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
Chemical Engineering Bachelors and Masters (3.44 and 3.88 respectively)
Currently mentoring entry level engineers as well.
Worried about transition from a more engineering field to consulting and how the masters impacts admission odds
Background:
24F, Indian
GPA - 7.5 from a Tier 1 Indian college
Participated in CBSE Swimming nationals, and won medals in relay
Took part in badminton clusters
Was part of the prefectorial body in which we welcomed delegates from all around the world
Took part in a NASA program wherein we visited the Johnson Space Centre in Houston
College:
Not good GPA but can defend it
Part of college badminton team and won many laureates
Got bronze in an inter-collegiate tournament as the women’s badminton team captain. And created history as this wasn’t achieved before by any woman’s badminton team
Was the sportswoman of the year for my college
Was part of the incubation center management team of the college. Was part of the strategic relations team (where we almost got Steve Wozniak to deliver a speech) and was the event management team lead
Work Experience:
3yrs Software eng/ quant experience in a top investment bank (front office and back office Eng roles)
Got a promotion
Lead a 2months intern project
What are my chances for the above colleges for a MBA and can I expect any scholarship?
Should I retake the test? Planning to apply in R1
Two-time founder (marketing agency during undergrad, then a fintech post-graduation), ex-Kearney consulting, currently on the founding team of a boutique financial consulting firm. Based in Pakistan, 29. Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree. Undergrad from LUMS (top business school in Pakistan) with a 2.91 GPA, which I know is my main weakness.
Targeting HBS, Stanford, and MIT Sloan for R1. I'm aware these are reaches given my GPA. GRE is in progress, currently retaking to push into the 315 to 320 range with a strong quant score to offset the academic profile.
Post-MBA goal is to scale into senior operating or founder roles in fintech and financial services, building on my consulting and startup background.
GMAT/GRE waiver, realistically what are my chances? I have 4 major exercises and 1 deployment. The reason for the waiver is time constraints as I am currently deployed.
I'm a dentist from India exploring international MBA programs and would appreciate some advice from people who have either gone through a similar transition or have experience with MBA admissions and outcomes.
My long-term goal is to move into the healthcare/healthtech ecosystem, potentially in areas such as healthcare consulting, product management, healthcare strategy, or healthtech startups. I am particularly interested in leveraging my clinical background rather than moving into a completely unrelated field.
I'm currently evaluating MBA programs in Europe and Asia (Singapore, Japan, HongKong)
For context, I have a GMAT Focus score of 575 with 4 years of work ex within the clinical and corporate side of the healthcare sector
MBA LiveWire
Frustrating that no feedback is given. Felt like I had a great profile/ fit for the program. Good luck to anyone else still waiting