Duke (Fuqua) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

For an older applicant such as myself, 35 14+ years work experience, my profile is excellent except for an average undergraduate GPA of a 3.0. I have been told that given my age/experience the GPA will have less bearing with the adcom. My work experience and career goals are in line my intended MBA program. GMAT is within the 80% range. I like Duke because of their reputation in the Marketing field, their location (I am a current NC resident which is good for school but I have no problems relocating after graduation), and desire for a full-time program.

As a future student, it does look rather nice; however, I somewhat question Businessweek's rankings criteria considering SMU Cox was ranked so high last year yet ranked so much lower this year. That is a huge change. Regarding last year's rankings, I am not saying SMU Cox is a bad program in anyway, but by no means is a better program than Tuck, Stern, Anderson, McCombs, etc.

Businessweek MBA rankings are the oldest (started in 1988) and arguably the most respected ranking service. I agree with your point about Cox, but if you want to know why their ranking last year was so high, and why they dropped so much this year, see this article: https://poetsandquants.com/2012/10/30/th ... -rankings/

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After reading this, I am definitely a bit more satisfied. I am happy they finally factored in another significant component in the rankings. At the same time, I hope the Fuqua career services improves a bit, and I know they are more than capable of doing so.

Guys! applied to Duke in R1. Understand interview invites are sent by 28th this month.. has anyone heard from duke yet? I am beginning to get the nervous sweats. I already 16th!

All invites will go out on the 28th. You have 2 more weeks to wait before you'll hear anything.

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So all invites are blasted out in one shot? Oh ok..then I guess I'll have to hold on to my pants till then.

Hmm, I applied in Round 1, if i haven't been invited to an interview yet, its probably a no right?

As the guy above notes: all invites will be sent on 28th itself, by 5pm EST.. keep ur fingers crossed

I have now seen you in 4 threads doubting your acceptance due to a lack of invites.

It's still early in the process, try not to worry so much yet!

Hey all,

Just curious what folks on here think about Duke's 22nd rank on Business Week's student survey rating. I've heard before that some students have complained about career services (surprising considering the strong career numbers and variety of on campus recruiters), but otherwise the students I've met seem to rave about their experience.

Any thoughts?

Hey Slider

Here are my 2 cents.

I talked to a recent graduate from Fuqua and while he had +ive inputs to share about the career management center (CMC), he also mentioned that the CMC had been restructured over the summer (2012) with each person within CMC being assigned certain domains/focus areas (like consulting, marketing and also industries like consumer goods, energy, etc) to facilitate the internship / job recruitment process.

So my guess is that while a majority of folks (60-70%) at Fuqua are happy with the CMC there are few who are not thrilled (which explains why its ranked 22nd as well as the restructuring process at CMC to turnaround that aspect).

Fuqua has also added 8 new full time staff members to the CMC this summer, bringing it to an army of 30. We are already seeing huge improvements because of the extra staff and new divisions.

Additionally, I've loved my experience and would say that most students feel the same. I've been happily surprised to get far more out of my two years than I had expected.

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I'm a bit surprised at our #22 student satisfaction ranking. We can second guess that all we want here, the fact is that 21 other schools' students responded better than we did. Although career services may be an influencer of that rating, there are other areas as well. Frankly, I don't think CMC is the reason for the low ranking. Our placement rate is on par with other schools. If I were the Fuqua administration, it would be very concerned about this. Student satisfaction is a huge part of how strong our alumni network will be in the future. We have a strong student culture, but I think it may be slipping a bit in recent years. In talking with my co-workers from other elite schools, other schools take a more proactive stance to build a strong inclusive culture.

Hello all,
New to the forum, long time stalker. I really didnt have much to contribute before =)

I got my acceptance from Fuqua 15 days ago (EA applicant). The rankings imo are not so important. Although cliqued, I really feel that the school must appeal to you (what people refer to as fit). It must excite you to have the best experience.

Congratulations!!!!!!

Quick question - I have applied in Round 1. As per the website, interview invites would be sent out on 28th Nov. Also, all non-hub interviews will be carried out between 1-12 Dec. I am based out of New Delhi, which is a non-hub location.

Now I am scheduled to travel for work during 1-12 Dec. In the chance that I do get an invite and to avoid it clashing with my interview date, is it possible to know right now when the interviews would take place in New Delhi? This way I can plan my travel better right now.

I'm with ya ctgmat123, anonymous2012, Dakells, and any other fellow R1 applicants for Fuqua. I also interviewed during the open interview season.
Duke is the first business school application that I was completely 100% done with and now it's simply in the hands of the admissions committee.
January 8th is d-day right? Can't come soon enough!!!

Honestly, I'm just trying to stay positive. Anytime I start to feel the nerves or impending feelings of doom of rejection, I go back and re-read my essay Why Duke? and I start nodding vigorously, convincing myself no adcom member reading this could not give me a chance. (ha! wishful thinking.. )

Two more days !! R1 Applicant - Anxious