Trying to find out what Darden is really like? Learn from those who know it best by contacting one of our student ambassadors.
Darden’s student ambassador volunteers represent a variety of our most popular industries, and hail from regions across the world. We want to help prospective students like you make the most out of this important resource, so we caught up with a few members of our ambassador team — check out their advice and best practices for contacting an ambassador.
Students are one of the best ways to get to know Darden! The Admissions team suggests reviewing the list of ambassadors and pick two or three who match your background and/or interests. When reaching out to ambassadors, we find it best to have specific questions, rather than the more general “Why did you choose Darden?” or “Tell me about your experience.” We value that you have taken the time to learn more about Darden, and appreciate your consideration of the students’ time and availability to respond. – Whitney Kestner, Director of Admissions
Tips from current student ambassadors:
- Spend some time looking through the Darden website to get a foundational understanding of the program so that you can ask deeper questions about different clubs, niche opportunities and career-related experiences.
- Get deeper than the “what programs does Darden offer…” questions. This is an opportunity for you to connect with a student who’s living the Darden life every day. Save the Google-able questions for Google, and use this valuable time to get their personal perspective on the Darden culture and learn about their unique experience!
- Ask us what’s really on your mind! The ambassadors are here for you to get a better understanding of the Darden experience. Part of our purpose is to help you get a strong understanding of this MBA program and our diverse experiences so you can make an informed decision — make sure you ask us about topics/things you care about.
- You can learn a lot about us on LinkedIn, Darden club websites, etc., and having that background knowledge can allow you to dig deeper on the things you truly want to learn about. The Student Ambassador page doesn’t tell you that I’m the President of Net Impact, or that I participate in a Darden program that teaches case method classes in a local prison, but those are formative parts of my Darden experience that I’m frankly more excited to talk to prospective students about than the typical questions about consulting recruiting or class schedules!
- The students on the ambassador page are full-time MBA students — most of us unfortunately can’t speak to other programs like the Executive MBA or Ph.D., so be aware of that before reaching out.
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