Welcome to another episode of ‘Crack The MBA’ show. Our guest today is Giriraj Heda who is a first-year student at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Giriraj holds a BTech degree in Mechanical Engineering from NIT Karnataka, where he was team captain for the Racing team. Post college, Giriraj worked as an operations engineer at ExxonMobil, where he led and supported oil and gas exploration projects off the coast of Cyprus, Guyana, and Russia. At Darden, Giriraj has been awarded the Allan and Barbara Staats Fellowship with a $80,000 award. Giriraj has been nominated as the International Student Representative for his section and has been selected as Community Consultant at Darden. This summer, Giriraj will be interning with McKinsey in their Houston office.      00:00:00          Highlights 00:00:35          Introduction 00:01:30          Fun Fact 00:02:29          Winning Habits & Influences 00:11:03          Essays: General Advice 00:14:30          ChatGPT & Essay-Writing 00:16:59          Darden’s Essays 00:19:12          Scholarship Essay 00:19:50          Re-applicant Experience 00:24:56          Darden Interview Experience 00:26:23          $80,000 Merit-Based Scholarship 00:27:54          Evaluation Criteria at Darden 00:28:47          Darden’s Unique Identity 00:29:24          Case Method 00:36:07          Impact of Case Method 00:39:31          Flagship Events at Darden 00:41:58          Tradition: First Coffee 00:43:58          Charlottesville Location 00:47:27          Favourite Restaurants & Bars 00:50:55         Housing & Food Costs 00:51:54          Academics: Star Professors & Classes 00:53:45         Consulting Internship Recruiting 01:04:44          Indian Students at Darden 01:09:27          Advice for Prospective Applicants    Thank you for watching!   —   Nupur Gupta is the founder of Crack The MBA (https://crackthemba.com), India's leading MBA admissions consulting firm. Every year, Crack The MBA's clients attend ivy league, M7 and other top MBA programs globally. Nupur is a graduate of the full-time MBA program at The Wharton School. She has been recognized by Economic Times among the 'Most Promising Women Leaders', by Business Insider among the 'World's Leading Admissions Consultants', along with other honors. Nupur served two terms as president and two terms on the board of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) - the primary industry association in MBA admissions.   Follow Nupur and ‘Crack The MBA’ on our social media platforms for more updates: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nupurgupt/ https://www.facebook.com/CrackTheMBA/ https://www.instagram.com/crackthemba/   Disclaimer: The opinions shared by guests in this video in no way, shape or form represent advisory provided by Crack The MBA. Each candidate’s circumstances may vary, and our advice is always provided specifically based on an applicant’s specific profile.