The big R.E.D on Nov 1st

I always thought selecting schools for various rounds is an easy task for the following reasons
1. I am doing research on schools. (no school in particular, kind of haphazardly)
2. I am reading blogs of various students and applicants.
3. I active in various forums. (only reading posts).

I was totally wrong. Its not easy. The discussions on R1 vs R2 looks ridiculous to me. Why are these guys wasting time on all these time consuming activities. They can either go for 4 in R1, 2/3 in R2 or 5 in R1 and if you don't succeed then apply for a couple of other schools (including a safe school) in R2. You can go for different combinations. This was my immature mindset some time back. I believed that its only important to identify the schools that you wanted to go and that are an exact fit for you and It really doesn't matter in which round you apply (only R1 and R2).
But today i finalized the schools i am applying in R1 after a whole week research. Going through various forums, blogs and some information i saved earlier which i thought to be useful while selecting schools. I spent a fair amount of time in selecting these schools and i am happy with the result. If i get an admit to any of these schools, i will be very happy to go there without seconds thoughts. Without further ado, here is the list of schools

1. Ross (Michigan) R1 deadline: Nov1
2. Emory (Goizueta) R1 deadline: Nov1
3. Darden (Virginia) R1 deadline: Nov1

Coincidentally, all these three deadlines are on the same date. I started the application for all these three schools and have gone through the essays. I liked the Ross essays the most. The most difficult of the three is darden. A little unconventional and i feel that it will be slightly difficult to write them. Emory essays are not that difficult.
From tomorrow, its going to be only essays until i am ready with drafts. Unfortunately i have to travel for four days in the next two weeks and i am a tad worried that i will be missing the action.
I started collecting as much data as possible on all these schools. More thoughts on each school later.
Anyone in blogosphere applying to these schools in R1?