Vanderbilt University just released their early placement report for the class of 2018. It goes without saying that the program continues to build upon its past success. Placements are always great, year in and year out, and Vanderbilt did not disappoint this year. I will post again once the full report is released, but this is a good indicator of how the program did and in my opinion, will continue to do.
Class of 2018 Profile
- 51 Students (18% women)
- Avg. GMAT – 687
- Avg. GPA – 3.6/4.0
Placement Information
Vanderbilt University always does a good job of providing detail and granularity in their placement reports. I look forward to seeing the full report, but they did an amazing job with the level of detail for this press release. I will include the most pertinent details below, but you can read everything in entirety here.
| FINAL OFFER STATUS | |
|---|---|
| # of Graduates Seeking Employment | 41 |
| Students with Offers within 6 Months of Graduation | 93% |
| Students who Accepted Employment within 6 Months of Graduation | 93% |
This 93% statistic is key and very important. Placing nearly the entire class within 6 months of graduation is a very impressive figure and testifies to the quality of education at the Vanderbilt MSF program as well as how great the career office. I’ve talked about this before, but Vanderbilt’s career services are the best you are going to find.
| AVERAGE SALARY DATA | |
|---|---|
| Base Salary | $71,530 |
| Signing Bonus | $7,605 |
| % of Graduates Receiving Signing Bonus | 63% |
This year represents the highest base salary in the history of the Vanderbilt University MSF program (read the full press report here). Those students focused on investment banking should take note that this is an average and analyst base and bonus in investment banking are higher and more standardized (42% of employment is in Investment Banking).
| TOP HIRING COMPANIES—NUMBER OF GRADUATES HIRED | |
|---|---|
| Deutsche Bank | 3 |
| SunTrust Robinson Humphrey | 3 |
| Bank of America Merrill Lynch | 2 |
| Capco | 2 |
| EY | 2 |
| PwC | 2 |
What I like about the above chart is that it really highlights the repeat placements that Vanderbilt has had at top institutions. It also gives you an idea of the number of alumni from the Vanderbilt MSF program that are at these firms.
Location wise, Vanderbilt has a huge presence in the south (13 students hired in the Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte metros). With that said, the program also places heavily in NYC (9 students) as well as elsewhere.
If you scroll down to the bottom of the first link I included, you can see a number of student profiles that add color to the placement figures reported.
I hope this helps anyone considering Vanderbilt. I’ve posted numerous times on the program as well as visited the campus and consider it to be one of, if not the best MSF program in the country. They put effort in all the right places, while still being a fun and great collegiate experience. Anyone trying to make up their mind on whether to attend should definitely visit campus and talk with all of the great people that make up this program. You won’t be disappointed.
Here is a link to the Vanderbilt University Masters in Finance Program
