The Application Process

I just got off a call with a Tuck student. It was a really good half hour conversation! I will definitely be reaching out to him again as I get closer to applications.

I will post a detailed debrief of our conversation in the next few days.

were you amazed at how spot on Tuck Connections is with matching you up with someone with your similar interests? i was literally blown away with my connection.

money9111 wrote:were you amazed at how spot on Tuck Connections is with matching you up with someone with your similar interests? i was literally blown away with my connection.

Yeah, it was right on. It gave me the perfect alum to talk to! I couldn't believe how fast he reached out to me too.

Call with a Darden Student

Yesterday, I had a call with a Darden student in a leadership role in the Healthcare Club. Here is a summary of our discussion.

Recruiting/Internship/Full Time Job
This student had his internship with a Finance company and is going to be working full time for the company following graduation. He ultimately wants to work in a Pharma company, but sees the position he accepted as a good bridge to his ultimate goal. I asked questions about how recruiting was going for his friends. He said it has been tough, but not nearly as bad as last year when they were looking for internships. He said roughly 65% of the students have a full time job offer right now.

Case Method
He said this was his primary reason for attending Darden. He loves the format and how it forces you to struggle through a difficult concept with limited information. I am really interested to sit in on a class and see the case method in action!

Learning Teams
Darden has what they call "Learning Teams." When you first start, you are paired with 5 or 6 other students. The school tries to set it up so that you are with a diverse group of students with different skills. Essentially, you meet with this group of students to discuss the cases prior to class. I think this is a great program because it gives you a chance to work with others and run your ideas by each other.

Darden Weakness
He said he felt the biggest weakness is the limited time for recruiting and traveling for job interviews. However, he said they are adjusting the schedules so this probably won't be as much of an issue in the future.

Advice
I asked if he had any advice for me. His advice was regarding essays. He said since you are visiting the grounds, make the essays personal. If something really stands out to you, make sure you point it out in your essays.



I had a call with a Tuck student a few days back. I will put together a debrief from that shortly.

Darden/Charlottesville Anticipation

Well the work week is finally over! All week I was thinking about my upcoming trip to Charlottesville. You would think since it's been on my mind constantly I would have my two day trip planned out.... Well, I don't! I know that I am going to walk the grounds on Sunday and try to fit in Monticello on Monday after my class visit/tour/lunch. Other than that, I don't have anything planned.

Everyone I talked to about Charlottesville said it is great. I hope it doesn't disappoint. As of right now, weather.com says it is supposed to rain both Sunday and Monday. I really hope it holds off. Rain gods, if you're reading this, DON'T LET IT RAIN!

I leave Pittsburgh Sunday morning and have a 6-hour drive. I will most likely have a new post up late that night with my initial thoughts on Charlottesville.

In Charlottesville

Well I have been in Charlottesville since 3:30 PM EST. It was a long day of travel, so this will be a short post. I did walk to the School of Business tonight. I took quite a few pictures, but here is just one of them at the entrance.



Charlottesville seems really nice. I love the architecture of the buildings. I can't wait to check out Monticello tomorrow, I am sure it is amazing! Well I am off to relax, tomorrow is going to be a long day.

Back in Pittsburgh

So I got back from Charlottesville Monday night. I am a little disappointed because I didn't get to do nearly as many things as I planned to in Charlottesville. I needed an extra day there... But that is OK, if I get an interview with Darden when I apply, that gives me a good reason to spend a few more days in Charlottesville! So as you can see from the last sentence, I am very interested in Darden! I will put together a full debrief of my visit this weekend.

Of the three schools I have visited today, here is my "wish" list in order:

1. Darden
2. Kenan-Flagler
3. Tepper

Darden Visit



Day before visiting Darden
I left Pittsburgh early Sunday (March 21st) and drove to Charlottesville. I ended up making only one stop on the Pennsylvania turnpike and made it to Charlottesville in about 6 hours. It was a pretty interesting drive. The GPS brought me through the middle of nowhere. At one point, I was on a road for over an hour and didn't see another car! Once I got to the Residence Inn in Charlottesville, I checked in and relaxed in my room for about 45 minutes. I grabbed a quick bite to eat and had a few hours before it was dark, so I walked to see the school. It was a 10 minute walk from the Residence Inn to Darden. All I can say about the school from the outside is WOW, such phenomenal architecture and a great location. I walked all around the outside of the school snapping pictures for a half hour before making my way back to the hotel for the night.

Arrival in the morning
My class visit was scheduled for 8:00 AM, so I arrived at Darden around 7:30. I wanted to walk since Darden was close to the hotel, but it was raining out. I stopped at the gatehouse when I arrived to get a parking pass for the day. Unfortunately, I walked out of the gatehouse and on my way up to the main building without asking where the admissions office was. So I wondered around the main building for awhile until I found someone to lead me in the right direction. Once I got in the office, I checked in but the lady wasn't sure what class I was sitting in on. I was the only prospective student in the admissions office at that time (I always seem to be the first one at these visits). Luckily, it wasn't long before the student came to get me and we made our way to class. If anyone is interested to know how to get to the admissions office, here is a picture below with directions.



So to get to the admissions office, you go up the steps and make a right. You then walk down the pathway and will enter the building on your right. Once you enter the building, immediately go down the stairs and you will be in the admissions office.

Class Visit - Global Financial Markets
The class I sat in on was a first year elective, Global Financial Markets. I was really looking forward to going over a case and seeing the case method in action, but the class didn't have a case to review. I was a little disappointed about it, but nothing I could do about it. They went over the yield curve in class (should ring a bell If you read my Tepper debrief). Although there was no case to review, the class was fantastic. There was so much interaction during the class. The professor seemed pretty tough on the students, but he was just forcing them to get the most out of the class. I felt that there was far more interaction among the students at Darden than the students at the other two schools I visited (Kenan-Flagler and Tepper).

First Coffee
After the class, the student brought me to first coffee. I got the feeling from him that First Coffee isn't something you go to that often. This is the time I had to talk with the student most, so I asked him a bunch of questions. I was a little disappointed with his answer about the weaknesses of Darden. It was more tailored around him specifically than the school. We talked about the other schools that he applied to (Duke and Kenan-Flagler). He had to decide between Duke and Darden. He was really torn between the two schools. Ultimately, he chose Darden because he hates Duke basketball. Yes, you read that right, because he hates Duke basketball! I got a good laugh out of that! Also, we talked with a professor that teaches Ethics.

I didn't have anything scheduled for awhile after first coffee, so the student asked me if I wanted to go with him to his second class. I jumped on the opportunity to sit in on another class! The only stipulation was to not tell the admissions office he let me sit in on a second class J.

Second Class Visit - Leadership in Organizations
The second class I sat in on was a first year core class. I got a very warm welcome from the class. Just a warning to anyone visiting Darden, you may have to go to the front of the class for an interesting introduction. That's all I am going to say because I don't want to ruin the surprise for anyone!

The class discussed a case about Wyeth (the pharma giant acquired by Pfizer). The case was about creating the right type of incentives for the Wyeth employees to ensure a strong development pipeline of new drugs. This time I really got to see the case method in action. The class was exceptional! The professor essentially was a facilitator and the class debated different ideas the entire time. It was very interactive and everybody was so willing to share perspectives. I knew for sure after this class that the case method would be a great way to learn!

After Class
After class, I went back to the admissions office and talked with a few other prospective students. Most of the prospective students visiting that day will apply at the same time as me (class of 2013). This is the first visit that happened. Every other visit, I was the only one visiting to apply for the class of 2013. There was one student waiting for his interview. He seemed a bit nervous because he didn't have much time to prepare. I believe Darden called him for the interview only two days earlier. Definitely not much advance notice.

I was scheduled to go to lunch in the late afternoon, but that was over 2 hours away. Unfortunately, something came up back home and I had to leave Darden early. I was disappointed that I had to leave early, but if I get an interview with Darden, I will definitely be going back!

Glad you liked it!

Kenan-Flagler vs. Darden

I was asked to put together a comparison of Kenan-Flagler and Darden since I visited both schools. I am going to do a summary of location, recruiting, class/teaching method, and students. I will go through each of these topics and state which school I give an edge to.

Note: This is based solely on my research, campus visits, and conversations with students. Please take this entire post with a grain of salt.

Location
Edge - Even
I can't really give the edge to either of these schools for the location. I really enjoyed both locations. The one thing that I liked about both of these schools is that the business school buildings are not in the middle of the campus. They are somewhat separated from the main campus. That makes for easier access. However, Kenan-Flagler is close to the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area. This could be considered an advantage for recruiting. That said, I think Darden has does well recruiting with companies in RTP. If nightlife is an important aspect of your decision, Kenan-Flagler has the edge there. Franklin Street seems like a great place for nightlife.

Recruiting
Edge - Darden
I have exchanged numerous e-mails with students at both schools regarding recruiting. In general, I think it has been a tough year everywhere for recruiting. However, I think it has been a little more difficult at Kenan-Flagler. Here is some information from the employment reports from both schools to back up my highly scientific (haha) hypothesis.

Employment Reports:

Kenan-Flagler
https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/assets ... report.pdf

Darden- https://www.darden.virginia.edu/uploaded ... 202010.pdf

Class of 2009
Kenan-Flagler - 57.31% offer received by graduation.
Darden - 77.2 offer received by graduation

Kenan-Flagler - 71.15% offer received by three months after graduation.
Darden - 81.6% offer received by three months after graduation. (Not 100% sure this number is accurate)

Kenan-Flagler Average Base Salary: $93,012.12
Darden Average Base Salary: $102,903

From the employment reports the one thing that sticks out to me is the percentage of students accepting consulting positions. At Darden, 31% of the students accepted consulting positions. At Kenan-Flagler, only 14.44% accepted consulting positions. This is probably due to Darden's use of the case method.

Darden's information for the class of 2010 internships is not nearly as detailed as Kenan-Flagler's information. Therefore, I won't state any facts from those reports.

Class/Teaching Method
Edge - Personal choice
It is tough to give an edge to either school for teaching method because it is highly personal. It truly depends on each individual and how he/she best learns. For me personally, I think 70% case and 30% lecture would be ideal. My one concern with 100% case is in classes such as accounting. This was one of my key questions to Darden students. I never received a good answer. I get the feeling that the case method doesn't work well for accounting classes. In fact, on my Kenan-Flagler visit, one of the students mentioned she had to help a Darden student understand accounting at a competition that both schools participated in. Again, this is a highly personal subject. Thus, I will leave it up to my readers to decide which school has the edge.

Students
Edge - Slight edge to Kenan-Flagler
The students at Darden were great. They were very welcoming and they have a fun way of introducing you to a class. The students at Kenan-Flagler were very welcoming and passionate about the school. I know in the class I sat in on, the students were very interested in talking to me (not the ones from the admission office). I thought that was interesting and didn't know if it was like that at all schools since Kenan-Flagler was my first visit (it's not like that at all schools, trust me). This is why I am giving the edge to Kenan-Flagler students. I know it's not the best reason, but I felt like I was just another class mate while I was at Kenan-Flagler.

Durham

Well today is my last day in Durham. I got here Wednesday night and will be leaving tomorrow morning. I visited Duke on Thursday and the school is phenomenal. I will post a detailed debrief of my visit when I am back in Pittsburgh.

Does it jump to number 1 on the list?

Yeah, Duke without a doubt is my number 1. I did go back to Kenan-Flagler again and spent a lot of time in Chapel Hill.

I am beginning to think I should hold off another year to improve my profile for Duke. I would be devastated to not get into Duke.

why wouldn't you just apply this year to see if you make it? and then if not... apply next year... ::Sigh:: i'm very jealous of your GMAT score!

Gmat score only carries you so far. I got a 750, but didn't make it into school this year. if you hit the 700-720 range you are good to go in my opinion. You should think more about your essays, work experience, and what not at this point. I totally think you should apply this year if you feel you are ready to go to business school.

Putting it off will only make you forget some of the things you learned on the trip, and at this point it is all essays and letters of recommendations. If you think one more year will substantially add to your profile, then maybe wait I guess. But at the very least if you don't get in, you will have gone through the process and have a better idea of the process and where you can improve the next year.

-J