This season marks the third consecutive year the Darden School of Business has dramatically revised its MBA application essay questions.  Moving from three required questions to just two, with an allowance of just 1000 words between them, UVA’s is now one of the shorter applications among leading business schools.  Of course, “shorter” doesn’t translate to “easier;” with less room to work with in commenting on your background, forcing candidates to think carefully and strategically as they decide which aspects of their experiences to highlight.

Let’s consider each of the school’s questions for this year:

Essay 1: How have the changes in the global economy over the last 18 months affected you and your plan for the future? (400 words)
While the current economic climate will likely be a bit of an elephant in the room in the admissions process at many schools this season, Darden confronts the issues of financial struggle, unexpected unemployment and dampened job prospects straight on in its application. For candidates who have been laid off and are currently looking for work, this question is the perfect place to address their strategy for the months leading up to an MBA program. Meanwhile, applicants with their sights set on careers in banking and finance might speak to the ways that landscape has changed in the past year, comment on what firms they’re targeting and touch on any developments they see on the horizon. Finally, those candidates fortunate enough to have been unaffected by the downturn might focus on more personal reflection about the overall impact they’ve observed and the lessons they’ve learned. No matter what the applicant’s circumstances, the admissions committee is looking for attunement to current realities and proactive planning his or her post-MBA days.

Essay 2: What will you contribute to an MBA program and what are your personal and professional expectations of the program you attend? (600 words)
This is your standard career goals essay turned upside down, opening with a question about what candidates can do for Darden before turning to the subject of what Darden will do for them.  A brief comment on one’s professional history will be appropriate in response to this first half of the prompt, framed, perhaps, in terms of the unique perspective one will bring to class discussions and campus clubs.  This might be followed by a summary of one’s goals and the skills and knowledge one needs to gain through an MBA program to achieve them, moving into a discussion of  specific elements of Darden’s program and community offerings with which one feels an affinity