I am interested in Vanderbilt however I want to go into business and I am a little concerned that the HOD major or Economics at Vandy is not as focused and will not prepare me as well as a school with an undergrad business school. I know the academics are amazing no matter what, but don’t know if I would be better at a school with undergrad business. I am interested in marketing, management, etc.
Vanderbilt is a good place but it depends on what you compare it to. Like if you compared it to the ivies, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Chicago then it is lacking a bit for business recruiting. Also if you compare it to the undergrad business schools of places like NYU, Michigan, Berkeley then it is also a bit behind. But relative to all other places it is not. My point is if you want to maximize your chances of breaking into business Ivy+ schools are a safer bet and also good undergrad business schools like Stern, Ross, Haas are a good bet. These are the main target schools for business recruiting. Of course you could break into business from many other places, and of course good univirsities like Vandy, it just might be a bit more difficult compared to the schools I mentioned before.
Vanderbilt is an elite all around school but if you are specifically interested in business look at some of the top universities for undergrad business. A few are Penn, MIT, NYU, Michigan, UC Berkely, and Texas. Hope this helped.
Thank you both!
@zach666 : That is vague, don’t say that about hardly any school. Just say it is elite “overall”. There are indeed departments at elite schools that are not that good, or elite schools known for being extremely strong in certain realms and just strong or “minimally elite” for others (not all schools have the resources of Harvard…). Because that sort of sentiment that “schools are elite all around” is what causes some applicants to overlook schools perhaps with less lay prestige (often garnered by certain rankings) that truly excel in many areas and outcome metrics demonstrate it (especially when controlling for incoming wealth bracket and statistics. For example, one state school produces a disproportionate amount of Goldwaters even when accounting for size). Due to this, some applying to elite privates, for example, flat out overlook solid publics (minus say Berkeley, Virginia, and some more), when the reality is such publics and even some less elite privates do a lot of things better (one of them being science education, many public schools are far ahead. If students considered honors programs at these schools, they may very well have an excellent experience in all realms. At some, even if they were not singled out as a scholarship or honors student, it may still be stronger). Let them check various schools out and determine which has the best social environment and programs. I no longer buy the “everything is elite because the rankings for the overall program say so argument”…it is up to the applicant to investigate the school in terms of what they deem valuable at a school or program.
Anyway @Erose427427: My understanding is that Peabody has some helpful programs or courses that can help you go in that direction. Going into business is really about YOUR empowerment and what opportunities you engage in during college (entrepreneurship, internships, etc. You can enter various case competitions away from the school to network with others and get some accolades if you perform well). Also, depends on if you want to go to an MBA (specifically a top MBA program). Top business programs (say anything basically top 10-15 by most rankings) for UGs are known to have unusually strong networking opps and career centers and some feed extremely well into top MBA programs (maybe check out Poets and Quants as they will not only check out feeder BBA/UG business programs, but all schools). Figure out what vibe/area of business and how much the school can help you engage these things. Some schools have a bigger or growing entrepreneurship scene on campus, some have many traditional business related events targeted toward undergraduates, some have both. Go visit and feel places out. If you are only interested in top finance firm, then needless to say, some places are much better for that if only for historical reasons and not current level of training versus others (some elite schools simply have many more aiming for only finance so it of course yields high placement).
Also, keep in mind, business does not = finance. If you only consider “business” as finance, then the list mentioned by a poster above is more relevant, but if not, almost any elite will make these endeavors easy and you’ll get more mileage in some areas depending on the area of interest as many non-Ivy top UG business programs perform similarly or better than some Ivies feeding into certain business disciplines, but that may be because of where the interests of the UG population at said school lie. We know top Ivies and Ivy plus schools have student bodies completely skewed toward finance, and they do basically have a lock on that.
Vanderbilt is a good school for business and students tend to major in Econ/Managerial Studies. In terms of recruitment, Vandy ranked in the top 30 on Poets&Quants Wall Street Feeder guide. Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) was the firm with the largest Vanderbilt representation (along with boutiques like Jefferies and Houlihan Lokey).
https://wp0.its.vanderbilt.edu/managerialstudies/
http://poetsandquantsforundergrads.com/2015/02/04/the-top-feeder-schools-to-wall-street/2/
@timetodecide12 : I mean, if a student is only aiming for Wall Street, then that would actually make schools like Emory and Vanderbilt (both rank close to 30) weaker in comparison to several top 20 peers. Assuming many students applying to Vanderbilt are also considering other top 20s, that showing does not strengthen the argument for Vanderbilt, because even peers that perform similarly to it in that particular ranking, typically rank better (if not much) in other categories that P&Q deal with, especially when you consider MBA feeding, and some other things. It is also not the best showing for a school with an abnormally high SAT range. Conventional wisdom is that those scores influence the recruitment substantially, but minus Duke, it seems that location is clearly key. However, the numbers in feeder firm can also reflect where students prefer to stay (like high pay in the south and midwest can have more buying power than up north) and the connections a school has to certain local/proximal firms. Again, it depends on the goal of the student. I would say that in other things, a solid performance at Vandy will likely lead to the same outcomes as other more established econ. and business programs with the aggression I mention in terms of developing a professional profile before applying for jobs. One main difference with those other programs is how the additional “coaching” and priming for such positions is directly integrated into the curriculum. What could set Vanderbilt students up extremely well is engagement with both math and something like economics. I have never seen that one go wrong for any solid student at an elite school. So many doors open up.
Bernie is correct that major finance firms hunt for quantitative talent. The GMAT is very quantitative. Firms know exactly had to figure this out, and a Vandy student with talent to display there will probably do well. Doing well in high school math is only good for for college admissions. You must take college level Calc and Econ no matter what your major for major finance jobs. If you get hired, they put you through the paces in their own training programs. I do think that finance firms still have feeder schools, but since the recession many college grads who were going to Wall Street (like 1/3 of MIT grads) have diversified into the workplaces not on Wall Street in response to a changing job market. It never hurts to take the business “core certificates” offered at school like Vandy that do not offer Business majors. I couldn’t talk either of my guys into taking college Accounting etc and thus they now have to take those courses at night school while employed. If you do not think you have the talent to do well in higher levels of Econ or Calculus, I would suggest attending an undergrad school with a nice solid undergrad business degree. In many cases, state schools do very well in this arena.
@Faline2 : Honestly, I feel more students need a much better understanding of the array of options in professions like “business” and “health”. They are not the same as “finance” and “medicine” and I wish students at or considering elite schools understood that there are many jobs or careers in these two areas that pay extremely well and are quite frankly, satisfying provided that the student wants to build the skills to successfully pursue them. Perhaps people only consider the other two in large part because they have been aggrandized excessively and because of convenience. Both have paths laid out for the student and all one needs to do is basically perform well and then they will be competitive for access to the next step whereas the other fields require less clear competency development to be competitive. Like when you see students come in these threads and compare schools for “business” recruiting, you automatically know they are talking about finance jobs.
Also, in terms of business, if one is entrepreneur minded, college is a perfect time to try new ideas, especially at elite schools which often promote it in various ways via the resources and opportunities they provide. There are so many cool things in both of those areas that not many students EVER entertain.
OP asked : If I want to go into business, would Vanderbilt be a good place?
I would like to chime in as follows: Yes, Vanderbilt graduates have a shot to be the top guy (CEO, EVP) or members of management in any companies if they have MBA. Without general MBA or Executive MBA (EMBA), your chance to be top guy is very slim. To give an example, my son graduated 2016 in Mechanical Engineering-Vandy working as engineer in Aerospace company in Cali and the top guy of that company has MBA (general). My son would like to follow the footsteps of his top guy. This top guy after getting his degree engineering (EE) and worked hard for several years to advance his career then took MBA (paid by the company). When he was in college he did not study business (like accounting, finance and banking, management, marketing, business law etc) because any engineering majors is hard major to get high GPA let alone to be bothered to study business.
The moral of this story is yes you can be the top guy in any industries if you have MBA (general MBA) and the requirement into top mba schools (like Stanford, univ of Chicago, Harvard, Northwestern, MIT, Berkeley, UCLA and the like), you need experiences like at least two years and of course your high GPA. I believe you can not do MBA (in one of those top schools) if your GPA is below 3.0 out of 4.0. Once in a while you will see that those schools will take you doing mba without professional experiences but it is hardly ever.
On the other hand, if you just want to run family business, or entrepreneur minded, etc then you do not need MBA. You just jump into the business and make it big. When your asset is growing say like 25 million dollar above and you need to grow then definately you need MBA (the local once will do it). MBA is for your career track.
I don’t think it would be a bad place to go. It might be easier to get jobs if you go to some of the more prestigious schools, but really that only does so much. network and market yourself well, that’s what’s important. Though it might be beneficial to say “I went to Harvard” or whatever, a lot of employers don’t really care about your college career past your first job. Program is important, but your happiness is too. I toured Vanderbilt a few months ago and personally was not too impressed with their business program, but that doesn’t mean you won’t like it. For me, I felt like it was very complicated and not well developed. I don’t remember the specifics, but it was very odd and I ultimately just wasn’t a fan.
I mean, “business” has not really been the stronghold at Vanderbilt. Their stronghold is economics. Economics degree has traditionally been the path for them to go into business careers as it has been at other schools without any or any formal UG business programs. Still don’t know why students are obsessing over the existence of a formal business program, especially of the school or student is academically elite. I would consider the strength of the pathway to business. Again, many places with strong CS and econ. programs perform as well or better than places with business programs. I suppose an undergraduate business program is generally viewed as the “path of least resistance” as usually economics programs are more quantitative especially in upper division and even intermediate course work. Often this is of course a deterrent.
It really does depend on what kind of business you want to go in. I met my husband in engineering grad school, and his goal was always to have his own engineering consulting firm. But you can’t do that right out of school! You have to put in the years of hard work to get enough experience that you can go out on your own. We started our firm in 1999 and it’s still going strong. We both have master’s degrees in engineering,but no business classes. We’ve learned as we’ve gone along.
What kind of business?
Assuming IB because that’s extremely popular, Vanderbilt is not (yet) a great school, although it really depends on the schools you’re applying to/get accepted to. You’ll have a better chance at a BB firm for your junior year internship if you go to a northeast ivy or an elite business school. However Vanderbilt is on the rise and it might get even better a few years down the road esp if its wall street network grows. But as of right now there are better options
Just in general, the alumni network for wall street firms is pretty poor for a top 20 school. There’s a surprisingly low amount of people at firms like GS and even some of the lower tier ones like Jefferies based on vandy’s alumni website. There are very few vandy alums that hold VP+ positions as far as I know
Also it’s in the south so if you wanted to get some experience during the school year you have way less options. Networking is a pain because you can’t really meet up with the person (although that benefit is mostly for nyc schools)
Based on what some of my friends who are going IB say, you’ll also have to work much harder. Even if you don’t want to do finance, Vanderbilt lacks a lot of the typical business majors like accounting, finance, etc. So if you were to get an interview offer, you would have to put in way more effort for the interview prep (ie self teaching, etc)
Currently, many business-minded students will major in Economics or HOD, and can minor in Managerial Studies: Financial Economics or Corporate Strategy. However, they are currently phasing that minor out as they expect to introduce a business minor in coordination with their graduate business program:
@twicearound : I honestly wish they wouldn’t…but at least it is just a minor. It is just that I imagine that the other majors you mention are more liberal arts oriented so emphasize the development of several skills also seen in non-business majors, but often business programs (for undergraduates) of any sort have been criticized for essentially not emphasizing things like communication through writing and sometimes academic/analytical rigor in general. For example, many business programs (elite or not) have been criticized for the over-emphasis on group work. Hopefully, Vanderbilt finds a different/better way to ensure the strength of the minor/program or whatever. I’m hoping that, like at many of the 2 year programs, students take advantage of that opportunity to explore it through “non-traditional” business disciplines… And the fortunate thing about a minor is that all students will be majoring in something else.
@bernie12 Agreed, but did you check out the link? It doesn’t sound like a traditional business minor. It seems like a collaboration of all of the undergraduate colleges and Owen. Sounds interesting, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Yeah, that is where I got the “non-traditional” disciplines part from.
When you are talking about successful in Business World, actually you do not need a business degree at all. I will give you three examples. One is the founder is Facebook, the other one is Bill Gates and another one, I know he is now a ministry of Trade in South East Asian country. This guy (the ministry of Trade) went to Harvard Art School just bachelor. Then got side track into day trading then he made a career in that business until he became the Ministry of Trade. All of the examples mentioned here did not go to any business schools at all and they have been using Common Sense as a tool to guide in their career and making the necessary decision in daily business world. And they are successful in business world now. So, go ahead and apply to Owen Business School at Vandy. Then after obtaining a degree, you work your way up through rank and file till you become the Head Honco.