What Reviewers Look For in the MBA — UVA Darden Written Essays

This rubric looks at whether your responses directly answer the current prompts with clear, professional writing and support for your claims. It also checks whether personal and career answers use concrete details when those topics are requested, and whether multiple supplied answers contribute distinct information.

What We Check

Mistakes We Flag

Using broad identity claims

Saying you are passionate, unique, curious, or collaborative without showing a practice, experience, action, or observation leaves the reader without a basis for the claim.

Naming career goals without context

A broad ambition can be hard to understand. State the role, work setting, problem, or people affected when the prompt asks for career direction.

Leaving short- and long-term plans disconnected

If you name two career horizons, explain what the nearer role will help you build, learn, test, or enable for the later direction.

Repeating the same message across answers

When more than one prompt-answer pair is provided, each response should use facts, examples, aims, or perspectives that do its own prompt’s job.

Relying on titles or team results as proof

A title or company outcome does not show your contribution by itself. Explain what you did, what was affected, and what followed.

How this rubric reads your essay

• Built from published reader guidance — the sources are listed below.
• Scored per section against defined criteria, not general impressions.
• Calibrated for consistent scoring, so a better draft shows up in the score.

References

Frequently Asked Questions