Darden Admission Director on PaGaLGuY! Ask all your admission-related questions!

[Sara@Darden]

Originally Posted by mayank_rasu

Hey Sara,

First of all thanx for taking out time to help Darden Aspirants.
I will be applying to Darden for Fall 2009. My work ex will be 2 years by then. I want to know

1) What do you look for in the Essays? I mean for a candidate having less work ex (Quantitatively) what areas should he emphasize upon?

2) I am interested in getting a specialization in Finance. This will be a complete switch in career as I am an engineer. Will a Darden MBA suit me better than an MS in Finance?

What I will say here is that a Darden MBA is a degree for your career, not just your first job out of graduate school. If your only goal is to get that first finance job, you can probably do fine with an MS in Finance. If your goal is to be a unit manager, or even a CEO, an MBA at Darden will prepare you to be an action-oriented decision-maker with a strong basis in ethics - a skillset that all companies seek for their future leaders. Darden is about improving society by developing leaders in the world of practical affairs. In addition, about 80-85% of our students switch their industry or function or both. You will need to assess your own goals and reflect on what will be the best fit for you. Not coincidentally, that is what you should do to prepare for your essays - reflect and think deeply about who you are and what you want to do!

Sara Neher

[zram84]

Thanks Sara for your thoughts. I understand from your reply that Darden looks for a lot of self introspection amongst its applicants.. Great to know that there is a strong Indian community out there.. Another question. Does Darden have Rolling admissions?

[Sara@Darden]

Originally Posted by zram84

Thanks Sara for your thoughts. I understand from your reply that Darden looks for a lot of self introspection amongst its applicants.. Great to know that there is a strong Indian community out there.. Another question. Does Darden have Rolling admissions?

We do look for introspection!

We do not have rolling admission. We have three distinct admissions rounds (one in late October/early November, one in January, and one this week). Apply in the early round if at all possible because more merit scholarships are available in the first round.

Thanks!

Sara Neher

[Deep Magic]

Dear Ms. Sara

I had applied to Darden in Round 1 (November 1, 2007 deadline). Find below some information about me:

GMAT: 750
TOEFL(iBT): 113 (out of 120)
Academic Profile: Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Bhopal (I was in top 10 students in the college)
Experience: 4 years [Till July 2008]
Industry: Information Technology
International Exposure: 1 year (USA)
Long Term Goal: Entrepreneur
Short Term Goal: Consultant

However, I did not get a favourable response from Darden. I did not even get an opportunity to interview.
Can you please let me know how can I further improve my profile? I know that such a small piece of information is not sufficient to answer my question, but if possible could you possibly enumerate what could have gone wrong with my application?

Thanks.

[Apurv]

Originally Posted by Deep Magic

Dear Ms. Sara

I had applied to Darden in Round 1 (November 1, 2007 deadline). Find below some information about me:

GMAT: 750
TOEFL(iBT): 113 (out of 120)
Academic Profile: Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Bhopal (I was in top 10 students in the college)
Experience: 4 years [Till July 2008]
Industry: Information Technology
International Exposure: 1 year (USA)
Long Term Goal: Entrepreneur
Short Term Goal: Consultant

However, I did not get a favourable response from Darden. I did not even get an opportunity to interview.
Can you please let me know how can I further improve my profile? I know that such a small piece of information is not sufficient to answer my question, but if possible could you possibly enumerate what could have gone wrong with my application?

Thanks.

Dear Deep Magic,

I appreciate the effort you made in asking a question. But I hope you understand that applying to US MBA is more about your essays, your story and how you tell it than what your profile is. You cannot synthesize an 'improved profile' by consulting the Admission Committee because they'll see through it when you reapply. Just go out, do more interesting things and it will automatically show! If you can't work it out for yourself without asking others, you might wanna rethink considering a top school .

As for this forum, please refrain from asking questions about admissionability based on profile. Such questions do not have intelligent answers.

Cheers,

[saptarshi18]

Originally Posted by zram84

Hi Sara,

I have a couple of questions...

1. I work for an US ERP major in India and am lookin at an MBA in 2009. I would have close to 2 years and 10 months ,If and when I do start my MBA next year. Early in my College days I won a major National levell Business Plan Contest( organized by Stanford and IIT ) on social entrpreneurship and wanted to be a social entrepreneur since then,but not before I am well prepared for the real world of business making. So I intend to do Product Consulting for a few years post MBA and then look to unleash my dreams. Is darden the place to look for ? or would I be told that I am too young to be dreaming this far

2. Despite my varied Intrest and goals on ending up as a social entrepreneur would I be entangled in the ocean of Indian/IT/Male candidature? I can understand the idea behind not looking to weigh candidates based on the brand value of the companies they come from but should not coming from a big branded company, not mean anything at all, considering the fact the evaluation of performance then becomes all the more standardised for everybody then knows what it takes to get into a big US technology major and how important the growth within the company is?


3. Squeezing in one more : How strong is the Indian Community in Darden?

Ram

Hi Ram,

I am not sure how to answer your first two questions as they seemed to be self-proving prophecies. Only thing I can say is that if you have a dream and will to achieve it, no one can stop you.

On the last question. Indian community is the only second to Americans at Darden. It is extremely strong and close knit with Darden Partner's organizing many festival celebrations etc. As an Indian, the students will make sure that you integrate well and help you through the MBA process.

Hope this helps.

Saptarshi

[sstickler]

hi Sara.

I am recent graduate from a top engineering college in india and am currently working in technical field. However I got an offer from a financial consulting firm to join them as an analyst. But I plan to do my MBA soon, so I would like to know, if the B-schools value work experience in a top consulting firm more than the work experience in a good Technical company.

I would be helpful if you could tell me if a B-school like darden, considers applicants with work experience of 2 years?

how would a work experience in two different companies (say tech(1 yr) and consulting(1 yr)) weigh my options of getting into a b-school.

thanks & regards,
sstickler

[Emil Zacharia]

ma'am
i am an under graduate aspiring to pursue MBA from a world class B-school like yours..
i learnt that work experience is a preriquisite for MBA addmissions abroad... is it true...

[zram84]

Thanks spatarishi for the note on the Indian community @ Darden. In all probability darden would def be in my applist for I found quite a few fits with darden. and its only heartening to know that the Indian communtiy is pretty strong out there.

[Sara@Darden]

Originally Posted by Deep Magic

Dear Ms. Sara

I had applied to Darden in Round 1 (November 1, 2007 deadline). Find below some information about me:

GMAT: 750
TOEFL(iBT): 113 (out of 120)
Academic Profile: Engineer from National Institute of Technology, Bhopal (I was in top 10 students in the college)
Experience: 4 years [Till July 2008]
Industry: Information Technology
International Exposure: 1 year (USA)
Long Term Goal: Entrepreneur
Short Term Goal: Consultant

However, I did not get a favourable response from Darden. I did not even get an opportunity to interview.
Can you please let me know how can I further improve my profile? I know that such a small piece of information is not sufficient to answer my question, but if possible could you possibly enumerate what could have gone wrong with my application?

Thanks.

Again, it would be inappropriate to comment without seeing your full file. What I can tell you is that Darden is one of the few top schools that offers feedback. Please contact your account manager after June 1 and she will request that one of the Admissions Committee members respond to your request for feedback. We look forward to responding to you then.

Sara Neher