Darden MBA Essay Guide (2025 Entering Class)

Essay 1 (Introduce Yourself): What would you want your classmates to know about you that is not on your resume? (100 words)

Essay 2 (Inclusive IMPACT): The University of Virginia promotes an inclusive and welcoming environment that embraces the full spectrum of human attributes, perspectives, and disciplines. Diversity stands with ethics, integrity, and academic excellence, as a cornerstone of University culture. Review the University of Virginia’s Commitment to Diversity. Consistent with this ethos, the Darden School of Business seeks to improve the world by developing and inspiring responsible global leaders. We are committed to developing the School’s ability to leverage our global diversity — the multitude of different experiences and backgrounds among our stakeholders from around the world — to achieve excellence in business education in today’s complex marketplace. We believe all key stakeholders - students, faculty, staff, alumni - play a critical role in cultivating an environment of connection and belonging, and every action in service of this goal is important. Please describe a tangible example that illuminates your experience promoting an inclusive environment and what you would bring to creating a welcoming, global community at Darden. (300 words)

Essay 3: Career with Purpose (200 Words): Darden’s Career Center delivers personalized career searches, support, and resources to empower students in their goals to create value as transformational leaders. The team of dedicated, expert career coaches spans every major industry, function and geography and collectively represent over one hundred years of coaching experience. Coaches are prepared to support students wherever they are in their search, as career goals shift and evolve while pursuing an MBA. Through a wide variety of career-related programming, students gain the skills to convert personal purpose into professional success. This support continues after graduation with access to complimentary career support for life through Darden’s Alumni Career Services. At this time how would you describe your short-term, post-MBA goal in terms of industry, function, geography, company size and/or mission and how does it align with the long-term vision you have for your career? (200 words) 

Short Question (Darden Worldwide): Darden has an incredible network of alumni and partners around the world, and, in a typical year, the School connects with over 80 countries. If you could choose any location in the world, where would you want to travel? (5 words) And why? (50 words)

Who Should Buy Darden MBA Essay Guide?

With Sample Essays for Darden MBA and the writing frameworks, you will learn to turn life experiences into interesting stories.