UVA / Darden MBA News

Get the latest MBA news from UVA / Darden.

Published: March 4, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype

The interview was taken by the Adcom member responsible for Diversity Recruitment. The interview was very conversational and lasted about 30 mins after which 15 mins were given for me to ask him any questions. Below are the questions I was asked: 1. Tell me about your life story right from your childhood through to your current job. 2. Why do you want to do an MBA? 3. Why Darden is the best fit for you? 4. What will you contribute to the Darden Class? 5. Tell me about an experience where you had to work Read more

Published: February 9, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / AdCom / Zoom

Just finished Darden interview. Interviewer was extremely nice and friendly. I am not aware whether it’s typical for Darden interview or I was lucky, but I never thought MBA interview could be so pleasurable. The questions asked: 1) Tell me about yourself (family/background/interests/career). 2) Why MBA? Why Darden? 3) Leadership style? 4) What would your team members tell about you if asked? 5) What clubs will you engage in? 6) What value will you bring to Darden? Read more

Published: February 7, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

The whole interview was ‘Tell me about yourself’ with follow up questions in between that gave direction to the narrative. The interview was blind so the interviewer didn’t have access to my application or resume. Questions included: Why MBA (covered ST and LT goals)? Why now? Why Darden? What do you do in your current role at the moment? There were no behavioral questions at all, but my story covered examples of leadership, teamwork, initiative, and extra curriculars. It was very conversational and friendly. There were no surprises and Darden is at the top of my list now. Read more

Published: January 31, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

The interview was just like I had expected based on other interview reports! It was conducted blind (she had not even seen my resume), so make sure to convey everything you would want to from your resume and give background behind things (ie. they won’t even know when you graduated or how long you’ve been working). 1. Tell me about yourself, your family, where you went to undergrad and what brings you here today. She said that she might interrupt me with questions in the middle, but she didn’t really, she gave me free rein to speak. 2. Tell Read more

Published: January 28, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

The interview was very conversational and my interviewer was very personable. Lasted almost an hour. The interview was completely blind, he hadn’t even seen my resume. The questions were typical questions. Why Darden? What value do you think you’ll bring? He spoke a lot about what Darden is like and answered all of my questions. I was surprised with how not stuffy the interview was. I really enjoyed the experience and now think very highly of Darden. Read more

Published: January 28, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype

I was interviewed by an adcom member. The interview layout is pretty simple and in line with the debriefs that one can find online. I was asked the following questions: 1) Tell me about yourself (went on for 10-15 mins). 2) Why MBA? Why at this point of time? 3) Why Darden? Questions that were new to me, but are the pretty standard behavioral questions: 4) What have you done to have inclusion and diversity in your team? 5) How have you ensured a flat hierarchy within your team? The interview went on for 40 minutes. Post Read more

Published: January 27, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Early Action / Adcom & Second-Year Student / Zoom

I applied during the Early Action admissions round. I knew that I would have the interview with an admissions team member and a current student from an event that I attended earlier. The admissions member explained during the interview that the second-year student is joining us to observe mainly. The interview was very conversational. Starting with telling my story, why I want to pursue an MBA, why now, why Darden. Nothing out of ordinary. I wouldn’t say the interviewer explicitly asked me why MBA, why Darden, but it was more my story led me to talk about those areas. At Read more

Published: January 26, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

My interviewer came across as warm and friendly, and eased into the actual interview with some small talk beforehand. The questions went roughly as follows: 1.) Tell me about yourself; include your educational/professional background, why you want an MBA, and why you chose to apply to Darden. The interviewer followed up with some clarifying questions about my atypical work history. 2.) Tell me about a conflict you had with someone, how you handled it, what you learned from the conflict, and how you’ve applied these lessons to other situations going forward. 3.) Tell me about your leadership style; Read more

Published: January 26, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

This interview was with a member of the admissions committee. You don’t know who it is until you receive an email an hour prior, with the interviewer’s name. I recommend you read up on their background. It is a straightforward conversation that they want you to drive. It is a blind interview so you need to make sure you nail down your story and talk about the experiences/things most important to you, and be able to tell that in your story/pitch. You will also need to explain why an MBA and why Darden. Once I gave my initial story (~5 Read more

Published: January 25, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

The interview was the Darden style that I was expecting. This is an interviewee-led interview. It is also a blind interview (the interviewer has not seen your application nor do they have your resume). Most interviews are conducted by second-year students, however mine was with an adcom member. 1. Take some time to tell me about yourself. Please address the following: – Where did you go to college and why? – What has your professional experience been? – What are your goals? – Why an MBA? / Why now? 2. Why Darden? 3. How Read more

Published: January 24, 2021

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Zoom

Darden / Mid-January 2021 interview. The interview was pretty straightforward since I was expecting the Darden structure. I wasn’t sure if the interview would be with a second-year student or adcom until the interview. It was conversational and I did the majority of talking. I was told to share my story for ~10 minutes focusing on childhood to today, then was advised to focus on why Darden for the 2nd half of the 20 mins. The adcom asked a few questions after – I was a little thrown off since they were similar to questions on the application, and while Read more

Published: December 13, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Second-Year Student / Zoom

The Darden interview is blind, meaning the interviewer has not even seen your resume. Because of this, the focus is largely on how you want to tell your story. The interview was roughly broken into the following sections: 1) We had a few minutes of small talk in the beginning, and then the interviewer let me know that I could tell my story starting wherever I wanted to and to go up to now and suggested this would take ~10 minutes. Following my story, my interviewer had a few follow up questions on extracurricular activities and what I do in Read more

Published: December 13, 2020

Darden Class Profile: UVA Responds to Challenges with Flexibility and Accommodation

See the UVA Darden MBA Class of 2023 profile here. The UVA Darden School of Business released its MBA Class of 2022 profile featuring its first-ever January cohort and record Consortium members. The class came together as the applicants faced significant challenges related to the pandemic, which the school responded to with flexibility and accommodation. Namely, the Darden admissions team extended the final application deadline to July 15 and accepted alternatives to standardized tests to demonstrate academic merit. Enough students faced too many challenges to make the August semester start date, so Darden Read more

Published: November 23, 2020

Real Humans of UVA Darden’s MBA Class of 2022

Meet some of the newest members of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business in this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students. 404 candidates decided to matriculate at the Charlottesville, VA, b-school and that number includes the MBA program’s first January cohort as well. Twenty-four percent of new students are international and represent 35 countries. Women comprise 39 percent of Darden’s MBA Class of 2022 and 15 percent identify as domestic minorities. Darden MBAs joined at an average age of 27 with an average of five years of work experience. Read more

Published: November 18, 2020

Forté Foundation Report Reveals Women Holding Their Ground in MBA Programs

Women, disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic at work, are poised to be at the forefront of the coming recovery. The Forté Foundation has released a report indicating that, despite conditions that have widened the gender gap in the worldwide economy, enrollment of women in its member schools' MBA programs held its ground. Read more

Published: September 20, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions: Early Action / Second-year Student / Skype

As expected, the interviewer gave me 15-20 minutes to run through my life story, resume, why I am seeking an MBA. Additional questions asked were regarding diversity. “Provide me with a time you worked in a diverse environment?” “Why is diversity important?” Interviewer provided 10 minutes at the end to answer questions about her background/experience at Darden. Read more

Published: July 13, 2020

Business Schools Begin to Announce Fall 2020 Plans

With ongoing uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, evolving government mandates, and public health concerns, many business schools are heading into the fall semester with contingency plans for the fluid situation they expect to face. Some MBA programs remain mum about what the fall semester might look like, but others have begun to let incoming students know what to expect. We’ve rounded up the latest communications from seven leading programs below. Flexibility and In-Person Options The Wharton School of Business has joined Harvard Business School and Chicago Booth in implementing a hybrid class model for the fall term Read more

Published: June 14, 2020

Episode 107: Wire Taps—Should I Turn Down an M7 to Re-Apply to H/S/W?

This podcast episode of Wire Taps is chock full of decision-making advice about when to apply and where to matriculate. In this episode, MBA hopefuls who have posted to MBA ApplyWire and MBA DecisionWire get direct feedback on their potential choices from our admissions experts, Graham Richmond and Alex Brown. See which profiles they discuss and then tune in. They begin with an applicant who is weighing whether to matriculate this year or re-apply next year for better options: They also discuss a candidate trying to Read more

Published: March 16, 2020

U.S. News 2021 Business School Rankings Insights: HBS Sinks While Others Float On

The U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools rankings are out and there are a few surprises, especially within the top 10. For those of you who have yet to see our announcement of the ranking, the top 25 schools in this year’s edition (with last year’s rankings included for reference) are as follows: School 2021 Rank 2020 Rank Stanford University 1 (tie) 2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 1 (tie) 1 Northwestern University (Kellogg) 3 (tie) 6 University of Chicago (Booth) 3 (tie) 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 5 3 Read more

Published: March 16, 2020

Stanford & Wharton Share the Throne of Best Business School in U.S. News 2021 Rankings

While Wharton held the #1 spot of the Best Business Schools list from U.S. News & World Report last year, it is now joined by Stanford GSB at the top of the 2021 rankings. Northwestern Kellogg shot up three spaces to join Chicago Booth at #3. Then, MIT Sloan rounds out the top 5. Harvard Business School, which usually appears in the top 5 of any b-school ranking, Read more

Published: March 15, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Adcom / Skype

Interviewed with senior adcom member at UVA Darden in late February. The interview lasted for a duration of 30 minutes. Questions asked were: Walk me through your resume, Why MBA and Why Darden? I was allowed to speak for 10-15 minutes with minimal intervention from the interviewer who was mostly taking notes. Tell me about a time you worked in a diverse setting at work. Tell me any feedback you have received at work and how have you acted upon them. Any questions for me? Read more

Published: March 15, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus

The interview was very open. The interviewer started with “Tell me about yourself.” I quickly brought up my upbringing, college experience, etc., but focused most of the answer on my resume. The interviewer periodically asked me questions, but nothing related to behavioral questions. He genuinely wanted to get to know me better. I went through it all in about 20 mins and then after he said, “what else?”, which threw me off guard. I started talking about my hobbies and things I did outside of work. The interviewer wasn’t taking any notes, so it was really about if I was Read more

Published: March 13, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 1 / Adcom / On-Campus

I interviewed with a member of the adcom. They asked me to tell them about myself — it was open very open ended and the interview was blind. I was told by a friend beforehand that I should be expected to talk for 5-10 minutes in the beginning though. After my summary, I was asked about how I deal with conflict. The atmosphere was casual and my interviewer didn’t take notes/have pen or paper. It wasn’t my favorite format because I felt like it wasn’t engaging/conversational. Listening to anyone talking about themselves for 5-10 minutes is a long time and Read more

Published: March 12, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus

The interview was a blind interview. I was interviewed by a second-year student and the interview was fairly informal and conversational. The interviewer started with an open-ended “tell me about yourself,” where I was prompted to give my life story, not just what was on my resume. The interviewer took no notes, but periodically stopped me to ask for clarity or more detail. There were no situational questions. Everybody at Darden was really friendly and everybody I met genuinely wanted to get to know me. Read more

Published: March 11, 2020

UVA Darden Interview Questions & Report: Round 2 / Second-Year Student / On-Campus

I interviewed for Round 2 on-campus with a second-year student. My interview was the first of the day at 8am, and there were at least a dozen other candidates at the school at the same time as me. Everyone (faculty, current students, applicants) were all very welcoming and friendly, which certainly calmed the nerves. For the interview itself, Darden is unique in its approach. My interviewer explained that we’d use about 20-25 minutes for me to “tell my story,” followed by any follow-up questions she may have. I talked through my life chronologically, making sure to spend time talking through Read more

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UVA / Darden

CLASS SIZE: 355

Women: 38%

MEAN GMAT: 718

MEAN GPA: 3.56

Livewire Decisionwire Interview Reports Essay Topic Analysis MBA Admissions Deadlines View Full Profile

MBA Applywire

December 22, 2024 5:00pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Finance

Post-MBA Target Industry: Other

GMAT: 730

GPA: 3.4

Years of Work Experience: 5

December 22, 2024 2:49pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM

Pre-MBA Career: Cloud Engineer

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Private Equity, Pharmaceutical, Consumer Goods, Entrepreneurship Companies: Bain , BCG , Amazon , Apple , Google , Bain Capital , Blackstone , Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Group , Johnson & Johnson , Nike

GRE: 324

GPA: 3.42

Years of Work Experience: 3

Location: Virginia

Post MBA Location: anywhere

Notes:

I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and a minor in Psychology. At work I'm involved in many Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives. I regularly volunteer and speak to high school school students on STEAM careers(art included) and hold resume review workshops/interactive labs. I have also spoken at many summits continuing to empower others to adopt new technologies. I would love to get an MBA to continue my passion for mentoring/professional development and democratizing technology! I've always been interested in learning how marketing, finance and other departments interact and operate within an organization and I want to develop crucial skills that make me well rounded enough to be an impactful leader and entrepreneur post-MBA.

December 22, 2024 6:32am ET

Applying: Cornell / Johnson, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, UNC Kenan-Flagler, UVA / Darden, Vanderbilt / Owen

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Construction & RE (2nd Gen Entrepreneur)

Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Asset Management, inc. HF, Commercial Banking, Family Business Companies: Citibank , Deutsche Bank , Morgan Stanley , Accell Partners , Andressen Horowitz , First Round Capital , Sequoia Capital , Bain Capital , Blackstone , Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Group , Blackrock , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Asset Management , State Street , Citibank , Morgan Stanley

GRE: 326

GPA: 3.80

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: India

December 21, 2024 12:13pm ET

Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Northwestern / Kellogg, UPenn / Wharton, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Military/Corporate Logistics

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey

GRE: 302

GPA: 3.63

Years of Work Experience: 9

Notes:

Submitting for R2, but retaking GRE after application deadline. Military Vet with Corporate experience.

December 20, 2024 5:17pm ET

Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Healthcare

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG

GRE: 332

GPA: 3.5

Years of Work Experience: 3

Location: Florida

Post MBA Location: Consulting

Notes:

25F, lgbtq, 3 years as a registered nurse. also have started working for an early stage VC in the past several months.

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MBA LiveWire

December 22, 2024 9:40pm ET

Applied to Berkeley / Haas

Round: Round 2

Received via portal

GPA: 3.85

GRE: 339

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: Brooklyn, New York

December 22, 2024 1:36pm ET

Accepted to UT Austin / McCombs

Round: Round 1

Received via email on December 16, 2024

GRE: 319

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

Application Location: United Kingdom

Note:

$20k merit scholarship offer.

December 22, 2024 12:04pm ET

Accepted to Stanford GSB

Round: Round 1

Received via phone

GPA: 3.7

GMAT: 750

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Technology

Application Location: Asia

December 22, 2024 4:59am ET

Accepted to UPenn / Wharton

Round: Round 1

Received via portal

GMAT: 730

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

Application Location: Southeast Asia

Note:

Elated and did not expect it!

December 21, 2024 8:37am ET

Accepted to Duke / Fuqua

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on December 11, 2024

GMAT: 675

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

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