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Round 1: October 10, 2014<\/p>\n
Round 2: January 7, 2015<\/p>\n
Round 3: April 1, 2015<\/p>\n
Like last year, Darden again requires applicants to write only one essay question<\/span> for the 2014-2015 admissions cycle. \u00a0This implies that the story you choose is all the more vital because you will be evaluated just through that. It is very frequently said that we are the choices that we make. So the Admissions Committee will get to know you from what you tell them about the choices you made, the path you took, the reasons that made you \u00a0choose that particular path, the actions you took and \u00a0the learning you gleaned \u00a0from that experience. This essay is a way for Darden to know about your personal <\/i>traits (motivation, maturity, integrity and self-awareness)<\/i>, the traits they admire in their prospective students.<\/p>\n The key words in the essay question are \u2018courageous\u2019<\/i> and \u2018professional\u2019<\/i>. You are specifically being asked about a decision you made in your professional<\/span> environment and to elaborate on the courageous<\/span><\/i> element in it. Through this essay question, Darden not only expects you to share your story of a courageous decision that you made at work, but also wants you to narrate your thought process during that time, and the learning you gleaned through that experience.<\/p>\n The time consuming part in the process of working on this essay is the brainstorming bit. You have to sit and analyze the best possible example that you\u2019d like to give and weave a story around it.<\/p>\n In order to brainstorm ideas\/stories for this essay question, you need to look for instances when things didn\u2019t work the way you had expected them to be and you had to think out of the box and make a choice that required \u2018courage\u2019 on your part.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For example, you may have encountered one or more of the following situations:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A very important aspect to be kept in mind is that all these examples would have a dose of \u2018risk\u2019 that was taken by the writer. A courageous decision that was taken by you would have, most probably, had some amount of risk that you took. Going by the literal definition, \u2018courageous\u2019 means \u2018not deterred by danger\u2019.<\/i> This means that your story shall have a danger, or a risk, as mentioned before, that you chose to overcome by doing what you felt was the best at that point. Focus on that and highlight it. Make sure your story has the following\u00a0four<\/span>\u00a0components:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Since the second part of the essay question asks you to share what you learned from that experience, it is imperative that you explain at length why that experience is meaningful to you in terms of what you achieved and what\u00a0you learned. The experience may have revealed to you your strong attributes which you yourself were not familiar with earlier. You can elucidate in two ways: explaining what you learned about yourself, or explaining what you learned about your surroundings .\u00a0For example, you might have never known that you could lead a team so effectively, but this decision you took offered you an opportunity to successfully lead a team that yielded great results.\u00a0You may also describe how you are now applying or trying to apply those lessons in similar situations at work. The key here is your essay should eventually demonstrate your growth.Treat the experience like a journey and show it in your essay. Show how you embarked on the path to personal development and how it led to the inception of one quality in you that you are most proud of.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the following example, the applicant wraps up his story by outlining what he learned.<\/p>\n Challenging the client team at a client location and winning my proposal made me more confident in speaking my mind about the project issues at work. Since then, I have never hesitated in expressing my opinion, and it has helped me provide many valuable contributions to the projects.<\/i><\/p>\n The assistant Dean of MBA Admissions at Darden, Sara Neher, offered several tips to prospective students for the Darden application essay for this year. She emphasized that it should be a decision you made on your own, no matter how small \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0or big it is. The key is that your decision should have made a difference. An excellent essay, she said, is the one that is able to express the candidate\u2019s emotions well.<\/p>\n To watch the video, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/b>1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Brainstorming ideas for this question:<\/h2>\n
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\nRemember, whatever your story is, it should present you in a positive light, revealing your strengths in the areas of diplomacy, honesty, maturity, ethics, self-awareness and integrity. Be honest in providing details of what you thought, how you felt, what you said, and what you did. These vivid details of your story and your emotions would reveal your character traits and your ability to navigate through complex situations.<\/p>\n2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Structuring<\/b> the essay:<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Example:<\/b><\/h2>\n