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Accelerator
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Summer Business Institute
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Accelerator®—Vanderbilt Summer Business Institute These days, it’s tough to get a good job out of college without meaningful experience. And it’s tough to get experience without a job. ® Accelerator —Vanderbilt Summer Business Institute helps college students and recent grads get both. In four fast-paced weeks, you’ll immerse yourself in the business world. Build knowledge and skills that win jobs. Apply what you learn almost as soon as you learn it. Work in teams (and lead them). Make connections with potential employers. Do more than you ever imagined. (And have fun while you’re doing it!) The experience, knowledge, contacts and new confidence you’ll gain will help you get a big head start as you launch your career—and a big advantage.
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iller resume.
ust 28 days. Table of Contents Real Projects....................................................2-3 An Internship on Steroids ..............................4-5 One Day in the Life........................................ 6-7 Admissions Information ...............................8
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Real projects. Real clients.
Real opportunii
In four short weeks, Accelerator students handle multiple real-world consulting projects. Applying what they learn in class, they devise solutions to business problems for companies. Then they present their teams’ ideas to the companies’ key executives, sometimes even the CEO (people you’d never meet in an ordinary internship). Here are some examples:
The client: Warner Music Group
The client: Thistle Farms—Thistle Stop Café
The assignment: Students were asked to develop ideas for cross-promotional opportunities by identifying an existing brand whose consumers might have an affinity for Warner’s country music arm (Warner Music Nashville) and its Christian music label (Word) and to devise a plan to drive consumer awareness and impressions.
The assignment: Thistle Stop Café is a new venture for Thistle Farms, a nationally recognized nonprofit that helps provide housing, treatment and employment for women who have been trafficked or suffered addiction and life on the streets. Students were asked to create a market demand study of the customer segments targeted for the café; suggest the products and services the café should offer; develop a plan for operating hours and staffing; and estimate operating costs and revenues for the business.
The result: Warner adopted the idea of the winning Accelerator team to pitch a partnership with Vera Bradley, which included wellconceived product tie-ins and promotions, plus a cohesive plan for activating the brands and measuring the resulting impressions.
The result: The winning team identified and analyzed a target market of “cause” consumers within a five-mile radius of the café, as well as potential competition. They also developed a comprehensive business and operations plan that included hours, staffing and a menu. They even presented concepts for interior design, including coffee cup lighting you can see in the café today.
J ust a f ew o f t h e c ompa n ies t h at h ave spo n sored A c c elerator proje c ts over t h e y ears
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nities. ities.
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It’s like a four-week
plus an internsh “All of the faculty here are so willing to use their experience to guide you or connect you with people who can. Instead of making life seem like a competition, Owen encourages students to work collaboratively to achieve unique individual goals. ”
Maja Majewski
Vanderbilt Accelerator | 2013 Undergrad Institution: Vanderbilt University Undergrad Major: Human and Organizational Development Anticipated Graduation Year: 2015
“What I cherish the most from Accelerator are the opportunities and the experiences you receive. Accelerator has been the most beneficial thing I have done to set myself in front of other students.”
“Throughout the program I learned about aspects of business such as marketing, consulting, advertising, communications and supply management, but I also learned more about myself than I could have imagined.”
Sarah Macy
Jack Li
Vanderbilt Accelerator | 2013 Undergrad Institution: Middlebury College Undergrad Major: Psychology and Film & Media Culture Anticipated Graduation Year: 2015
Vanderbilt Accelerator | 2013 Undergrad Institution: University of Georgia Undergrad Major: Finance Anticipated Graduation Year: 2015
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“I chose Accelerator to broaden my knowledge base as well as to help me discover hidden passions for areas I had not yet considered.”
JeffREY Fischer
Vanderbilt Accelerator | 2013 Undergrad Institution: Harvard College Undergrad Major: Mechanical Engineering Anticipated Graduation Year: 2015
semester,
ship on steroids. Professor Cherrie Clark
Accelerator gives you classroom learning in the business fundamentals—from marketing and branding to finance, operations and logistics—all from Vanderbilt’s world-class faculty. But that’s only for starters.
Professor David Owens
On top of that, you’ll learn how to work in teams (just as real business consultants do) on projects for real companies, with invaluable advice and feedback from faculty and MBA coaches on everything from your business ideas to your presentation skills.
Professor Kimberly Pace
You’ll receive career counseling, too, that will help you sharpen your interviewing and networking skills as well as develop your resume. We don’t think you’ll find another summer program that gives you so much in such a short time.
Professor Luke Froeb
Professor Steve Hoeffler
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An Accelerated
Day
in the
Life:
Ilana French Robbins
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Rising junior at Vanderbilt with a major in Economics and a minor in Corporate Strategy. Native of Westchester, NY, and first in her family, she says, not to go to college in New England. “I love Nashville and Vanderbilt. Now my younger brother wants to apply. I knew I wanted to go into business, so I talked to other students here who had gone through Accelerator. They said it was an incredible experience—and they were right!” 6:00 AM
for a business environment, or how to use Photoshop, or interviewing skills. We can choose what interests us most.
Wake up and get ready for a fast-paced day. It’s never the same from one day to the next. In fact, we never even know what our schedule will be for the next day until the evening before.
7:00 AM
Breakfast (on most days) at Owen—and (on some days) 2:45 PM at Starbucks with colleagues on my team to review our Today, we have a class work on one of our consulting projects or review details in Entrepreneurship with Professor for a presentation. Michael Burcham (the knowledge I got from 8:00 AM On most days, like today, we have class after breakfast. the professors at Owen was amazing). Two afternoons One day it might be creative advertising. Another might a week, we’d have free time for exercise, when I’d head to the Student Rec Center or maybe call my family. be managerial economics. On the “presentation days” (like yesterday)—when groups present their ideas to a “client,” such as Nissan, we’d wait in the lobby to make our 10-minute pitch and then watch other groups (there are 10 teams in all) make theirs. Then we’d talk with each other in the lobby while the Nissan executives did their evaluations and ranked our groups. The winning teams posed for photos. We got to pose twice!
4:00 PM
Project time again. This morning, we worked on Surgical Care Associates. Now, we switch gears to something completely different—Warner Music Nashville.
6:00 PM
After dinner at 5 (every day), our teams get together again to work on our projects. For each client, our projects involve evaluating the 3C’s—the company, customers and competitors—and developing the “big idea” for the business challenge they’ve given us.
9:30 AM
On days without presentations, our teams work on our projects until lunch. We usually have two projects running at once, which makes it feel like the real business world, and our sessions involve a mix of group thinking and regrouping on individual assignments.
8:00 PM
Maybe one night out of six, we’re done for the evening when the building at Owen closes. Not tonight, though. We’ve just received our schedule for tomorrow, so we can gauge how much more we need to accomplish tonight. We head back to our dorm for a few more hours before bed.
Noon
Catered lunch at Owen. Depending on what our team needs to do, we often make it a working lunch.
1:00 PM
Faculty host different breakout sessions for professional development—like how to dress
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CLASS PROFILE All Vanderbilt Business students have one thing in common: They’re different. But while there’s no risk that we’ll ever reduce students to statistics and averages, here are a few figures that may give you a picture of who your classmates might be.
Accelerator Profile Class of 2013 Class Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45% Recent Graduates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20% Rising Seniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31% Rising Juniors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44% Rising Sophomores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5%
List of Undergraduate Majors
Partial List of Undergraduate Institutions
Accounting Art History Biology Business Administration Business Marketing Communications Computer Science Economics Engineering Science English Finance & Economics Geography Government History Human & Org. Dev.
Auburn University Boston College Bucknell University Clemson University Colgate University College of Charleston Cornell University Davidson College Denison University Duke University Emory University Furman University George Washington University Georgetown University Harvard University Kenyon College Lafayette College McGill University Middlebury College Rice University Saint Olaf College
International Business International Politics Latin American Studies Marketing Mathematics Mechanical Engineering Medicine, Health & Society Music Neuroscience Philosophy Political Science Psychology Sociology Spanish Sports Management
Where Accelerator Alumni Went to Work Accenture AT&T Bain and Company Bank of America Capital One ConocoPhillips Deloitte EY GE Capital Google HCA
Huron Consulting Merrill Lynch Morgan Stanley One Acre Fund PepsiCo PwC Saatchi & Saatchi Scotiabank SunTrust Bank Teach for America UBS
Syracuse University Trinity College University of Alabama University of Georgia University of Kentucky University of Miami (FL) University of MichiganAnn Arbor University of Mississippi University of Notre Dame University of Pennsylvania University of Richmond University of the South University of Virginia Vanderbilt University Wake Forest University Washington University Western Kentucky University Xavier University Yale University
Past Sponsors American Airlines | Bridgestone | Chamber of Commerce Coca-Cola | FedEx | Habitat for Humanity | Junior Achievement | Lexus | Mars | Nashville Charter School Incubator | Nissan | Nashville Predators | Oreck Thistle Farms | Yum! Brands 11 08
admissions requirementS
program dates Sunday, June 1 - Saturday, June 28, 2014
Admissions Requirements
Successful applicants will have a strong record of achievement, a thirst for knowledge and the ability to bring energy and a positive attitude to an intense, yet rewarding program. To be considered, all applicants will provide the following: n n n n
ADMISSIONs EVENTS Online Learning Sessions*
Online application Undergrad transcript Two essays Two letters of recommendation
Interviews Select applicants will be contacted within two weeks of submitting an application with an invitation to interview either in person or via video call. There are no prerequisites for the Accelerator program.
Learn more about what Accelerator can offer you while sitting in the comfort of your dorm room. During these web events you will talk directly with the program director, hear an overview of the program as well as have the opportunity to ask questions.
Session Time Wednesday, January 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 AM Tuesday, January 28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:00 PM Tuesday, February 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11:00 AM Wednesday, March 19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4:00 PM *All times listed are central standard time
cost of program Estimated Expenses Tuition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 9,000 Books. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Included Meals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Included Activities and Excursions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Included Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 1,000 Access to Vanderbilt Rec Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Included
Scholarships are available and may be awarded based on achievement and potential.* * Contact Program Director for more information.
Additional costs to consider Travel to Nashville | Housing essentials (towels, sheets, etc.) | Business clothing | Laundry service & dry cleaning
application deadlines Application Deadline to Decision Deposit you to apply as Deadline early in the admission Round Apply We encourage Deadline cycle as possible. Early* Dec. 31, 2013 Feb. 3, 2014 One month after acceptance
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Jan. 28, 2014 Feb. 20, 2014
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Mar. 18, 2014 Full tuition due upon acceptance
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Apr. 18, 2014 Full tuition due upon acceptance
Mar. 14, 2014
One month after acceptance
* Receive $500 discount on tuition owen.vanderbilt.edu/accelerator
A distinguished school. With some
distinctive differences.
We’re competitive, not cutthroat. We lead with ideas, not egos. We take business personally. Our professors will know you by name.
Accelerator®—Vanderbilt Summer Business Institute
Vanderbilt University | Owen Graduate School of Management 401 21st Avenue South | Nashville, TN 37203-2422 Telephone: 615.343.6291 | Fax: 615.343.7177 Email: accelerator@owen.vanderbilt.edu Web: owen.vanderbilt.edu/accelerator Hours: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM, U.S. Central Time ©2013 Vanderbilt and the Vanderbilt logo are registered trademarks and service marks of Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt University is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action. Visit owen.vanderbilt.edu for Vanderbilt University’s complete EEO and affirmative action statement.