, so you can only keep going through the motions once you get the perfect answer. Be careful not to be too rigid, or you might put yourself in a difficult situation.

Take a deep breath first. Although the admissions committee knows that video essays can be daunting and nerve-wracking, they are not intentionally trying to scare you or set you up for failure. The purpose of a video essay is typically to convey a candidate’s personality in a more dynamic way than a written essay can. 

Optional essay

You are encouraged to add a statement to explain further and clarify any of the following: gaps in full-time employment of more than three months, a lack of a recommendation from your current or most recent boss, a lack of full-time professional experience (ignore if you are a recent undergraduate), subpar academic performance, weak test scores, academic misconduct, legal violations, or anything else you feel the admissions committee should be aware of but hasn’t been covered elsewhere in your application. (300 words)

TIP: Owen wants to give candidates a chance to explain any potentially problematic aspects of their profiles, but the admission panel is probably not looking for wordy explanations or extraneous filler. Therefore, do not use this opportunity to add another accomplishment story or pander to the school. Instead, use the opportunity to write an optional essay only if it will help the admissions committee fully and fairly assess your application.

Upcoming deadlines

The application deadline for the Full-Time MBA Class of 2025 is:

• Round 1: October 11th, 2022 (Decision December 16th, 2022). Deposit deadline- January 19th 2023.
• Round 2: January 9th 2023 (Decision March 24th, 2023). The deposit deadline is April 18th 2023.
• Round 3: March 31st, 2023 (Decision May 5th, 2023). The deposit deadline is May 19th 2023. 
• Round 4: May 10th, 2023 ( Decision- Not Disclosed) Deposit deadline Not disclosed.