Ok, so in my hour of despair I have been looking at Round 3 forums from last year. It seems that last year they did not make any calls for Round 3 because they were making decisions up until the last minute. The Dings and WLs statuses were updated at 12:03 AM on the deadline, but they made admit decisions up until 5:00 PM on the deadline day.

http://forums.businessweek.com/n/pfx/fo ... &tid=74884

Really? Two essays? I like their style!

I'm in for R1.

Was a little surprised with essay #1, but happy to only have to do 2!! However, this makes me wonder... does Darden then place significant weight on the interview? Or are they more interested in stats like GMAT and GPA? Any thoughts?

I'm definitely in for Darden and definitely very excited about the program as well. I LOVE the idea of the case study method and I've heard nothing but great things about the campus and Charlottesville in general. I sort of like the essay topics, particularly the economy one. I'm sure its going to bring out a bunch of people with "revelations" about changing the way the coporate world works who really harp on their contributions and beliefs of corporate responsibility.

Sure shot applying, don't know which round, though. Love the CASE method.

i like Darden, and i like Virginia

count me in round 1.

Thank you

Has anyone on here visited Darden yet? What were your impressions of the school?

I haven't visited, but I can say I've heard nothing but fantastic things. Physically the school is gorgeous, apparently very country club esque. Charlottesville is, apparently, the protypical college town but not dominated by a hardcore party atmosphere which will be good.

The work and preparation needed for the classes is immense, but the thought of spending the class time communicating, debating and the general back and forth seems to me more appealing then sitting back and memorizing financial models.

All the above reasons make me think that Darden, despite being in Virginia and thus far from home, might be creeping up my list.

The business school is located next to the law school on the north side of campus near the athletic complexes. It is actually quite a bit of a hike to get to main campus from Darden. My impressions is that you are not really that connected with the rest of the university.

The Darden grounds themselves are indeed country club-esque and the style both inside and out is very 18th century southern plantation. Darden is a relatively small school, so the feeling inside the building is very intimate and cozy. In many respects it very much has an elite prep school feel to it.

Charlottesville is not a very large town and is pretty much dominated by the university. UVA does have quite a reputation as a party school. My guess is that Darden is very much like Tuck in the sense that you are in the middle of nowhere, and pretty much everything revolves around what you do at school. I imagine this can be a double edged sword. If you are really into the school and making that your life, I suppose it can be a good thing. However, if you want to branch out and see what else is around you, it could pose some limitations.

When I was applying to Bschools, I only applied to Darden and Kellogg. Though Darden offered me a 1/2 scholarship, I ultimately decided on Kellogg. My decision had less to do with ranking/brand name (though Darden does very well in both respects) than it did wanting to try something different. I went to a very small private highschool and then to a small college. I felt very comfortable when I visited Darden because it reminded me of what I was used to. For me though, I also knew that for this reason, Kellogg would be a better choice in terms of exposing me to new types of environments and challenging me to go a bit outside my comfort zone.

My recommendation is to definitely visit the campus if you have a chance and try to talk to some students.

I visited last year and the facilities at Darden really are pretty good. I really liked their facilities. I believe the Bschool uses the gym that is just down the road from the school itself. Other than the gym, it seemed like the school was pretty disconnected from the rest of UVa. The facilities as has been described are really "country club" like. Strangely enough the school that it reminded me of a little bit is Tuck (only much better weather at UVa.). It did seem like you might need a car to get around in Charlotessville. They had a couple of decent dining halls but nothing to write home about.

Classroom and other facilities were pretty standard. But for the most part - most of the top schools have pretty good facilities without much differentiating them - HBS is the exception on the good side and MIT on the bad side. At Darden - I did like the idea of having meeting rooms reserved in the first year as students at other schools did complain about finding rooms to meet for group projects.

Sitting through a class was pretty good since you got to see the case method in action but if you have seen it before (even as an undergrad) you can pretty much guess what its like. The students do all talk a a lot about the dedication of the teachers - which was pretty good. You also got to eat with a prof. @ lunch time so that was good. The other great thing about the visit (which was pretty unique to Darden) was the meeting with career services to discuss future prospects and what they were seeing in recruiting etc. Got a much better take on career services and recruiting from them then you get on most visits from admissions.