By Caroline Mackey
Preparing for an MBA comes with no shortage of questions.
Where should I live? How does recruiting work? What should I be doing before I arrive?
At the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, a new AI-powered tool is helping admitted students get those answers faster and in a way that’s reshaping how the School delivers information and support.
Called Hoo Helper, the tool is a custom-built chatbot designed to guide incoming Full-Time MBA students through the pre-matriculation process. Embedded directly into the admitted student portal, it provides 24/7, on-demand access to Darden-specific information, turning what was once dozens of pages of content into a single, conversational experience.
Turning information into access
Before Hoo Helper, admitted students relied on a mix of emails, web pages and outreach to staff to navigate the months leading up to their arrival. The information existed, but it wasn’t always easy to find or digest.
Hoo Helper changes that.
A look inside Hoo Helper, Darden’s AI-powered portal designed to guide admitted students through every step of the onboarding experience.
Built on content created and maintained across Darden’s admissions, student affairs, career and program teams, the tool pulls from more than 90 pages of material covering everything from housing and visas to career preparation and life in Charlottesville. Students can ask questions in plain language and receive answers instantly, grounded in official Darden resources.
The result is a more intuitive way to engage with information, one that meets students where they are and how they already expect to interact.
Early traction, real impact
Within days of launching, Hoo Helper saw significant usage from hundreds of admitted Full-Time MBA students with access to the platform. Internal data shows rapid adoption, with AI token usage expected to climb into the millions as incoming students actively turn to the tool to support a more seamless transition to the start of school.
Beyond convenience, the impact is operational.
By handling frequently asked questions, Hoo Helper reduces the volume of repetitive inquiries directed at admissions and program staff. That shift creates more space for meaningful, personalized interactions — the kind that require human context and nuance.
Built through collaboration
The development of Hoo Helper was a cross-functional effort, bringing together contributors from across the School to centralize and structure content in a way that could power the tool.
Leading the initiative was Len Leiser, Director of Marketing for Degree Programs, who helped coordinate the effort across teams and shape strategy.
"We’re approaching AI with a frontier spirit and leaning into what it means to be an AI-forward institution. With Hoo Helper, we’re improving the incoming student experience while learning what effective AI implementation and adoption look like in practice and helping lay the groundwork for thoughtful AI guidance and governance at Darden."
Len Leiser
Rather than building something entirely new, the project focused on making existing information more usable — aligning content, timing and messaging across departments to create a more cohesive experience for students.
Part of a broader AI push
Hoo Helper is one example of how Darden is putting AI into practice.
The tool aligns with the School’s broader AI Forward initiative, which aims to explore and implement AI across the classroom and operations. From teaching tools, like the AI-powered Alexander Hamilton classroom experience, to administrative applications like Hoo Helper, the goal is to move beyond theory and into real use cases.
Together, these efforts reflect a broader shift: using AI not just as a topic of study, but also as a tool to improve how the School functions day to day.
What’s next
As the first wave of admitted students continues to engage with Hoo Helper, the focus is turning toward measuring its effectiveness and exploring opportunities to expand.
Future iterations could extend the tool to other MBA formats or deepen its capabilities based on student needs and behavior.
For now, the early response is clear. When information becomes easier to access, students use it.
And in a process as complex as preparing for an MBA, that kind of clarity can make all the difference.
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 (Full-Time MBA, Part-Time MBA, Executive 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 20,000 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
Senior Associate Director, Editorial and Media Relations
Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
MitchellM@darden.virginia.edu