UNC Kenan-flagler vs Vanderbilt Owen vs UVa Darden

I voted Darden, and I don't think it's close.

From a pure numbers perspective, Darden is a clear winner. Have you visited the schools? Gotten the sense of what people are like? If that's a big thing for you I'd consider how you enjoyed those visits but if you want the best program I'd say its Darden.

It's a tough, but good position to be in, for sure. Darden has a very strong reputation among business schools, and relative to the greater UVa brand is outpacing the bigger institution. A major part of this is based in the rigor of the program; Darden is known as arguable the most intense program with respect to coursework. This will help prepare you with a top-notch education, but can come at the expense of the network and social environment.

UNC is very similar; a public school that has a b-school on the rise. They are getting a lot of great recruiters, and from the students I've met in my internship and FT recruiting, they do a very good job. Location isn't a strong suit, though.

As someone who elected to go to Owen, I can appreciate that the b-school is still moving its way up in the rankings (it's also one of the younger programs, so it's taken some time). However, as far as brand equity of the school name, I do know that Vanderbilt is among the most respected in the nation; everyone knows Vanderbilt, where as the vast majority of the country won't know what Darden or Kenan-Flagler mean. It's easy to get lost in rankings and forget that. Being in Nashville was probably the single best attribute of the school, and the community is second to none.