Darden’s Executive MBA application for the Class of 2023 is now available!
Join Senior Director of Admissions Brett Twitty tomorrow at 12:00 p.m. ET for an Application Launch webinar, featuring insights about this year’s application and tips for Executive MBA applicants.
Executive MBA Application Launch Webinar
Wednesday, 19 August | 12:00 pm ET
Register
All registrants will be emailed a link to a recording of the webinar.
Be sure to also check out our recent Executive MBA applicant FAQs blog post for Twitty and Senior Associate Director of Admissions Katherine Alford’s recent podcast conversation for even more information about our application.
Here are a few more things to know about this year’s Executive MBA application:
Application Fee Waiver. We are excited to offer an Executive MBA application fee waiver (a $250 value) to applicants who complete the following two steps:
- Attend an Executive MBA Conversation or a Virtual Coffee Chat AND
- Attend an Executive MBA Webinar (or similar Executive MBA-related online event)
If you’ve started an Executive MBA application, once you’ve completed these steps, a fee waiver code will be automatically added to your application. If you haven’t started an Executive MBA application, the fee waiver code will be applied as soon as soon as you create an application.
Reapplicants. We value candidates who remain interested in our program across admissions multiple cycles, and many of our students applied to Darden a couple times before gaining admission. This year, we are excited to announce a new opportunity for reapplicants. If you submitted an application in our 2019-2020 admissions cycle, we would be happy to copy your application to our new admissions cycle. To request this action, please submit the Reapplicant Request Form.
Of course, you will need to answer any new questions, and we recommend reviewing your prior responses to ensure they are still accurate. All re-applicants will also need to submit a new recommendation with their application materials. In addition, even if a reapplicant previously interviewed with Darden, a new interview would be required to be eligible for an offer of admission in the new cycle. In our Executive MBA application process, all interviews are invitation-only.
Monthly deadlines. Our first deadline is 10 September, and we offer monthly deadlines to give our busy Executive MBA applicants maximum flexibility. As you will note from our Deadlines page, each deadline functions as its own discrete round within the broader admissions cycle, and all deadlines are focused on one start date — August 2021. We encourage you to apply as soon as you feel you can put together a strong application.
Standardized Tests. As recently noted, when it comes to standardized tests Executive MBA applicants have two options: Submit a test score or submit a test waiver request.
Planning to take a test? We accept the Executive Assessment (EA), GMAT, GRE, MCAT and LSAT, and candidates can even apply with an older or expired test score. We encourage you to choose the test that best aligns with your strengths and plans, but we also recommend learning more about the EA. The EA is the most popular test with our Executive MBA applicants, and, unlike other standardized tests, it was designed with Executive MBA applicants in mind. For the past three years, our average EA score has been 153.
Planning to submit a test waiver? You will find the test waiver request form in the Test Scores section of our application, and we encourage you to use the text box to highlight any aspects of your academic and/or professional background you feel are relevant to our Committee’s consideration. Waiver requests will be evaluated along with the full application, and we will provide an update regarding your waiver request at the time of decision.
Recommendation. In our Executive MBA application process, we require only one recommendation. We defer to candidates when it comes to recommender choice – After all, you know who knows you best and is most qualified to respond to the questions in our recommendation materials. However, given that students will be working while participating in our program, we generally prefer recommendations from an applicant’s manager or current supervisor, but there are reasons why a candidate might not select his or her boss as their recommender (new role, new relationship, etc.). If you choose a recommender other than your current supervisor, use the Additional Comments section of the application to share more details about your recommender choice.
Ready to apply? Get started on your Executive MBA application today!
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