Your MBA Experience
One of the defining features of the Vanderbilt MBA curriculum is its flexibility. While all students build a strong foundation in business fundamentals, the program allows you to tailor your experience to align with your interests and career goals.
Students can deepen their expertise through concentrations, specializations, and emphases, gaining focused knowledge in industries and functional areas that support their professional aspirations.
Concentrations
MBA concentrations allow students to build deeper expertise in a specific industry or functional area. Through focused elective coursework, students develop advanced knowledge that supports their career goals while strengthening the leadership and management skills central to the Vanderbilt MBA.
Specializations
Specializations are focused course tracks for students seeking in-depth study in the functional area aligned with their career goals. Specializations require 20 credit hours beyond the core, including the 12 hours earned in the related concentration plus eight additional hours.
Emphases
An emphasis allows you to explore a specific industry or area of interest through eight credit hours of coursework. Emphases can complement other concentrations or specializations and include options such as Entrepreneurship, International Studies, and Sustainability & Social Impact.