Accepted

Congratulations to our first round admitted students. It was a tough year and you have made it. All the time and investment have finally paid off. You will soon be proud members of the class of 2011.

So, celebrate - you deserve it.

Here's a very helpful tip I got last year: Decide were you are going to live and apply for an appartment early. Remember - early bird gets the worm (or a jetblade sometimes but that's really rare).

For those of you who didn't get in - it's not over! There's always next year. Think what you are missing in your resume and how can you get that in during this year and show improvement for next year's application. Most important: do not despair. 

If you were waitlisted - the game's still on. Last year schools I was considering were still giving offers a few weeks before school started. People always drop their application and decide to go to another school or give up b-school or defer. 

 Here are some suggestions I gave a prospective student who got on the waitlist:

1. Get another (exceptional) recommendation and send it to your account manager.
   
2. Start thinking about what you've done since you applied and find an accomplishment. Make an essay out of it and send it.
   
3. Look for something in your past that had not come up in the essays and write another "optional essay"
   
4. If you haven't been here - schedule a visit - this would show interest and dedication as well as help you make a better case about why you are interested in Darden and why you are fit for Darden.

I

* I am not an official representative of the school and these recommendations are only my personal opinion and you should use your own judgement before using them. They are not to be used if you are pregnant or in a high risk group and are not to be taken more than two every four hours.

Knee Deep

We have received the news of a possible day off last night due to extreme weather conditions with mixed feelings (Joy for the day off and fear that the university may claim Friday as a school day).  Warnings of procedures in case of heavy snow and ice were sent all around. We were excited about the possibility to finally see snow in Charlottesville, with the ice around the Jefferson fountain almost gone.

 

The white snow wanabee we saw this morning was really disappointing on so many levels. I admit, the road was a bit slippery to the point that I had actually considered holding the hand rail going down the stairs. I didn’t dare get my hands out of my pockets, since my gloves were in my backpack and was too lazy to take them out.

 

It was a school day alright. The Charlottesville community, however, decided that actions must be taken to protect itself from this white stuff (again, calling it snow would be like calling the UVa lawn a big sand dune). When I got to school, I was looking for chalk marking on the stairs due to the yellow tape surrounding the front stairs of Saunders hall, but they must have been washed off by the rain.

 

We couldn’t deposit our loan check (we’re rich again) since our bank decided to close early “because of the weather”. Lives were saved today as learning teams cancelled their meetings and avoided the slippery roads. Oh and I almost forgot about Interviews being cancelled.

 

So much excitement! With global warming, I just hope we’ll be prepared that well for the hot summer days.

 

Interview Season

It’s interview season at Darden. Some of my Darden friends already got offers yesterday from banks. Some even got several offers.

Some are invited to second rounds. Some were not. Some are still waiting for their interviews.

At the same time, others don’t even have interviews yet. There are a lot of success stories and a lot of stressful ones. We are happy for the ones who begin their semester knowing the summer is secure and potentially even the full time, and we sympathize with the ones who are less fortunate.

These are rough times and the tension is high and it is now that one can really see the supportive atmosphere here.

The day the earth stood still

And then one day it all stopped. There were no more cases, no more briefings, no more classes.

There were no more commitments. Or were there?

It’s weird, not having 20 things you have to do in every moment and I felts I was missing a purpose. I started going to the gym again, which is great. When you’re done with a day of classes, completely starved and you have to go to a briefing or a club meeting and there’s free pizza there, well… you eat pizza. I’m a fan of the papa like anyone else, but after two quarters, it begins to show. So burning 700 calories a day was a blessed addition to my life. I finally got to use my TV and my media center got the attention it was acing for. I found myself browsing eBay bidding for used PS3s (if you’re gonna buy a blue ray player, might as well add a few bucks and get a console as well, right?).

I visited my brother in NYC for a few days and got to watch the city turning white, eat in different restaurants every day (including the one he’s a chef of – Macondo – highly recommended) and went to see a good DJ in Cielo.

 

It took me about a week to understand that this break isn’t really a vacation. In fact it’s a fake break. I then switched to the cover letter writing, interview preparing and networking mode. I found myself working until 3am, going to sleep red eyed.

 

Nonetheless, it still was an easier time and I’m trying not to get to used to it and mellow up before classes start next week.