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Thursday, September 28, 2006
Darden visit and interview experience
It's pouring rain right now. (Click on the pic to see a bigger picture). Around 3:30pm, the skies opened and let us have it here in Charlottesville. The lightning made variable crackling and snap noises across the skies. It was quite surreal. The rain sort of symbolized how I was feeling since I woke up this morning. I was pretty woozy all day. Perhaps it was from jet-lag, or from the three hour drive last night, or from being up till midnight waiting for hotel managment to fix some bathroom fixtures (The hotel was completely booked so they couldn't move me.)
Anyway, for the 9:30am interview, I woke up at 7:30am and arrived there ready to go by 9:10am. When I walked into the admissions office, I was admittedly nervous. The receptionist gave me a class assignment visit confirmation and a lunch/tour confirmation. She provided me the case study file for the class so that I could read it before going to class. I did end up reading it and good thing too. Otherwise, I would have been totally lost. Darden is nearly 100% case study format. This demands that you prepare your case eval and have read the case before coming to class. The prof may call on you and embarrass you. So you have to be ready. One student mentioned that they go through 600 case studies a year. He also made the funniest comment about it. He said, "I know it sounds like a lot, but... uh... yeah... it is." He was trying to give a lighter side to the workload, but then realized mid-sentence that there really wasn't one. Pretty funny. Waiting in the admissions reception area, I began to meet a dozen others who were also interviewing. They came from San Francisco, Virginia, Japan, New York, Houston, Chicago and Miami.
For the interview, the interviewer (associate admissions director) brought into his office. A majority of the Darden interviews are performed by admissions directors. Unlike Tuck.. where most of theirs are performed by 2nd years. Anyway, when we got into his office, I noticed two chairs facing each other in front of his office desk. Instead of him sitting behind the desk, he sat directly across from me in the other chair. He began the interview by telling me it was completely blind. "I don't know anything about you for this interview", he said. He hadn't seen my Resume, stats or anything else. So he said, "I just want to get to know you... who you are and what drives you."
The rest of what he said went something like this, "I'm not asking you to run through your Resume or chronologically tell me every detail of your life. Because this interview format is just about getting to know you, I do want to add that at some point, we need to make sure that we've been able to answer questions such as "why an mba", "why darden" and "what are your future plans". At Darden, we value just finding out what makes candidates tick. So just go ahead and start where you feel like. It's your floor. {he said it so gently and calmly, with a smile) But before, we get started, I just want to mention that we do have to be wise in our use of time in that we have 40 minutes. So that's really our only constraint on this time we have." At this point, he calmly gestured his open hand to me as if to say that I had the stage.
The interviewer was very friendly and kind. He clarified any questions about the points I was making and we genuinely dialogued about my life. I admittedly steered some key points and put some structure into what I was saying. On a bad note, somewhere around T-10 minutes left, I felt about as tired as could be. I felt like the energy had been sapped out of me. I tried my best to hide it, but I'm sure it showed a bit. I really should have done a later interview. The point that worried me was when he asked if we could go back to what I wanted to do in terms of career goals. We had gone over it, but not succinctly. So he started to summarize it, but I finished his thoughts in a way that he expected me to finish them for him. I'm not sure if he did that to be clear about what makes me unique or if because I didn't hit that part of the dialogue clearly enough earlier. Obviously, I blame myself first. Oh well.
Every interviewee that I talked to in the lobby all had the exact same experience in terms of the easygoing structure of it. One fellow commented to me as he came out that it was a really cool experience because he got to talk about himself 30 minutes. They all agreed that it was very relaxing. I thought Tuck's interviews were easy going. Darden takes the cake in this area.
The problem with Darden's interview setup is that their schedules seem much more suited to early morning and early afternoon interviews. You may not get to meet with an admissions staff in the late afternoon interview slots. Remember that when admissions decision are discussed, the admissions staff discuss and defend you. A 2nd year may not have the pull that an admissions staff does in those decision meetings about who gets in or not. (just my opinion. I don't know if this is fully true or not. But what I'm saying makes sense--- doesn't it?)
After the interview, I read the case study and got to know more people who came for interviews. We were talking about the class experience in the lobby. I commented that the host would take us into class and have us introduce ourselves and then have us sing a short song. I said it with an absolutely straight face. A couple of the girls froze and so did a few guys. I let 30 seconds pass and said that I was only kidding and that we wouldn't have to sing. They let out a total sigh of relief. I'm pretty mean... huh!
10 minutes before class, I was taken by the student host to a Decision Analysis class. The class was truly enjoyable. On an interesting note, when student hosts take visitors to classes, it's one host to one guest. Many other schools have 1 host to 2 visitors. This goes to show the personal attention they are trying to put into the visit experience. The host told me as I got into class what to expect in terms of introductions and so forth. Then he said that to get a great response, that I should tell the class that I love David Hasselhoff and why. I froze because my earlier joke seemed to have backfired on me somehow. I thought really hard about whether he was joking or not. He said.. to just trust him. So I did.
My host introduced me and then I stood up. I said,"Hi, I'm David like xxx said. And before I tell you more about about myself, I just want to make it very clear that I love David Hasselhoff." The class absolutely broke into cheers and a huge drumming noise errupted from their desks and the floor from the foot pounding and hands pounding on the desks. I couldn't believe that it worked. Perhaps, I'll find out later that it was an absolutely horrid play on all visitors to get them to say it. I'll only know after I get my acceptance phone call right!
As class progressed, for the next 5 minutes, we would hear and feel the occasional floor and ceiling shaking from other classrooms stomping their feet and pounding their desk. What an energetic school I thought. I thought to myself,"I guess they suckered them into the David Hasselhoff love confession too." What a school. What a school.
The Prof was amazing. He was funny, sharp and lead the class discussion very well. I was able to get a great sense of how effective a case study can be when going over quantitative topics. Despite my lack of skills training that the other students had, I was able to follow the class 100%.
When class ended, quite a few students welcomed me and asked me about my experience. They had nothing but great comments about Darden. Even as I walked down the hall, students would come up to me and say hi and talk to me. It was a very welcoming place.
Here are a few impression take away that I got from the class.
1) You have to speak up and talk. I even think part of their grade may be part of participation. Harvard is the same way. Harvard and Darden are the only two schools that rely this heavily on case studies.
2) Preparation before class is key to having any kind of success in the school.
3) The most important point of all!!!! You have to be articulate and be able to convey/communicate your thoughts so that a class of 68 can understand what the heck you are saying. Therefore, your admission interview better be a case study of how you are able to convey your thoughts well. Or else, they'll lower their view of how strong a candidate you are for the school. This is a huge deal. It's actually part of the school bragging mantra to Corporations as well in their marketing material. "You'll find our graduates to be great communicators and to be highly articulate." This is important because the case study method has students teaching students. There were times in class when people would say, I didn't understand your question. That's never good. Even the Prof commented to one person that he didn't understand one students question. It's actually an important quality standard that all of the students appeared to peer-pressure one another into doing it well while in class.
4) If you're the kind of person that doesn't like to speak up, or need a lot of time to yourself... I and many other students at Darden have said the same thing to this. Don't apply. It's probably not for you.
The school tour was ok. Darden actually created a document that is a self tour of sorts. If you follow-it, it tells you where to go, when to go this way or that and then provides some background at each area that you stop at. Our Tour guide read off the sheet, but provided a lot of personal input on his own that made the tour interesting. It was pretty fast though.
My experience was great. Students are really hard working here. I met one student who went to a great school and had a very difficult engineering major. He told me that he never worked this hard. He clarified that it's not "studying" that he or any other student is referring to. It's about the amount of things to take care of, respond to and prepare for.
[updated sept 29,2006]
Lastly, it hit me last night, before I went to bed, why the interview style is the way it is. I've mentioned how important being articulate in class is right! When given no preliminary structure, how one conveys ones ideas and passions is best done when one removes all structure and then watches how you create one. This is best done in an interview with as little structure as possible. I know the laid back structure of the interview is probably because of the close community at Darden. But I also think that it serves an equally important role in assessing ones communication skills.
I would therefore say that ones ability to communicate is AN EXTREMELY HUGE component of what Darden looks for in applicants. I would add that if you have a particularly strong accent, that you will probably have a hard time getting in. For example, in the class I attended there were 6 Indians. I heard each of them speak. Their english was particular clear and their accent was not thick enough to struggle through what they were saying. There were other foreigners too and I could clearly hear what they were saying.
Anyway, this was a light bulb moment for me last night. I just wanted to put this down before I lost the clarity of this realization.
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6 Comments:
Great experience Dave! All the best :-)
Thanks much Ryan! Nice post yourself.
Excellent post. If you want to contribute also to the MBA Interview Feedback Database (http://www.accepted.com/mba/InterviewFeedback.aspx ), it would be appreciated. And if you don't, you have provided a wealth of information here. Also, please feel free to submit your pictures to the Beautiful B-School Photo Contest (http://www.accepted.com/zones/photos.aspx )
Hasselhoff... a legend beyond his years.
I'm glad you had a good Darden experience. The flavor is truly unique. As Ryan pointed out, Darden isn't necessarily for the completely outgoing extroverts who like to talk. For many this is a chance to work on their weaknesses but also shine in more intimate team settings. But as you said, it isn't for everyone.
Good luck!
Found the following post from a first Year Chinese Student currently attending Darden. - Dave
Hi, My name is SAM, a Chinese FY ( First Year ) here in Virginia.
Let me share with you my opinion on the case method here at Darden. ( your question 4 & 5 )
I dont want to waste your time reading this threas with the informaton you can get with GOOGLE and "official" Darden pamphlet..
So , here is the truth.
Darden is not for everybody.
Before you apply for B-School, you need to ask yourself a big question "What do I want out of it?"
If you want to get solid cross-principle general management professional training, move your English communication skills to a whole new level, and have close-knit friends and alumni you can count on, then Darden is the answer.
Note that I said "English" communication skills. if you want to land a job in North America, Darden will be one of your top choices. Today at the international orientation session, our career development director Mr. errerate just emphasised that the No.1 criteria Top recruiter ( Banking and Consulting firms such as Mckeinsy and Goldman Sach) are looking for when they came on campus is : communcation skills.
On the other hand, if you plan to go back China after your 2 years, Darden may not be your best choice, in my opinion - you dont really need the English communication skills, and Let's face it, Darden dont have particularly large alumni network in China, so it might not help your Business in China. After all, We are still a "small" school.
Yes, it is tough. Darden is still the most rigorous MBA program in TOP B schools in US.
Take it as a challenge, a challenge to improve yourself on time management, multiple-tasking and teamwork. Let me explain why it is a challenge for teamwork. Darden deliberately design the program so that the workload has to shared with the team. It is mission impossible to do it on your own. During today's panel dscussion with several SY ( second year ) students, one of the guys said that it took him too long to realize that he is not the smartest guy in the room. If he were given another chance to re-live the first year, he would involve more on the learn team and reply more on the learning team to get things done.
You need to be confident with your english, comfortable with elaborating your thoughts on a given topic in a structural and logical way in front of a group of elites from various part of the world.
So, are you "Darden material" ?
I totally agree with you about the interview! I had mine yesterday at 2:00pm (after a full day of the class visit, lunch with faculty, and socializing with the students... and after 10 minutes of the interview, i was completely drained and felt I was losing focus. I knew about the Darden interview going in, but nothing prepared me for it! That said, I absolutely loved the decision analysis class. And every single student (and applicant, for that matter) I met was warm and friendly. Love this school...
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