Ask Darden Admissions

Suman -

Thank you for your questions. Answers are as follows:

1. Selection for experiential activities depends on the opportunity and capacity for the project. Elective courses are assigned based on a bidding system, and most students receive their first choice. The only exception is if a class is in high demand and has a small number of seats available. The i.Lab has an application process, and typically 50% of the applicants are admitted into the incubator (which has 20-25 seats). Students interested in a Venturing Business Project usually pursue independent study, so they're typically paired up with a faculty advisor who works closely with them to form the parameters of the project.

2. Most DBPs and incubator companies are locally-based because students will typically use Charlottesville as a test market for their business before expanding to larger markets. There are a few exceptions to this though, especially if the company does most of its work online. We have also had students partner with individuals in different geographic regions, which makes other markets more accessible to them while they are in business school. However, most students who continue their ventures post-graduation will expand beyond Charlottesville, so starting a business for the Indian market is certainly possible.

3. The facilities are great. All students are assigned a learning team room for their use throughout the year. There has never been issues finding a place to study in the library, common areas or other parts of campus, even during exam weeks.

4. We have a pretty large alumni network in Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore. I encourage you to reach out to some of our Indian students for more perspective (just type "India" into the search bar to find them: https://www.darden.virginia.edu/web/mba/ ... tact/home/

5. We don't have housing directly on the Darden Grounds, but there are options to live in UVA housing. However, most students tend to live in 3 different off-campus apartments: Ivy Gardens, Pavilion at North Grounds, and Huntington Village. These places are within a 5 minute walk of Darden. There are plenty of other housing options around Charlottesville as well. Since we are a college town and have thousands of students at UVA each year, finding convenient housing is never a problem.

I hope these answers help! Good luck in the application process.

Regards,
Darden Admissions