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Nov 2007:30 AM PST
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Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
17 Oct 2021, 04:22
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Get to know UVA Darden’s thoughtful application process [Show summary]
Dawna Clarke, Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions at Darden School of Business explores the program’s unique case method and recounts how the school proactively adapted during COVID-19.
What makes UVA Darden unique? A choice-rich MBA experience and a close-knit student community [Show notes]
Welcome to the 439th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, thanks for tuning in. Are you ready to apply to your dream business schools? Are you competitive at your target program? Accepted’s MBA Admissions Calculator can give you a quick reality check, just go to accepted.com/mbaquiz, complete the quiz and you not only get an assessment, but also tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. Plus it’s all free.
It gives me great pleasure to have on Admissions Straight Talk Dawna Clarke, Senior Assistant Dean of Admissions at UVA Darden. Dawna is one of the most experienced and respected MBA admission directors I’ve had the privilege of knowing. She started her career in MBA admissions at UNC Kenan-Flagler, then moved to Darden (which is where we first met) and served for 15 years as director of admissions, and then served in the same role at Tuck and even spent a short period as an MBA admissions consultant. She returned to Darden in 2017. In all her positions and roles in MBA admissions, Dawna is known for running an applicant-friendly admissions process while attracting great candidates to the schools that she has been associated with. Dawna, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk and congratulations again on your new title.
Can we start with a basic overview of the Darden MBA program for listeners who are not that familiar with it, focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:18]
Sure, absolutely. I’m happy to give an overview of Darden. Darden is a two-year, full-time, general management program. Assuming we’re primarily talking about the full-time format, we do offer other formats as well, but I will focus on the full-time format. I will say one of the most distinctive elements of Darden is that it is primarily a case method school. Over the years, our faculty has revisited the curriculum and asked whether a case method is the most relevant teaching method. To date, since the school was founded in the 1950s, they continue to commit to the case method.
The philosophy is that the best way to learn how to make business decisions is to start making them. At Darden, we’re trying to cultivate a variety of skills, leadership skills, team skills — it’s a general management program. So people are going to get accounting skills, financial skills, global skills, but one of the most relevant skills that we’re trying to cultivate are strong business decision-making skills. The philosophy is that the best way to start to cultivate those skills is to practice. Students do over 500 cases while they’re at Darden. So there’s a lot of practice. It’s very practical and relevant. One of the benefits of the case method that a lot of people don’t know about is that it exposes you to a lot of industries. So for students who are coming to Darden, a lot of people know that they want to transition into a business career, but they may not know what functional area. Through the general management program, you’re going to get a lot of exposure to all the functional areas of business like accounting and economics and finance. But because it’s a case method school, every case is set within an industry. So in your two years at Darden, a student is going to get exposed to almost 70 different industries. Even if you don’t go into energy, knowing a little bit about energy may be really valuable to you if you have a client in the future, who’s from the energy industry. You’re going to have cases from transportation, hospitality, financial services, consulting, startups, petrochemical companies. I love the phrase, “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
The average age for entering MBA students to the full-time format tends to be 27 or 28, and I’ve just seen so many examples of people who were not sure what they wanted to do come through our program. I can think of one woman who was never previously exposed to the airline industry. She hadn’t even thought about pursuing a career in the airline industry. In her first year, she did about three or four cases in the airline industry, and it really resonated with her. She did an internship with American Airlines, got a full-time job offer and ended up rising the ranks of American Airlines to a C-Suite position. That is the beauty of the case method. You get to experiment and learn a lot about different industries.
Darden is also known for its sense of community. There are a multitude of things you can get involved in at Darden. There are affinity groups that you can become involved in. There are professional organizations, there are things like the choir and social organizations. I also think our location is an asset. Darden is part of the University of Virginia. UVA has nine professional schools where Darden students can cross register and take up to two electives in the second year at any of those nine schools, as long as they’re a graduate level class. I always encourage students to tap into some joy and just get lost on the UVA website as well as the Darden website. I also think our location in Charlottesville, just in terms of a place to spend two years of your life, is an asset. I think if I didn’t work for Darden, I’d work for the Charlottesville tourism department. It’s rated the number one foodie town in the country by Rand McNally, has 41 vineyards, lots of breweries, and lots of history so I do encourage people as they’re looking at Darden to take advantage of the opportunities that are at the University of Virginia, as well as Darden and the opportunities to try a different area of the country.
We also have Amtrak right here. If I have to go to New York City for work, I hop on the Amtrak. It’s a five hour trip. I can take Amtrak up to DC. I would prefer to be on the train rather than driving, but we also have a decent airport here with direct flights to Atlanta, New York and Chicago. It’s a little bit more accessible than some people think.
What COVID adaptations does Darden intend to keep in its MBA program and admissions moving forward? [8:24]
I’m really glad that you asked this question because I think the manner in which the school has navigated COVID says a lot about the school, and I could not be more proud of the way that Darden navigated COVID. I’m going to give everybody a little bit of an overview of how we navigated it so you have some context about how I think that’s going to carry forward.
First of all, I think it starts from the top down. I’m on the Dean’s leadership team, and the mantra from the beginning was really to navigate COVID with a great deal of compassion, obviously a high level of commitment to the safety and health of our entire community, but to do so with a great level of compassion. When COVID struck in March, you may remember that a lot of students who were applying to business schools in Round 3 could not take a GMAT or GRE because test centers were closed worldwide. Again, the guiding mantra was to really be compassionate. Imagine what it would be like if you were a student and you wanted to apply to business school and you couldn’t take one of the entrance exams. So Darden immediately went to a model of test flexibility to help accommodate students. During COVID we granted 94 deferrals of students who could not get here last year to this year. In a 35-year career in the industry, I have never been in a position to have to grant so many deferrals, but it was the right thing to do.
Darden is the only top business school that introduced the option to start in January. Say you’re an international student from around the world, I think that they felt really cared for because they could defer their enrollment for a full year. Any of our admitted students also had the option to start in January and that was a heavy lift on the part of the faculty and staff to have two starts. I think that says a lot.
Related resources:
- * UVA Darden’s website
* UVA Darden MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines [2021 – 2022]
* Navigate the MBA Maze: 11 Tips to Acceptance, a free guide
* Accepted’s MBA Admissions Consulting Services
Related shows:
- * Duke Enrolls Its Strongest MBA Class Ever, Hear From Its Admissions Dean
* Are You Interested in NYU Stern?
* How to Get an MBA From Dartmouth Tuck
* How to Get a CMU Tepper MBA
* All About Becoming a Georgetown McDonough MBA
This article originally appeared on blog.accepted.com.
Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where to apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.
Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help you get accepted!
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