The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia has always emphasized how strong its community is, how students work together to learn and grow both inside and outside of the classroom, and how important it is to bring people from different backgrounds and with different ways of thinking together. The school’s application essay prompts focus on all of these ideas.

There is a new application cycle, and the essays for Darden have been updated. Even though there are connections between last year’s essays and this year’s, this year’s essays are more focused and no longer give you choices within the prompts. Through its application essays, UVA Darden wants to know how you will work with others as a Purpose Driven Leader to make a difference. And what you’ve done in the past is the best way to tell if you’ll be able to make a difference in the future.

Before you sit down to answer each of the school’s questions, take a step back and think about the most important strengths you want to show in your application as a whole.

Then, think about what stories you can tell and how you can tell them to show off those strengths.

Pay attention to the stories that don’t already show up in other parts of your application when writing these essays.

This post was first published on the Admit Expert Blog