Darden MBA 2026-2027: What the application changes reveal

Darden confirmed its MBA application for the 2026-2027 admissions cycle with one of its three written essays removed and a new video component added in its place. Relationships Matter Here and Careers With Purpose carry over with identical prompts at 200 words each. The Community essay is gone. In its place, Darden introduces a 90-second video essay, answered live in response to a randomly generated question drawn from a pool written by the admissions committee.

This session breaks down what Darden's 2026-2027 application changes reveal about how the admissions committee is evaluating candidates this cycle.

Darden built its own admissions criteria around engagement and collaboration, the same qualities the retired Community essay asked candidates to demonstrate on paper. That essay is gone, but the quality it was built to surface has not disappeared from what Darden wants to see. It moved into a format a candidate cannot draft in advance, edit over several passes, or polish into its final shape. What that relocation asks of a candidate who no longer gets a considered written answer to that question, and what the two surviving essays are now carrying without it, is where this session spends its time.

This session is designed for candidates who are serious about Darden and want to understand not only what the 2026-2027 application requires, but what the admissions committee is now trying to learn through it, and whether their candidacy is built to answer that.

During the session, we will discuss:

• Removing the Community essay does not remove Darden's interest in collaboration and engagement. It relocates the test, and unscripted delivery changes what counts as a strong answer.
• Relationships Matter Here and Careers With Purpose kept identical prompts, and what that stability means once a third structured essay is no longer sitting alongside them.
• Why a randomly generated, 90-second video question rewards a different kind of preparation than outlining talking points in advance, and what that preparation actually looks like.

Susan Berishaj, founder of Sia Admissions, will walk through what Darden's application changes reveal about the school's evaluation priorities this cycle. She will explain how the two written essays and the video essay are read together as one candidacy, built on both the trajectory argument and the contribution argument, and what separates candidates who treat the video as a formality from candidates who prepare for it with the same intention as a written response.

Register to submit your questions in advance, attend live on Thursday, September 17 at 10:00 a.m. ET, and receive the replay directly in your inbox.

Darden's Round 1 deadline falls on October 7, which leaves a short runway once this session ends. To get focused, hourly support on your Darden essays and video prep before that deadline, book a strategy consultation with Sia Admissions' team to determine what level of support fits your timeline. Learn more about the Sia Method. Request a written profile evaluation.