Thanks, Leverandon. Useful post there. I'm glad you had a good interview. I came back thoroughly impressed from my Darden visit too. If I'm invited to interview after R2, I would certainly look forward to returning.
Leverandon wrote:
Of the applicants I met I was surprised by their strong regional prederence. Many students R1 list was Darden, Duke, Georgetown and UNC. No Stern or Ross applicants to be found. Most applicants seemed to be from the DC/northern VA area. I imagine that the Admitted student body, however, is more diverse.
I noticed this myself during my visit. Most of the prospective applicants were from the "South" - DC, MD, VA, TX, GA. One of them even said Charlottesville was about as far "North" as she was willing to go to school or work, so it does certainly seem there's a strong regional bias in the applicant pool there.
You are probably right however in that the admitted student body is a bit more diverse. By the time my visit ended, I had talked to students who graduated from Northwestern, Michigan, Penn State, Colgate, Minnesota, even one of the UC schools, so they're from all over.
Good luck!