Vanderbilt University (Owen MBA)

Hello mates,
What you think about MBA from Vanderbilt University ? Is it a great school to get MBA from ? What about recruiters there ? Should I attend or try to get in a better MBA program ? I need this for IB and later for HF.
Opinions are welcomed and appreciated.

 
Best Response

Depends on goals. If you want BB in NY/Chi, while there are a few Owen guys that make it every year the odds will be stacked against you; however, if you are shooting for a boutique in the South you will probably be ok. Most Owen guys end up working in Nashville in some form of health care -- pretty strong recruiting for health care given the Nashville location and program alumni. That isn't to say that plenty of people do not leave Nashville or the South post-grad or do something outside of health care -- plenty do -- just that those are the opportunities most easily available to you.

Not sure about HF, but will likely be the same thing. Probably even a little harder since HFs are located in/near major financial centers, of which the South is lacking.

If your goals are BB, then aim for MBA business schools ">M7 or Top 10 or whatever line you want to put on it.

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

I have no clue on Dubai. I don't have any data for this, but my thought would be the Owen brand may not travel that far. Again, no clue.

For Houston, you are in a better position. However, obviously I'd aim for UT-Austin for Texas, and if you are in at Vandy UT shouldn't be that far from your grasp.

Good luck!

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

Also curious about this. I know Vandy is typically a strong brand in the southeast. But I don't get the feeling their MBA program is on par with their Undergrad/Law/Med school programs. I know it's all relative to the industry you're wanting, but I'd be curious to hear from Owen grads who have had success competing with grads from Fuqua/Goizueta type schools. Even just in the Nashville area I am curious how Owen grads stack up with MBAs from top tier programs.

 
Striderite33:

Also curious about this. I know Vandy is typically a strong brand in the southeast. But I don't get the feeling their MBA program is on par with their Undergrad/Law/Med school programs. I know it's all relative to the industry you're wanting, but I'd be curious to hear from Owen grads who have had success competing with grads from Fuqua/Goizueta type schools. Even just in the Nashville area I am curious how Owen grads stack up with MBAs from top tier programs.

Fuqua is considerably better for IB, Goizueta is about the same as Owen.

 

I know this is late but thought I would reply. Firms that host informationals on campus are Wells, Piper Jaffrey, Numora, Citi for Houston, Sun Trust, Stephens, Deliotte and Key Bank. The firms that do on campus on campus interviews are BAML, Wells, Piper, Numora, Stephens, RBC, Key, SunTrust, City, DB, JPM, Deloitte CF and Goldman. This year people are hired at Goldman, DB, Citi, Key, Wells, Piper, SunTrust. That was full time not sure about internships yet. We also go to NY for meetings with the bulge but it is a MM hub with the ability to open pipelines to the bilge. Again it is up to you to go get it but its available here. You need to understand we place well in the southern MM for a reason. About half of the IB recruiting class is looking to stay in the south. So the southern MM scene is strong here.

 

Some of the earlier comments about most people staying in Nashville, in healthcare, etc. are simply not true. Go check out the school's employment/recruiting stats to see for yourself which companies are coming on campus to recruit and which regions of the country people are going to work in. While they may not have 80 graduates go into IB each year, you need to keep in mind that they are a smaller program and that not everyone in the class is going after IB. They definitely have an IB recruiting presence on campus for NYC, Chicago, and other areas (Charlotte, Atlanta, local in Nashville, etc.).

 

I didn't attend Owen but my father did and is a fairly active alum --- also grew up in Nashville. So if you are a student yu may know better than me but that is just what I know based on prior.

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

I believe Citi recruits there now, other firms are listed above. Basically, if you are targeting IB its not a bad place and you can end up at a BB in NYC if that is your goal and you put the effort in. To be frank, most MBA candidates at top schools aren't recruiting for IB anymore so it makes it easier for schools in the 15-25 range to grab spots. There are also a few top candidates that get MBB spots at Owen. It's really a mix of candidates who had better options (I.E. top undergrad, good WE) but decided on owen that get the better jobs, and low quality candidates mixed in that have trouble and end up in other areas.

If your looking for buyside, my assumption is that it would be close to impossible - also, if your plan is to go from a post-MBA IB associate---->HF you might want to do some more research as there is a very low chance of that happening.

 

I've heard, 2nd hand, that BA/Wachovia Capital hire out of Vandy, which is why I applied there. Still waiting to hear from UNC though before I accept admission at Vandy. On the social front, Nashville is an awesome town and I really look forward to visiting again in a few weeks.

 
Boutique Banking:
Just goes to show you that half the ppl on this board don't know shit.

How so? That Vandy does provide the necessary foundation to work in IB, regardless of its location/rank? I guess I'm just not quite sure what you mean by this.

Full disclosure - I have accepted admission for Vandy's MBA class of 2012, pending results from UNC/Kellogg, but am slightly nervous given Vandy's lower rank and distance from NYC.

Thanks for the post about HW though - that's a great shop, particularly if you want to stay MM (like I do).

 
reformedatty:
Boutique Banking:
Just goes to show you that half the ppl on this board don't know shit.

How so? That Vandy does provide the necessary foundation to work in IB, regardless of its location/rank? I guess I'm just not quite sure what you mean by this.

Full disclosure - I have accepted admission for Vandy's MBA class of 2012, pending results from UNC/Kellogg, but am slightly nervous given Vandy's lower rank and distance from NYC.

Thanks for the post about HW though - that's a great shop, particularly if you want to stay MM (like I do).

I should have been more clear. What I meant was that he moved from a back office role to a solid MBA program to a top MM firm. I wasn't intending for it to come off the way you read it, but that is true too. Just b/c you don't go to a top 5 does not mean you can't land at quality firms.

I'm sure you will love Vandy, I know my buddy had a great time.

 

class profile:

653 GMAT 3.3 GPA

definitely closer to the mediocre side of things when it comes to class stats, but there are some business schools, that despite mediocre class profiles, still manage to place students in IBs on a regular basis.

The other program that comes to mind is Rice- I think the avg GMAT is around 660 but students still have good opps for Houston IB.

 

This website confuses me. People on here usually say that you should only attend a top 15 MBA. However, everybody seems to think you should attend Vandy. Which is it? Should one only consider top 15 programs, or is there still a lot of value for programs in the 30-40 range?

 

Vandy has a lot of regional presence. I think the top 10-15 is a good gauge, but if you are comfortable working in a specific area or want to narrow your focus there are a handful of schools which are outside of the top 10-15 that you can look at.

 

It is nowhere near top 20. It is a solid regional school that relies heavily on its undergraduate rep (think Rice). I thought about applying due to their 50 emails per week and offer to interview me in Dallas but ultimately didn't see any advantage over SMU/Rice and obviously UT (for TX jobs). Where do they place most grads? Seems like you have to compete with Emory for the Atlanta market, and all the Texas schools for that market. They do seem to recruit heavily from the Dallas area but not sure how that translates when it comes to placements. Nashville is a great town but how many MBA level gigs can it support?

 
AnthonyD1982:
BoA and Wachovia (WF) recruit there pretty heavy. You can go to better schools though, but it isn't horrible going there.

My roommate is starting fulltime at WF after grad. His associate class is made up of Gtown, UVA, Duke, UNC, and I think one other bschool...pretty much the usual suspects. WF may occasionally recruit Vandy MBAs and just didnt take anyone this year, but I'd be surprised if they do OCR there.

 

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