Calling all Darden Fall 2009 applicants!

Alright so I thought about this over lunch, and I'm going to call Admissions tomorrow and withdraw my application. I think I made up my mind about where to go to school a long time ago, and NYU was always up there at the top even when I was looking at Columbia. At the start of the application season, I set myself a personal goal of making it through to the interview stage at every single school I applied to, and I'm satisfied I was able to accomplish that. As much as I like Darden, I don't think any amount of money is going to make me leave New York. Mainly for personal reasons, but that's a story for another thread.

I have to add here that my Darden visit was by far the most impressive of any I did over the course of the past one year. Other schools might attract applicants who are "more accomplished" when it comes to just numbers and whatever, but the class engagement (in a core accounting class, if you can believe it) I witnessed at Darden was simply unparalleled. And I know it wasn't all because of the case method either, because I sat in on case-driven classes at other schools, too and they had nowehere near the effect on me that the Darden class did. It's absolutely true that Darden attracts (and possibly deliberately favours) a certain type of individual, and I am quite sincerely disappointed I will not get to spend 2 years with such individuals.

But in the end everyone has to make difficult choices and go with where one's personal priorities lie.

Now I am faced with the unenviable task of breaking this news to a Darden alumnus at the New York office of an employer I will almost certainly target for both internship and full-time recruiting. This person spent a lot of time talking to me about his experiences at the school, and (I think) also reached out personally to school administration to put in a good word.

Any worthwhile ideas on what I can and should tell him so as to not piss him off?