Darden Class 2010 & 2011 taking questions

driftysnail

Hi Folks,

We are Class 2010 and 2011 students in Darden. We are ready to take questions here though the first year students have not settled down and the second year students are taking their internship.  Understanding the first round application is kicking off and some of you guys need more resources, we warmly welcome any questions you wanna ask.

Darden MBA official website: http://www.darden.virginia.edu/html/programs.aspx

Darden Admissions Blog: http://blogs.darden.virginia.edu/admissions/

Best,

Class 2010 & 2011

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NOTE:
   鉴于Darden的申请系统正在升级，所以填写资料的时候可能会出现一些问题，我们已经积极和ADCOM在沟通，以下是他们的答复。如果申请的同学们遇到了一些新的问题，麻烦和我们的TECH SUPPORT积极反应，他们的邮件地址是：AdmissionsTechSupport@darden.virginia.edu

另，以下是ADCOM的答复：

“Please assure the applicants that they can receive an extension if they are having trouble with technology. Also, please forward us the names and e-mail addresses of any students that you hear are having trouble so that we can reach out to them.

I just spoke with Tech Support, and they have responded to every request they have received, so if someone’s requests are not getting through, there is an error that we need to know about!”

如果TECHSUPPORT没有及时答复，大家也可以直接联系我们的ADCOM： Katherine Alford. 她具体负责中国招生。

很抱歉系统升级给一些同学带来麻烦，我们会尽力做好沟通的工作，希望不要影响你们的申请。谢谢。

soniashi

Support

casperpei

Hi all, I am an applicant very interested in Darden. Can I get some information about how many students from China Mainland were admitted to class 2010 and 2011 and what are the backgrounds of them? Thanks a lot.

casperpei

Hi all, I am an applicant very interested in Darden. Can I get some information about how many students from China Mainland were admitted to class 2010 and 2011 and what are the backgrounds of them? Thanks a lot.

driftysnail

Below are some insights shared in other posts, copied here:

By Fisherrui:

There are two parts to daily preparation for the case study method. 
Digesting the case individually or with learning team then offer
insights about the case in class.  The school does a great job of
forming learning teams so that you won't be on your own and could draw
help from your teammates on case preparation.  There's not methodical
process to prepare for the method.  My recommendations are:  1.  Get
your self into a mode where you are comfortable of speaking in front of
an intelligent crowd.  2.  Express thoughts in a succinct and logical
manner.  3.  Be ready to defend your opinions.

---
Disadvantages:  
Time Constraints - Classes lasts from 8am to 1pm
monday through friday during the first two quarters with 3 short breaks
between each 85 minute class immediately followed by multiple
recruiting events that could last from 30 minutes to one hour each. 
The cocktail receptions usually start around 6pm and could last until
1am (espcially for investment banking).  Learning team at 7pm.  The
difficult part is trying to fit case preparation into after class
hours.  It is a known fact that int'l students will have a harder time
at first because English is not their native language. 

Communication
- In class the professor is there to facilitate discussions rather than
to lead discussions.  Hence, a heavy emphasis is put towards class
participations.  Class discussions can be daunting for int'l students
due to:  not comfortable speaking in front of a large crowd and lack of
experience in conversing in English. 

Overall I enjoyed my
first year experience and didn't find the difficulties unbearable.  It
took me about 2 months to adjust to this new learning enviornment
partly because I have been out of school for a while and partly because
I partied alot during the beginning of the year.

By Soniashi:

以下是引用leiniao在2009/8/3 21:04:00的发言：

Hi,
Drifty snail,just call me kevin,may i have the honor to
your name? fully understand fisherrui's busy schedule...and many thanks
for your prompt reply,

1)i attended IVEY's case study trial class
and get the impression that case pedegogy is not so applicable and
practical in teaching operation courses, like accounting or
Finance... could you pls share with us some of your own experience?
rumor says chinese guys only sleep 4 hours per day to prepare the tons
of reading materials, is it that difficult to follow? and how is your
class situation? including the number of chinese students admitted last
year...

2) how is the job placement this year? do most of the
chinese students get summer intership? usually in what fileds? last but
not least, any of your retrospection (心得和体会）after being there a while?

many thanks for being the beacon light to our followers,wish i can sail safe to the harbor without meeting shipwreck

Kevin

Question 1:

In
my class, 8 from main land China,  and 8? or 9? for year 2009.   4
hours, hehe, could be.  But it really depends (on your own).  Plus, I
guess the average sleeping hour for a decent US B-Shool student should
be less than 7.  As long as you pass GMAT and IBT with "solid" score,
you should be fine.  As for the comment on Finance and Accounting, yes,
you are right.  Case methord is for sure not the best for this kind of
classes, thus you better have some Finance knowledge.  In my class, all
7 people have finance related background.   

Question 2:

All class 2009 Chinese students got decent jobs:

2 to Bain, China, consultent, with more than 100K package.

2 to  Danaher, GM trainee,with 120K+ package. (first 1-2 years in the US)

1 got several offers (not sure which one she/he took), Nike Corp Finance and a better one. US.

One Amazon Japan, she/he didnot take it.

Other
2, they do have offers, in China, but as long as I know, they are still
hurting for better options.  Guess they are trying to stay in the US.

Class 2010 Summer:

1. Amway, Corp Finance, Audit. US.

2. Corp Finance and GM trainee, the biggest seed company in the world, US.

3. Internal Audit, F500 Tech company, US

4. Corp M&A, F500 company, US

5. Corp Finance, planning, J&J, US offer, base in SH.

6. Bank of China International,  PE department, Beijing.

7,8: Summer associate, local funds, SH.

(Class 2010 summer, all above are mainland China students.)

Two ABCs:

Citi, IBD, NYC

MMC, Corp Fin, NYC

Hope I answered your questions.  Personally, I believe, given the current situation, our job placement is quite good.

--

By Driftysnail:

Hi Kevin,

I just arrived in Darden for a few days and the new
semester will start from Aug 24. Sorry that I don't have my personal
experience regarding the case method life here. However, it is rumor
that Chinese students just sleep 4 hours each day. Second year student
will give you more insights here. Of course the life in Darden is not
easy and Darden is not for everyone, as my interviewer said. For
example, during the company briefing season, students still need to
complete the 3 case study in the afternoon, whilst there are two
company briefing at the same time.

The job placement is very
good - as compared of most of other top schools from my observation.
All the Chinese students who looked for internship (I heard that one 2y
student didnt look for intern for personal reasons but I dont know
details) successfully got their  intern. Based on my understanding,
there are 4 in mainland now and the rest are in the states. For the 4
in mainland China, 2 in PE/VC, 1 in J&J, I am not sure about the
other one. We will try to faciliate the details for both Y1 intern and
Y2 full time job (so far I know 2 in Bain Shanghai) placements and let
you know later.

We have 8 ppl from mainland this year plus a few overseas Chinese students.

Being
here for a while, we are firm it's a definitely fantastic school
derserves each of you talent. Darden is kinda low key in mainland China
and but we see that the Alumni is making something different. The
school has organized several gatherings before we came to US. The
univerisity ( ranked No.1 or No.2 in public schools keeping abreast
with UC-Berkley) is also paying more attention to market herself in
China.

Please give us a sometime as we havent settle down here. Later on we will take more time to answer your questions.

Good Luck.

---

Sonia is talking about second year students and I know several sis & bro have around 2-3 years working experience.

Share with you the background for the 1 year students from mainland:

2 from top banks
1 from consulting
2 from sales and marketing
1 from HR service
1 from operation
1 from engineering

the group is very difersified and the average working experience is 5 years this time, for Chinese students.

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/8/4 11:05:34编辑过]

driftysnail

以下是引用casperpei在2009/8/4 10:55:00的发言：
Hi all, I am an applicant very interested in Darden. Can I get some information about how many students from China Mainland were admitted to class 2010 and 2011 and what are the backgrounds of them? Thanks a lot.

Hi Casperpei,

I anwsered the question in the above entry. There are actually 8 ppl coming from Darden this year and around 4-5 overseas Chinese students from US and Europe. thanks.

casperpei

Dear all. What do you think is the most important thing of Darden that interested you when you apply? That is to say, what is the most distinguished aspect of Darden from other Top B schools. Thanks.

driftysnail

以下是引用casperpei在2009/8/4 11:35:00的发言：

Dear all. What do you think is the most important thing of Darden that interested you when you apply? That is to say, what is the most distinguished aspect of Darden from other Top B schools. Thanks.

Tell you what, i also asked this kind of questions to every school that I applied last year. Yet the anwsers I got were not exciting. Eventually I found each school is almost the same at qualifying candidates. The anwser I got from the Dean when he was in Shanghai was that, i mean the quality he emphasized was, "curiosity".

From my personal view, you need to show your real interests in Darden and think about why you fits darden's case method. Darden doesn't care where you are from, but where you are going. The school also doesn't care GMAT score that much as compared of other schools (personal view only).

[此贴子已经被作者于2009/8/4 11:56:16编辑过]

leiniao

hi, Driftysnail.

Many thanks for your very detailed reply, wish i can c u in the campus one day:-)

Best regards.

KEVIN

driftysnail

以下是引用leiniao在2009/8/4 12:24:00的发言：

hi, Driftysnail.

Many thanks for your very detailed reply, wish i can c u in the campus one day:-)

Best regards.

KEVIN

You are most welcome. We will soon have more classmates here to anwser questions.