University of Virginia (Darden)

Good campus, but foreign students treated poorly. I attended the mba program from 2008-2010, and I must say that I was quite disappointed with the way foreign students are treated here at darden. first of all, all the "sorority girls" and "frat boys" immediately find each other and act like they're back in undergrad....every friday and saturday night it's kegs and beer pong. oh and if you don't have blonde hair hair, wear polo t-shirts, and still drive the car daddy bought you, then guess what, you don't get invited! that means all foreign students here, who are treated like they don't exist at all. secondly, in job placement, the school goes out of their way to help out all the americans, bought little help is given to foriengers who must a) try to figure out the visa process to get a job here or b) apply for jobs abroad, with almost little to no connections. it seems darden's reputation abroad is average at best, with UNC and Duke graduates with a huge advantage. Last but not le... Read more

Moderate at best. I'm currently a 2nd year student at Darden (graduating 2010). Before any of my classmates get all excited, let me preface this by saying there are many pros to the darden experience. Unfortunately, I have found them to be massively overweighed by the cons. Also, I'd like to mention at the beginning that of course most of my classmates and students at other schools will give positive reviews for the lone reason that brand value is SO important at MBA school (probably more important than what you learn), so most students feel they MUST give a positive review in order to increase (albeit ever so insignificantly) the brand value of their school on the internet, etc. Below, I'll give a quick, and very honest*, overview of the major pros and cons: PROS: 1) Professors: professors are good, they're smart, funny, and interactive. They may not be world reknown, but I'm here to learn, not get autographs. 2) UVA: the campus is beautiful, the weather is great, the student ... Read more

I left a nice job, paid cash for my MBA experience, and estimate my total investment (including opportunity cost of income, etc.) to be in excess of $600k. And I'm graduating next month without a job... Probably the most famous darden student is the founder of lendingtree.com. he came for barely over a semester, got inspired to start a business and then left school immediately to start making a fortune instead of wasting time reading countless books on business ethics and wasting money to study how to put together a student play. I think MBA school is more of a stamp of approval on your resume than a true learning experience. People here get inspired to student businesses and make lots of money, rather than learning how to start a business (proven by the fact that there's no course offering on how to start a business that explains how to register a business, hire employees, create a logo, etc) or how to make your company more money (proven by the fact that there's no course on basi... Read more

I'm going to be attending this school in the fall. So far I hear everything is good.

Still attending this school (MBA for Executives, Charter Class). I have to say, it's a superb school! Our entire class is having fun and learning best practices as well as concepts that we just couldn't get from books alone. I highly recommend it, and would attend again. I wish I did it 10 years ago.

Great all around school. Great faculty - great students who help eachother out. The workload is way overrated.

I attended Darden in the early '90s and found their focus on developing decision-makers and leaders vs. technicians and content experts the best part of the program. The Darden concept (much like other case study schools) of pushing students to resolve 2-3 tough business cases a day and be able to articulate an defend a solution was/is a great way of developing managerial judgment and decision making. After all, in whatever industry, function or line of work we are in, the successful excel at these skills. It was not an easy program by any means, but I certainly feel I got my money's worth and wasn't paying to attend a country club that was largely geared toward making "connections".

Massively overrated.

as someone close to this program, it truly rates among the nation's best.

Darden quite simply provides to best training for future leaders in the business world. Hands down!

It's not clear whether the unsigned comment dated November of 1999 reflects the author's attempt at humor or frustration but it's clearly a fabrication. There is an intensity about Darden and it is focused on returning to every student and alumnus the highest possible return on their considerable investment in a graduate business school. We evaluate Darden and the quality of our programs by the degree of lifelong professional support and value we deliver to graduates. We cannot put our mission more succinctly than did one such graduate, a well respected FORTUNE 50 CEO, who says, "Darden hardwires you for success."

When I was looking at MBA programs, I visited this school and got a first hand taste of the brutal workload. The day I was there, two whitecoated individuals came into a class which I was sitting in on, and forcibly removed one of the students. I found out later from my guide, that the guy had freaked out under the stress - he had stopped showering and talking to people, and would just sit by himself shivering in the corner during class. Fortunately for me, I was not accepted into this program, and therefore was not faced with the decision of whether to willingly subject myself to this kind of abuse.