MBA Blog: News & Admissions Updates from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business
If you’ve done your research on Darden, you’re probably familiar with the case method of instruction, but cases aren’t just for the classroom! Every year hundreds of MBA case competitions take place across the country.
Jonathan Harris, a Class of 2012 Darden Student Blogger who has participated in several case competitions throughout his time at Darden, wrote a blog post describing his experiences.
Read the full post: “What is a case competition?”
Are you visiting Darden soon for a class visit or interview day? Before heading to Charlottesville, download the Darden iPhone app. The app includes a walking tour of the School, as well as ideas for what to do during your visit to Charlottesville with content and suggestions provided by Darden students. The app is available on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
To download, text DARDEN to 88811 or visit the iTunes store.
Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions Sara Neher offers advice and tips about Darden’s MBA application. She talks about how to approach the essay question, information to provide your recommenders, and what to use the “Additional Comments” section for:
A recent curriculum innovation developed by the Darden faculty went into effect this past spring. After First Year students complete the required core curriculum, they now participate in a two-week Capstone Leadership Experience to put into practice their newly-acquired business knowledge and expertise.
In its inaugural year, the Capstone Leadership Experience involved student teams creating mini-organizations. In an article in MBA Innovation, Professor Erika Hayes James describes the project:
Each team was seeded with up to $100 to start their business initiative. Over the course of four days, the teams were asked to determine an executable business idea, create an organizational structure that identified various leadership roles and responsibilities, devise a marketing strategy for their product or service, manage sales, and implement accounting procedures. In addition, they were asked to document their process throughout the week and deliver a professional presentation at week’s end.
Coupled with their business venture was yet another challenge. The faculty wanted to not only provide the experience of running a business; they also wanted to raise student awareness of corporate social responsibility.To this end, each of the five sections partnered with a local non-profit organization. All of the money raised by the students’ business ventures would be given as a charitable donation to the non-profits. And members of each section would need to pool their resources in order to learn as much as they could about their respective nonprofit organization and the issues it attempts to tackle.”
Over the course of the week, the student ventures earned over $35,000, which was shared among five non-profit organizations. Students benefited from applying what they learned in real time, and the non-profits also benefited from the advice and recommendations from the students.
For further details about the Capstone Leadership Experience, read the full article: “Learning to Lead While Giving Back.”
As a follow-up to last week’s post on Favorite MBA Courses, three more Class of 2011 students did videos about their favorite classes while at Darden. Eric Paisley talks about “Business-Government Relations,” Sarah Forger talks about “Financial Institutions and Markets,” and Samir Shah talks about “Management of Economic Growth and Society.”
If you are interested in reapplying to Darden and would like to receive feedback on your application, you can schedule one 15-minute feedback session with a member of the Admissions Committee during the month of June. At this time, we are not offering feedback appointments to applicants on the waitlist. We have currently opened up slots through June 15 and plan to open up the latter half of the month in the coming weeks. This is an opportunity to find out how you can improve your candidacy for the coming year. Please note that reconsideration for the current admission cycle is not an option.
To schedule a phone appointment, please log into your account and go to the Class Visit section. Click on “Request a Class Visit” and then sign up for a 15-minute session. Within 48 hours of signing up for an appointment, you will receive an e-mail with the name and phone number for the Admissions Committee member you are to call at the designated time. Feedback appointments will not be offered after June 30th.
If you are planning to apply to the Darden School of Business by the Round 1 deadline (October 2011) for admission to start in the fall of 2012 and want to submit a GRE score instead of a GMAT score, we recommend that you take the GRE before August 1, 2011.
In August the GRE revised General Test will replace the current GRE® General Test, and people taking the revised exam will not be able to get their scores until after November 2011.
For more information, visit the GRE website and the Darden Application Requirements page.
The Round 3 application deadline for Darden’s Full-Time MBA program is tonight, March 30th at 11:59 p.m. (EST). We will have additional technical support throughout the day. If you are not able to submit your application due to technical difficulties, we ask that you please just stay in touch with our office if you encounter a problem.
The Darden School of Business is excited to host the Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) MBA Prep Program on the Darden Grounds next week.
“MLT is the premier career development institution that equips high potential African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans with the key ingredients — skills, coaching and door-opening relationships — that unlock their potential. By cracking the code on career potential, MLT is developing the next generation of minority leaders, for the corporate, non-profit and entrepreneurial sectors, who will in turn have transformational impact on our communities.”
Darden’s current students and alumni who participated in MLT have been leaders in the Darden community and gone onto successful careers post-MBA. We look forward to welcoming the MLT Fellows next week!
The Post-9/11 Veterans Education Assistance Improvements Act of 2010 was signed into law in early January 2011. Changes have been made to the original Post 9/11 Act that are important for all veterans and active duty members who are either applying or are considering applying to the Darden School of Business.
Effective on August 1, 2011, the GI Bill will now pay all public school in-state tuition and fees, including the graduate programs. The Darden School of Business is one of the few top ranked MBA programs in the country that is part of a public university and thereby able to benefit from the new update to the law.
For full details, visit the GI Bill website.
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