Lifetime Achievement Award In MBA Admissions: Dawna Clarke At UVA Darden by: John A. Byrne on October 30, 2024 | 1,884 Views October 30, 2024 Copy Link Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email Share on LinkedIn Share on WhatsApp Share on Reddit Darden MBA students arrive for a new academic year NAVIGATING THE SUPREME COURT’S DECISION BANNING AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Surprisingly, perhaps, the single biggest challenge of Clarke’s admissions career occurred this past year in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s decision in June of 2023 to end affirmative action in university admissions. For a public university in a state with a right-leaning Republican governor who is seeking a broader national audience, the decision had many ramifications on both admission and scholarship decisions. For the first time in her career, Clarke and her team were blocked from determining whether an applicant was a woman or an underrepresented minority. The admissions staff had to undertake training sessions on compliance and implement new strategies to mitigate the potential negative impact of the court’s decision. The strategy focused on increasing the number of women and minorities on the front end, in the applicant pool. To identify and source more diverse students, Darden sought partnerships with HBCU Alumni and Student Recruiting Events, and the National Society of Black Engineers, and participated in several Diversity Alliance events. The school came up with a new strategic initiative to offer a Women’s Symposium and Diversity Conference in a hybrid format to significantly increase the number of prospective students it could touch. “This was an enormous challenge this year, and I believe our results relative to peers will stand out,” says Clarke. In fact, the moves made by Darden’s admissions staff offset the worst impact of the Supreme Court’s decision. Some 23% of this year’s incoming MBA class is composed of U.S. minorities, up nine percentage points from 14% last year. Women make up 38% of the new MBA cohort, up a point from last year’s 37%. First-generation college grads fell sharply to 14% from the record 21% in 2023. “When we read an application today, we can’t see if a person is a URM candidate or a woman,” explains Clarke. “Until the first day of orientation, I couldn’t find out how many URMs we had in the class. The Supreme Court ruling made it a lot more difficult to craft a class as we had in the past.” WAITLISTED AT HER FIRST CHOICE Her deep sense of empathy for applicants comes in part from her upbringing and her personal experience. Clarke describes her mother as “a kind and empathic person. She worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor throughout college, swimming competitively at Allegheny. “Even back in high school, I have gotten feedback on this. I have a lot of sensitivity for people who have suffered through something, including going through trying life experiences that I fortunately got on the other side of. I am grateful it is a part of my personality.” As a college applicant herself, she can remember the pressure of being waitlisted at Dartmouth College, her top choice for an undergraduate education. Instead, she went to Allegheny College, a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where she majored in psychology with a minor in English. When she applied to the master’s program in education at the Univerisity of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, Clarke again found herself on a waitlist until being admitted. “It gave me empathy to know what it was like to be waitlisted. This is a vulnerable time for students. The blood sweat and teats that applicants put into this can be overwhelming. There is the additional stress of taking standardized tests and writing essays when you are working full-time.” As a single Mom, she also vicariously experienced the strain of guiding her son Josh through 24 college visits that led to Middlebury College. “I learned so much navigating the admissions process with Josh,” she says. “When someone checks their computer screen to see if they are admitted or denied, it is a big deal. And the time I spent at mbaMission illuminated the kind of stress people feel. What became evident to me through this was the importance of having respect for the applicant’s experience, and trying to make it as transparent as possible. Treating people with the utmost respect and kindness trumps the difficulty of having to deny people. Some practices can be put in place to make it easier. If someone is waitlisted, you get one-on-one feedback on why you are on the list and how you can improve your chances at Tuck and Darden.” ‘ALWAYS DO WHAT IS IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE APPLICANT’ One of her early mentors, former Tuck Dean Paul Danos, told her to “‘always do what is in the best interests of the applicant–not your office. When we are making a decision what is in their best interests?’ It matters to have a team that cares about the applicant’s experience and makes it warm and transparent. This is a huge achievement that people are striving for. “Transparency,” she believes, “eases anxiety. So many people think there are some behind-the-scenes, off-the-record policies. There is no reason for it not to be transparent. Why not give tips on how to optimize your essays? Candidates put so many hours into this. Of course, we should be transparent about it because it shows our respect to the applicant. We are looking for reasons to admit you–not to deny you. There is no secret that we shouldn’t be transparent about.” Not surprisingly, perhaps, Clarke was among the first business school admission officials who welcomed and embraced the increasing role that admission consultants play in helping candidates get into highly selective MBA programs. When many of her colleagues at other schools turned up their noses at the burgeoning field of advisors, she hosted a group of them at the Tuck School. “She saw the value in influencing the influencers,” says Jeremy Shinewald, founder and CEO of mbaMission, one of the leading firms. “Dawna is a smart cookie. Compare that to Derek Bolton (then admissions chief at Stanford Graduate School of Business) who believed we were giving people an unfair advantage in admissions.” Above the visibility she has brought to admissions, Clarke connects with people. Little more than a week ago, on a trip to New York City, Darden held a recruiting breakfast for women who were potential applicants. After interviewing one of the candidates, Alford asked the applicant what set Darden apart from other programs. “Her first response was ‘Dawna.'” says Alford. “She was truly impressed by what she referred to as Dawna’s ‘bright light’ and the authentic care she showed for each woman in attendance. She had read about Darden’s tight-knit community on the website, but to see it in action was, in her words, a powerful experience. She recounted how all the women in the elevator afterward were enthusiastically sharing their admiration for Dawna and how special she made them feel.” Stories like that abound. On a recruiting trip to India in January of 2023, Clarke traveled with Whitney Kestner, an associate director in admissions, who has worked with Clarke for eight years. “During that trip,” recalls Kestner, “we interviewed Round 2 candidates while also engaging with admitted students from previous rounds. As luck would have it, Dawna interviewed two candidates back to back who are married. She really connected with both, and they are now students at Darden. Last Thanksgiving, she invited them to her home with her family to celebrate the holiday.” Kestner believes that Clarke cares deeply about the experience of the prospective student. “Because of this, our application process is centered around helping candidates put their best foot forward. Test flexibility is probably the best example of this. We accept a wide range of graduate standardized test scores but we also have a test waiver process for those candidates who have alternative evidence to show their readiness. Giving candidates the option on which test or possible waiver to submit enables prospective students to be strategic in building their application package.” Her husband says his earliest impression in 2008 of the woman who would become his wife was her ability to effortlessly mesh with others. When he introduced her to his mother, Clarke immediately took her hands in her own, pulling her close and making close eye contact to cement a bond. “The essence of Dawna begins and ends with kindness and there’s a lot of other good stuff in the middle,” says Damren. “Dealing with people her level of empathy is off the charts. Her warmth is genuine. It is the way she lives her life.” EVALUATING CANDIDATES ON ‘A SLIVER OF INFORMATION’ Clarke loves a good story, particularly one that makes a candidate stand above the crowd. “I get very engrossed in applicant stories. I also like the solitude of it. It is a nice compliment to the outward-facing part of the job. I block out large periods of time at home. It is very common to have reading days where you are headed down reading applications. “Last year I read a compelling application from a young woman who underscored the extent to which she is a connector,” says Clarke. “This is something that gives her great passion, and that would be helpful to have in the Darden community. I read another application from someone who underscored her passion for being helpful. It was a riveting essay that explained how she was extremely concerned about the elderly members of her family in China during COVID-19. They had not mastered technology and she was concerned that they not be isolated during the pandemic. She had this palpable thing about helping others. Not everyone has that strength. Candidates shine for different reasons. They come in with some predisposition to skills, characteristics, and accomplishments that are unique to them. What Darden is going to do is help expand those skills.” Clarke concedes that an application provides insights that reflect a narrow view of a candidate. “We don’t have a crystal ball. Here is a whole person. We do not have access to the full amount of information. The reality is there are so many elements of a human being. We only have access to a sliver of that. We do our best to try to be thoughtful and it is so contingent on space. You are making mistakes because you don’t have enough space for them all.” Her interest in admissions is rooted in the years she was a student tour guide for the admissions office at Allegheny College. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I graduated. The head of admissions approached me and said we have an opening for an assistant director of admissions. I knew the people in the office and being a tour guide gives you a glimpse of what it is like to represent your alma mater. I thought it was a very good fit. STARTED IN UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS FOR $13,000 A YEAR Dawna Clarke when she led admissions at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business She signed up for the $13,000-a-year job after her graduation in 1985 and never really looked back. The one exception was the 1986-1987 academic year she spent in graduate school after being advised that a master’s degree would be essential for a career in higher education. At the suggestion of David Dill, then provost of UNC at Chapel Hill, she began taking elective business courses to learn more about strategy and marketing. “In the process, I developed an interest in business. So working at a business school was a nice way to blend my newfound interest in business with admissions.” It might surprise many to hear that what Clarke is most proud of is not any one extraordinary cohort of students entered in any given year or even a single exceptional admit who went on to have a profound impact on an organization or an industry. Instead, her proudest accomplishment is holding together a team of people committed to delivering on her mission to put heart at the center of a process that rejects the majority of people who want to come to a highly selective graduate program. ‘I DO NOT FALL INTO THE DOOM AND GLOOM SCENARIO THAT THE TWO-YEAR MBA IS DEAD’ In an industry known for its turnover, Clarke has at both Darden and Tuck created a sense of family. Going into her eighth year at Darden, she has retained 100% of the school’s senior admission staff since her arrival. At Darden, where she leads a team of 21 full-time staffers, not including a trio of seasonal readers, she leans heavily on the collective experience of a dedicated admissions staff. “Their wisdom and expertise are extremely valuable to the school. I am making my decisions in large part on their evaluations and recommendations. That is a direct benefit to how we optimize having the right students at Darden. Our results can only be as good as the team we built. We talk about the stickiness of our team. We are kinda glued together. We are a work family. It’s not just me loving them. We all love each other deeply. The strength of those relationships creates a work family. There is nothing I am more proud of than that.” Members of her team confirm that view. “Dawna is an incredible leader,” observes Twitty. “She is a tireless advocate for our team, and while her work pulls her in a million directions, she always has time for us. She is someone you can count on, and you always feel like she is in your corner. Dawna brings incredible warmth and empathy to her work, not to mention deep knowledge and expertise. She is so applicant-centric in everything she does. That’s important in admissions, but it is also a very Dawna Clarke thing to do. She is such a selfless person, it’s no surprise to anyone who knows her that she would be thinking about others first.” Clarke remains an optimist about the value of the two-year MBA. “I do not fall into the doom and gloom scenario that the two-year, full time MBA is dead,” she says flatly. “There will always be a place for it in the top tier. We are going to see more schools introduce abridged programs. There is a very high interest in one-year MBA programs, and I think we should all pay attention to that. With the spotlight on higher education and its costs, I predict we will see more growth in one-year MBA programs.” When the day approaches for Clarke to start a new life chapter, she would like to be remembered as someone who went about her work with joy and compassion. “I don’t think there is anything more powerful than kindness. I would like to be remembered for kindness, empathy, and joy. I would like to have people say that they just loved working with me.” Listen To Our Business Casual Podcast With Darden’s Dawna Clarke Previous PagePage 3 of 3 1 2 3