The Darden School of Business is the graduate

business school A business school is a university-level institution that confers degrees in business administration or management. A business school may also be referred to as school of management, management school, school of business administration, o ...

of the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

. The Darden School offers

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

, PhD, and Executive Education programs. The school was founded in 1955 and is named after Colgate Whitehead Darden Jr., a former Democratic congressman, governor of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, and former president of the University of Virginia. Darden is on the grounds of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. It uses the

case method The case method is a teaching approach that uses decision-forcing cases to put students in the role of people who were faced with difficult decisions at some point in the past. It developed during the course of the twentieth-century from its origin ...

as its sole method of teaching. The dean of the school is former McKinsey & Company executive Scott C. Beardsley.

History

The Darden School was the first graduate school of business of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

when it was founded in 1955. The original business school was nestled in the central grounds of the

, before being moved its current location at the North Grounds. Designed by the

Driehaus Prize The Driehaus Architecture Prize, fully named The Richard H. Driehaus Prize at the University of Notre Dame, is a global award to honor a major contributor in the field of contemporary traditional and classical architecture. The Driehaus Prize was ...

winner

Robert A. M. Stern Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City–based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of the architecture firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known a ...

, the Darden school's buildings feature sand-struck Virginia brick, Chippendale balustrades and red-metal standing seam roofs. In 2018, the Sands Family Grounds was inaugurated by the Darden School, in

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County is a County (United States), county in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the Washington, D.C., District of Co ...

, in proximity to

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's central business district. The Sands Family Grounds occupy the top two floors of a 31-story skyscraper emblazoned with the UVA Darden Logo, and provides extensive facilities for students and event guests.

Locations

The full-time MBA program is located in Charlottesville, Virginia at the UVA Darden Goodwin Family Grounds, which is roughly two hours from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

In 2017, it was announced that Darden would establish dedicated facilities in Rosslyn, formerly introduced as the UVA Darden Sands Family Grounds in February 2019, as the new home base for the Executive MBA formats and new M.S. in Business Analytics degree launched with the

McIntire School of Commerce The McIntire School of Commerce is the University of Virginia's undergraduate business school and graduate business school for Commerce, Global Commerce, Accounting, Management of Information Technology, and Business Analytics. It was founded in ...

MBA

Designed for students who seek to strengthen their leadership, business and communication skills, Darden's two-year MBA program combines core and elective courses in

with opportunities for every student to

study abroad International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

Admissions

Admission requirements for the MBA include an earned four-year bachelor's degree from an accredited U.S. institution or the international equivalent, completion of application forms and essays, GMAT or GRE score, academic transcripts, two professional recommendations, and the payment of a fee. The MBA Class of 2021 has an average GMAT score of 713 and an average GPA of 3.48, and an average age of 27 years old. Of the 335 students enrolled, 33% are international students, 40% are women and 21% are domestic minority students. The School had an acceptance rate of 36.5% as of 2019.

Employment statistics

A total of 97% of MBA graduates from the class of 2019 received full-time offers within three months of graduation, the median starting salary and sign-on bonus upon graduation was $162,000. Among the graduates, 36% entered

consulting A consultant (from la, consultare "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice and other purposeful activities in an area of specialization. Consulting servic ...

positions, 24% obtained investment banking and financial services roles, and 15% entered careers in technologies.

Study abroad

Students are offered study abroad programs as well as Darden Worldwide Courses which offer international immersion courses which are funded by a $15 million gift from philanthropist and donor,

Frank Batten Frank Batten (February 11, 1927 – September 10, 2009) was a co-founder of the first nationwide, 24-hour cable weather channel, The Weather Channel. His media company, Landmark Media Enterprises, once owned nine daily newspapers, more th ...

Executive MBA formats

Designed with a hybrid structure of online learning with in-person residences at the new UVA Darden Sands Family Grounds in the Washington, D.C., area, two formats of the MBA are offered which provide the same degree as the MBA. The EMBA (Executive MBA) is designed for working professionals and the GEMBA (Global Executive MBA) is an option that provides additional global residences compared to the EMBA. Both formats have the same core curriculum over a period of twenty-one months with all students entering in the same cohort each academic year. Global residencies include Brazil, Chile, China, Germany, Japan, Ghana, Israel, India, Estonia and Cuba with changes in locations possible each year.

Darden Executive Education

The inaugural Executive Education program was offered in 1955. Darden Executive Education offers both short courses and custom solutions, as well as consortia, corporate university design and development, and industry specific partnerships. Short course focus areas include leadership, general management, strategy and decision-making, negotiation, growth and innovation, project management, sales and marketing, financial management and corporate aviation.

Rankings

Darden is regularly ranked as being among the Top 15 business schools in the U.S. and Top 30 in the world. Its current rankings are as follows:

MBA rankings

* #5 ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' 2019 * #11 U.S. News & World Report 2021 * #13 ''Forbes'' 2019 * #16 (North America) - ''The Economist'' 2019 * #16 (Global) - ''The Economist'' 2019https://www.economist.com/whichmba/university-virginia-darden-school-business/201

"Full time MBA ranking", ‘’The Economist’’, 2019

MBA Specialty rankings

* #1 Best Professors - ''The Princeton Review'' 2019https://news.darden.virginia.edu/2019/11/19/princeton-review-best-professors-third-straight-year/ , “The Princeton Review Ranks UVA Darden No. 1 MBA for Best Professors for Third Straight Year,” Darden School of Business, 19 November 2019 **#2 Best MBA For Consulting - ''The Princeton Review'' 2019 **#2 Best MBA For Management - ''The Princeton Review'' 2019 **#4 Best Campus Environment - ''The Princeton Review 2019'' **#6 Entrepreneurship - ''The Princeton Review'' for ''Entrepreneur'' magazine 2019 *#1 Education Experience in United States - ''The Economist'' 2019 *#1 Corporate Social Responsibility - ''Financial Times'' 2019https://www.ft.com/content/319d081e-14f7-11e9-a168-d45595ad076

"FT Global MBA ranking 2019", ''Financial Times'', January 2019 *#1 General Management - ''Financial Times'' 2016 *#2 Learning - ''Bloomberg Businessweek'' 2019 * #11 Career Services Rank - ''Financial Times'' 2019

Executive Education rankings

* #1 Course Design (Global) - ''Financial Times'' 2003-2010Times Rankings.pdf
, “Executive Education - Open”, ‘’

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

’’, 2010 * #1 Faculty (Global) - ''Financial Times'' 2004-2011http://rankings.ft.com/exportranking/executive-education-open-2011/pdf , ‘’

’’, 2011 *#7 Facilities (Global) - ''Financial Times'' 2019 * #20 Open-Enrollment Programs (Global) - ''Financial Times'' 2019 * #52 Custom Programs (Global) - ''Financial Times'' 2019

Notable alumni

Darden's list of alumni includes: *

John H. Bryan John Henry Bryan Jr. (October 5, 1936 – October 1, 2018) was an American businessman who was the chairman and CEO of Sara Lee Corporation from 1975 until 2001. He also was the philanthropic driving force behind the creation of Millennium Park ...

(MBA '60), CEO and Chairman of

Sara Lee Sara may refer to: Arts, media and entertainment Film and television * Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui * Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda * Sara (2010 ...

from 1976 to 2001 *

Robert Citrone Robert K. Citrone (born 1964) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, the co-founder of Discovery Capital Management, and minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Early life Robert Citrone was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and grew u ...

(MBA '90) co-founder of

Discovery Capital Management Discovery Capital Management is an American hedge fund, with a focus on emerging markets. It was co-founded in 1999 by Robert Citrone Robert K. Citrone (born 1964) is an American billionaire hedge fund manager, the co-founder of Discovery Ca ...

George David George Alfred Lawrence David (born April 7, 1942) is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of United Technologies Corporation. David was elected UTC’s President in 1992 and Chief Executive Officer in 1994. He joined UTC’s Otis Elevat ...

(MBA '67), CEO and Chairman of

United Technologies Corporation United Technologies Corporation (UTC) was an American multinational conglomerate headquartered in Farmington, Connecticut. It researched, developed, and manufactured products in numerous areas, including aircraft engines, aerospace systems ...

* Bill Hawkins (MBA '82), former President and CEO, Medtronic Inc.; CEO, Immucor Inc. * Robert J. Hugin (MBA '85), CEO of

Celgene Celgene Corporation is a pharmaceutical company that makes cancer and immunology drugs. Its major product is Revlimid ( lenalidomide), which is used in the treatment of multiple myeloma, and also in certain anemias. The company is incorporated i ...

Corporation * Lewis F. Payne, Jr. (MBA '73), former Virginia congressman * Steven Reinemund (MBA '78), former CEO and Chairman of PepsiCo. *

Mark Sanford Marshall Clement "Mark" Sanford Jr. (born May 28, 1960) is an American politician and author who served as the U.S. Representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 2001 and again from 2013 to 2019, and also as the ...

(MBA '88), former

Governor of South Carolina The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the '' ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making year ...

*Steve Silbiger (MBA '90), author, The Ten-Day MBA,

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...

Hal Lawton Harry (Hal) A Lawton III (born c. 1974) is an American businessman. He is president and chief executive officer at Tractor Supply Company. He is also a member of the retailer’s board of directors. He was the president of Macy's from September 2 ...

(MBA ‘96), President & CEO,

Tractor Supply Tractor Supply Company (also known as TSCO or TSC), founded in 1938, is an American retail chain of stores that sells products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, equine and pet care for recreational farmers ...

* John Strangfeld (MBA '77), Chairman and CEO,

Prudential Financial Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers t ...

Mark B. Templeton Mark B. Templeton is an American businessman. He served as the President and CEO of Citrix Systems, Inc. from 2001 to 2015. Early life and education Templeton attended North Carolina State University, where he joined Lambda Chi Alpha fraternit ...

(MBA '78), President and CEO, Citrix Systems Inc.

List of deans

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darden Graduate School Of Business Administration Business schools in Virginia University of Virginia schools Educational institutions established in 1954 1954 establishments in Virginia Life sciences industry New Classical architecture Robert A. M. Stern buildings