And the Nominees are . . . and The Consortium

Below is the list of the business schools to which I plan on applying:

IE
ESADE
The Consortium

• Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
• Yale School of Management, Yale University
• Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
• Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University

I already met with and spoke with representatives from each of the schools listed above. Including an Darmouth alum who is a Fortune 500 CEO (hint: I work at Freddie Mac), and Top MBA 1-2-1 connect with an IE Admissions Director, a Yale presentation in Washington, DC.

If you have not learned of The Consortium, it is about time you have.

Applying via The Consortium will provide me the opportunity to apply to up to six top-tier member universities at once. The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management is the country’s preeminent organization for promoting diversity and inclusion in American business. Through an annual competition, The Consortium awards merit-based, full-tuition fellowships to America’s best and brightest candidates.

The mission of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of leading American business schools and some of our country’s top corporations, is

to enhance diversity in business education and leadership by helping to reduce the serious under-representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in both our member schools’ enrollments and the ranks of management.

I learned of the program from a Darden Alum while attending a Darden Reception in Tyson's Corner. She was not a member of the Consortium but told me that some great students from Darden were pulled from the program. She then suggested I attend a Discover Darden Day at Darden Business School in Charlottesville, VA to learn more about The Consortium and life at Darden. The same night, I went home to learn about The Consortium; the mission fit my experience, the networking opportunities were excellent, and the vision connected with me. The following few days, I wrote my application essay for Discover Darden, and submitted my application. Yeah!!!! I was accepted to attend Discover Darden. After receiving the itinerary and my Consortium interview schedule, I quickly realized this event was going to be a time to impress and network. Scheduled for October 23, 2009, the event day should be ready for me; I reserved a zipcar for transportation, researched both programs, reviewed my resume, and ironed my clothes.