Hi all! Poch here, first year at Darden. I was a pretty active member of these forums last year, and I gotta say it's helped me a lot. I don't check it as much anymore, but if you have any questions about Darden life and Charlottesville life, please shoot me an email:
pochcc@yahoo.com. Don't worry, I won't sell Darden to you (too much). I'll try to offer my balanced opinion, as much as I can. That said, I love Darden, so my balanced opinion might not seem very balanced.
A few observations...
1. Darden is NOT for those who want an easy time. The days are long here, and the workload is pretty daunting. That said, we only have classes 4 days a week (Mon-Thu), with Friday dubbed "career day." That's where you focus on all things post-darden - like a job. As such, we have something called the Thursday Night Drinking Club (TNDC), which is great for unwinding and getting to know your classmates outside the academic setting. We party pretty hard, but I've never worked harder than in Darden.
2. Charlottesville is a nice little town. It's nice. But it's tiny. It's very picturesque, and you could spend hours just walking around, especially nowadays that it's autumn. There are enough restaurants, bars and places to keep you occupied though, when you're not studying.
3. The case method was something new to me, and I did struggle a little bit at the beginning, but it really is a great way to tap into your classmates as great resources of knowledge. We have classmates who are olympiads, tech entrepreneurs, lawyers etc from 70+ countries... So when we discuss global economic policies for example, you really see points of view from China, France, Moldova, etc., as well as from economists, bankers, entrepreneurs, etc. But of course, that just makes it harder, because theory is something that you should already have at the back of your mind, and you just debate on its applications, merits, etc. The case method requires a critical mind - so if you want theory shoved down your throat, this is not a place for you. But if you like applying theory to different situations and learning about its applications in different parts of the world, this is the place for you.
4. The people here are really friendly. And very, very, very helpful. And that goes for everyone -faculty, staff, classmates, and alumni. If you're ever going job hunting (and I'm sure you are after B-school), it'd be great to have very supportive alums. And Darden's got a great network.
Should be enough for now. Hope that's gotten people more excited about getting into Darden (you should be!). and for those on the fence, if you think those things above are interesting, apply!
01 Oct 2010, 05:42
