Ambassador Program: Darden -- Hear from current students & alumni

Executive Formats of the Darden MBA – EMBA & GEMBA

• Describe your typical day.
The day on grounds starts with a class. Yes, that is the first thing you do except when you are here for week-long residencies. The week-long residencies start with a not-to-be-missed breakfast at the Abbott Dining Room. In fact I would say none of the meals are to be missed – do not even think about it. Coming back to the original question - the classes are dispersed throughout the day with logical breaks in between. And again, they have break snacks served up all the time outside the class. Sorry guys, they feed you well, what can one do?
The discussions with classmates and the faculty are always lively and make you feel welcomed. In our first week, all of us enjoyed every day we were on grounds – even though we were in deep discussions with our learning teams or challenging opinions brought up in the class.
In the evenings we break out into our learning teams to discuss and study the cases that will be discussed next day. A typical day is a busy day but it is fun all the way.

• What are some of the best classes you have taken?
Our first week-long residency focused on different leadership styles and what it means to lead global enterprises. I may not be able to say one class was better than the other but on a personal scale, I loved the whole curriculum on Leading Organizations ran by Prof. Lynn Isabella. It is full of surprises on how leadership is so closely tied to our personalities and the character of the organization we work in. Feel free to visit Lynn’s profile here - https://www.darden.virginia.edu/faculty- ... -isabella/. Having said that, the Case method of study makes all areas, even Accounting, very interesting. For instance, its interesting when you read about a company like United Technologies and its annual report filled with graphics and colors. And then our Accounting faculty adds flavor to it by giving financial explanation on why some announcements were made and why some were not highlighted.

• How do you select what courses to take? Is there flexibility in what courses you can take? Are there courses you think are most helpful for students interning or recruiting full-time for your area of study (eg, finance, consulting, marketing, ops)?
The executive formats of the Darden MBA emphasize a General Management curriculum, with electives in second year. The aim is to develop managers who have a broader, enterprise view of business management but can also focus on specific areas when need be. Darden creates an excellent learning environment where the case studies spark interest in not only the subject matter but also tangential discussions that arise from the in-class discussions. It is eye opening.

• Do you feel the program is a better fit for students looking for a specific career? Do student preferences tend to lean towards a particular area?
The program is well structured for experienced professionals who want to be business managers because it ties together general management expertise in first year with electives in the second year expanding one’s horizon of knowledge.. The average age of students attending EMBA is 35, average experience is 15 years, my classmates’ backgrounds range from Medical and IT, to Military and Media, to Non-profit and Sports – to name a few. EMBA students can be categorized into Climbers, Switchers and Entrepreneurs and each career aspiration finds great career support from the Career Development Cell (CDC) at Darden.

• How would you describe the student community?
Students of the executive formats at Darden come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Not only they bring in worthwhile experiences from their work but also essential life lessons from their day-to-day lives in general. I was taken aback by the management learning shared by an active duty Navy Seal from our class while he was on a mission. Outside of class when we meet in our Learning Teams, a broader set of discussions ensue that make this experience more lively. We not only prepare for our cases but also develop bonding over meals and drinks, making the environment more collaborative than competitive. When a fellow student is falling behind, it is in the nature of the program to help that person come back on track with help from his more than willing classmates.

Internships
Because EMBA program is for experienced professionals who are working while they study, internships are not an option. However, Darden does support Global projects that are open for EMBA students to get into. The Darden Center for Global Initiatives or CGI helps students expand their experience into different regions of the world by getting involved in projects and assignments. More information is available on https://www.darden.virginia.edu/dcgi/ or https://www.darden.virginia.edu/dcgi/global-experiences/.

Recruiting
Because of the same reason listed above in ‘Internships’, active recruitment is hard to achieve for EMBA students. However, the CDC - https://www.darden.virginia.edu/mba/career/ is highly involved with each student’s career aspirations and guides them to build their careers, explore the Darden and UVA networks, reach out to companies, and help land jobs that they would like to go in. Executive format students are able to drop for recruiters in their second year of their program, however, this is likely a low-yield strategy for most executive format students. It can be included as part of an overall approach, however, most executive format students are likely better served focusing their efforts on a networked approach.