Choosing your school - Any regrets?

Question

As I'm working through the incredibly difficult process of deciding on which school to attend, I find myself wondering whether others who have been here and made the choice have any advice on the process.

If you've made a decision between schools, do you have any regrets about your choice? Any suggestions on things to consider before making the choice? Anything you wish you had considered, but didn't?

solaris1 · Answer

I doubt very many people are going to openly say they were unhappy with their school choices. But you may find this old thread may interesting:

https://gmatclub.com/forum/103-t43934?

rhyme · Answer

I'm not unhappy, but I admit the recruiting cycle has been more work than I expected.

ncp · Answer

rhyme, hang in there. I am sure you will have better luck in the near future. BTW, all the best for the Beer company interview.

rhyme · Answer

It was hard.

OasisNYK · Answer

I am not unhappy and Darden has lived up to my expectations in many ways - but at the same time it is quite different then I expected.

The one thing I would definitely change, and I knew this coming in, would be to look at more schools geared towards real estate. However, I knew my best chance to get in to a top school was at Darden and they were nice enough to accept me.

I do find the school to be a little clicky - but that is to be expected almost anywhere.

solaris1 · Answer

Why do you think the school's cliquey, Oasis? I'm sure a lot of us who are interested in Darden would love to hear more.

sam77sam7 · Answer

As someone interested.... also curious about why Darden has seemed cliquey.

~Sam

Ozmba · Answer

My verbal score sucks , so could any one care to explain what is the meaning of   cliquey

Rubashov1 · Answer

A "clique" is a group of people that tends to hang out exclusively with only the people in that group. So if something is "cliquey" (which I don't think is really a word) it means that people tend to separate themselves into groups with little interaction between groups.

In undergrad, I found Stern to be somewhat "cliquey", often along racial lines.

solaris1 · Answer

Slightly off-topic but "cliquey" is very much a word.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=14245&dict=CALD

And this word tends to get used a lot when one is speaking about b-school "culture." I am especially curious about Darden since virtually everyone I've spoken to so far has stressed its friendly, down-to-earth vibe so it would be interesting to hear more about why Oasis's experience wasn't as good.

Rubashov1 · Answer

Haha, nice! :lol:

OasisNYK · Answer

First of all I don't want you all to think I have had a bad experience at Darden - this is not the case. It was my top choice school and I am happy to be here. I am simply stating that the school does have cliques and that is very much a part of the culture here - something you do not get a feel for when visiting or interacting with others.

There are some very important things I wish I had known before accepting:
- It is important to live at Ivy Gardens. This is where most of the Darden population lives and a lot of the community at the school is based off of this. While it is not imperative that you live at Ivy, it will definitely help you socially.
- The Darden Partners group was a large reason I was attracted to the school because I am here with my girlfriend (another thing that will change your experience at any business school drastically). My impression from visiting was that this club was very supportive and would help your partner find a job, have a social network etc. My girlfriend found that the partners in the group primarily stuck to the "Ivy" clique where many of the partners who lived in Ivy gravitated towards each other and seemed to exclude others.

Outside of those things I think Darden is what you make of it. It would definitely be possible to break into a clique and befriend these people, I just find it hard to do because a lot of the friendships have solidified and they seem exclusive of other people. Reality is, if you stopped to talk to almost anyone at Darden they would have a candid and open conversation with you and this place overall is friendly and collaborative. Most of the people I have met here are awesome and I enjoy going to class everyday and interacting with them.

Again, I believe you will find this at almost any school, I just think it is hard to find these things out when you are visiting/doing research. If you are considering Darden and you want to find out more about my experiences feel free to PM me - again I have very good things to say about the school and I would recommend it to anyone - I just think you should have the full picture and not simply the most flattering.

kidderek · Answer

Isn't that life?

Rubashov1 · Answer

I guess so, but it's especially disappointing in a progressive academic environment. This certainly doesn't seem to be the case with my friends in science academia.

solaris1 · Answer

Thanks OasisNYK, it's very helpful to get your perspective. And thanks also for clarifying what you said earlier.

rca215, that was an interesting observation about Stern undergrad.

I think NYU undergrad is a slightly different beast because of the fact that it has such a dispersed campus in the middle of a huge city. It's somewhat easier to understand if the undergraduate social experience there is very different from that of larger universities with self-contained campuses. One can see how freshmen (especially folks from out of NYC) in a highly impersonal urban environment like that of NYU's would initially seek out people they were most comfortable with, which most easily would be people that shared their own ethnicity, and just become a tighter part of that group as time went by.

kryzak · Answer

great topic... vaulted

vinviper · Answer

I appreciate the honesty

Nitty · Answer

Funny you said that because thats one of the questions I ask current students offline.

It was def like that in undergrad until junior/senior yr, and can be like that at different companies. I don't want to attend a school where the program does not some-what force people to step out of the box and get to know people for who they are and not their skin tone or sexual preference or what eva. I know that I am a fun lovin person, and most people won't get to see that side of me in school or at work because there is a time and place for everything. That was one thing I liked about Kellogg when I visited...the students were straight up with their answers even if I didn't want to hear it.

Choosing your school - Any regrets?

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