Calling all Darden-UVA Applicants (2016 Intake) Class of 2018

It doesn't seem like more scholarship money is available at Darden than at other similarly ranked MBAs. https://poetsandquants.com/2014/11/20/mba-scholarships-at-top-business-schools/2/ So, is this Jefferson Scholars offer merely a ploy to encourage admissions? Most schools seem to automatically consider you for scholarships without the additional application/interview. I suppose one advantage would be, if you interview especially well, you'd have the opportunity to improve your scholarship chances. Maybe a good deal for someone who doesn't look as good on paper?

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Attend a GEMBA Roundtable on 22 August

Maybe you’ve thought about getting your MBA, but you don’t want to take two years off of work. Or maybe you’re feeling stuck in your career or company, and you want to see what an international perspective could bring to your work. If so, Darden’s Global MBA for Executives (GEMBA) format might be the right fit for you. Darden’s GEMBA format boasts the same core curriculum as Darden’s full-time program and is taught by the same top-ranked faculty, but it works with your schedule and your career goals. You will earn your MBA while continuing to work full time and will be able to apply the lessons you learn in class at your job immediately. Over 21 months, you will go on six two-week-long international residencies – that’s only 60 total days out of the office – to fully understand what managing a business means in different countries. Once you’ve completed your degree, the options are endless – strengthen your position at your current company, take on a new role at a new company, or switch to an entirely different career. Want to learn more? On Saturday, 22 August, Darden will be hosting a special Class Visit Day for prospective students interested in the Global MBA for Executives program. Attendees will come to Charlottesville to spend a morning learning more about the format, getting answers to any questions, and finding out about what makes Darden so unique. The visit will include a roundtable discussion with Darden GEMBA staff and faculty, a class visit, a tour of grounds, and lunch with current GEMBA students. You can register for the event here. If you cannot attend, be sure to also check our website for other upcoming events throughout the rest of the summer and the fall. We hope to see you soon!

I also got it. I wasn't originally planning on applying to Darden but started considering it because of the email. Not sure I'll spend the time now knowing it's simply based on my GMAT score.

Whattt

I got a 740 but they did not receive my score yet (never sent it although I will apply), should I be concerned that I would not be able to even get the chance to get one?

I want to make sure this question gets seen. I'm also looking for the recommender questions to prep my colleagues.

So I finally happened to get a feedback from Darden after chasing them for more than a month.

The format of the feedback is designed in a way that first the ADCOM asks you to tell where did you falter and then they tell you their thoughts and tips to improve.

My Thoughts:

1. Problem with the Essay 1
2. Problem with the connection of goal with current work ex.
3. Over represented pool.

Their analysis:

1. Undergrad university name is not great
2. Tried to impress them in the Essay 1 instead of answering the questions.

Their Tips:

Since the GPA and undergrad university cannot be changed, and since i come from an overrepresented pool, may be I can try and push my GMAT which is a 760
I was stunned and started laughing on the call. I even asked do you know what my GMAT is
They told that nothing can be done with the GPA and undergrad, so the only way to improve in by pushing your score towards that perfect score.

No talks about the work experience, responsibilities, extra curiculars, international exposure. Nothing at all.
Out of all this ... GMAT. I mean are you serious. Retake after a 760. Where ever I come from, but a retake after a 760

Immediately after the call, I striked off Darden from my list of schools that is pasted on the wall of my room

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Darden’s 2015-16 MBA Application is Now Live!

Darden’s MBA application for the Class of 2018 is live, and we’re excited to get to know you through this process. As you begin to work your way through the application, Darden’s Assistant Dean of Admissions, Sara Neher, offers some tips about how to approach our questions. Be sure to also subscribe to Darden’s Admissions Blog where you will find the latest news, upcoming events, application tips, and much more. 2015-16 Full-Time MBA Application Deadlines Round 1: 8 October 2015 Round 2: 8 January 2016 Round 3: 8 April 2016 Click Here to Start Your Application Thank you for your interest in Darden. We look forward to reading your application!

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Consortium MBA Application Preparation Seminars

Darden is pleased to be participating in The Consortium’s MBA Application Preparation Seminars (MAPS) again this year. At MAPS events, you will have the opportunity to learn more about the admissions and application process, get information on Darden and other member schools, meet MBA alumni and hear about the opportunities and benefits of a Consortium membership. We hope you will join us at an event near you! MAPS Event Locations: 3 September 2015: New York, NY 9 September 2015: San Francisco, CA 10 September 2015: Los Angeles, CA 12 September 2015: Houston, TX 16 September 2015: Chicago, IL 26 September 2015: Orlando, FL 29 September 2015: Washington, DC 1 October 2015: Atlanta, GA You can learn more about The Consortium here. If you cannot make it to any of these events, please check our website to find a full list of this fall’s events and open houses.

I'm going to give some tough love to you and others who may think like you about this application process, but you really don't understand the process or how the world works if you really react that way to how adcom responded to you. Looking at your profile, you are from India doing technology with good stats as you acknowledged. But they can't dig too much more or they will set themselves up for some legal liability for potentially sounding racist or attributing your lack of admission to your race.

You have to be empathetic here and use logic to understand why adcom won't advance farther with that thought. No adcom for any school will admit to bucketing people of the same race, gender, professional, etc. against each other even though everyone knows that's how the process works. I don't know how technology roles in India work, but based on my understanding of lower level engineering and tech jobs, you don't have much leadership experience. Everyone has the same experience. If you're too typical for your bucket, you better have pedigree and ELITE stats or you better be different in some HUGE way. Your tone scapegoats the Darden adcom, and quite honestly, any bschool would probably say the same stuff. And your reaction just points the finger at someone else to release any accountability you have on your end. Talk about someone who's self-aware or can take advantage of ambiguity. If you can't figure those things out for yourself, why should anyone think you're capable of doing that for a business?

Bschools get thousands of apps from people with your profile. Honestly, even if you have an 800, bschools still won't take you. It's not about the grades. It's about your ability to communicate, work with people, use empathy to find and solve problems/needs in this world, influence people, resolve conflicts, etc. Business isn't simply about getting work done and get the best scores. Ironically, since bschools have been doing that in the past decade, employers have increasingly complained about the lack of interpersonal skills of bschool graduates. It's no coincidence. An MBA isn't a PhD. It's not a degree of brains and grades. It's a degree for leading people and organizations to solve problems that help people. If applicants don't get that, then they're applying for the wrong degree. This has been a big theme I've seen in these threads and people need to wake up and smell the coffee about what an MBA is all about. Plus, the sense of entitlement in these threads because of grades is deplorable.

I applaud any school for being vague or giving no feedback to candidates. The ones who figure it out and improve deserve a spot. Not the ones who think they need everything handed to them or complain about it.

Hey there ... thanks a lot for sharing your insight into the whole issue here. It is good to know different perspectives about an issue. First off, I apologize if my tone did not sound right, but the ADCOM herself was not happy in giving this suggestion. It might be my mistake in the way I wrote or might be a mistake in your comprehending, but I wanted to show helplessness here with respect to the GMAT score and demography and not blame the ADCOM. Even she laughed along with me when we talked about the GMAT score.

The school has its set of rules and I simply do not fit into the requirement. I completely understand this fact, that is why I striked off the school from my list. The decision of not applying to Darden points to self-awareness and to awareness of the rules of the school and not to blaming the school and ridiculing the ADCOM.

Regarding work experience, I beg to differ, but after some level of experience, the jobs do involve significant leadership and team work. The issue we face here is that everyone has similar stories to tell and that is where we need to differentiate ourselves in a HUGE way as you pointed out.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I was dinged by a lot of schools last year and was accepted too albeit I decided not to join because of some constraints. So I know what role does a GMAT has to play and very frankly speaking I do not have a sense of entitlement for my GMAT score. But that is a different story and we will talk about it later The point here is that I have received a feedback from some of the schools and they did point out things that needed improvement. The way you have put things here put the whole concept of feedback as a worthless activity. A very important quality of a person wanting to succeed in life and grow or for that matter any individual is to ask for help if stuck in a situation and asking for help is perfectly fine. So asking for a feedback does not necessarily mean that I or any person wants things to be handed on to his/her hands.

There are some who get in the first time and some in the second or the third time and the latter ones if ask for help are not the ones who do not know how to figure out things. The feedback calls are in place for a reason and making use of them is not asking to be handed things in your plate. I am not sure if you are aware about this, but certain schools tell the candidates not to re-apply if they have not opted for a feedback call.

The section where you type the tips says it was the GMAT through all the hoops you jumped through to get feedback. You listed all the other components and then said "are you serious" and you laughed on the call. Then you immediately said you crossed darden off your list of schools. Based on that sequence of events, you led the reader to believe how I interpreted it. Your follow up adds significant details you omitted from the initial post to have the reader have sympathy for your situation.

I haven't read any other posts you might've written or know your situation, so you can see where I'm coming from. I agree with you that it's frustrating to be told to retake a 760, but it seems you already know how the politics of admissions work. It shouldn't be a surprise that adcoms give you little to nothing with their propensity to be politically correct or err on the side of caution for sensitive subjects when a person is denied admission. Since you know the reasons revolve around your similar background to an overdue presented group, you could try to differentiate yourself or fall victim to what you already know may happen again. You really don't need adcom to validate what you may think.

Also, it wouldn't be good to give the impression to adcom that you're "stuck" here because they want fully aware and introspective people. All you can do is move on from the convo and use it as a lesson for your other schools, because you aren't walking away from this demographic issue at other schools. It only gets worse the higher up the rankings you go.

Hahaha ... I liked it. The point by point dissection I am glad I was able to make it clear


Hmmm ... makes sense. Trying to add that difference to my profile and the application. Let's see how it goes

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Meet Darden at an Upcoming Partner Event

Students are back at Darden, but in Admissions, our summer on the road continues. In the last few days of August, we have several partner receptions in a wide variety of locations. These events are great opportunities for you to meet alumni and representatives from Darden and other top business schools and to get all your questions about the application process answered. If we’re going to be near you, please stop by, introduce yourself and learn more about what makes Darden graduates stand out. Chicago, IL – Multi-School Event 26 August, 2015 – Register Los Angeles, CA – Forté Forum Women’s Event 26 August, 2015 – Register Toronto, Canada – Multi-School Event 27 August, 2015 – Register Houston, TX – Forté Forum Women’s Event 27 August 2015 – Register Monterrey, Mexico – Monterrey MBA Fair 29 August, 2015 – Register Chicago, IL – Forté Forum Women’s Event 31 August, 2015 – Register We will also be kicking off our Darden Admissions and Alumni Receptions on 2 September in Boston. Be sure to check our website to see if we will be hosting an event near you soon, or visit Darden during one of our Open Houses this fall. We look forward to meeting you!

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Women@Darden

The Class of 2017 has arrived at Darden, bringing with it record-breaking numbers of women. Across the three formats, this year’s class boasts 34% women. The residential class alone has 117 women, and we are so excited to have them on Grounds. Darden is committed to recruiting women who want to positively impact the world, and empowering them for long-term success in whatever role they choose. One of the ways we promote that is through the Women@Darden Initiative. The Women@Darden Initiative is a cross-departmental effort launched last year to examine and to continually improve the quali­ty of the Darden experience for prospective and current female stu­dents and alumnae. Faculty, students, alumnae and senior leaders of the School, moreover, collaborate to explore recruitment, student experience and alumni engagement in an ongoing effort to enrich Darden’s ecosystem for women. This group’s outreach and strategic initiatives are one of the many ways the School is supporting a diverse, vibrant community and encouraging open and sustained dialogue around important issues of gender dynamics and gender equality. We invite you to learn more about the opportunities available to women on our website. We also welcome any questions you may have about Women@Darden or any of our other programs or partnerships.

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Darden 2015 Fall Open Houses

We are thrilled to be kicking off our 2015 on-Grounds Admissions events with our first open house on Monday, 7 September! Darden offers several open houses throughout the fall season to help prospective students learn more about the school. Each event includes a full day of programming designed to help you assess your fit with the program and the Darden community. This year, each open house will also include a discussion of a specific area of interest for prospective students. Our first open house, which is Monday, 7 September, is currently full, but we have space in all other open houses at this time. You can find information on them and links to sign up below. Prospective applicants are welcome to attend any one of these open houses, but are encouraged to visit on the day that most closely aligns with their interests. Business in Society Monday, 7 September Register Now – FULL Entrepreneurship & Innovation Monday, 14 September Register Now Women at Darden Monday, 21 September Register now Asset Management and Investing at Darden Monday, 28 September Register Now Military at Darden Monday, 12 October Register Now Diversity at Darden Thursday, 29 October – Friday, 30 October Register Now Additionally, full-time MBA class visits have already begun and will run throughout the school year. We currently have class visits available through mid-October, with more to come as the year progresses. You can view available dates and sign up for a class visit here. We look forward to seeing you at Darden this fall!

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: Dean Scott C. Beardsley Featured in Poets & Quants

Dean Scott Beardsley is settling into his second month at Darden, and he was recently interviewed by Poets & Quants about his consulting background, his decision to transition into academia and his first orders of business at Darden. “I don’t feel like a fish out of water,” insists the sandy-haired Beardsley. “Perhaps that is because I come from a place that has a similar governance structure. One of the former managing directors of McKinsey has said that the best way to understand the firm is to think of it as a university. Knowledge is our prime currency. It runs on a shared governance process. You can’t tell anyone what to do. It’s collaborative and consultative, and that is true of Darden. ” You can read the full article here. We are lucky to have Dean Beardsley joining us tomorrow for his first Admissions & Alumni Reception with Darden in Washington, DC.  These receptions are a unique opportunity to personally connect with members of the Darden community, including Admissions Committee members, faculty and alumni. If you would like to attend, please register here.

FROM Darden Admissions Blog: In Bold Pursuit: Sarah Rumbaugh

From the i.Lab Incubator to the Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, it is clear that entrepreneurship is one of the many paths that can be nurtured at Darden. One such example of this is Sarah Rumbaugh (MBA ’15), founder of RelishMBA, an MBA recruiting tool. Sarah began working on RelishMBA in her first semester at Darden, and with support from Darden’s many resources, made her idea a reality. Learn more about her experience in this video: Darden’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Open House is on Monday, 14 September. Register to reserve your spot and learn more about Darden’s many offerings.