When Mariam Amusan began looking into MBA programs, Vanderbilt stood out to her. “HOP was an area I was interested in learning more about,” she explains, “and Vanderbilt was one of the programs I looked at that offered it.”

Another key factor: “I also liked the small class size. I felt it was better suited to my personality, and I would be able to learn better and build a stronger network with my peers.”

Mariam points to a number of aspects of the program that equipped her to advance her career, from participating in the Human Capital Case Competition to working with her peer coach through the Career Management Center to the shaping influence of Owen’s distinctive Leadership Development Program.

In particular, she highlights her classroom experiences at the school, specifically “how interactive they are,” she says. “They create a psychologically safe space where you are able to confidently share your opinions. It was always very interesting to hear varying experiences and ideas.”

To her, that was a dimension of “the level of support you receive from the Owen community. The staff, students, and faculty are genuinely invested in your success. Now, I’ve been better able to define my leadership skills and feel I have become more of a strategic HR leader with a better understanding of how businesses function.”

She isn’t the only one who believes that Owen helped prepare her to be a leader. Poets&Quants recognized Mariam as one of its 2020 “MBAs to Watch.”