A 6 min read

Encouraging purpose-driven leadership, University of Virgina’s Darden School of Business aims to offers a plethora of value-creation opportunities to its students. With 70+ guides, conveners and catalysts, Darden’s top-ranked faculty is renowned for imparting practical business knowledge relevant to ever-changing business scenarios.

With an acceptance rate of just over 24% , UVA Darden is one of the most sought-after B-schools in the world. Candidates have to prove themselves on a number of parameters for being able to make it through.

The application guidelines for Darden School of Business are comprehensively listed here.

Like many other top B-schools, a good GMAT score is the first stepping stone for securing your place at Darden. You can read more about the weightage of GMAT scores in an application here.

This article tries to estimate a good GMAT score for UVA Darden by studying trends and patterns from the data available from actual students who applied to Darden in the past.

Here’s what you will read next:

• 5-year GMAT score trend of UVA Darden
  • Methodology
  • Observations
  • Inference
• What is a good GMAT score for UVA Darden
• What is a good GMAT score for Indians applying to UVA Darden

5-year GMAT score trend for UVA Darden

To narrow down a good GMAT score for any B-school, we begin by looking at the 5-year trend report of the average scores of the incoming classes.

Here’s a summary of the average GMAT scores of the incoming classes of UVA Darden from 2014 to 2018.

From 706 in 2014, the average GMAT score for batches at UVA Darden has climbed up to 718 in 2018.  In one of our previous articles on what is a good GMAT score for top B-schools we have elaborated a simple 5-step process for an approximate guess at a good score for any of the top B-schools.

The process suggests adding 20 points to the average GMAT score of the latest batch. This leads us to a score of 740+ for UVA Darden.  However, to figure out an ideal score, we will go beyond this approach and will look closely at the data available from the latest batch of applicants to Darden School of Business.

You might also want to go through 5-year GMAT score trend report of 50 top US and European business schools if you are planning to apply to other top B-schools.

How to decide a good GMAT score for UVA Darden: Methodology

For the scope of this article, we will refer to the  Darden decision tracker page. Several candidates who applied for the class of 2021, have updated their data on gmatclub. By considering this data for our analysis, we will be able to arrive at a more accurate answer for “What is a good GMAT score for UVA Darden.”

Here’s a quick summary of the number of applicants, interviewees and admitted candidates corresponding to each GMAT score:

Observations

• Maximum applicants and interview invites are for scores in the range of 710 to 750 with the invite rate being above 65% for scores in this range.
• In the above range, GMAT score 730 registers a high interview rate (~82%) followed by GMAT score 750 (~79%)
• GMAT score 750 witnesses a significantly high conversion rate of ~73% with 8 out of 11 candidates receiving the final admission offer
• Highest number of interview invites (18), as well as admissions (12), are registered for GMAT score 710
• Scores 760, 770 and 780 register high invite rates with most candidates with these scores being invited for interviews.
• While the number of applicants decreases drastically below a score of 700, the invite rate remains high, with a number of applicants even with low scores receiving interview invites
• 3 out of 4 candidates with scores 670 and 640 are able to make it to the admit list of Darden School of Business.

Inference

From the observations above, we can make out that while GMAT score holds a significant place in governing one’s admission to UVA Darden, other factors like profile of the candidate, diversity considerations as well interview performance come into play while determining the result.
A score in the range of 710 to 740 is an ideal GMAT score for UVA Darden.

For those scoring in this range, it is crucial to focus on other aspects of the application process. While several applicants with a relatively higher GMAT score could not get through, several others with lower scores were able to secure admission at this esteemed B-school.  It hence becomes mandatory for all applicants to work on their complete profile. Here are 10 ways to boost your MBA profile

Our analysis would be incomplete without exploring the scores of candidates who got waitlisted in the interview process. Here’s a quick summary.

3 applicants with scores 780, 740 and 710 respectively were admitted from the waitlist. 1 applicant with score 690 and another with score 640 were also able to get off the waitlist.

As we can, the probability of getting a confirmation increases for higher scores. That said, even for applicants with lower scores, certain factors may help to gain an edge over others.

We have talked about  some interesting ways to get off the MBA waitlist in one of our previous articles.

 

What is a good GMAT score for UVA Darden School of Business?

From the above observations and inferences, we recommend a score of 730 or higher as a good GMAT score for UVA Darden.

Apart from GMAT scores, UVA Darden puts a lot of emphasis on a well-rounded application and a noteworthy interview performance in order to consider a candidate for admission.

Hence, while you aim for a great score, other parameters will also deserve appreciable attention from you for boosting your chances of success.

What is a good GMAT score for Indians applying to UVA Darden School of Business?

To address the over-represented candidate pool of Indian candidates, we will further look at the details of all Indian candidates who applied to Darden for the class of 2021.

• 40 Indians applied
• 25 received an interview invite
• 12 received admits (Scores- 750 (6), 740 (4) and 720 (1), score of one candidate not know)

As we can see, no candidate having score below 720 was able to secure admission at Darden School of Business. On the other hand, GMAT scores of 750 and 740 register the highest number of interview-invites as well as admission offers.  Hence, we recommend a GMAT score of 750 or higher for Indians applying to UVA Darden.

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