Duke Fuqua 2009

Thanks lhotseface...Much appreciated

Congrats man !

This is great news. All the best.

I might take you up on that as I prepare my R2 application.

Congratulations on the admit! That's an awesome school.

Sure. Anytime.

Congrads.....Now hit the bar and feel relax....Are you waiting for other schools?

Wharton and UCLA.

Congratulations !!!!

Congrats to those with acceptances...I am SO JEALOUS of you R1 folks. I wish I weren't such a slacker. I am applying to both UNC and Duke, and am working on the UNC essays. Now that you all have your stuff in, would someone mind taking a look at this: https://www.gmatclub.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=40278?

I have a question about the UNC app. Is it in bad form to advertise your own posts on another thread? I feel self-serving....

thanks, though!
amy

Amy,

You are right in that the question is too broad.
The key for me was to evaluate the obstacles I faced in life. Then it was just a matter of spinning a story around it.

The way I see it..... every action is directed to some result. May be the result is self serving but we are not competing for the Miss Universe Title here (no offense meant).

hence go ahead and tell your story the way you want. But make sure that you address "how you overcame the obstacle" and "what you learned from it". As long as cover these two ..... you should be fine.

Wait, I don't get a title? I thought that was why Rhyme & Co make thousands of posts...if I'm not getting the crown and flowers, I am out of the club! What a bitter disappointment!

Thanks, Jay. I am going to just start free-writing around this. Maybe once I get some Faulkner-esque stuff on paper I can package it a little more neatly.


Hey, we should definitely plan a small series of GMAT-Club reunions for September at our various schools. Jay, if we're both at UNC we can even be nice and invite the Duke folks....IF we feel like it. I think I may have already lost the Miss Congeniality crown, so I guess I don't hafta be nice.

Good luck on the essays.

Regarding GMATClub reunions, I think after april we can definetly sit down and decide on something. By that time, everyone of us will have an idea where he/she is going.

Personally, no point being nice now when there are two years of rivalry left.

lhotseface,

Got a few questions regarding Duke. Sending you a PM right now. Thanks! (I am applying R2)

Several members asked me how to approach the "Why Duke? " essay question. Here are my thoughts...

1. Avoid any generic statements like - Teamwork, Collaboration etc. You are the consumer. Act as one. Don't try to write what they already know. Show them how you are making an informed choice.

2. Find things in your profile that can be enhanced/improved at the Fuqua School. Fuqua has many unique characteristics that can help you achieve your goals or in general have a great b-school experience.
Examples: 6 week terms, Wednesday "off", Fuqua Fridays, year long courses at Duke for e-ship. Make sure you are clear about what you want to do and how Fuqua can help you. This really depends on what you want out of b-school.

3. What do you plan to do out of class? Does Fuqua provide ample opportunities for you to have a good time? NCAA basketball ? Special Olympics ? Fuqua Vision ? Talk about non-academic things that appeal to you and how you will have a good time at Fuqua.

4. What do you plan to learn at Fuqua? How ? Which professors ? Which courses ? Any special programs ?

I wrote my essays before I visited Duke. When I went there for my interview, I talked to about 10-15 students about what I want to do and what they felt Fuqua has to offer. Needless to say, I was highly enthusiastic during my interview. On the other hand, my Wharton interview wasn't great since I could never really convince myself that I will be happy in that environment (which is great BTW but not for me). Ultimately, I got DINGED.

FIT is everything - don't try to reuse the "Why" part from other applications. It will significantly weaken your candidacy.

Thanks, lhotseface. These are all good points.

By the way - something that might help others:

As I was researching schools on the web, I created a Word doc with info on each school, which I got from their web sites. Stuff on the average gmat, concentrations, dual degree availability, etc. After choosing my schools, I went back to this document and added more to it. I now use this when writing the "why us?" portion of my essay. I also used portions of it for the "key points for each school" doc that I gave to my recos.

I find it especially helpful because at this point, some of it is all running together. I almost wrote in my UNC essay about CASE, which is actually at Duke. Yeah, I am gonna guess that that would not have gone over well.

Good luck, all. Round 2 approacheth.

Good point...For example, Duke used the term ILE for learning teams and they changed it this year to something else.

lhotseface,

Congrats!!!!!! It must be nice to feel relieved!!

I have a few questions on the short answers

How many words did you fit into one page? Did you extend margins, and what font did you end up writing?
I am worried, if I dont write enough or be creative on reducing font and increase margin, they might feel he is not interested enough?
Or If I write too much.. Like I was able to fit in 550 words or so in one page with 1.5 spacing.. now I dont know if thats too much..

What do you think is a good word count for the short answer?
with font 12 and no change in margine (as it is from word), I can fit in 350

I didn't alter the margins and used size 11 font. The word count was 442.