Yin and yang, two halves of a whole, a bagel and cream cheese—no, these are not philosophical concepts (or breakfast options); they are ways of thinking about how to choose your MBA application recommenders. Nearly all business schools require two recommendations, and rather than viewing the people who will write them as two discrete individuals, each making a separate point about you, you should think of them as two knowledgeable sources whose letters will complement—and not repeat—each other. If you choose two recommenders who both highlight the same strengths they see in you, you will miss a valuable opportunity to make an impression on the admissions committee.
Applicants to the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business must provide two short-answer responses (essentially, mini essays) of just 200 words each. The school’s first prompt focuses on what you believe is an important aspect of your personality or character, while the second demands a clear explanation of your professional goals. In addition, you must submit a video essay in which you respond extemporaneously to a brief question chosen at random. These submissions, along with a space Darden provides in which you can share any key additional information, enable you to offer a well-rounded impression of yourself as an aspiring Darden MBA. Read on for our analysis of Darden’s 2026–2027 prompts.
In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and Gatehouse Founder Liza Weale speak with Clyde Anderson, CEO of GrowthFactor and an MIT Sloan alumnus, about what the Sloan experience can offer applicants who want to build, explore, and learn by doing. After four years in the finance world, Clyde decided to revive his interest in business school. Although he had an interest in entrepreneurship, he had no fixed startup plan. Liza encouraged him to apply to MIT Sloan because she saw that he was eager to learn and ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work.
As you consider the next application season, what kind of strategy do you have in mind? More than a few candidates, having likely read about the supposed advantages of applying in Round 1 on various Web sites and discussion boards, plan to submit all their applications in that first round—with the idea that if no acceptances are forthcoming, they will just submit another set of applications in Round 2. If this is your plan, we would like to explain why it is probably not your best course of action.
If you are interested in attending a top MBA program in Europe, you have likely identified the top two programs that are consistently considered the region’s most prestigious—and most selective: London Business School (LBS) and INSEAD.
So how do these programs compare to one another? And what factors should you consider if you are researching these two schools?
In this post, we will take a deep dive into the similarities and differences between LBS and INSEAD.
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