09年 Darden MBA Interview 面试精华汇总

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Darden 印象

当你被某些人影响的时候，你会觉得你有一种mission去做一件事情。这就是为什么在我需要在明天交一份报告给Board的时候，还决定花时间把我所感受到的写下来。

 

Darden是我R1唯一申请的学校，自然也是那种看完自己就想撕的package. 跟很多人一样，Darden只是我list上的bottom，但是Wednesday的Darden Reception和Thursday的interview让我不得不重新evaluate这所学校，evaluate除了学校的brand，MBA的课程，在接下来的两年，甚至是以后的人生，我能从这所学校得到什么。

 

 

 

在Darden Reception上，除了大家所能感受到的Darden friendliness，最令我印象深刻的是Darden energy和Darden passion。我一直期望从一个学校看到的是，一群有激情有冲劲的年轻人一起去做一件事情，一起疯疯狂狂，一起享受人生。第一次，在Darden身上，我看到这样的情景。不管是00级，04级的，还是09级的，大家都那么熟识。即使离开学校很多年，当年上课的情景还历历在目，大家还能叫出某个人是某个session的（Darden一个班级分为ABCDE不同的session）。跟09级的聊天，就能想像你在Darden的生活会是怎么样。同学们的energy会让我觉得they are the classmates I am looking for. 5、6个人的小组每天在一起讨论第二天的case，上课的时候present your own solutions. 很多人，尤其是中国的同学会认为这很rigorous或者认为自己不善于表达、不敢说话，但是如果你想当CEO，force yourself to overcome your weakness是必须的。而我相信，Darden绝对可以让你从good到great.

其实对Darden更深一层的了解，还是在昨天的interview. Darden的interview没有standard questions. Reception的时候很多人跟我说，Darden的开场白是tell me about yourself，让我想想这个问题。09级的两个同学说了同样的话。一个跟我说，just relax and smile，你肯定没问题。另一个跟我说了两次说希望在Charlottesville看到你。前天晚上就从Reception回家已经10点多了，交完Tuck已经2点多，连续这么久的炼狱到昨天白天我真的不行了。对一个曾经每个星期工作60个小时的人来说，我都真的觉得exhausted and sleepy。

到了Alumni的公司，好的事情是他还在跟他的team开会，所以让我有了15分钟修整的机会，毕竟我走了20分钟过来的。开始interviewer就跟我说这个是一个conversation。这是我个人最喜欢的，我真的不喜欢去准备问题，想leadership example etc.. 他的openning不是tell me about yourself，是what do you want to know about Darden from me。然后我们说到了Darden的Batten Institute，说到他自己如何从这里面受益。说到了Dean Bruner，说他还在Darden的时候，参加了两个Dean Bruner组织的Seminar，关于marketing for new technology，另一个是关于leadership，谈到了Churchill, Gandhi。很惊人的一点是，这些Seminar的人都非常少，第一个8个人。可以想像一下，这么小的group你可以多近距离的跟professor, guest speaker交流，听到你自己的声音。可以看出来，这两个Seminar对interviewer的career影响很大，因为他现在就是做new technology marketing的entrepreneur。

 

然后谈到了他对Darden的热爱，Darden在中国甚至亚洲都没有被enough publicized。但是他的理念是通过one-to-one 的conversation让别人了解Darden，impact others. 确实，Darden应该被更进一步的了解。

 

 关于interview，或者说conversation更确切一点，我认为应该在fully respect others的基础上be confident。Be a good listener并适时加入你自己的问题或者看法，显得你是一个mature, thoughtful的人，并且是serious的考虑MBA学校的选择。在别人impact你的时候，也要用你自己的voice去impact别人。Be sincere，不论你有多聪明，有多大的achievement, be sincere. 这是一个态度问题。就好像说到Stanford的application一样，Stanford doesnt mind that you are a freak，但是，be a sincere and nice person is always a plus，因为你是一个你的同学要相处2年的人，你是一个一生会跟这个学校有联系的人。

 

 

Importantly, an interview is just an experience. Giving others a great experience is doing yourself the biggest favor.

 

刚见到的时候可能他还觉得有点隔阂，但是临走的时候他指着他桌子上的照片对我说，see, she is my wife. 就像Darden 08的Alumni说的一样，Darden是一个在你入学之前就感觉有朋友的地方。Indeed.

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我做的是telephone interview.整个过程非常conversational,面试官喜欢你能放松表现出真实的自己，而不是刻意地表现出你以为面试官希望的样子。和上次另一位被录取的CDer filman一样，出于我的意料的是没有太多tough的问题，还是要吃透你的resume, experience，为什么你会选择你的本科专业，为什么会选择这个时机跳槽，why MBA, why NOW.想通了也就娓娓道来，不会太紧张了。很多时候面试的人为因素很多，你可能面试Darden不好，但是面试wharton很好。只要尽力，就可以问心无愧了。

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Darden Alumni Interview 

常规 问题
I had an alumni interview with a Korean alumna in Hotel Formosa in Taipei.
She is very nice and kind, keep smiling through all the interview.
The interview took 40 minutes, she even treat me a cup of orange juice..
Questions are very standard:
1. Please describe your career progress
2. Why MBA? Why Darden?
3. The biggest challenge you might face when you are in Darden
4. Greatest achievement at work
5. Regretful experience at work
6. Strengths/Weaknesses
7. Questions

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In @ Darden 和一点点面试经验
住的地方不能上网，今天早上才查看status。竟然被录取了！！
整个晚上，告诉自己要平常心，虽然还是辗转反侧。。。
当初sonia700分被录取的经历让我觉得Darden是一所不以分数论英雄的学校，因为我也只有700分。
申请的第一个学校，essay其实写得并不是最好，好在Darden的essay要求不高，加到一起才1000来字。所以，要狠狠地感谢我的面试官，应该是面试给自己加了很多分。
但是，面试的过程比我想象得简单很多。据说Darden的面试会叫你讲life story。但是我的面试官上来就问我why MBA然后是Why Darden。回想起来，她问过的问题只有这两个。眼见着面试只过去了20分钟，她就叫我问问题了。
与众不同的是，我们的面试真的是一场聊天，就像我参加的一场information session后与alumni的Q&A。所以，我很放松的问起她在学校的经历等等。Q&A用了也有20多分钟，聊了这么久，要感谢面试官的耐心与真诚，也幸亏我对Darden做了足够的研究。
没有任何teamwork,leadership,challenge,failure。。。问题，竟然也没有Darden经典的life story。但是面试之后的感觉是两个字：尽兴。
这应该是一次非典型的面试吧。或许原因之一是，我和面试官来自同一个行业。
如果说面试是成功的，我有两个心得：
1）面试前，我用一个晚上，写了自己的一个小传，非常简单，从小学写起，写那些对我的成长有影响的点点滴滴，写父母对我的影响与教育，写每一个选择后面的动机。写过之后，确实觉得有一点豁然开朗的感觉。
2）面试时，与面试官保持平等对话，想象成是朋友间的一场对话。
大年初四，看了一场电影Slumdog Millionnaire，就像电影最后的字幕：It is written，所以如果尽力了，随缘就好。不管成与败，都这样安慰自己。。。
G700/iBT105/BS and MS from a top University in Shanghai/2.5 years oilfield engineering/2 years consulting/some international working experience/some community service experience
3）
11号刚刚面试完，on campus的，darden的传统问题，"tell me your life story"。

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Darden 面经
时间：2008年3月2日，10点
地点：上海东亚富豪酒店商务中心会议室
面试前一天居然在公司加班到早上3点，所以去面试的时候感觉有点晕。不过幸好是聊天形式，校友先跟我说了上海的天气，寒暄开头，然后看着我的简历说，你从本科的学习说说你的经历吧。我就开始blablabla，其间无数次被打断，从interview转型成了conversation，然后很自然的聊到why MBA, why now, why Darden, ethic problem, leadership, short & long term goal, Qs for him
面试进行了一个多小时，校友奇nice，是HUSCO International中国的GM，美国人。我问他what does he benefit from Darden, 其他不记得了，但说是在Darden遇见了现在的未婚妻～
虽然不知道结果如何，但总的感觉是轻松愉快的，Darden校友的友好和对Darden的忠诚度果然名不虚传……

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Darden面经
Had Darden interview last Sat (1.12) in the lobby of a hotel.
A lady (99 alum) interviewed me. She was nice and very flexible in the interview schedule.
When I handed my resume to her, she said it was not necessary. She said Darden preferred "totally blind interview" in order to know the applicant as a person.
Some questions:
1) Walk through my resume (she didn't look at my resume at all, just listened to me)
2) Why MBA? Are you seriously interested in Darden? (She cares about the loyalty of applicants very much).
3) Leadership experience.
4) Greatest achievement.
5) Question for her. I asked her what she liked most about Darden. Her answer was "faculty" -- she said the professors are very kind, and accessible, and they taught very well. She also told me that Darden is a very beautiful b-school and the town is very very nice -- a good place to live.
Our interview is like a conversation, so I can't really recall many questions. In fact, I asked her lots of questions before she started to ask me. >_<
Good luck to all Darden applicants. Don't be afraid of the interview. They just want to know more about you as a person.

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darden alumni interview 03/02
一直潜水，但是饮水要思源，所以一个要上来交待一下
在regal面试的，问题如下
1. why MBA
2. Why Darden
3. Why you choose your current career
4 Introduce yourself
5. Biggest challenge
6. Biggest team success
7. How do you view yourself in next few years
8, any questions for him
大概持续了一个小时多一点。态度很好，very open conversation.
Thanks again!!!

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Darden Phone Interview - Adcom
Just got off the phone with a member of the Darden's admissions office. The interviewer was very nice and thoughtful during the interview which made the interview more of a relaxed conversation.

Interview Question: "Please tell me about your self and your stories". Very open ended question which I interpreted as "Who are you", "What or who has influenced you through out your life and decisions up to date", "Why MBA" and "Why Darden" all in one package. The interviewer also asked about my logic of chosing my undergraduate univ. and major while I was talking about my undergraduate education. Overall, the interviewer want to hear the logic and motives behind the major decisions in your life such as changing employers and etc.

Time: One hour since the interviewer had interviews scheduled right after mine. However, the interviewer was kind enough to say that it would be ok to cut into the time of her next interview.

Summary and Advice: Upside to this interview is that the interview is open ended and leaves you alot of room to tell the interviewer who you are and why you want to pursue a darden mba. Down side to this interview style is that you really have to prepare a well thought out and logical story to present your case. Make sure that every detail you present has a LOGICAL reason behinded it. Keep your eye on the clock and make sure that you can cover all of your materials. I didn't keep my eye on the clock and ran out of time before highlighting on couple of my strengths.

I was suprised how friendly and personable the interviewer was and how the interviewer want to know you as a person rather than how sucessful you are with your past work experience. So I guess the key is don't forget about highlight your personal believes, thoughts, and ideas and mesh those factors into why you want to get a Darden MBA.

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Darden 电话面
Got interivew late Jan. 预约了今天面试。
电话面最大的好处就是不用考虑穿什么。大可以穿着睡衣睡裤找个舒服的姿势躺在床上面试。虽然，电话费是个问题。
Back to the point. 面试基本都是正常题目。Total blind interview。
1. who are you? 因为blind，所以interviewer不认识你。建议大家get prepared。
2. career goal. 也是因为blind，interviewer完全不知道，所以也get prepared。
3. why MBA? 经典题目。
4. why Darden? 必问题目。
5. How do you develop your English proficiency and how will you continue to develop it? 这个问题没想到。一开始我听错了。所以说了一通不相关的。interviewer也没叫我停，太有礼貌了！等我说完，她说我听错了，我当时很晕倒。于是重新回答。
Interviewer很爱笑，好多次大笑。自我感觉其他题目回答的还可以，不过那个听错的，实在是比较傻。希望她不要介意。
和darden的交流一直很愉快。无论是alumni还是faculty都很好。新年祝自己能够成功。也祝后面的xdjm顺利。
Good Luck!

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Thank you for the great insight!!! My phone interview is scheduled for Feb 14th. Below are couple of questions that I still have about the interview.

1. I didn't have the opportunity to visit Darden campus or have any interactions with Darden alumni and faculty...any interesting details about their faculty and alumni that you care to share? Something that might differentiate Darden from similiar programs such as Yale SOM and Cornell?

2. Was your interview conducted with some one from Darden's admissions office?

3. How long was your interview scheduled for? Time limit?

This is my first interview...alittle bit nervous hehe...hope you don't mind the questions.

Good luck and keep us updated with your status