Tye Weaver first sought the opportunity to work with New York professionals as a trombonist. Out of over 600 candidates, he auditioned his way into the top performing class of 30 students hoping to study with musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, among other organizations. He remains proud that he reached the quarterfinal round of performances.

Then, pivoting, he decided to reach New York by way of finance. “Coming from a music background, I didn’t exactly get a lot of training in accounting and finance,” Tye says. “I knew an MBA was out of the question because I had no work experience and nothing to point to, as far as personal projects in the business space. Then, when I discovered what an MSF was, Vanderbilt kept popping up everywhere I looked. So it became a top choice for me.”

The reputation of the MSF program, “coupled with a world-class business school name,” Tye says, “drove my desire to apply.” It was also a plus, he adds, that Vanderbilt is in Nashville. “That made it easy to go out and hear live music,” he says. “That’s one of my favorite things about Nashville.”

He came away from his year at Vanderbilt with even more than he expected. “The program has given me a great skill set and knowledge in the finance space, and since I had taken very few finance or business courses before Owen, the knowledge was obviously very useful,” he says. “On top of that, though, I think something that really shaped my future was that every single class I took at Vanderbilt involved working in teams. Teamwork is one of those skills that could have an entire degree dedicated to it. I really believe that unless you have extensive experience working on multiple teams, you’ll never get really good at being a team player. And if you go into an industry like finance, you’re going to have to work in groups. Vanderbilt did a great job of helping me get that experience.”

And while he’s not the type of professional player he had initially aspired to be, Tye made it to New York as part of the team of a major financial firm.

Fun Fact: Tye is a twin.

If you go into an industry like finance, you’re going to have to work in groups. Vanderbilt did a great job of helping me get that experience.