Hi Sara,
I am planning to apply to Darden in R1 this year.

I want to know if Darden is a good place to be in for people who are looking for a career switch. I have a 770 GMAT score and I will have 3 yrs of exp in software development by the time I join next year and I want to get into investment Banking or some other Finance job after my MBA. Do people with my kind of profile regularly manage good career switch from Darden? (Any statistics would be even more helpful)

Thanks,
ST

Sara,

I had few queries:

1. I am intersted in having my own business,but before i start that i would like to work for atleast 3-4 years post MBA to get the global business exposure which will help me to deal and understand my business in a better way.
How does Darden help candidates like me who want to get into the Entrepreneurshippath after a period of time?
Do we have a specific Entrepreneurship course or do we have to take up courses amongst finance/marketing/operation etc which would help us out in those initial 3-4 yrs ?.

2. Currently i have 2.5 yrs work experience in one of the biggest IT companies in India.My acads arent too good but have a healthy work profile.i am planning to apply for 2010 batch and by then ill have 4 years of work exp with 1.5 yrs onsite experience too.
Do you think an onsite assignment leverages your profile in any way?
Do you think i would need more work experience to fit in a class which has average 5 years of work exp.I completely agree that one should apply and do MBA when he feels the need to but in case of a person like me who wants to be an entrepreneur I feel,the earlier the better.What do you suggest?

Thanks

Hello Sara,

I hope you are doing good.
I have a question regarding the applicants pool. I have been hearing that Management Schools get a lot of applicants from the software industry(myself being from this pool) - My question is:
"What are the factors that distinguish IT applicants?"

Considering that most applicants have experience in coding only and at the most some international exposure and maybe leading a few people, what matters most? That is, considering most of the applicants have similar GMAT scores, Acads and so on.

Thanks
Arv

Hi Sara,

This is regarding the recommendations.
It says something about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Can you please elaborate on it?
Is it applicable to international candidates as well? If yes, then Does that mean we can opt to see/not to see the letter of recommendations?

Thanks

SG

Dear Sara,

Thank you so much for taking time to answer our queries. I absolutely love the resources that Darden has to offer to its students.

I am applying to Darden in Round1 this year for the Fall 2009 intake. My questions are:

1. I will have 3+ years of work full-time experience in developing trading software for one of the top hedge funds in the world. In addition to this, I have 18 months of internship experience from four different companies. Will my internship experience add weight to my application to Darden?

2. I understand that you will be visiting India in December. Will the admission committee schedule an interview with me during that time, if I am shortlisted? If it is not possible for me to interview with you at that time then what are the alternatives?

Looking forward to your response.

Warm regards,
Ashwanth

Hi Sara ,
I believe that you are doing great .....

I am planning to go for MBA after 4+ yrs of working .I have done production enngineering from University of Mumbai, India & then joined Godrej as production planning and control engineer . Currently I am working with an organization leader in consulting .. as SAP Production planning and control consultant .
I have planned to give GMAT in Jan -2009.

Can you please update me the time line for the 1st round of application & total estimated expense for the full time course ... I will appreciate if you can advice me about my prospect of getting grant/aid for the curriculum...and I am bit tensed about the living the food expense .

Please suggest me your views , it will help me plan out the financial resources.


Thanks
Kaushik

Hi Sara,

Thanks for reply.

My school in India does not follow a GPA system, so how do I enter the International GPA in the application form.

thanks a lot

Dear Sara,

I am planning to apply to Darden in Round1 this year for the Fall 2009 intake. My questions is:
I have worked in a major petrochemical company for 19 months. Though I loved the job I had to quit it because I was diagnosed with allergy to some chemicals. I'm really apprehensive about writing this reason in my application. Would a health problem considered as a negative in an application?

Dear Amit,

Here you go:
1. Yes, family business experience, if full-time work experience, counts as work experience. (see above answer for if it was during school)

2. Please do not have a family member write your second recommendation. Instead look to someone else you worked with on projects at Infosys or a client/vendor of your family business.

3. I would definitely recommend that you apply now. The worst that can happen is that we tell you to reapply when you have more work experience and at least you'll have learned if you have any other weaknesses in your application (we'll tell you if you ask for feedback next summer). The best that can happen is that you'll get in and be able to come now!

Sara Neher

HI Sara,

I am from India, studied in an English medium primary and high school and graduated from Indian university where the medium of instruction was English.
My verbal score in GMAT was 44 and AWA 5.5.
90% of US schools including Stanford and other top schools do not require me to give TOEFL.
However, it seems that Darden requires TOEFL.
I would not like to spend additional money on TOEFL.
Can TOEFL be waived off??
thanks
saket

Sara,

I am 23 yrs old. I have a degree in Electrical Engg. with an overall aggregate of 78%(not sure how to convert this to GPA) from a top 15 Indian Univ. I am yet to take up the GMAT.

Work Ex: I worked as a software engineer in one of the largest Indian IT companies, Infosys tech. Ltd. for 15 months. I quit Infosys to work in my family business(Industrial Suppliers) . I have been working in it since then (11 months now).

My questions :

1) Does Darden count family business as experience?
2) I can get one letter of recommendation from my Infosys Manager. I am not sure who I should approach for my second letter. Please guide.
3) Do you suggest me to apply with the work ex I have got or should I wait for a couple more years ? Though I would like to join in the 2009 intake.

Thanks,
Amit

Hi Sara,

I wanted to know about the tie ups that Draden has with Technology companies in the Auto and Internet/Networking space. Also, I am specifically targetting program managment roles within such companies, in your opinion do you think Draden's program would be a good support to achieve this (I am currently working in technical roles). More specifically if you have any cases where people have made shifts from technical roles to more business operational roles within the technology space and what kind of shifts have they been, and where has the Draden MBA helped them.

Thanks

Hi Sara,

I am looking forward to applying for Darden for next batch. I have few questions:

1) Regarding experience: I have 82 months diversified experience in five sectors (around 22 months experience in two slots (16+6) in my family business apart from additional 60 months in different professional organizations (for which I have proof like salary, experience letter etc.). For 22 month family business, I have experience certificate from my father who is the owner of the business). For the family business exp, Will experience certificate from my father suffice for the purpose of experience proof?

2) Secondly, does having very diversified & long experience pose any hindrance post MBA specifically during Job hunt in US.

3) How has been the placement scenario for MBA students from India in the last passing out class?

Hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks in advance.

Dear Sara,

I had one more question. I was looking forward to attending an information session for Darden in India. But when I checked the international events schedule at the school's website, India was conspicuously missing from the list. Is it simply because that the schedule of the visiting team was too tight and they could not find suitable dates or
is Darden indifferent towards applicants from India? I have often found the information sessions of different schools useful to get a more personal feel about them.


warm regards,
kevin

Dear Sara,

I am an international applicant form India. Is the TOEFL test waived for candidates who have done their undergraduation from a university where medium of communication was English?

regards,
kevin

Thank you very much for the first post! You have asked great questions and I will answer them separately:

1. The most important thing to think about when choosing recommenders is how well they know you and can write about your strengths and your leadership potential. We definitely want to hear from your current supervisor, so you've got that covered. For the second recommendation, definitely go with someone you have worked closely with as long as they are at least one level higher than you are. We would rather not see a peer recommendation for either of the two required essays. Also, if you had more work experience, I would expect an additional person who was a past supervisor or team leader, but in your case I think the recommender you describe would have something to add.

2. Darden does not count pre-graduation work experience as full-time work experience, so you should not include it in your count of months/years worked. However, we definitely want to hear about it. Please include it on your resume and if it was significant, or is a reason why you are applying, you can include it in an essay.

Good luck!

Sara Neher