Darden 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Congrats Manish

Congratulations dude.. so when did u submit ur app... Guess invites are coming out for Indians finally... All The best for your interview

Congrats Manish. deathmeat gmat man.

Meeting an Alum? If yes, which city?

Invited to interview as well! So excited

I've done one interview already and have researched quite heavily on interviews in general and think I have a fairly good understanding of what to expect. Given Darden's stress on fit - I assume this is an opportunity for us to show the adcom that we REALLY want to be here, that we will contribute in our own unique way, and that we're excited about this affair. Honestly, I LOVED Darden - it was my favorite school of all the schools I visited, so hopefully what I feel comes off in the interview.

Current Darden students: do you guys have any tips for the interview? Other than fit, why we want to get an MBA and why Darden, are there any other topics we should be preparing for?

Thanks a lot

HOLY GMAT SCORE BATMAN!

Is there anyone from India who submitted the application on the last day (17th Oct) and has got an i/v invite??

Had my interview on Monday. Very friendly 2nd year. Basically you spent 20 min discussing your life up to now. then 10 min on why mba, why now/why darden etc. then 15 min asking questions about darden. hope this helps to those who are prepping for the interview

For those of you who had interviewed, don't forget to send a thank-you email to your interviewer. It's a small gesture that can go a long way.

Hi Manish,
Sorry for the delay ..
My Profile : Indian/IT/Female/680/4yrs . Tried my hand at entrepreneurship for a little while but the attempt was unsuccesful though
Good Luck !

American applicant based out of Shanghai here. I had my Skype interview on Tuesday morning Charlottesville time with a member of the Adcom. Interview was by far more informal and laid back than other interviews I've done (Kellogg, Ross). They asked me to tell my story basically...I ran through my career and my motivations, but I felt the adcom member kept trying to get me away from this formal style by asking me questions like what I liked to do in my free time, my activities, where I've traveled in the last few years...overall, I felt the interview was extremely friendly and I eventually loosened up a bit and just treated it like any normal conversation. She told me the interview would be limited to 30 minutes, but we ran almost up to the one hour mark. We had some technical difficulties, and about half way through we just gave up on the video and went with just audio. For those still waiting to interview, I'd suggest not spending so much time preparing or memorizing stuff to say, because they will guide you away from these kinds of things. Just be yourself, make sure you have an interesting story to tell with some good anecdotes, and of course...know everything you can possibly know about Darden. These guys are definitely proud about their school, and you have to show that. Good luck everyone, and now begins the month-long wait.

Is Darden still sending out interview invites? Still waiting on my invite

Adcom told me they just started interviewing this week Monday...so I'm pretty sure there will be more invites to come. She did say they are on an invite only basis...two people look at your application, and if they both agree to move ahead you will get your invite at some point!

Thought this might be relevant to those who have not yet received an invite and those curious about the interviews..


This is from the Darden Admissions and MBA Blog. The full Q&A can be accessed here -
https://blogs.darden.virginia.edu/admissions/2011/11/16/admissions-q-a-4/

I completely second xzeppelin's interview experience and what he mentions regarding the interview process.

I had my interview via Skype. Unfortunately for me it was only for 30 minutes. There was only one basic question. Tell me about yourself in a chronological manner. Anything that you want to cover is fair game. So I spoke a bit about my family, schooling, college & work and how each one had impacted my personality. I was running short of time and that's why we could only devote about 5-7 minutes for the Why MBA & Why Darden questions. That was followed by 2-3 minutes of me asking some questions. Overall the interview was very conversational. There was no cross-questioning and none of Why this or Why that stuff...

Keep a photo ID handy. The interviewer will check your photo ID right at the beginning. This is mentioned quite clearly in the mail that Darden sends but thought of pointing it out nevertheless.

Bottomline - Keep your story ready - cradle to interview chair. And be prepared to tailor it based on the time. You could be asked for a 15 minute monologue or a 45 minute monologue. I had a tough time incorporating all elements of my story within the time limit.

The interviewer said that the process they normally follow is like this-
1. Two reviewers read your file and if both of them give their consent, the applicant is invited for interview.
2. A third reviewer, who hasn't read your file interviews you and after the interview proceeds to read your file. (The interviewer will continuously take notes during the interview for this reason, be prepared to be talking to his / her hair while he / she is busy taking notes)
3. Based on the interview and the third reviewer's assessment of the file, the file will be finally handed over to the Director of admissions.
4. The Director will finally take into account all the three reviewer's assessments before passing a final judgement on the application.

I think I covered it all. Let me know if any questions!

I have a couple things to add, based on my interview experience this week:

1) The interviewer did a nice job of giving me opportunities to talk about "Why Darden" or what my long term career goals are, if I only discussed that topic briefly during my initial monologue. So don't feel like you only have one chance to cover absolutely everything. If you forget to mention something important, the interviewer will probably give you another opportunity to talk about it.

2) She kind of grilled me on my long term career goals (in a very friendly manner). Maybe it's because I have a general management track in mind, and she wanted to make sure it wasn't just a bunch of BS I made up solely for the Darden application. Or maybe it's because I said I want to work in a struggling industry and she was just genuinely concerned that I haven't thought this through well enough. Either way, just be sure that you're able to defend your career goals if you have to.

Just curious - what struggling industry do you want to work in?

Health Care. Just kidding. Automotive.