Ethics has always been a cornerstone of the Darden experience, even
before it became "hot." Would you like to comment on the role ethics plays
in a Darden student's daily life?
We operate within the University of Virginia honor code, and that's a
big deal. Students learn about it when they first arrive. They have to sign
and honor a pledge when they get here, and then they have to sign it with
every written work that they turn in.
It basically says they've neither received nor
given aid or tolerated anyone who has. And what that environment of trust
creates is the ability for you to create an environment in which you can do
your best work. If you work best at the library, or you work best in the
classroom, you can certainly take your exams there.
But if you work best in the comfort of your own
home, you can work there. Generally, exams are four or five hours; we give
you an eight-hour period to do it in because you've signed the honor code
that you did it in in the time allotted. It creates an environment of trust
so that it reduces any of the barriers of you being creative and as
thoughtful as you want to be.
You also
see it in practice; while we're a practical place, we are a small community.
Classrooms are open, the school is open, every day from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM.
We don't worry about things getting stolen, people copying work and those
things; you operate in that environment. Of course, it's not a utopia, but
it's an environment where you're very comfortable leaving your office open
because you know someone's not going to come in and take something.
That's one
of the ways. I mentioned that we have a required, graded ethics program in
the first year. It's in the fourth quarter of the first year because it's
one of those touchstones that starts to bring everything together. We don't
start talking about ethics in the fourth quarter—some type of ethical issue
will come up in nearly every case discussion.
If you're
a finance instructor, it's your responsibility to make sure you draw any
ethical issues out of the classroom discussion and let the students kick it
around. Then when you come to the fourth quarter, the ethics faculty group
will start to give you a few models or frameworks in which to grapple with
these issues. We're certainly not teaching a certain ethical code, but we're
trying to give you ways to think about these issues.
Then the
third part is this reputation that Darden has for ethics. Ed Freeman, who I
mentioned before...it was two years ago that Darden won the housing of this
Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, because of our facility
here and because of Ed's leadership. So for Darden to be known out in the
business world as producing graduates who are going to have high morals
certainly helps us.
What are some of the attractions of going to school in
Charlottesville versus a city like Boston, New York, or Chicago?
I think one of the big differences of going to
school in a location like Charlottesville is the creation of a community. If
you go to an urban school, you probably go with your set of friends. You
build some new friendships, but every night and every weekend, you go back
to your old friends, whereas everyone who comes to Darden can all start new,
and as we sometimes say, you build your set-of-six Learning Team and then
your 65 section and then your 300 classmates.
You become so close with those folks over the
two-year period, that by the time you graduate, you really do have a very
solid network of 300 people that you can reach out to at any time to help
you in your career.
I think it's more on the students' side. They
have to decide if they want the opportunity to really focus on their MBA,
and not get caught up in the distractions that can come with a large city
setting. Charlottesville gives our students the opportunity to focus.
What would you like prospective students to know about the overall
Darden community?
Building on what I was just saying, Darden
students tend to socialize with Darden students and greater U.Va., but
primarily with the Darden community. The Darden experience is not just the
academic and career side, but there's also a very large club and
professional association component.
There are over 50 student clubs, and that
creates over 200 student leadership opportunities for you to try out your
leadership style—if it's been a while since you've had that opportunity—find
your interest, both work and outside of work, so there are some career
clubs, affinity clubs and social clubs, and these are all very robust
organizations.
There are
not just a few members of each; most students will be members of four to
five different clubs. It makes for an environment where you can really try
out a lot of things and walk away from Darden two years later, not just with
a new education and a new job, but also some new hobbies.
How was the 2005-2006
admissions season for Darden?
It was through the roof! We had an overwhelming
response to our offers of admission. We have a strong sense of momentum
around the school that I think people really wanted to be here. We are
really looking forward to this coming year.
Applications were up after a few years of
applications being down; the applications rebounded robustly. We actually
made fewer offers of admission, but as Wendy said, our yield was much higher
because we think there's a real buzz out there for Darden right now.
We don't rely on ranking, but this year Darden
was up or stayed the same in four or five of the major rankings, and we
think that had an impact on the interest in Darden. Wendy and the entire
admissions team doubled the number of outreach points and receptions that we
had this year.
We had a
tremendous alumni involvement in those receptions, and therefore we believe
that just getting prospective students together with alumni really helped
our yield, and it helps really generate this buzz in the marketplace about
Darden. So it really was an exciting year for us to be able to form a
terrific class.
What general advice do
you have for applicants?
Do your due diligence. Finding the right program
and finding the right home is so important. If you find the right place,
you're going to do your best work and you're going to be a great alum, so
it's a matter of looking to, not just the ranking, but making visits and
talk to current alumni about programs and features that feel like home for
you.
Use all of the resources that are available.
Every school has websites, but it's a matter of making sure that you're
doing your part in the research.
What are the specific traits you look for in candidates?
I always say that we have "gingerbread" men and
women walking around, and it's how you decorate the cookie that makes you
unique. So while we're going to be looking at their academic achievement,
we're also going to be looking at their professional experience too.
We're seeing younger applicants coming through the door, so sometimes it's
not about professional experience, but leadership opportunities and their
potential. Darden is rigorous and we're looking for people who want the
biggest bang for their buck.
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