Vanderbilt / Owen MBA Essay Topic Analysis 2024-2025

The following essay topic analysis examines the Owen Graduate School of Business of Vanderbilt University (Owen) MBA admissions essays for the 2024-2025 admissions season. You can also review essay topic analyses for all other leading MBA programs as well as general Essay Tips to further aid you in developing your admissions essays.

Vanderbilt / Owen Essay Topic Analysis 2024-2025

Let’s take a closer look at each prompt. 

Essay 1

Our Career Management Center offers resources, guidance, and support to students as they navigate their anticipated post-MBA career paths. Examples of popular industry career paths are Consulting, Financial Services, Consumer Products, Healthcare, Human and Organizational Performance, Technology, and beyond. It is noteworthy that many students opt to concurrently explore multiple industry career paths.

As you contemplate your post-MBA aspirations, share two post-MBA career paths you aim to explore during the Vanderbilt MBA program. Please articulate your rationale and enthusiasm for these choices, and include the skills you have developed that will help you achieve your career goals. (200 word limit)
Vanderbilt is looking for applicants to present two plausible career plans, and a sense of how they can explore both of them at Owen. We recommend having one priority career plan and a reasonable alternative; this could look like two different short-term goals that serve as plausible stepping stones to the long term, short-term flexibility in industry or functional focus, etc. Applicants will want to begin by describing their professional aspirations, including both the potential positions they hope to obtain immediately following an MBA, as well as their long-term objective. Applicants will then want to explain why they have chosen to pursue graduate business education at Owen. You’ll want to review Vanderbilt’s curricular offerings to determine which concentration best meets your needs. You may also consider the additional specializations and emphases that apply, as well as clubs and activities. After using the first half of the essay to connect to how the offerings would enable your goals, you can then summarize your career to date and highlight the skills you have honed that would transfer to your future career. You will need to be direct and concise—this analysis is just shy of 200 words, too.

Essay 2

We are genuinely interested in getting to know you and recognize that your identity extends beyond the confines of this application’s structured questions. Please highlight something about yourself that isn’t already captured in the application. This highlight statement is an opportunity for you to provide context and depth to something that is important or meaningful to you. (200 words)
Though there are myriad potential topics to discuss here, applicants should consider the balance of subjects they have covered across their application and choose a topic that provides new insight into their overall candidacy. For example, if the majority of content in your other essay is focused on your professional life and accomplishments, this would be an opportunity to showcase and highlight your extracurricular passions or interests. It also invites something interesting about your background or unusual international experience. You may also consider what matters most to you or what feels like defines you as you decide what may be missing from the other application materials. This is not the place to discuss any liabilities in your candidacy, as Vanderbilt provides the optional essay (below) for such concerns.

Optional Essay 1

You may provide an additional statement to briefly explain anything that is not already addressed elsewhere in your application. This could include employment gaps, lack of recommendation from your current or most recent supervisor, violations of the law, academic misconduct, sub-par academic performance, or anything else that is relevant to your application. Bullet points are acceptable for this statement when appropriate. (300 word limit, optional)
This is not an extension of Essay 2, but rather an opportunity to address any concerns the adcom may have about your candidacy. If you need to address potential liabilities, per the list in the prompt, such discussions should be direct and to the point. Provide an explanation and point to mitigating factors without being defensive or making excuses. While there are 300 words allotted for this response, applicants using this essay to address an issue in their application will likely use only a fraction of this space. The final option to discuss anything else you think is important for the adcom is know is certainly more inviting; however, you’ll want to consider some questions before launching into a response. Applicants should take a conservative approach to this response, only bringing up information that you believe warrants the extra review time from the reader.

Optional Short Answer

Share an interesting or fun fact about yourself. (400 characters)
While optional, candidates should complete this response—ignoring such a short answer risks sending the adcom a signal that you are not committed to the program. 400 characters is about 55-65 words, so don’t expect to have a lot of room to elaborate. Instead, consider the most interesting or fun thing you’ve done or are passionate about and share it here.

Video Response

The video response is a chance for you to provide a glimpse of your authentic self, speaking without a script. The video questions are designed to be easy to answer, “small talk” questions to help us to get to know you. You will have time to prepare your response and the application will provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to record your answers.
Before pressing the “record” button, it would be worth reviewing our advice on video essays to understand the broader goals of a video prompt. As this is a visual presentation that will be recorded live, ensure you are dressed in appropriate professional attire. In terms of a background, clean and steady may work best—you do not want to make the adcom dizzy by taking them on an unsteady walking tour with your laptop. While many applicants will be tempted to introduce props into their video, such as signs, souvenirs, or any prized possessions, we would like to urge caution in this domain. A focused, 90-second response to the question (while looking your audience in the eye) may be far more effective than a distracting string of props, signs, charts—each requiring valuable time to make transitions—not to mention careful attention to readability/visibility on screen. As the question can change and because the adcom is looking for an “unscripted” view of you, you will not want to be hampered by trying to work in materials that may or may not be relevant to the prompt. Take the preview period to gather your thoughts and then speak genuinely and clearly. The adcom has noted that there is no pressure to use the entire video recording window, so once you feel you have fully addressed a question, you may wrap up the recording.

Clear Admit Resources

Thanks for reading our analysis of this year’s Vanderbilt / Owen MBA essay topics. As you work on your Owen MBA essays and application, we encourage you to consider all of Clear Admit’s Vanderbilt / Owen offerings:

• Vanderbilt / Owen Profile on the Clear Admit website: up-to-date advice and admissions information
• Clear Admit LiveWire: admissions updates submitted in real time by applicants to Vanderbilt / Owen
• Clear Admit DecisionWire: school selections in real-time by admits to Vanderbilt / Owen