Trivia Tuesday: The First Year Experience at UVA/Darden » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Clear Admit School Guides
Seventeen titles available! Understand how the leading programs compare and learn more about the MBA experience in and beyond the classroom through Clear Admit School Guides. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Interview Guides
Be as prepared as possible for your MBA interviews this season with the Clear Admit Interview Guides! School-specific sample questions and in-depth strategy, campus visit details and places to stay.

Application Deadlines
Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to top-tier schools.
Oct. 1: INSEAD R1
Oct. 3: Northwestern / Kellogg R1
Oct. 8: Columbia 2009 J-Term and ED
Oct. 9: Wharton R1
Oct. 10: Michigan / Ross R1
Oct. 15: Chicago GSB R1
Oct. 15: Dartmouth / Tuck EA
Oct. 15: Duke / Fuqua EA
Oct. 15: HBS R1
Oct. 22: Yale SOM R1
Oct. 24: UNC Kenan-Flagler R1 (Early Action)
Oct. 28: UVA / Darden R1
Oct. 28: MIT Sloan R1
Oct. 29: Stanford GSB R1
Nov. 4: Berkeley / Haas R1
Nov. 15: NYU / Stern R1

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay*
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago GSB*
CMU / Tepper
Columbia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard*
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross*
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern
Oxford / Said
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson
UNC / Kenan-Flagler
UT Austin / McCombs
UVA / Darden
Yale SOM
* denotes '08-'09 commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
GMAC
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
UCLA / Anderson
Virginia / Darden
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: Rest of the World
As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
Cranfield School of Mgmt (UK) 2
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 2
Tsinghua IMBA (China) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

MBA Tipline
We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it.

Blog Archive

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Trivia Tuesday: The First Year Experience at UVA/Darden

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly look at the policies and practices that differentiate the leading business schools. This week’s focus is the structure of Darden’s first-year class and the way it impacts the first-year experience at the school.

Darden’s entering class is divided into five sections of approximately 60 students each. As at other business schools that break their classes into smaller groups, Darden’s sections are designed to represent the professional and demographic diversity of the full first-year class. Each section takes all of its core curriculum courses together and therefore shares a common set of faculty. Given the relatively small size of the sections and the intensely participatory nature of Darden’s case-based learning style, the school has taken the unusual step of reassigning sections at the conclusion of the first semester. This allows students to benefit from the ideas and perspectives of a new group of classmates during second semester case discussions. Section loyalty runs deep at Darden, despite the mid-year reshuffling of the class. Inter-section athletic events and other competitions take place each year, with students’ first semester sections holding their allegiance. In addition, alumni returning to campus often identify themselves by their section affiliation.

Darden first-years are further divided into 50-60 Learning Teams of 5-6 students apiece. As with the sections, learning team assignments are made with an eye to the diversity of students’ professional, academic and geographic backgrounds. However, Darden’s Learning Teams differ from those at most schools in that they are made up of students drawn from different sections of the class. Because class participation counts for such a large percentage of the grade in each course, case-based schools such as Darden and Harvard ensure that Learning Team members are not in the same class sections. This arrangement allows students to share their insights freely without having to compete against teammates in the classroom.

Unlike the first-year sections, Darden’s Learning Teams work together throughout the first year. Students are expected to use the teams as a resource for sharing and testing ideas, but above all, the teams are seen as an exercise in learning to lead a diverse group toward a shared goal. The school expects students to be committed to their Learning Teams and these teams play a central role in the lives of first-years.

To support the work of the Learning Teams, Darden reserves a study room for each team from 7-10 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday evenings. This practice is unique to Darden among its peer programs; few business schools have enough study rooms to provide their learning teams with dedicated meeting space throughout the week.

To learn more about the first-year academic experience at Darden or other leading MBA programs, be sure to check out the schools’ websites or the Academics section of the Clear Admit School Guides!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:29 am in School: Virginia / Darden, School: Harvard, Trivia Tuesday

DISCUSSIONS / BLOGS / WIKI

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MBA Admissions Wiki
The Clear Admit Wiki is designed to allow b-school applicants to share their experiences through the application process. You can learn from others' experiences and contribute your own reports to the community. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
Wharton Interview Field Reports
HBS Interview Field Reports
Kellogg Interview Field Reports
Chicago Interview Field Reports
Columbia Interview Field Reports

Discussion Boards

BusinessWeek Forums
The BusinessWeek Discussion Boards are a great way to learn about the issues applicants face. Recently BusinessWeek updated their interface, here is a link to the original interface. Also, Clear Admit hosts the Ask Clear Admit thread, which should help answer your questions. Here are the five most recent discussions.

StudyLink Forums
Clear Admit manages the Applying section of the StudyLink MBA discussion boards.

student 2 student
The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton, but include discussions about all of the top schools. Here are the five most recent discussions.

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The Chicago Discussion Boards are managed by the University of Chicago. Here are the five most recent discussions.

School-Hosted Blogs

Straight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.

Individuals' Blogs

A selection of the latest updates to MBA blogs compiled by Hella.
MBA Applicants

MBA Students

Bloggers by School

The following are links to bloggers at each of the schools listed.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Chapel Hill
Stanford
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
Yale
ESADE
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School

Community Blogs

Bshoolers.com
Community blog with MBA student and alum contributors.

Forté Foundation MBA Diaries
Video blog entries posted by women MBA students.

Owen Bloggers
Independent blog with content by Vanderbilt MBA students.

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