Category Archives: Admissions

On Twitter

Posted on January 31, 2012 by Clark Bosslet

Twitter is arguably now the dominant information sharing platform, which is to say that for many of us, it is “the news.”

I can’t remember the last time I didn’t find out about a major current event via Twitter. The first time I noticed it was during the horrific January 2011 shootings in Tucson, Arizona. Instead of clicking refresh on CNN or NYTimes or the Drudge Report, I just sat all afternoon watching my Twitter feed. The same went for the death of Osama Bin Laden, and now the closest I seem to get to traditional “news” is the Daily Show.

Joe Paterno’s Twitter death, falsely reported the day before his actual death and then retweeted ad infinitum, shows the potentially spurious danger of this information sharing platform. Twitter has been praised as the most salient weapon in the democratization of information sharing, but as with all other user-based content, it is both produced and disseminated in large part by amateurs who have no real accountability to the subjects on which they report.

Read the full post (est. reading time 2:13 mins)
Posted in Admissions, Clark Bosslet '12, Graduate Life, Lifestyle | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Visiting Owen

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Clark Bosslet

If you’re viewing this webpage right now, there’s a better than zero chance you came across it while researching Owen as a potential landing spot for your graduate education. While we like to think of this site as a nice little resource, nestled away in the hinterlands of the Internet, we understand our inherent limitations. When we’re not combing through the finer points of Excel or interviewing local beer brewers, we try to shed some light on student life. We like to cover our day-to-day routines both in the halls of Owen and in the greater Nashville area to supplement the marketing resources officially provided by the school. In essence, we want you to get a feel for the place.

But let’s be honest. If you’re thinking about attending a business school in near future, more than likely that entails leaving your current place of employment, foregoing that potential income in addition to taking on some degree of debt, and uprooting to a new city (and in some cases, dragging loved ones along with you). It is one of the most serious commitments you’ll ever make, and while we try to be informative, it can never be enough. To get a sense of Owen, you really need to visit.

Read the full post (est. reading time 2:05 mins)
Posted in Admissions, Clark Bosslet '12, Graduate Life, Nashville, Why Owen? | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Upcoming Prospective Student Chats

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Clark Bosslet

Deciding on a business school is tough. There are a lot of beautifully curated and polished marketing materials making a lot of claims that are impossible to truly verify. So when it comes to doing your due diligence as a prospective student, once you’ve made your short list of schools, the best thing to do is visit campuses and speak directly to the current stakeholders, the students and faculty.

Of course, that’s easier said than done, especially around the holidays. Student chats offer a solid second option by allowing you to speak directly with current students in a candid manner.

Wondering what the current job market is really like for MBAs? We can tell you.

What sort of independent study opportunities exist at Vanderbilt? What does Nashville offer in terms of arts and entertainment? Where do students typically live and how much is rent?

We’ve got you covered.

We are offering two opportunities this week chat online with our admissions team and current students to learn more about the Vanderbilt MBA and the Owen community, and Owen Bloggers encourages you to join in!

“Diversity at Owen” Chat 
Wednesday, November 16 – 12:00-1:00 pm central

Read the full post (est. reading time 51 secs)
Posted in Admissions, Blake Knight '12, Clark Bosslet '12, Job Search, Lifestyle, Nashville | 2 Comments

2011 Economist Business School Rankings

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Doug Midkiff

The Economist released their new Full-Time business school rankings yesterday. You can check out the full list here.

Owen was a HUGE winner in this new ranking. Globally we jumped 12 spots from 46 to 34.

Looking at just the US schools we jumped 7 spots from 29 to 22. No other US school had as big a jump.

As we all know, these rankings have myriad flaws, but the fact that Owen was able to make such a big jump in the positive direction tells me we must be doing something right. According to the Economist, our strongest attributes are:

Diversity of Recruiters (4th place)
Education Experience (7th place)
Faculty Quality (8th place)
Alumni Effectiveness (8th place)

I created a US only top 30 which you can see below. I did this to give a better “apples to apples” comparison ability with some of the other rankings which only rank US schools (Business Week, US News):

You can download my spreadsheet here if you’re super curious and want to do your own analysis.

Permanent link to this post (est. reading time 42 secs)
Posted in Admissions, Doug Midkiff '12, Why Owen? | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Welcome Weekend Breakout: Operations MBA

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Doug Midkiff

The operation session was hosted by professor Nancy Lea Hyer.  She opened with an interesting analogy which she feels best describes Operations. She said if business is a car, then the gas is finance, the steering wheel is marketing, the dashboard display is accounting, and finally the engine is operations.

Professor Hyer then continued by explaining that all companies use operations, not just manufacturing firms which makes this field of study very interesting, dynamic, and broad. There were numerous examples of companies who use operations, as well as some examples of operations gone bad.

Professor Hyer wrapped up by touching on the numerous operations electives available at Owen (see below) and then passed it off to Patrick Slay, Senior Associate Director at the Career Management Center. Patrick also touched on the broad nature of operations careers and explained how the CMC is available to students to help them identify where their interests are when it comes to operations.

For more information or to ask a question please see one of the links below

Permanent link to this post (est. reading time 43 secs)
Posted in Admissions, Doug Midkiff '12, Why Owen? | Tagged , | Leave a comment