agold wrote:
Alright, I attended the Darden reception here in LA last night. They had a very small turnout as compared to the receptions for the M7 schools (about 25 prospective students, as compared to 200 for the M7 schools). It was a very personal reception, the Adcom members were straight shooters - they did not seem to believe in the typical "Adcom speak" and were plain spoken and blunt with their responses. They wanted people to discover whether Darden was right for them, and they were totally fine if it was not.
They made a very personal speech highlighting what differentiates the school. There was no PowerPoints or any of that. There was about 10 alumni present. The alumni and the prospective students both seemed very entrepeneurial. There was very few finance/consulting types around. The finance folks that were around were primarily in private wealth management (this may be a function of being in LA, rather than Darden). The school has a reputation for being rigorous, and this was well emphasized throughout the night. The case method is one of Darden's main selling points. Another thing they mentioned was that Darden used to be solidly in the Top 10 in the 1990s, but it slipped due to Dean turnover. The new Dean is apparently very impressive and working to claw back up the rankings.
I can say without a shadow of doubt that the Darden reception I attended was by far the best b-school reception this application season. Plus, i also got a chance to have a lengthy discussion with Dean Bruner who, as you said, is very impressive. Darden is among my top choices now!