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23 Mar 2007, 10:46
GHIBI, you should give them a call. In my experience, Darden has been very helpful and receptive to contact. I had a similar issue with Michigan, and without my knowledge my app got pushed to the follow round - which essentially drops them from my consideration because I can't bear waiting any more.
Jay, Died, thanks a lot. I'm pretty excited to get in.
Johnny, actually I have considered exactly that issue very carefully. Here's how it breaks down for someone like me interested in returning to the Bay Area. The closet airports to Darden are the small local airport, Richmond (1 hour) and Dulles (I drove it in 1:40 on Thursday afternoon during rush hour). The RDU airport is less than an hour from Durham. The key point for me though, is that there are several direct flights each day from the bay area (and Oakland specifically which is about 15 minutes from my house) to Dulles. There are no direct flights to RDU, you have to change planes at least once. Strangely enough, there are at least a 1/2 dozen flights a day from the bay area that reach the Charlottesville airport with 1 change. So, it's actually more efficient to travel to Charlottesville than Durham if you're starting from the bay area. I can get within 5 miles of Charlottesville with 1 stopover, or 1:40 away with a direct flight. With one stopover I can to get about :45-1:00 from Durham. I actually greatly prefer direct flights, which are simply unavailable between the bay area and RDU.
So, I realize that there are other destinations that I might want to go to other than the bay area, and the larger RDU ariport would be an advantage. I would call it a wash between the two places, but from a personal standpoint, Duke does not have much if any advantage in the travel department. People from other locales will probably conclude differently.
Another major factor for me is that I like Charlottesville a lot and I think it would be nice to live there for 2 years. I know a lot of people point out that the RTP area is great for young professionals, and I'm sure that it is. The problem is that I don't believe many students actually live in the RTP. I think most choose to live closer to school, and given the demands of the first year, I would probably live as close as possible. The area surround Duke ranges from almost nothing to do, to kind of dangerous if you move a little further away. Sure, Chapel Hill isn't far away, and there are other nice surrounding areas, but most will probably live in Durham and to be honest is kind of sucks there; according to my interviewer there really isn't anything to do in the immediate area. Living in Charlottesville is preferable to me.
Matt, who knows. Maybe Stanford will show me some last minute love (yeah right) and persuade me to stay. It would be a pleasure to kick your butt next year. I'm sure we will have the opportunity to get together sometime down the road.
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