Calling all Darden Fall 2009 applicants!

Undergrad: University of Michigan: Econ
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After College (allot of my time went towards passing CPA and CFA exams, but also apprenticed at five star restaurant on weekends (cooking is a hobby of mine). Also on the side worked on a startup company that I eventually sold.

Thats a fantastic profile! Congrats.

You apped to 8 schools in R2??!! Way to go!

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?

I made a master "app" in word with everything the schools ask for:
work info
gmat
gpa
extracurullar
address
etc.

Now I am gonna see you in future NYU Stern alumni ballroom dancing events, huh?

Solaris1, honestly is the best policy so he has to understand. And thank you for dropping out of the race. It makes my drive for the Darden waitlist that much easier.

Raabend - What happend to the monkey?

I just got my interview invite from Darden (R2). Okay, time to look for interview advice in this forum

Btw, thank you all for your amazing insights (in many many B-school topics). It has been phenomenal so far.

Just got back from my interview today down at Darden. All in all a great experience. If you can, I would recommend planning on taking advantage of the lunch with faculty and the tour of the grounds (which are amazing by the way).

My interview was with a second year. Very low threat and conversational. Be prepared to tell your story.... I mean from high school. Why you chose your undergrad school, why your major. What have you done in your career, why an MBA, why Darden, why now. Particulary important is to talk about the case method and why it is right for you. The darden website has a pretty good description of the case method.

I had my interview in the afternoon (2:30) and I'm glad that it was then. It gave me lunch and the tour to ask questions and get a feel for the school. I think fit is hugely important at Darden. It is a very structured and academically vigorous program. After visiting a couple of other schools (M7s), I felt at some it was like "I am in this and that club, and meet with this and that person, and oh yeah, by the way, I go to class too." At Darden, the academics (especially in the first three quarters) are the first priority.

So I pretty much just started talking. My interviewer interjected with leading questions when he wanted to get some more information or wanted to take the interview down a certain path. It was about 45 minutes long and he took me afterward to meet with one of the adcom reps and I spoke with her for another 30 minutes or so.

I will say that this experience was class act all the way. Very intimate and personal.

Hope this helps.

Thanks guys for all the great interview advice for Darden. I will be reading and re-reading my application before I head for the interview on 2/23

Again, thank you for the pointers..