Calling all Duke (Fuqua) Fall 2009 applicants!

Also received the "file complete" email today. I will be doing an alumni interview on the West Coast of the US. The admissions office put me in contact with my interviewer late last week.

I'm sure it's a bit more of a logistics/resource challenge for overseas alumni interviews.

Me too...I'm taking some extra time to visit some friends the couple of days before, so I'll be there early as well. I am renting a car though, so I think I'll be able to find something to do in the mean time.

I got the same "complete" email today too. I interviewed last Friday on campus.

Anyone not recieve a 'completed' email today?

I got a complete email.

And I thought that email had something to do with me completing my interview today...

Speaking of, here's a quick debrief:

Questions:
- Why MBA?
- Why Duke?
- Short-term/long-term goals?
- What would I contribute to the Duke community?
- What clubs/activities would I want to be involved with?
- What is my definition of diversity? Why do I think it is important? (Fuqua is about 40% international, so this question made sense)
- Give an example of a successful team? Why was it successful?
- A failure? How did I learn from/react to that failure?
- Do I consider myself a risk-taker?
- What was the last time I did something outside of my comfort zone? How did it help to build my global view?
- Tell something not on my resume (I stumbled over this one only because I wasn't expecting a question like this at all)
- What is something I am bad at? (I asked if he meant anything, and he said yes, so I said singing...not sure if that's what he was looking for, but he seemed to get a kick out of it)
- Any questions?

Overall, it was pretty relaxed and very conversational. We were interrupted about 5 minutes in by a fire alarm, which actually helped to make it even more conversational when we had to go outside for a few minutes.

Some highlights:
- I had the chance to meet refurb, I'm sure he'll be posting something when he gets back
- It was snowing in Durham (everyone thought that it was amazing)
- REALLY friendly students, even during what everyone said was the busiest week of the term
- Truly student-run (interview/tour/lunch/class visit)
- Able to take classes outside of Fuqua, but difficult to justify 3 credits over 12 weeks, as opposed to 3 credits over 6 weeks (in Fuqua)
- Beautiful new building, nice new facility
- Interactive class (sat in on Strategy)
- Easy for a day trip to/from NY

I think that's it...I'll edit if I think of anything else.

Back from my interview at Duke!

I actually had my interview with an admissions member, which apparently is quite rare, but I didn't get asked any questions that haven't already been posted here. Very conversational and relaxed. Like LeftOut said, we had a fire drill so we got delayed for 5 min, but my interview lasted the other 55 mins.

Since my list of questions to ask were more directed at current students, I had a chance to ask the admin member about the admin process. She said they have first and second readers. If both give the app the thumbs down, it get immediately rejected. If only one reader gives it a thumbs down, it still goes to committee.

Once at committee, the readers sit around and advocate for the apps they read. The applicants stats are put up on screen and the written comments are read out loud. This way each candidate can be judged against the entire pool. The committee then makes a yes/no/waitlist decision. If, at the end a reader feels that an applicant hasn't been fully considered, he or she can bring up it up at the end for a second look. She also said the people who end up on the waitlist are the people are very exceptional overall, but in light of the pool as a whole, fall towards the bottom (common sense I guess).

Highlights:
- got to meet LeftOut and Aaudetat (super nice! she let me sit in on one of her team meetings!)
- really freakin' cold (28F or so in the morning)
- the HSM program is very impressive! The amount of interaction with the the greater Duke school and within industry is very impressive. The program is very flexible too. Basically, if you can come up with a good idea, they'll probably let you do it. The HSM course I sat in on was very impressive as well. One of the professors has many years of experience at a major pharma company and offered amazing insight into the decisions these companies make when bringing new drugs to market.
- as expected the building is very impressive and absolutely huge
- the school is very student driven. One student told me that summer intro program for 1st years was very overwhelming for many. So the students worked with faculty to reorganize it! I got plenty of other example where the school and students worked together to improve the program.

RF

My interview questions were a little different compared to what people are posting. The guy had a print out with tons of questions and picked out questions during the interaction. The questions were all around the general themese posted in this thread but since they were worded differently and approached the themes from a different angle, it kind of threw me off.

The guy interviewing me was pretty laid back and nice so I don't think he was trying to mess with me, it was more like he wanted to try something different.

Also, I was very impressed with Duke. It seems like a great program filled with fun and interesting people. I really want to get in so I wish I would have done better on my essay 4 and my application details. I was rushing to meet the round 1 deadline so my LOC essay turned into a rambling diatribe about how I'm going to change the world, and I counted 3 spelling mistake in my app in the work descriptions section when I reviewed it a week later.

Great writeup, especially the insight on the admissions process. +1
Glad you had a good time.

ok folks, i called the adcom today at duke and they tell me that i wont be getting any interview call if i already have'nt received one already. they also said that if i got a application complete email from them then it means that they have all the data necessary to take a decision on my profile. The adcom member however tried to tell me that not having interviewed is not detrimental to my application. I talk that with a pinch of salt however, because i had written my apps in such a way that an interview could explore in greater depth who i am.

that said, december 19th is the d-day, so until then i have my fingers crossed!!

-

im guessing, that this time around applicants will have a tougher time. I for one am not joining ANY B School if i dont get aid. Anybody know if Duke offers loans without a co-signor? I just heard that on the duke website the financial aid url is disabled..

I just realized I used the word "impressive" four times in my post. I think essay writing has completely exhausted my vocabulary.

RF

Oh! I forgot to mention one question I did get that hasn't been posted here.

I was asked "Why now?" and I said "My industry is faced with a number of challenges right now and I would like to be a part of solution."

So she asked "What do you think the challenges of your industry are?".

Completely fair and logical question, but I wasn't expecting it. Since I wrote essay #4 about the same topic, it wasn't difficult to come up with a few examples.

RF

I got a few follow-ups that I wasn't expecting, too - like when I said that I tend to think I'm funny/witty. He said, "Oh yea? Tell me a joke." Luckily, the day before someone had told me a (non-offensive) joke that I was able to retell.

Hows the technology recruiting at Duke? Also, I have seen that only 85% are placed what about the other 15% are they not looking for jobs....

There is a link that works see below: Unfortunitly I think a co-singer is required.

Regarding your inquire about loans for international students, you may qualify for the alternative student loan but unfortunately this one requires a U.S. co-signer. This is the only loan that will be available to our international students for the incoming Class of 2011. The alternative student loan, also known as the private student loan, will require a U.S. co-signer. For more information about the loan, please refer to the financial aid website at https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/student_resou ... ssistance/.