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Make your next big career move with Vanderbilt University's MBA
Make your next big career move with Vanderbilt University's MBA
Building the engineering leaders of tomorrow
“If you value community, if you value a small class size, if you value being in a place where you can't hide behind the rest of the class, Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management is the place to be.” That’s how Priscilla Agboada, an MBA student from Ghana, describes her experience at Vanderbilt.
After seven years working in aviation, banking, and accounting, she found herself at a career crossroads. Business school seemed like the obvious next step. But Agboada wasn’t looking for just any MBA. “I wanted a top MBA programme in the U.S. and the world where I would feel supported,” she says.
The Vanderbilt MBA delivered on both sides.
“You’re pushed beyond your boundaries and given a lot of opportunities to take on leadership, and that is perhaps one of the best things I have gotten out of this programme,” she adds.
What sets the Vanderbilt MBA apart
Not every MBA student has the same career goals, which is why Vanderbilt offers various concentrations and specialisations for you to make the programme your own. A concentration is at least 12 required credit hours of advanced coursework in one discipline whilst an emphasis lets you go deeper into a particular industry or area of interest with eight hours of courses.
Options for concentrations include:
Your MBA, your way
Options for emphases include:
Each MBA class includes students from different industries, roles, and corners of the world. Those differences create opportunities to learn from perspectives you may not have encountered before.
The Vanderbilt MBA Class of 2027 includes students from 20 countries, with work experience across government, retail, education, finance, healthcare, consulting, technology, and more.
The world in one classroom
The Leadership Development Programme (LDP) is an integral part of the Vanderbilt MBA experience. Designed to help students better understand themselves as leaders, the programme focuses on developing self-awareness, strengthening leadership capabilities, and translating insight into action through assessments, executive coaching, reflection, and practical application.
Build your leadership style
Over your two years in the programme, you’ll learn from professors who pair academic expertise with firsthand industry experience — and who encourage you to put what you learn into practice.
Backed by the right people
“In ‘Introduction to Entrepreneurship’ with Professor Mario Avila, we sold stuff on the street. It was really interesting to me,” Mengyang He from Beijing shares. “I think Owen, in general, provides me with a great opportunity to really build something myself, with a strong support system from faculty, staff, and all walks of life here.”
A pioneering commitment to public engagement
Shortly after SCI-Arc opened its doors, Shelly Kappe launched the Design Forum, a public lecture program aimed at “making more people aware of architecture.” The school collaborated with a video collective in exchange for use of their equipment, creating one of the earliest video archives of architectural discourse. “Every single architect that we could coax to come to lecture –– they came,” said Mayne. “Everyone wanted to talk at SCI-Arc.”
The posters advertising these events were hand-drawn, radical in tone, and widely circulated. Pearl Brickman described receiving one and realizing, “Oh, it says it’s going to be accredited and not just a little fly-by-night thing. So, I got more interested.”
Brickman recalls being one of just five women among 60 men at the time of enrollment. Within four years, that number had increased dramatically. “By the time I graduated, there must have been 25 or 30 women,” she says.
What sets the Vanderbilt MBA apart
Not every MBA student has the same career goals, which is why Vanderbilt offers various concentrations and specialisations for you to make the programme your own. A concentration is at least 12 required credit hours of advanced coursework in one discipline whilst an emphasis lets you go deeper into a particular industry or area of interest with eight hours of courses.
Options for concentrations include:
Graduates in the private sector have gone on to organisations including Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Enterprise Community Partners, NextEra Energy, Rios Partners and Vanguard. In government, graduates have secured roles across federal, state and local levels, including at the US House of Representatives, the US Government Accountability Office, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the NC Department of Justice, and city and county governments in Durham and New York. On the nonprofit and NGO side, employers include the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Justice Mission, RTI International and the College Board. A smaller number of graduates pursue academic paths, including at Duke University.
Your MBA, your way
What sets the Vanderbilt MBA apart
Not every MBA student has the same career goals, which is why Vanderbilt offers various concentrations and specialisations for you to make the programme your own. A concentration is at least 12 required credit hours of advanced coursework in one discipline whilst an emphasis lets you go deeper into a particular industry or area of interest with eight hours of courses.
Options for concentrations include:
Your MBA, your way
Options for emphases include:
Each MBA class includes students from different industries, roles, and corners of the world. Those differences create opportunities to learn from perspectives you may not have encountered before.
The Vanderbilt MBA Class of 2027 includes students from 20 countries, with work experience across government, retail, education, finance, healthcare, consulting, technology, and more.
The world in one classroom
The Leadership Development Programme (LDP) is an integral part of the Vanderbilt MBA experience. Designed to help students better understand themselves as leaders, the programme focuses on developing self-awareness, strengthening leadership capabilities, and translating insight into action through assessments, executive coaching, reflection, and practical application.
Build your leadership style
Over your two years in the programme, you’ll learn from professors who pair academic expertise with firsthand industry experience — and who encourage you to put what you learn into practice.
Backed by the right people
“In ‘Introduction to Entrepreneurship’ with Professor Mario Avila, we sold stuff on the street. It was really interesting to me,” Mengyang He from Beijing shares. “I think Owen, in general, provides me with a great opportunity to really build something myself, with a strong support system from faculty, staff, and all walks of life here.”
What comes after Owen?
“Our graduates, equipped with a strong foundation in business fundamentals, have navigated the complexities of the job market to receive job offers from over 80 companies across multiple industries. 99% of the Class of 2026 have reported they secured valuable summer internships that have enhanced their readiness for future full-time roles.”
U.S. $148K+
Average starting base salary for the Class of 2025
87%
of students in the class of 2025 received a full-time offer within 90 days of graduation
99%
of Class of 2026 students accepted an internship offer in their first year
U.S. $36K
Average signing bonuses reach
Executive Director of Vanderbilt’s Career Management Centre
Mariam Amusan,
Class of 2020
Switching industries can be daunting, especially after building a career in one world. Mariam Amusan had worked in HR at EY and Citi before making the jump to ExxonMobil, where she now works as an HR Business Partner. What gave her the confidence to make that leap was the Vanderbilt MBA. “I think of classes like ‘Managerial Effectiveness’ — those lessons show up every day in how I work with my team and coach leaders through change,” she shares.
Her MBA gave her a better grasp of how people and business strategy align as well. “I used to think of HR more rigidly. But Owen helped me connect everything to the bigger picture,” she says. “It was a skill that I hadn’t fine-tuned, but going through the MBA helped me, and it became a lot sharper.”
Hear from Vanderbilt MBA graduates
Hear from Vanderbilt MBA graduates
Ryo Sakai joined Vanderbilt with a big goal: to become a global business leader capable of using business as a force for social change. An MBA in the U.S. had long been his dream, and Owen offered the combination he was looking for. Its smaller class size meant the opportunity to form closer relationships with classmates, while its approach to business extended beyond traditional measures of success. “The Vanderbilt MBA appealed to me because it has both business and social perspectives,” Sakai says.
He put those perspectives into practice through Project Pyramid, a multidisciplinary initiative tackling global poverty. The immersion experience in Puerto Rico deepened his interest in social entrepreneurship and ultimately inspired him to consider building something of his own. He returned to Japan with an idea for a new venture.
Sakai is now Sr. Group Manager-FO-Tax GA and Transparency at Eli Lilly Japan.
Ryo Sakai, Class of 2022
Angelo Miguel Calabio had spent nearly a decade building a successful banking career in the Philippines until the pandemic gave him a reason to reconsider it. “It opened my eyes to how critically important it is to have a global view of business,” he shares.
The Vanderbilt MBA became part of his next chapter. Professor Mumin Kurtulus’s Operations class introduced him to an unfamiliar field that eventually became the foundation for his transition into tech. “I never thought I would work in the tech sector,” he says, “but it ended up being my post-MBA career.”
Today, Calabio is a Pathways Operations Manager at Amazon. He calls his journey “proof of the endless possibilities that exist if you work hard and summon the courage to make a bet on yourself” and describes Vanderbilt as “an investment worth its weight in gold.”
Angelo Calabio, Class of 2025
After five years in engineering, Vinicius Pinheiro realised he was more interested in the business behind the projects than the technical work itself. So he signed up for the Vanderbilt MBA, specialising in operations and strategy. “I benefited from interesting classes and the flexibility to participate in multiple eye-opening healthcare, finance, and entrepreneurship events,” he explains.
The career pivot was only one part of Pinheiro’s transformation. His two LDP coaches helped him recognise the “specific and unique perspectives I have as an international student that should influence my decision-making in a business context,” he shares. He carried that confidence into an internship with Emerson Electric, which led to a full-time role as a Strategic Operations Analyst. “I am excited to see what the future holds,” he says, “and I don’t think I could have achieved it without my MBA education.”
Vinicius Pinheiro, Class of 2024
Switching industries can be daunting, especially after building a career in one world. Mariam Amusan had worked in HR at EY and Citi before making the jump to ExxonMobil, where she now works as an HR Business Partner. What gave her the confidence to make that leap was the Vanderbilt MBA. “I think of classes like ‘Managerial Effectiveness’ — those lessons show up every day in how I work with my team and coach leaders through change,” she shares.
Her MBA gave her a better grasp of how people and business strategy align as well. “I used to think of HR more rigidly. But Owen helped me connect everything to the bigger picture,” she says. “It was a skill that I hadn’t fine-tuned, but going through the MBA helped me, and it became a lot sharper.”
Mariam Amusan, Class of 2020
Ryo Sakai joined Vanderbilt with a big goal: to become a global business leader capable of using business as a force for social change. An MBA in the U.S. had long been his dream, and Owen offered the combination he was looking for. Its smaller class size meant the opportunity to form closer relationships with classmates, while its approach to business extended beyond traditional measures of success. “The Vanderbilt MBA appealed to me because it has both business and social perspectives,” Sakai says.
He put those perspectives into practice through Project Pyramid, a multidisciplinary initiative tackling global poverty. The immersion experience in Puerto Rico deepened his interest in social entrepreneurship and ultimately inspired him to consider building something of his own. He returned to Japan with an idea for a new venture.
Sakai is now Sr. Group Manager-FO-Tax GA and Transparency at Eli Lilly Japan.
Ryo Sakai, Class of 2022
Angelo Miguel Calabio had spent nearly a decade building a successful banking career in the Philippines until the pandemic gave him a reason to reconsider it. “It opened my eyes to how critically important it is to have a global view of business,” he shares.
The Vanderbilt MBA became part of his next chapter. Professor Mumin Kurtulus’s Operations class introduced him to an unfamiliar field that eventually became the foundation for his transition into tech. “I never thought I would work in the tech sector,” he says, “but it ended up being my post-MBA career.”
Today, Calabio is a Pathways Operations Manager at Amazon. He calls his journey “proof of the endless possibilities that exist if you work hard and summon the courage to make a bet on yourself” and describes Vanderbilt as “an investment worth its weight in gold.”
Angelo Calabio, Class of 2025
After five years in engineering, Vinicius Pinheiro realised he was more interested in the business behind the projects than the technical work itself. So he signed up for the Vanderbilt MBA, specialising in operations and strategy. “I benefited from interesting classes and the flexibility to participate in multiple eye-opening healthcare, finance, and entrepreneurship events,” he explains.
The career pivot was only one part of Pinheiro’s transformation. His two LDP coaches helped him recognise the “specific and unique perspectives I have as an international student that should influence my decision-making in a business context,” he shares. He carried that confidence into an internship with Emerson Electric, which led to a full-time role as a Strategic Operations Analyst. “I am excited to see what the future holds,” he says, “and I don’t think I could have achieved it without my MBA education.”
Vinicius Pinheiro, Class of 2024
Switching industries can be daunting, especially after building a career in one world. Mariam Amusan had worked in HR at EY and Citi before making the jump to ExxonMobil, where she now works as an HR Business Partner. What gave her the confidence to make that leap was the Vanderbilt MBA. “I think of classes like ‘Managerial Effectiveness’ — those lessons show up every day in how I work with my team and coach leaders through change,” she shares.
Her MBA gave her a better grasp of how people and business strategy align as well. “I used to think of HR more rigidly. But Owen helped me connect everything to the bigger picture,” she says. “It was a skill that I hadn’t fine-tuned, but going through the MBA helped me, and it became a lot sharper.”
Mariam Amusan, Class of 2020
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