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FEBRUARY 10, 2003 B-SCHOOL Q&A: ADMISSIONS A Talk with Darden's Admissions Director Dawna Clarke, admissions director at the University of Virginia's B-school, with advice on what their team looks for in applications
Clarke, who has been chief gatekeeper at Darden since 2000, has a Master's in higher education from UNC. Following is an edited version of Clarke'sconversation with BusinessWeek Online management education reporter Brian Hindo: Q: You're just gearing up for the fourth and fifth application deadlines at Darden -- Feb. 10 and Mar. 11, respectively. There's a prevailing opinionthat later-round applications have to cross a higher bar than earlier round applications. Is that true? A: Generally, I advise applicants to apply earlier because I think it's easier to stand out earlier in the process. However, we reserve spaces forapplicants who apply during each of the deadlines. Q: Is this the right time to get an MBA? A: It's a great time to get an MBA, because a lot of people are predicting that the economy is going to get stronger. It's not as strong now as we hopeit will be, and I think by the time our students graduate the outlook will be much brighter. Q: How has application volume been this year? A: We're down right now by about 4% vs. last year at this time, but that's after two years of 10% growth. We're up in terms of the number of offerswe've extended because the quality of the applicant pool is higher than last year. Q: In what ways has quality gone up? A: The most objective way to assess that is average Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) scores and grade point averages (GPAs). For the lastfour years, we've seen an increase in the quality of the applicant pool in terms of the average GPA and GMAT. The sense of the admissions committee is thatthe quality of applicants' work experience has gotten better as well. Q: What can you tell me about the students you've admitted so far? Is there any difference from past years' classes? A: I'm not seeing a significant difference in the type of student. I think because Darden is such a strong general management program there has been atendency over the years to draw a diverse student body. We're not seeing a significant shift from one industry to another or from one region to another. If I were to mention one thing that has changed slowly, it would be an increase in ourinternational student applicant pool. About 47% of our applications are from international students right now. Q: How does that compare with last year? A: It was 44% last year. Q: What parts of the country do most Darden students come from? A: Last year, 27% came from outside the U.S. The biggest percentage within the U.S. is from the Northeast -- about a quarter of the student body. And19% are from Virginia -- although that's a misleading statistic, because a lot of people have established Virginia residency but aren't true Virginians. Ifyou're from Boston and got a job on Capitol Hill, you can establish your residency in Virginia. About 6% are from the Mid-Atlantic, 5% from the Midwest, 7%from the South, 9% from the West coast. Q: What are the top two or three industries that feed applicants into your pool? A: We've been seeing a lot of consulting applicants. But that isn't new, we've been seeing that for several years. Consulting and financial servicesare the two industries most represented in the applicant pool. Q: Does that relfect all the layoffs in those industries? A: I think so. Starting last year, we saw a bit of an increase from consulting -- and from Arthur Andersen in particular. [Editor's Note: ArthurAndersen, the former auditor of Enron, disintegrated in the wake of the Enron scandal.] Q: What other schools do Darden applicants most commonly apply to? A: We cross applicants with Tuck, Kellogg, Stanford, and Harvard the most. Q: Since Darden is a case-study school, do you evaluate applications any differently than other business schools who use a more traditional lectureformat? A: We highly value an interview, I think to a much greater extent than most of our peerinstitutions. About 99% of the students at Darden have had an interview, either with an admissions counselor or a second-year student or an alumniinterviewer. We put such high value on the interview because we're a case-method school. There's a lot ofemphasis on class participation, and therefore communication skills are key to us. We feelinterpersonal skills are essential for managers, and it's hard to evaluate those without having a personal interview. Q: Are interviews by invitation only? A: No. From August until Mar. 1, people can interview on a first come, first served basis. It's open to anybody, regardless of whether you haveapplied. It's just on a space-available basis. After Mar. 1, because of the volume of work, we start to do interviews on an invitation basis only. Q: Is it possible for a student to get admitted without having been interviewed? A: It's not possible. If an applicant looks strong and hasn't interviewed, we will either set up an alumni interview or invite them here for aninterview. We also have an innovative program that started this year called Winter Break Visits. We asked students to go to their home countries -- 13 differentlocations in Asia, Latin America, and Europe -- and meet with 265 prospective students. It was a huge help to us in admissions. Q: What about phone interviews? A: We shy away from phone interviews unless the applicant is from a country where we don't have an alumni representative. We may do, at most, 10 phoneinterviews a year. We really encourage people to come to Darden -- not only for our benefit. [The MBA degree] is such a huge investment that you shouldcheck out the school. Q: Do you give any preference to Virginia residents? A: We're a state institution, so that's taken into consideration in the admissions process, although it isn't a big factor. It has a minor influence.
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