Darden (UVA) Hub

Just had my interview with a current student. -5 minute intro on background, resume and clarifying questions -Why MBA? -Why now? -Why Darden -International experience example -Dealing with difficult situation example -Interests outside of work -My questions Was just a regular convo and would have a few clarifying back and forth

Just finished my interview with Christian West. 1. Monologue 2. Post MBA goals 3. Any international or diversity experience I have in my professional experience 4. Why MBA, framed this like "what have I identified that I lack that an MBA will fill" 5. Why Darden 6. Any questions

Had my interview today 1. Tell me about yourself (very conversational), asking questions on the way 2. an impactfull work i did (in my case a project) 3. Why mba? 4. Why darden? 5. I asked her a question 6. Tell me something fun about yourself

Hello guys! Wanted to share a small debrief about my Darden interview. It was on 22nd September. I was invited to interview on 16th September (EA applicant, didn't opt for open interviews hence invited by Darden) My interview was with an Associate Director of Admissions. Lasted around ~35 minutes total - Typical Darden Monologue (10 mins) - Why MBA - Why now - Why Darden - How will you contribute - Anything else you want to highlight - Questions (I asked 2 questions) Overall - it was extremely comfortable and conversational. She seemed really interested in my story. Let's see how the results pan out now, hoping for the best!

Interviewed by Director of Admissions primarily, had a second-year student to answer my questions. 1. Tell me about yourself (asked to elaborate about education, work experience). 2. Tell me about a project / achievement that was really significant. 3. Why an MBA? 4. How will you contribute towards Darden? 5. What do you do outside of work? 6. Any questions you have for us? Interview went on for about 36 minutes.

1. Share more about your background... academic journey inside and outside of class... professional life... what has motivated you... some personal context on your upbringing that you may want to share (all in one question) 2. Why did you do your undergrad in the US> (I’m an international) 3. Could you talk about your time at X company? 4. What has growth looked like for you at work, and what are you particularly proud of? 5. You studied and worked away from your home culture, what has been your growth as it relates to working with people whose identities and backgrounds may be really different than yours? 6. Would love to know more about your leadership skills. Darden is intentional about cultivating high impact leaders. Looks like you have some experience. Can you share more about what that’s looked like formally or informally and whether that is professional or extra curricular. 7. Sounds like you’ve been thinking for a while what you want your next steps to be and have some direction on pointing you towards it. Can you expand on that a little bit more, why a change at this particular point in time, and why school now? 8. Would love to hear a little bit more about your interest specifically in Darden and where you want to spend these 2 years. What about Darden resonates with you and how would you contribute to the community here as well? 9. Would love to know about you outside of work. How do you like to spend your time? What are your interests outside of professional life? 10. What questions do you have for me?

Didn’t get any info about interviewer beforehand. The 2nd-year student told me she’s also non-traditional and all her interviews have been non-traditional students. Blind interview. Everyone is correct – this was an incredibly relaxed interview – just felt like a conversation (students who spoke to adcom also reflected the same sentiment). -Tell me about yourself – no mention of the 5-10mins. I talked the whole time, no interruptions. -TMAT took on a challenge. -TMAT you worked with others with a different background. -ST/LT goals? -Why MBA? -Why Darden? -What do you like to do outside of work? -Anything else you want to highlight? -Any questions for me?

Interviewed with Adcom Member. Interview lasted for 30 mins. Introduction Why MBA? Why Darden? Things you do for fun. Anything to add? Any questions for me?

1. Tell me about yourself 2. Why my undergrad institute 3. Was there a professor you built a relationship with that was advantageous to you? How did that go? 4. Tell me about a time you worked with someone radically different than you and what did you learn? 5. Tell me about a challenging situation you faced at work and what actions you took 6. Why MBA? 7. Why Darden 8. What is something you would like to tell us about that you weren't able to talk about during the interview

Applied with a GMAT waiver* 30 minutes. Adcom. - Run me through your resume - Why MBA - Why Darden - Spoke stuff about my interests and extracurriculars here - ST and LG goals - TMAT, you managed a conflict at the workplace - TMA your biggest professional achievement - TMAT, you led a diverse team. How was it different from others? - Any questions for me

Interview was taken by adcom director Haley Whitlock. The interview was very conversational and it went for 40mins. 1) Tell me about your childhood? Then we talked about the whole journey and she asked me lots of questions in that and she was very interested in my whole life journey. One behaviour question as well when I was talking about my work experience. 2) Why Mba and why Darden? 3) What is you long term and short team goals? 4) Apart from work what do you do and how do your spend your time outside work? 5) Questions for her and for Darden? Best interview experience ever and it was very conversational.

I think my interview was a bit rushed as well/did not go very well 1) We spent the first 3-4 minutes getting acquainted and discussing dogs since my interviewer’s dog was in the background 2) I then gave my interviewer a rundown of my personal, educational, professional history, and hobbies 3) They then asked me to tell them why I want to do an MBA what are my short term goals long term goals etc ( I think I screwed up here, although they didn’t clearly ask me to tell them why I want to go to Darden, I should have talked about it in the why MBA part 4) We then discussed how I have handled diversity at work place- I answered with examples 5) Was also asked how I have grown as professional- I talked about how I have become more adaptable- with examples again 6) Then I answered the- how do I plan to contribute to the Darden community 7) We then went on to discuss the questions that I had for my interviewer I feel that I really messed up the Why Darden part- although I wasn’t asked that specifically it seems that everyone has talked about it in their interviews, so I should have used some window somewhere to talk about it.

I recently interviewed with Darden on 3rd Feb with Adcom Officer, following are the questions she asked me: 1) Tell me about your childhood 2) Then about the career and academics 3) For me, I am pivoting my role from Banking to Retail so the reasons for that. 4) Why MBA? Why Darden and Why MBA now? What do you feel about the case method? 5) Situation based question- if anybody is not working to their potential, how would you deal with it? 6) what do you do when you are not working? 7) questions for me. Also, they begin their conversation from a small talk, like what were you doing on a weekend, or how was day, something like this.

25 minutes long: TMAY, Why MBA, Why Darden, Questions for interviewer. (My interviewer seemed to be in a hurry/not-interested, asked to finish answers fast. I was cut in between a couple of times to finish fast.). Takeaway: Keep answers crisp. I am not sure, finishing interview so fast is a good sign or a bad sign (Haha)

Sharing a quick brief of my interview experience. In essence it was more conversational (45 mins) with a current student and had primarily frequently asked questions: • Classic “tell me about yourself.” Here, I spoke about my family, my undergraduate studies, and my career background. I created hooks around getting a team to collaborate and leading multicultural teams and that led to the following questions in between my introduction • Why an MBA, why now • Why Darden? Be sure to articulate well here and also talk about what you can bring to the community in your answer • Tell me about a challenging situation at work and how you overcame it. Follow STAR method but instead of ending with just results, try mentioning any soft skills/results achieved and how you've carried them into some other work/project/personal life but do it in an organic way • Can you talk more about the experience (on resolving conflict and getting a team to cooperate)? • What do You do Outside of Work? What Community Activities do You Participate In? • Did you encounter difficulties or problems working with people from different backgrounds? What did you learn from that experience? • Lastly, she asked if there was anything we may have missed or anything I wanted to add. Here, I talked about the clubs, initiatives, and activities I’m interested in and asked the questions I had for her.

[My interview spans] 25 minutes long: TMAY, Why MBA, Why Darden, Questions for interviewer. (My interviewer seemed to be in a hurry/not-interested, asked to finish answers fast. I was cut in between a couple of times to finish fast.). Takeaway: Keep answers crisp. I am not sure, finishing interview so fast is a good sign or a bad sign (Haha)

I recently interviewed with Darden on 3rd Feb with Adcom Officer, following are the questions she asked me: 1) Tell me about your childhood 2) Then about the career and academics 3) For me, I am pivoting my role from Banking to Retail so the reasons for that. 4) Why MBA? Why Darden and Why MBA now? What do you feel about the case method? 5) Situation based question- if anybody is not working to their potential, how would you deal with it? 6) what do you do when you are not working? 7) questions for me. Also, they begin their conversation from a small talk, like what were you doing on a weekend, or how was day, something like this.

1) Start talking about yourself (no time limit was mentioned) --- During the introduction, I created hooks around getting a team to collaborate and leading multicultural teams and that led to the following questions in between my introduction 2) Can you talk more about the experience (on resolving conflict and getting a team to cooperate)? 3) How did you incorporate diverse perspectives as a leader? 4) You are doing well already so Why MBA, Why Darden? 5) Any questions for me? Time: 42 mins

I had my interview with Katherine Alford. The first 10-15 minutes were dedicated to the classic “tell me about yourself.” Here, I spoke about my family, my undergraduate studies, and my career background. After that, she asked me a few questions, including: Why an MBA, why now, and why Darden? Tell me about a challenging situation at work and how you overcame it. Did you encounter difficulties or problems working with people from different backgrounds? What did you learn from that experience? Lastly, she asked if there was anything we may have missed or anything I wanted to add. Here, I talked about the clubs, initiatives, and activities I’m interested in and asked the questions I had for her. Best of luck!

Had my interview with a second year student , I am an reapplicant with a GMAT waiver, 5 years experience. The interviewer told in the beginning about the format, 20 minutes for the interview and the last ten minutes for the questions that i have for her, Questions: Tell me about yourself ( Specifically asked to complete in 5-10 min) Tell me about a time when you had worked with people from different backgrounds Tell me about an experience you have on global scale Why MBA and why darden? Finally any questions i have for her? I dont think she has any list of questions that she came up with for the interview. And be prepared to take interviews in short notice most probably within a week as darden is releasing slots only a week at a time compared to last years wherein we had the opportunity to select slots available for the entire round cycle.