A customer can make-or-break a business. Publicly, they can post blogs, shorts, or reviews about their experiences. Privately, word of mouth can spread like a contagion without a company even knowing. Of course, as Sam Walton points out, a customer possesses the power to fire everyone just by spending their money elsewhere.
When it comes to customer satisfaction, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business is clearly doing something very different…and very right. Look no further than the 2025 Best Business Schools survey conducted by The Princeton Review. Surveying alumni and current students, Darden notched the highest score for Best Professors (and 5th for its Classroom Environment). Survey respondents also ranked Darden 2nd for the Family-Friendliness of its program and 3rd for Campus Environment. Current and former students even gave the school administration the 5th-highest score among business schools. When it comes to academic programming, Darden placed 1st for Management, 2nd for Finance, and 3rd for Consulting.
The Princeton Review was hardly an anomaly. In February, The Financial Times released the results of its alumni survey, with Darden notching the 10th-highest score for Career Services and 12th-best score for its Alumni Network.
GREAT FACULTY, GREAT SUPPORT, GREAT OUTCOMES…