We spent about an hour in our zoom hangout on June 29, 2021, presenting our Darden essay analysis – we exhaustively examined the short answer questions that they’ve asked students to answer in the 2021-22 application and presented our viewpoints on how students could answer them well..
Towards the end, we also had a short q&a with prospective applicants about broader application-related questions.
Here is the video of our hangout:
Please click on the youtube link. In the video details, you will find that we have listed out all the questions that were discussed in this session, and provided the time stamps for each question. The timestamp is clickable – by clicking on the time-stamp, you will be able to go to the relevant part of the video and get your questions answered.
The following major topics were discussed (copied from the zoom chat transcript. Please excuse typos):
0.00
Welcome and Introduction – Karthik
6:30
Karthik’s visit to the Darden campus in 2019
11:40
Application Deadlines
12:15
The Early Action/Decision deadline – should you consider it?
12:25
Open Interviews – a short discussion
14:10
Conditions for requesting a GMAT/GRE test waiver – a short discussion on why it may not be advantageous for Indian students to request a GMAT waiver.
15:45
Resume – what should you focus on presenting?
16:45
The Experience Darden Podcast: https://experiencedarden.podbean.com
17:30
Short commentary on the one Letter of Recommendation
18:10
Darden provides a variety of resources to help you prepare good application material – check out their Blogs, Youtube channel, Facebook page, Twitter page, Linkedin page and Instagram page – links available at:
Short Answer 1: Tell us what you would want your Learning Team to know about you that is not on your resume. (150 words)
36:00
Leadership and Impact – choices
37:15
Option 1: Tell us about a time when you acted with a team to solve a problem or seize an opportunity. What role did you play? What did you learn from this experience?
46:35
Option 2: Tell us about a time you acted to solve a problem for the greater good. What drew you to this issue? What did you learn from this experience?
47:20
Diversity and Inclusion – choices
50:50
Option 1: Share a time when you learned something related to diversity, equity, or inclusion that was previously unknown to you? How did this experience impact your perspective?
57:50
Example of a diversity story.
1:00:00
Option 2: Share a time when you advocated for a perspective, identity, or community different from your own. How did this experience impact your worldview? (200 words)
1:01:25
What is your short-term, post-MBA goal, and how does it align with the long-term vision you have for your career? (150 words)
1:02:30
The Batten Foundation Worldwide Scholarship provides all Darden students in our full-time MBA program with an opportunity to participate in a Darden Worldwide Course. If you could choose any location in the world, where would you want to travel, and why? (55 words)
