Two UVA Darden Students Named ‘Best and Brightest’ MBAs

10 May 2017

By Jay Hodgkins


University of Virginia Darden School of Business Second Years Buzz Becker and Molly Duncan have been named to Poets & Quants “Best & Brightest MBAs: Class of 2017” list.

Duncan, who will join McKinsey & Co. in Charlotte, North Carolina, after graduation, described how hearing Dean Emeritus Bob Bruner as a prospective student helped her choose Darden.

I visited Darden and heard our previous dean, Bob Bruner, speak during an admitted students’ weekend. He told the group, “Go where you can do your best work.” That really stuck with me as I made a decision. My gut told me that Darden was the place that would challenge me, enrich me, and best fit my learning style. I could go on and on about Darden’s case method, faculty, Charlottesville, etc., but at the end of the day, I always encourage people to go with their gut feeling. Rankings and scholarship money can be tempting, but if you choose the school that is truly right for you, those factors pale in comparison to the success you will have.

Becker, an Army National Guard member who will work in the renewable energy industry after working in the oil industry before Darden, explained why Professor Ed Freeman was his favorite professor.

Ed Freeman is one of the premier thinkers in business ethics and a true philosopher. After taking his Creative Capitalism and Income Inequality & Social Mobility courses, I am further convinced that businesses can and should serve as powerful vehicles to improve the lives of people. As business leaders, we should consider the triple bottom line as our base responsibility rather than simply good marketing.

Read the full Poets & Quants profiles of Becker and Duncan.

About the University of Virginia Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

 

Press Contact

Molly Mitchell
Associate Director of Content Marketing and Social Media
Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
MitchellM@darden.virginia.edu