MBA - Tuition and Financial Aid - Competitive Scholarships - Impact Fellows

The Impact Fellows Program is a competitive scholarship initiative that builds on a growing movement toward inclusive excellence at the Darden School.

Through the Foundation’s new Impact Fellows program, an annual cohort of top Full-Time MBA students from diverse backgrounds will be supported in their Darden journeys with a variety of carefully tailored mentorship and leadership development programming involving Darden alumni, faculty, fellow students and staff. Exceptional candidates identified through the Admissions process will be invited to compete for a spot in the upcoming cohort. 

Supporting and Driving Student Success

While attracting top students is a key component of the new program, a carefully curated suite of programming will ensure the Impact Fellows can reach their full potential at Darden and after graduation.

Programming and activities intended to support the Impact Fellows include:

• A Darden alumni coach, who will offer support and mentorship.
• Ongoing programming sponsored by the Darden School Foundation, including small faculty-led group gatherings and conferences and speakers on topics such as leadership development. 
• Complimentary Darden Executive Education & Lifelong Learning opportunities after graduation.

Growing Movement Towards Inclusive Excellence

Each year, the Darden School Foundation selects and awards highly selective scholarships for women and under-represented minorities; that range from partial tuition stipends to full tuition and fees. The Impact Fellows program is part of a new set of Darden School Foundation programs dedicated to advancing diverse leadership in business. It is also part of a larger Inclusive Excellence effort led by the Darden School Foundation.

The new Impact Fellows program launched as the Darden School welcomed the most accomplished and diverse class in School history in both MBA formats, with record percentages of women.

The positive momentum has been aided in part by the growing range of competitive scholarships the Foundation offers for women and under-represented minorities, and the School’s need-based AccessDarden scholarship program, which launched in 2020, seeks to make Darden as accessible as possible for top candidates from around the globe.