Vanderbilt / Owen MBA Recommendation Questions
The Vanderbilt / Owen MBA application requires one professional recommendation, preferably from a current or former supervisor or someone who has relied on you/your work in a full-time, part-time, or internship position. Undergraduate students with little to no professional work experience may use academic references. The recommender should be able to draw upon unique observations and insights to share about you and your qualifications for the program.
Vanderbilt Owen also accepts the Common Letter of Recommendation from GMAC. There is an option for the recommender submit a letter instead, but the online form is preferred.
2025-2026 Vanderbilt Owen MBA Recommendation Questions
Section 1: Recommender Information
Highest degree earned:
Institution name:
Type of recommendation letter:
- Academic
- Professional
- Personal
- Research Advisor
Relationship to applicant:
- Colleague
- Professor
- Research Advisor
- Spiritual Leader
- Mentor
- Past Supervisor
- Current Supervisor
- Other
Section 2: Applicant Ratings
The recommender is to use the following scale:
- Truly Exceptional (Top 1-2%)
- Excellent (Top 5%)
- Very good (Top 10%)
- Good (Top 25%)
- Average (Top 50%)
- Below Average (Bottom 50%)
- Inadequate Opportunity to Judge
To the best of your ability, please rate the applicant for each of the following characteristics:
- Intellectual Ability
- Motivation/Initiative
- Integrity
- Oral Communication
- Written Communication
- Task Management
- Working with Others
- Leadership Potential
- Overall Potential Compared to Peers
Section 3: Short Answer Recommendation Questions
What skills have you observed in the applicant that would transfer well to business school and beyond? Please provide specific examples demonstrating these skills. (Max 1200 characters)
What areas do you consider to be areas of growth for the applicant? (Max 1200 characters)
Describe a specific example when the applicant demonstrated exceptional leadership, teamwork, or took initiative to go above and beyond expectations. (Max 1200 characters)
Optional Recommendation Letter Upload
MBA Applywire
Applying to deferred programs this year, would love to hear thoughts on my application.
675 GMAT Focus, 3.723 at Non Target Undergraduate, Finance Major. Decent extra curricular on-campus, for internship experience started college with internship at a small ABL shop, interned sophomore summer/junior school year at a large publicly traded mortgage company doing Risk, interned after junior year at a Big4 doing Risk Consulting for FSOs. Returning FT to same B4 in Deals practice.
Would love to hear thoughts. Thanks.
Orthopaedic surgeon with cross-border training/work exposure i.e. UK, HK & Pakistan
• Strong involvement in research, publications, and innovation-related work
• Interested in the intersection of clinical medicine, healthcare systems, digital health, and business
• Long-term goal is to move from being a clinician to a broader leadership role where I can help build, scale, or evaluate healthcare solutions
African female - after 7 years at an international engineering consultancy and 3 in public sector, looking to get into infrastructure finance through an infrastructure focused MBA and internship pipeline. Certified PPP practitioner but not ao much leadership experience. Hoping to join a big 4 infrastructure advisory or infrastructure fund post MBA.
Only applying to Wharton "Deferred" Program (Due to eligibility)
Demographic: Asian Male, 26
Academic Background: B.S. & M.S. in Nuclear Engineering @ Top school in S.Korea
GPA: B.S.(3.76/4.30), M.S.(3.93/4.30)
GMAT Focus: 675 (Q-96th, DI-95th, V-56th)
Pre-MBA Employer: Recieved FT Offer @ Bain (expected start: July 2026)
Post-MBA Goal:
- Short: Banking
- Long: Infrastructure PE
Internships: Internship @ BCG
Research Experience:
4 conferences and several papers under review about Nuclear Fuel Materials, Nuclear Plant Economics & EPC, Nuclear Reactor Core Design
Extracurricular Activities/Leadership:
- Led a consulting project for a nuclear energy company in S.Korea
- Honor Society, College of Engineering
- VP of the student council @ UG department
- Soccer/Baseball team(non-varsity)
Awards:
- 2 x Minister's Award (1st place in Nationwide competition in Energy Sector)
- 5~10 x Minor Awards mostly in Energy & Nuclear Engineering
Honors:
- U.S. Army Commendation Medal
- Presidential Science Scholarship(Awarded by the President of the Korea, one of 25 recipients nationwide) - Fully funded during UG
- Korea Defense Veteran's Association (KDVA) Scholarship
- Honor Society of the College of Engineering
Hi All,
Location: India YOE:2.8 yrs Industry: Software Role: Senior software developer
I have been working in a software Mnc and recently got fired. I had initially planned to apply for MBA programs for 2027 intake. But given the recent layoff I'm not sure what to do next. I didn't yet take the gmat. And confused if I should do a job hunt now or prepare for gmat, since I wanted to apply for round 1s by sep.
I definitely want to go for a good International MBA for 2027 intake.
What should I do next, follow are the choices I can think of-
1. Prepare for a good gmat score, finish it in next 2-3 months, I also have a small startup idea that I would like to in parallel experiment/try out, not sure how far it will succeed.
2. Prepare for gmat, complete in next 2-3 months then do job hunt(might or might not be able to get a job by the time I apply for round 1s)
Please suggest what is better for my mba applications.
MBA LiveWire
Waitlisted post interview. Gutted. I have offers from INSEAD and LBS but Stern was my first choice.