Calling All Fall 2012 Consortium Applicants!

Also heard from Haas today (and got a login). Only still waiting on Anderson. The non-consortium specific email noted the March 1st decision deadline, and said that interview invites start in December. Do you think CGSM round 2 are pooled in with us? I'm always hoping that by applying in round 1 I'm in the small group of CGSM round 1 applicants and get extra attention!

On another note, when logged in to Haas' website you can see your application (at least parts) and it shows your schools in ranked order, so they definitely know. I think this is how all schools get it. I've heard Ross say that they specifically ignore rankings and Darden said they "mostly" ignore them. Anyone know about Haas?

Copy that, got word Haas recieved my application today. Also, got an interview invite from Kelley. Still waiting to hear anything from Johnson, Marshall, & Texas.

Thanks for the response! =)

My profile is probably a lot less stellar than you. What I meant when I said "safety" was the higher acceptance % and the "reach" schools are the higher ranked schools. I am by no means a shoe in to any schools too, and I will be happy to get into any of the schools I am applying to. Though I still have Yale as my preferred school.

Were you only interested in 5 schools really? I thought about cutting it to 5, but I really liked a lot of schools!

The Darden Debrief

I'm still in Charlottesville as I post this and wanted to let everyone know I had an absolutely wonderful time since I've been here. Darden has arguably the most beautiful campus of any of the schools I've visited.

I arrived at 1pm and I was greeted by a few people who knew my name before I introduced myself! I got a packet full of information and one of the adcom assistants took me to the faculty bldg. and I spoke with a professor for an hour...

My interview was at 3pm and the adcom got me from the waiting area a few minutes early. It was totally blind; she had not seen my resume. I gave her a copy anyways. We chatted for almost an hour... Purely conversational with a few behavioral questions. It was comfortable and warming.

After my interview I got a Darden campus tour from a second year and then a first year met me to chat. I walked away feeling very excited with the prospect of going to Darden. I'm kicking myself for not visiting earlier.

Good luck to everyone!

The thread has been updated with a new roll call and ability to add Consortium schools to your profile.

Thank you for sharing your experience. How many other schools have you visited? Share with us your experience at those other schools.

Two Announcements:

1. Please update your profile by clicking on the 'My Profile' icon in the upper right corner of your screen, we've added new functionality for the Consortium forum so you can get a better picture of where you stand with other consortium candidates with regards to stats. (Please look at the new charts on first page)

2. Good luck to all of you who are visiting Darden today and Monday for interviews. I'm sure everyone will do well! Enjoy the somewhat warm weather in Charlottesville for those of you who are coming from colder climates.

Finally, we will be adding MORE charts and functions to the forum in the next few weeks, but we need your feedback in order to improve it, so please please please update your profile and stats and offer us feedback.


Thanks

Awesome turnaround, the Consortium profile got created fast!

Two things I've noticed: You can't select a round when you pick Ross under the Consortium. And our profiles on the left just say Consortium, Consortium, Consortium, Consortium.... which isn't as informative as it probably should be.

Where I was hesitant before, I think I can firmly say now that adding CGSM1 and CGSM2 as global round numbers for the appropriate schools, and getting rid of the option of Consortium as a school itself is probably the cleaner way to go IMHO.

The profiles on the left would stay clean, Consortium members would show up on the individual roll call pages, and bb can still probably get us a summation roll call for the Consortium thread.

Sounds awesome! I can't wait to go to C-ville on Sunday and spend the day at Darden Monday. Did you stay at the Inn at Darden? Any other logistical advice (I'm flying in and planning on cabbing it).

Also I scheduled my day to include a class visit and tour, but no mention of spending an hour with a prof. Was that something you signed up for?

Lastly, since its a conversational interview do you recommend more or less standard interview prep? (story, examples to answer leadership/teamwork/challenge type behavioral questions, why Darden)

Thanks!

I did a day trip to C-ville. Boy I was exhausted by the time I got home. The meeting with a prof wasn't setup before hand but the adcom offered to take me to the faculty building to meet him. I would rent a car from hotwire as long as you can find parking (I think they offer parking if you're staying at the inn). I would have saved 20 bucks on cab fare... and it would have been nice to explore.

There was no class that day since I interviewed outside of the normal time slots and I did get a tour (which was nice).

In terms of the interview, just have your stories lined up and try to answer the standard questions through your story... it will give you more time to chat at the end or ask any questions you may have. I didn't get the sense that this was a 'gotcha' type of interview.

You will do just fine.

Arzad, I've visited Tuck and Emory (on accident) as well as Wharton and Kellogg. Tuck has a great campus as well, that's the only other one I find comparable to UVA at this point in terms of beauty and scenery.

Tuck -- was amazing... cannot say enough great things about the school. What makes Tuck is the people (and same goes for UVA). You'd be hard pressed to find a warmer group of students, alums and faculty. That said it is not for everyone. If you want to be in or near a big city and cold weather is not your thing I would think twice. Neither of those things bother me, but I do have a few friends that would go into withdrawal if they were away from New York for more than a month.

Emory -- visited a friend there who was in the JB/MBA program and he really liked it. If you're from the South I think Emory could be a really great spot just because of the location and the opportunities in Atlanta. It's a southern institution and very very well respected in the South. Great for job ops down there as well. The people are friendly and unpretentious.

Kellogg -- I hate to say this on a public forum but I'll go ahead and say. While I'm impressed with Northwestern as a campus... I was not impressed with Kellogg. It was like one huge fraternity and I was not all that impressed with the students either. They have a party reputation so if that's what you want, Kellogg is the place for you.

Wharton -- The campus is not your typical ivy league institution. Obviously being in Philly has a lot to do with that, but even the interactions are a lot less collegiate. That said the folks at Wharton were nice... and the other thing that I really really like about the school is how HUMBLE everyone is. Yes, contrary to popular belief Wharton has some of the most down-to-earth folks (that are smarter than just about everyone) that you will meet.

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I like this thread as well stereotyping b-schools.

if-business-schools-were-car-brands-updated-110291.html#p1008772

When you say that you felt that Kellogg was one huge fraternity could you be a bit more specific. I visited last month and thought the students were very humble, had great backgrounds, and were very helpful. I didn't get an overwhelming party vibe.

Visited Wharton in September for their diversity event. Totally agree with what you say about the people. They are so down-to-earth and have great senses of humor. Plus, they're smart as all getout!

So I'm no stranger to Northwestern. I've been there several times and none of them on formal class visits or tours. Just with friends, etc. Most of the time I've visited extracurricular activity revolved around drinking. Not to knock anyone out there who likes to kick back and have fun.. I like my beer with the best of em but I almost felt as if it was an expectation if you're going to fit in at Kellogg their general definition of fun involved alcohol. As opposed to Tuck where picking up a pair of skis or going and playing hockey would suffice.

Another incident with my interview that really threw me off is that my interviewer explicitly stated Kellogg was known for being a party school and if you're in you're in, if you're not you're not. I partied plenty in undergrad, so I'm good on that if that's what Kellogg is really all about.

My friends love it there though and have met some great people!

Good luck to all of you that have your Darden interviews today! Please share your experience with the rest of the gmatclub & Consortium community.

Also, if you haven't already please Update Your Profile to reflect you are applying through the Consortium.

Additional charts are being added and glitches are being ironed out. Thanks for your patience through the process!

"MBA's are all functioning alchoholics" -my gf @ wharton. since I've been at Darden, I've found this statement to be stereotypically true and I don't even drink like that. Trust me, they drink hard at Tuck just like they do everywhere else (except maybe Booth? idk).

I had a great experience visiting Darden on Monday. I stayed at the Inn at Darden Sunday night (executive education housing/hotel). On Monday I visited an 8AM class, Darden grounds tour (they call campus grounds), session with the head of career management and lunch with professors/current students. The last thing I did was my interview, which was consistent with others description. It was an hour long, and based on one question - tell me your story - with discussion and follow up questions. I really enjoyed the interview and my interviewer shared a lot of personal stories and experiences during the interview, which helped make it very conversational. I think this is pretty typical, but I did hear a few people say that they were expected to do more of a monologue, so go ahead and prepare a monologue but hope for more of a conversation.

The reputation for academic rigor appears to be true, but as one professor put it during lunch, its not that you are doing more difficult work than you would at any other top business school, its that you are expected to put in the work every day for two years.

I'm guessing there are other Darden R1 Consortium applicants still waiting to hear for invites, but does anyone else have one scheduled that hasn't done it yet?