{"id":25108,"date":"2014-08-04T07:00:35","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T14:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2014\/08\/getting-into-the-mba-program-mbamissions-university-of-virginia-darden-essay-analysis-2014-2015\/"},"modified":"2014-08-04T07:00:35","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T14:00:35","slug":"getting-into-the-mba-program-mbamissions-university-of-virginia-darden-essay-analysis-2014-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/getting-into-the-mba-program-mbamissions-university-of-virginia-darden-essay-analysis-2014-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Into the MBA Program: mbaMission\u2019s University of Virginia (Darden) Essay Analysis, 2014\u20132015"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/gmat.kaptest.com\/2014\/08\/04\/getting-into-the-mba-program-mbamissions-university-of-virginia-darden-essay-analysis-2014-2015\/\" title=\"Getting Into the MBA Program: mbaMission's University of Virginia (Darden) Essay Analysis, 2014\u20132015\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Getting Into the MBA Program: mbaMission's University of Virginia (Darden) Essay Analysis, 2014\u20132015\" src=\"https:\/\/gmat.kaptest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mbamission-20_600.jpg\" alt=\"Getting Into the MBA Program: mbaMission's University of Virginia (Darden) Essay Analysis, 2014\u20132015\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/gmat.kaptest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mbamission-20_600.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-3449 alignright\" title=\"MBA program\" alt=\"MBA program\" src=\"https:\/\/gmat.kaptest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/mbamission-20_600.jpg\" width=\"184\" height=\"184\" \/><\/a>The Darden School at the University of Virginia\u00a0claims to have released its MBA program application essay question for the year, but last year,\u00a0it\u00a0released a single essay question on\u00a0its blog and then added\u00a0more when the\u00a0complete application was later released. Let us\u00a0hope that Darden makes\u00a0things simple for applicants this year and takes a \u201cwhat you see is what you get\u201d approach\u2014keeping the required application essays to just one. We will stay on top of this and update our essay analysis as needed, if Darden happens to be up to its\u00a0old tricks again!<\/p>\n<h4><span><strong>Essay 1<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Describe the most courageous professional decision you have made or action you have taken. What did you learn from that experience?\u00a0<\/strong>(500 words maximum)<\/p>\n<p>Darden\u2019s\u00a0use of the word \u201ccourageous\u201d here\u00a0may fluster some applicants, leading them to wonder,\u00a0\u201cAt this point in my career, can I really say that I have been courageous in my professional life?\u201d In this context, you do not need to equate courage with heroism. Do not worry if you have not yet bet the farm on a new technology or stared down a Wall Street raider\u2014the admissions committee knows that most candidates are\u00a0still in\u00a0the earliest stages of their careers and\u00a0therefore understand \u201ccourage\u201d in relative terms. So,\u00a0rather than\u00a0equating courage\u00a0with heroism, think of courage as referring to \u201crisk.\u201d\u00a0Have\u00a0you ever stuck your neck out for something you believed in or stepped out of your comfort zone to take charge of something? Some moments to consider include the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Taking a risk in telling someone senior that his\/her plan will not work<\/li>\n<li>Asking for a greater level of responsibility to execute on a high-profile project<\/li>\n<li>Pushing your firm to change its thinking on a client\/supplier<\/li>\n<li>Advocating for an individual to be hired, fired or promoted<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In any of these circumstances, for a story to work, something must be\u00a0at stake for you\u2014your reputation needs to be on the line.<\/p>\n<p>You can also consider discussing moments\u00a0that touch on\u00a0personal risk. Maybe your most courageous decision was leaving a job or declining one offer\u00a0to accept\u00a0a more challenging nee.\u00a0Or, perhaps\u00a0your most courageous moment came\u00a0as the result of a\u00a0failure or disappointment, or\u00a0you took responsibility for an error and learned invaluable lessons. Our list could go on and on.<\/p>\n<p>As you write,\u00a0work to\u00a0create a narrative structure that has a clear\u00a0inflection point,\u00a0one at which\u00a0you can choose one of two paths. If\u00a0your reader does not understand the risks to you that are inherent in these two\u00a0choices, then\u00a0your ultimate\u00a0decision will hardly seem courageous. So, to reiterate, your narrative must\u00a0involve and present\u00a0a very clear conflict that forced\u00a0you to take decisive action and altering your\u00a0path in some way. Then,\u00a0after presenting\u00a0the results of your decision, you must examine your behaviors and discuss your learning\u2014possibly exploring your relationship with others and\/or your understanding of your own capabilities. Reiterating the obvious themes will not work. Your reader needs you to be introspective and show that you have true insight into your actions and that the lessons you learned have been profound and enduring.<\/p>\n<p>For a thorough exploration of\u00a0Darden\u2019s academic program\/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mbamission.com\/guides.php?category=insiders\" target=\"_blank\">mbaMission Insider\u2019s Guide to the Darden School of Business Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/gmat.kaptest.com\/2014\/08\/04\/getting-into-the-mba-program-mbamissions-university-of-virginia-darden-essay-analysis-2014-2015\/\">Getting Into the MBA Program: mbaMission&#8217;s University of Virginia (Darden) Essay Analysis, 2014\u20132015<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/gmat.kaptest.com\">Kaplan GMAT Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Darden School at the University of Virginia\u00a0claims to have released its MBA program application essay question for the year, but last year,\u00a0it\u00a0released a single essay question on\u00a0its blog and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,558,243,940],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25108","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-kaplan-blog","category-blog","category-gmat-prep-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25108","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25108"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25108\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25108"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25108"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25108"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}