UVA Darden Acceptance Rate 2023 - 2024

Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia is based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Ranked #17 in the 2023 Financial Times MBA ranking, it is widely considered as part of the T20 (Top 20) business schools around the world.

If you are applying to Darden this year, start by analyzing the school’s class profile, program, and culture. This will help you benchmark your profile against those of previously admitted candidates and understand if the school is the right fit for you.

Here’s our Darden Class of 2024 Profile Guide with the key admission factors you should know about before applying to the Darden MBA program.

2023 Financial Times Ranking

“The Darden School improves the world by inspiring responsible leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences”. Darden pursues excellence in its curriculum, research faculty, and community. As a result, it consistently ranks highly in global business school rankings. Identify if the Darden program is right for you using some key statistics from the 2023 Financial Times Ranking.

Here’s how Darden performed in 2023

Financial Times Ranking 2023	Key Stats
MBA program rank	17 (Tied with HEC Paris)
Carbon footprint	1
Alumni network	10
Careers service rank	16
Employed at three months (%)	96%
Overall program satisfaction	9.71

Class demographic breakdown

Darden received roughly 3000 applications for the Class of 2024, leading to 348 accepted candidates. This gives us an acceptance rate of around 12%.

This class also made several records:

1. It has the highest percentage of first generation students ever enrolled in the full-time MBA class, with 16%.

2. The total percentage of international students studying in the full-time MBA class was 43%, highest in Darden’s history.

What the Darden MBA Class of 2024 looks like

Class Composition Breakdown
Total applications received	≈ 3000
Acceptance rate	11.6%
Class size	348
Women	37%
US minority	20%
LGBTQ	8%
Military service members	8%
First generation college students	16%* (School record)
International citizens	43%* (School record)
Countries represented	48
Languages spoken	81
Dual degree students	5%
Consortium members	41

Academic Background

Of all the students who made it to the Class of 2024, 19% held advanced educational degrees and only 34% of the students had previously studied abroad.

In total, they represented 215 undergraduate institutions.

Their average GPA was 3.51 in a range of 3.13 - 3.89 and the median GPA was 3.55 as per the American grading scale.

What the Darden MBA Class of 2024 scored in the GMAT/GRE

​Test	Score
GRE (Median)	319
GRE (Average)	320
GMAT (Median)	720
GMAT (Average)	720* (School record)

Pre-MBA Industry Background

The average work experience for candidates admitted to the Darden MBA Class of 2024 was 5.2 years where the median years of experience was 5.8 years.

All of the students combined represented 32 industries and 290 unique employers.

Where the Darden MBA Class of 2024 worked

​Industry	Percentage of Students
Financial Services	21%
Nonprofit / Government / Education	18%
Consulting	16%
Other	15%
Technology	11%
Consumer Packaged Goods	6%
Healthcare / Biotech / Pharma	5%
Energy	3%
Manufacturing	2%
Communication / Media / Entertainment	2%
Real Estate	1%

Conclusion

Picking the right set of target schools is not an easy task. Evaluate the chances of getting admitted by researching and analyzing different MBA programs and schools. Need some help choosing the program that best fits your profile? Book a free 20 min chat with expert consultants from our team who can help you make the right decision.

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Applying to the Darden MBA program? Here’s a complete guide to UVA Darden's MBA essays.