UVA / Darden MBA News
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Published: August 24, 2014
Ice Bucket Challenge Continues Its Ripple Through Top Business Schools
It started last week with one section challenging another at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, ultimately leading to a school-wide dousing and a challenge issued to rival schools UNC Kenan-Flagler School, the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and UVA’s Darden School. And the ice-cold water just keeps flowing (as do the donations).
The challenge, of course, is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that began going viral in late July and has amassed an incredible $79.7 million in donations to date (as compared to just $2.5 million during the same time period last year [July 29th to August 25th]). The ALS Association reports that it has gained 1.7 million new donors along the way.
Those who are challenged are supposed to have ice water dumped over their heads and then challenge others to do the same—or to make a donation to fight ALS—within 24 hours. In taking up the mantle, business school classes have called upon their peers to both endure the icy shower AND donate.
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Published: August 19, 2014
Business School Students Accept ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, Pass It On
With the likes of Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and former President George W. Bush pouring buckets of ice over their heads in support of ALS awareness, surely top business schools are getting in on the action as well, right?
At Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, it began with one section (Section 4) challenging another (Section 5). That section upped the ante, challenging the entire rest of the class, as well as all of Fuqua’s MMS Cross Continent students. So on August 13th, Team Fuqua did the #ALSIceBucketChallenge as one.
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Published: August 5, 2014
MBA Recruiting Now Starts Before Classes at Many Top Business Schools
First-year students at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business are gathering this week in San Francisco for a tour of area tech firms, UVA’s Darden School is conducting “career kickoff” meetings with two-thirds of its incoming first-year class and the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business has added four days of career services programming to its orientation—and this is all taking place before those MBA students attend a single class.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlights these instances as evidence of several shifts in business education, including that recruiters are eager to meet with future talent earlier than ever before, MBA students have a growing interest in tech careers and traditional on-campus MBA recruiting is no longer sufficient.
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Published: August 4, 2014
The Economist Group Launches $25,000 MBA Scholarship Contest
The Economist Group’s business education division, Which MBA?, yesterday launched its second Brightest Minds MBA Scholarship Contest, which will award a $25,000 scholarship to the prospective MBA or EMBA student who scores highest on a simulated GMAT exam.
The first Brightest Minds MBA scholarship ran earlier this year, drawing more than 4,500 entrants, The Economist Group reports. The winner, Rishabh P. from India, is currently applying to several business schools, with plans to begin an MBA program in fall 2015.
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Published: April 17, 2014
UVA’s Darden School of Business Dean to Return to Faculty at Second Term’s End
Dean Robert Bruner of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business intends to return to a faculty position when he completes his second term as dean in 2015, the school announced this week. In his almost decade as dean, Bruner is credited with having a transformational impact and helping to significantly propel Darden’s reputation globally.
"Darden is recognized worldwide for student satisfaction and for delivering the best graduate business education experience,” UVA President Teresa A. Sullivan said in a statement. “Bob and his team have achieved this reputation through curricular innovations, the launch of two new formats of the Darden MBA, an unrelenting search for top faculty and student talent, and attention to every detail of the academic experience," she continued.
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Published: April 16, 2014
Deans of Leading Business Schools Descend on the White House
The deans of more than a dozen leading business schools took leave from their campuses yesterday to head to the White House, where they met with senior advisors preparing for the White House Summit on Working Families. The White House is seeking input from a range of stakeholders to identify best practices to develop workplaces that better meet the needs of women and working families.
“We did not think this goal could be achieved without thinking of the business leaders of tomorrow, and that is why today, we met with a group of deans from our nation’s leading business schools to discuss best practices for business schools that can better prepare their students for the increasing importance of women in the labor force and the prevalence of employees with families where all parents work,” read a post on the White House Blog.
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Fridays From the Frontline
Hello and welcome to Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit's weekly ramble through the ruminations of the b-school blogosphere. This week, our stalwart applicants are continuing to filter their impressions of the application process, while contemplating what comes next. Current students are likewise contemplating how their lives have changed since starting business school, whether this year or last, and are looking forward to welcoming the class of 2016.
MBAReapplicant continued his streak of good news with admits from both Tepper and Darden. With a successful end to the reapplication process, MBAReapplicant can finally chose between several exciting options for next year. Timbob, another class of '16 successful applicant to Harvard Business School, took a brief moment away from preparing from his upcoming wedding to share a post-decision publication timeline of events. Much of it involved giddy celebration, and skillful procrastination. Another across-the-pond blogger, Sara'sMBAJourney, continued to share impressions of her trip to the States, including her enjoyable visit to Duke, as well as the terrible state of American roads and the terrible drivers on them. Domontron continued his series on elements of an MBA application by addressing ways to research target schools. He highlights students blogs as an excellent way to get a more direct and unfiltered sense of the school's community and opportunities. Your Fridays From the Frontline editor could not agree more!
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Published: February 17, 2014
Virtual Tour Provides Up-Close View of UVA’s Darden School of Business
Considering an MBA program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School but unable to visit? A new virtual tour on the school’s website provides a 360-degree view of the school and its campus that will leave you feeling like you just got back from Charlottesville.
The tour includes some of the most recognized spots on campus, including the stately Saunders Hall and its PepsiCo Forum, where First Coffee—a tradition dating back to the school’s founding—takes place every morning. But it also features more informal spaces as well, such as Café 67, where students can grab a quick breakfast, lunch or snack, and Flagler Court, a spacious outdoor gathering area between the faculty and classroom buildings.
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Published: February 4, 2014
Economist, GMAT Tutor Launch $25,000 MBA Scholarship Competition
Show off your verbal and quantitative skills as part of a new scholarship competition, and you could win $25,000 toward an MBA at one of more than a dozen top business schools.
Economist GMAT Tutor recently launched a new MBA scholarship contest for prospective MBA and EMBA students. To take part in the competition, interested applicants must complete the Economist GMAT Tutor simulation test, which consists of one 75-minute Verbal section and one 75-minute Quant section.
The top scoring student will receive a $25,000 scholarship to one of 18 top business schools from around the globe serving as sponsors for the competition. Sponsor schools include the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, HEC Paris, CEIBS and the Kelley School of Management at Indiana University, among others.
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Published: January 26, 2014
Harvard Business School Again Tops Financial Times Global MBA Ranking
Harvard Business School (HBS) appeared at the top of the Financial Times Global MBA annual ranking, released yesterday. It was HBS’ second consecutive claim to the number-one spot and its fifth time topping the rankings since they debuted in 1999. Stanford Graduate School of Business also remained steady this year, reclaiming the number-two spot it held last year. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania slipped to fourth as London Business School stepped into the number-three spot. Columbia Business School and INSEAD tied for fifth.
The FT compiles its annual global MBA rankings based on two surveys of the business schools and their alumni. (For this year rankings, alumni who graduated in 2010 were surveyed.) Based on the responses to these surveys, the MBA programs are measured according to the career progression of their alumni, the school’s idea generation and the diversity of students and faculty.
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Published: October 8, 2013
Stanford Graduate School of Business Returns to Number One Spot in Forbes 2013 MBA Rankings
Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) reclaimed the top spot in the Forbes 2013 biennial ranking of MBA programs, released today. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business took second, bumping Harvard Business School (HBS), which topped the list in 2011, to third place. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School followed up the lead in fourth.
Forbes, which ranks full-time MBA programs every two years based on return on investment, found that at the top 25 programs in the United States, the degree still pays off, although it takes longer to do so. For the Class of 2008, the class surveyed for this year’s ranking, the average payback period was 3.7 years, as compared to 2.7 years a decade ago, Forbes reports.
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Published: September 30, 2013
Clear Admit Chats with Dean Bob Bruner of UVA’s Darden School of Business
When Bob Bruner, dean of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia, casually mentioned getting together over a cup of tea in Philadelphia last month, Clear Admit jumped at the chance. It’s not every day that the dean of a top-ranked MBA program proposes meeting up – in our own city no less. It would turn out to be just a part of what makes Bruner unlike some other deans.
A member of the Darden faculty since 1982 and its dean since 2005, Bruner has long promoted Darden’s commitment to high-engagement teaching and to fostering a collaborative community-oriented ethic among its students. His efforts have won him multiple leading teaching awards at the University of Virginia and within the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as designation as 2012 “Dean of the Year” by Forbes/CNN Money and PoetsandQuants.
Bruner has long set himself apart as a dean who blogs and tweets regularly, hoping to share his unique perspectives with a wider audience. “There are few deans that blog about their own work or the world around them or higher education,” he told us. “I think that’s a shame. I think deans have a lot to say that could inform the way all the stakeholders at business schools engage their schools and shape expectations about the schools.”
For more on what Bruner has to say – on topics ranging from gender equity and the MBA to growth in massive open online courses (MOOCs) to the ways graduate management education must adapt to and embrace globalization – read on.
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Published: August 21, 2013
Career Services Director Q&A: Jack Oakes of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business
~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~
Our continuing series of interviews with MBA career service directors takes us this week to Charlottesville, Virginia, where Jack Oakes of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business generously made time to speak with us. Oakes has been assistant dean and director of career management at Darden’s Career Development Center (CDC) since September 2010, leading all of the center’s activities, including developing strategy, managing a global portfolio of recruiting companies and coaching students.
Oakes first joined the CDC in February 2005, but his connection to Darden dates back further, to his own time there as a student. He graduated with an MBA/MA in East Asian Studies in 1989, having come in as a career switcher looking to shift from finance to marketing. Upon graduation, he worked in a range of marketing roles, including in consumer goods at Procter and Gamble, before coming back to Darden and the CDC. “This is really just another version of marketing,” he explained, “because we help students market themselves to prospective employers, we help companies market themselves to students and we help Darden market itself to the world.”
In the interview that follows, he encourages students to come to Darden having taken a close look at their own skills, characteristics and abilities so that they can take advantage right away of the resources the CDC provides to determine the right career path for them. He also gives some advice to prospective applicants preparing to approach the Darden application. “Here at Darden, what is most important is not what a student will learn but what a student will teach other students,” he says. “In the case method students are learning as much from each other as from a faculty member, so show how you will make Darden stronger.”
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U.S. News Ranks 10 Full-Time MBA Programs That Lead to Highest Student Debt
As part of its Short List series, U.S. News & World Report today took a closer look at the student debt load incurred by full-time MBA students graduating from top business school programs. According to data provided by schools as part of its annual ranking, U.S. News found that full-time MBA graduates in 2012 emerged with an average of $49,619 in debt. At the 10 schools where graduates incurred the most student debt, the average per student was $97,154.
Graduates of New York University’s Stern School of Business top the list in terms of average debt. There, the average graduate has a debt load of $105,782. Six figure debt is also the norm for graduates from the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, U.S. News reports.
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Top Business Schools Report Healthy Application Volume Increases
When GMAT test-taking volume jumped by 11 percent for the year ending last June, those watching the MBA admissions space had reason to suspect that application volume at top schools might follow suit. Recent articles from Bloomberg BusinessWeek and Poets & Quants reveal exactly that, with Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, the University of Virginia’s Darden School and the University of Chicago’s Booth School all reporting double-digit increases in the number of students applying to their two-year, full-time MBA programs.
Bloomberg BW last week surveyed its top-10 ranked business schools, discovering that half were reporting significant increases in application volume, ending a three-year decline. Johnson led the pack, with an increase of 12 percent, followed by Darden, at 11 percent, and Chicago Booth, at 10 percent.
P&Q reports that Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business blew even those numbers out of the water: Applications to that school’s two-year MBA program swelled by 25 percent after it moved up the Bloomberg BW rankings four places, to 15th, last year.
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