Internship Recruiting

Career Support

MBA - Career Support - Internships

Internships

At Darden, the students who want an internship to explore their career possibilities, get an internship — at top companies, in all industries and around the world.

Darden Prepares First Years to Succeed in Any Internship

Darden’s Career Center provides a wide variety of personalized resources to aid students in their searches for an MBA summer internship. Whether entering First Year internships or full-time roles after graduation, Darden students work across all major industries, functions and geographies.

Internships are an integral part of the Darden MBA experience, as they help students:

  • Gain experience in the job function and/or industry students plan to pursue after graduation, or an industry students seek to explore
  • Apply new knowledge and approaches learned during the First Year
  • Further develop skills that will help in the full-time job search 

Darden Full-Time MBA Class of 2019 Summer Internship Data

100%
students in the classes of 2019 and 2020 received a summer internship
59%
Students receive a full-time offer from internship company (three year average)
$9,312
Class of 2019 average base internship monthly salary
27%
Class of 2020 students accepted a consulting internship
20%
Class of 2020 students accepted a general management internship
26%
Class of 2020 students accepted a financial services internship

Top Companies for Internships for the Full-Time MBA Class of 2019

Alternative Summer Internships

For students who may seek non-traditional MBA internship experience, Darden offers a number of excellent alternatives.

  • Darden i.Lab Incubator

    The i.Lab provides a community of student and faculty support, as well as $13,000 in funding for a select group of students to start business ventures during the summer. The i.Lab at UVA Incubator supports the development and growth of promising seed and early-stage business ventures by providing them with funding, faculty and student support, office space, access to technological expertise, and free legal services.

  • Batten Venture Internship Program (BVIP)

    This program provides Darden students the opportunity to pursue summer internships with venture capital firms or innovative startups from around the country. To promote and support student involvement with these firms, the Batten Endowment provides a matching stipend to supplement a student’s summer salary.

  • Technology Venture Fellows (TVF)

    Technology Venture Fellows offers Darden students an intensive, operational experience with early-stage technology ventures during a 10-week fellowship. The purpose of this program is to embed Darden MBAs in high-potential, high-growth ventures, giving them hands-on project experience, mentorship and coaching, a rich network of connections and contacts, and the inspiration to follow an entrepreneurial path after Darden.

  • Darden Nonprofit Internship Fund (DNIF)

    Students who are interested in applying business skills to their local and global community or who wish to explore a career in the nonprofit sector can apply for a stipend through the DNIF to help defray summer living expenses. MBA candidates from Darden who pursue summer internships in the nonprofit sector provide great benefits both to their host organizations and to our own Darden community. Darden First Years who work for nonprofits offer critical management skills to organizations that could otherwise not afford a summer intern.

    Internship Information

    The nonprofit organization is a vital extension of the world of markets and for-profit firms: Nonprofits fill the gaps in free-market solutions to social problems. It takes special skills to create and manage nonprofit organizations — such skills can sharpen the effectiveness of managers in the for-profit world. And most managers will be called to serve on boards or in operational positions for nonprofits.

    For these and other reasons, MBAs should engage and learn from the issues confronting the nonprofit organization.

    —Robert F. Bruner, University Professor, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration and Dean Emeritus of the Darden School of Business
     
    Many excellent opportunities exist for MBA internships in the nonprofit and public sectors. Unfortunately, many of these organizations do not have the resources to pay an MBA candidate adequately. This is where the Darden Nonprofit Internship Fund (DNIF) can help.

    DNIF is a program funded by both students and the Darden School that helps First Year students defray summer living expenses while pursuing internships with nonprofit organizations.

    Who Applies to DNIF and Why?

    • Students who are interested in applying their business skills to their local and global community
    • Students who wish to explore a potential career in the nonprofit sector
    • Students who see the DNIF as a way to support a long-term goal of working for nonprofit organizations

    Value of Nonprofit Internships

    MBA candidates from Darden who pursue summer internships in the nonprofit sector provide great benefits both to their host organizations and to our own Darden community.

    Darden First Years who work for nonprofits offer critical management skills to organizations that could otherwise not afford a summer intern. Darden students are known for their deep sense of commitment to society at large, and there are dozens of great nonprofit enterprises that are excited about the MBA talent our students possess.