Darden School of Business is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia. Located in Charlottesville, Virginia, it is the first graduate school of business in the Southern United States. The Darden School MBA Program is constantly ranked among the top 15 in the United States and the top 30 in the world. It has been ranked #18 by the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2020. The school has also been ranked #1 in the educational experience by the Economist.
Darden school of business has given the world many business leaders including, Steven Reissemund (Former CEO & Chairman, PepsiCo), Jerry Nemorin (Founder & CEO, LendStreet), Mark B. Templeton (President & CEO, Citrix System Inc.), Robert Citrone (Co-founder, Discovery Capital Management), & Doug Lebda (Founder & CEO, LendingTree)
The class of 2021 consists of 336 students from more than 35 countries. Around 40% of the batch includes women candidates, and 33% are international students. The average age of the students is 27 years. In this article, we shall let you know more about the Darden School MBA Program.
During the first three-quarters of the first-year, students go through a rigorous core curriculum that provides them an integrated perspective of General Management. The required core courses cover fundamental business topics & skills which every business leader should have in them. The core curriculum includes subjects like Business ethics, Leadership communication, Marketing, Operations Management, Decision analytics, & Financial Management.
After the core curriculum finishes by the end of the third quarter of the first year, students can tailor their program with multiple electives from Darden’s 100+ elective topics. The electives have been divided into Area-focus electives & Industry-focus electives. Students can choose the subjects according to their future career goals & interests.
The school also provides concentration options to the students. The MBA concentrations are divided into Career Tracks Concentration & Theme Tracks Concentration. Some of the Career tracks concentration includes Entrepreneurship, Assets Management, & Supply chain management. And Theme track concentration includes corporate innovation, Global Business, Business Analytics, & Business development & growth.
There is no limit on the number of concentration a student may earn. Along with this, the Darden School of business also offers experiential learning opportunities to the students to gain hands-on experience with real companies.
The Darden world-wide course is one such opportunity. The international exchange program is yet another key highlight of the Darden school MBA program. Every year, the second-year students get a chance to spend time in the Darden’s partner business schools around the world. Some of the partner business school includes ISB, Hyderabad, IESE, Barcelona, Melbourne Business School, & Hong Kong University of Science & Technology.
Eligibility
- Applicant requirement
The international applicants are required to hold a college or university degree equivalent to a 4-year American Baccalaureate degree. The school recognizes 3-year undergraduate degrees. There is no minimum cutoff for your graduate GPA. However, the average GPA of the class of 2021 is 3.5.
- Work Experience
There is no minimum work experience required to apply for the Darden School MBA program. But generally, the average work experience of the class is 4-years, ranging from one to ten years.
- Tests
Students are required to submit a valid standardized test for MBA programs like GMAT or GRE. The school accepts scores from both of these exams. Even though there are no minimum score requirements, the average GMAT score for the class of 2021 is 713, and the average GRE score is 161 & 160 for verbal and quants, respectively. International students are also required to submit the English Proficiency Tests like TOEFL, PTE, or IELTS. These exams can be waived if the applicant has completed the undergraduate degree from an institution where English is the medium of instruction.
The one-year tuition fee for the Darden school MBA program is $72,800 for international students, making it one of the costliest MBA programs in the world. Along with this, there are other expenses like health insurance ($2,980), living expenses ($18,176), Darden MBA case fees ($2,000), computer ($1,500), & transportation expenses ($4,000). The students also have to bear other negligible expenses like university activity fee, international service fee, student activity fee, & comprehensive fee during the MBA program.
Most of the Darden’s scholarships are merit-based and do not require any additional application. All the admitted applicants are considered for scholarships. Scholarship decisions are generally announced with the offer of admission. However, in some cases, it is notified later. There are various merit-based scholarships available for the students. One of the most famous among them is the Jefferson Fellowship. This scholarship is provided to exceptional students with demonstrated leadership skills. The award covers full tuition fees, health insurance, & a $20,000 living expenses are granted to the selected students.
Other prominent merit scholarships include Batten scholarships, Alam and Barbara Staats fellowship fund, Camp family scholarships, Phillips family scholarship fund, & Dean’s scholarships, among others.
According to the Darden’s Employment Report 2018-19, 97% of the students received a job offer within 3-months of graduation. Out of which, nearly 95% of the class received the offer in the North-America. The median annual base salary received by the class of 2019 was $135,000, with a range of $50,000 to $200,000. Reportedly, 90% of the class received a signing bonus. The median signing bonus was $30,000, with a range of $2,662 to $100,000. Students with 3-5 years of previous work experience got the highest median salary of $140,000.
The top 3 industries of the placement session 2018-19 were
Consulting 35.5%
Financial Service 24.4%
Technology 15%
The top three job functions include
Consulting 36.2%
Finance/Accounting 24%
General Management 18.5%
Some of the top employers who participated in the placement drive were as follows
Bain & Company
The Boston Consulting Group
McKinsey & Company
Ernst & Young
Deutsche Bank
JP Morgan Chase & Company
Amazon
Microsoft
Uber
Application Process
The application process includes an online application which will need the following:
-Academic Transcripts
-GMAT/GRE score
-One or two-page resume
-2 LOR
-English Language Test
-Form I-20 showing your financial resources
-Application Fee of $250
Interview:
There are two types of interview options provided to the applicants. The first one is Open Interview, in which only early action applicants can participate. The open interview takes place from August to September end on a first-come, first-served basis.
The second option is the invitation-only interviews for those who apply in round 1-2-3. The interview can be on-campus, conducted by the admissions officer, or it can be off-campus with alumni, traveling admissions officers, or via Skype.
The interview is blind & generally lasts for a total of 30-45 minutes. Unlike other business schools, Darden interviewers do not even have access to your resume. After the interview, your interviewer submits a feedback form to the admissions committee, who again evaluates your entire application and make a decision regarding your acceptance into the Darden school MBA program.
The Darden School of Business asks its applicants several short-type essay questions to know a candidate from all aspects. For the Darden MBA application 2021, following essay questions were asked from the applicants:
Darden’s MBA Essay 1: Darden strives to cultivate and identify responsible leaders who follow their purpose. Please provide an example of a situation in which you have made a meaningful impact. (200 words)
Darden’s MBA Essay 2: Diversity and inclusion are critical to Darden’s mission, and they work best when they are an integral and celebrated part of Darden’s community. Share a time where you engaged with a community, perspective, experience, or identity that was different from your own. And how did it impact your world view? (200 words)
Darden’s MBA Essay 3: Tell us what you would want your learning team to know about you? – Professional, Personal, or both. (100 words)
Darden’s MBA Essay 4: What is your short-term, post-MBA career goal, and why? (150 words)
Darden’s Essay 5: The Batten Foundation Worldwide Scholarship provides all Darden students in our full-time MBA program with an opportunity to participate in a Darden worldwide course. If you could choose any location in the world, where would you want to travel, and why (50 words)?
Essay 6: List up to three hobbies or interests you enjoy in your free time.
Essay 7: What are you excited to explore in Charlottesville? (25 words)
As you can see, the essays ask you to answer the basic questions of your life & regarding the MBA program. These essays provide you with an opportunity to show your all-rounded personality to the admissions committee. Given such short word limits, it may get hard for you to express your answer. The key is to focus on the important aspects & ignore everything else. With the best education experience in the world and top-ranked faculties, the Darden school MBA program is one of the dream degrees for thousands of business students across the globe. The article covers pretty much everything you need to know about the Darden school MBA program. So, if you think you are a match, go for it.
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