Meet Virginia Darden’s MBA Class of 2017

Gabriel Legendy

University of Virginia, Darden School of Business

Hometown:  New York City, NY

Undergraduate School and Major: Princeton, Politics

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation:  U.S. Army, Captain, Special Forces.  To clarify, because a lot of people do not know this, Army Special Forces are the Green Berets.

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? You’re not going to cram for this test. Give yourself a month or two to get ready. If you do that, half an hour to an hour of prep per day will be enough.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? Don’t apply to schools based solely on what you read about them. Visit the campus, sit in a class, and talk to current students. If you can’t do to the first two, find a way to do the third. Everybody is enthusiastic about their school, and they should be. But not every school is right for you. By talking to a few students, you can get a feel for who the school attracts, what kind of industries they are going to, and can (hopefully) reach a conclusion about whether the school would be a good fit for your personality. For me, it was pretty difficult to differentiate between the top programs until I started talking to people and visiting schools. As soon as I did, my list shrank dramatically (and thus became more manageable).

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? It’s the worst, but you have to get through it. Work with your recommenders, and try to get them to write their recommendation early. You don’t want to finish your essays and get the jitters because your recommendation is still pending submission. Also, have several thoughtful questions prepared for your interviewer.

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? When I came to visit Darden, things felt like they clicked into place. I got a big dose of southern hospitality, and just when I was starting to feel comfortable, class started. It sounded like they were speaking a completely different language. I lost the thread of the conversation after about a minute, and the main impression I got was that there was some serious learning going on at Darden. I liked that, and the energy in general felt really good to me. After class, students walked up to me and introduced themselves, asking if I had any questions about the school. They commiserated about the fact that I likely had no idea what they had been talking about in class, recalling their own visits to the school a year earlier. They did this of their own volition, which made it feel all the more welcoming. Upon returning from my visit I wrote down my experiences, and then when I was reading them and added all of that stuff up, I realized that I had found a good fit at UVA, and that is how I chose Darden.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? I do not know if this is an achievement per se, but I would like to participate in at least two Global Business Experiences (GBEs) while I am at Darden. I have spent a lot of time in Europe. I have a Canadian girlfriend and my career in the Army took me to some pretty exotic places. I would love to find a way to combine my interest in business with my interest in global affairs and travel. The GBEs seem like a great way to take my international experiences and start viewing them through a business lens.

I also want to form some meaningful and lasting relationships with faculty members. I would like to get to know them better, to hear their stories, and to take advantage of the opportunity to get some serious mentorship and advice in a non-classroom setting. As an undergrad, I felt the same way but I was too shy to actually execute. Now I have a second chance, and I won’t waste it.