Calling all Duke (Fuqua) Fall 2009 applicants!

Random Q, so the AdCom I interviewed with sent me a follow up email after my acceptance to congratulate me and also talking about how I would really enjoy the school. I feel I owe some type of response, but hey I won't lie I definitely want to see what is up with my other applications and so forth before making a decision (like any rational thinker, right?). Any suggestions as to how I can write something that is respectful but not misleading (aka it was great to meet with you as well, cant wait to start!)

Do you want to tell them you have other options? If so, a nicer version of..."thanks much. I'm pretty excited to have gotten in. Team Fuqua (or whatever trait they mentioned) is definitely a huge bonus of Duke and one I'll incorporate into my decision process. Have a great holiday, xo, bostonsparky."

I replied to my alum interviewer's congratulatory email with a message about how excited I was and that I'm already making plans to attend Blue Devil Weekend in April. So if you are planning on going to the BDW, then such a response would be honest (and noncommittal).

I think he should probably drop the "xo" part!!

RF

A question for those already admitted. I did my duke interview before I start writing my essays. Now that when I am writing those essays, I realize that I did kinda of poorly during the interview. I want to change some of the answers. I understand that the interview is more of checking the consistency. But can I still change my answers in the essay to improve that? For example, when they asked me about contribution in the interview, I only answered one. But now that I realize I have a lot more I can contribute and the one I answered in the interview is kind of weak answer. Can I write my essay on other contributions I plan to bring?

working on my essays now finding the LOC essay to be difficult. Any other debreifs on the interview?
SP

Of course! The interview is not an all-encompassing summary of you as a candidate. The smartest thing to do would be to not repeat what you said in your interview, in your essays. That way, you can include stuff you didn't have room to include in your essays.

The only thing I would be worried about is contradicting yourself in your essays. You don't want to say "One contribution will be my knowledge of the semi-conductor market" during your interview, then state in your essays "I hope to strengthen one of my weaknesses: my knowledge of the semi-conductor market."

RF

LOL. That would be pretty funny if he actually wrote that though...

Any Round 1 admits hear back about merit scholarships?

I'm a fellow admit anxiously awaiting my admissions package.

Yep. There was a letter in the admit package I got in the mail with a merit scholarship offer. I sorta get the impression that they spread around a lot of merit money... is that right?

When did you get your package? I have not yet received mine....

Did they send you a tracking number or anything?

No, no notice at all. But keep in mind I live about 10 minutes away from the Duke campus, which is probably why I got my package so quickly.

Also, FYI, Blue Devil Weekend ends just a few days before you have to decide to accept/decline the scholarship and/or admit offer.

I received mine as well, on the 23rd?
Received a merit scholarship, nothing spectacular though

You are gonna have to post "JLola21's Guide to Getting Admits and Scholarship $ friom Every Single School Applied" soon........it will become a sticky, I am sure.

Just got mine this morning. 8k/ yr. Like Ntang mentioned, it definitely seems like they try to spread the wealth around.

I had another question/thought for everyone out there about scholarships. Does Duke revisit award amounts later in the process. A lot of the people getting money there also have admits to higher ranked schools (Tuck, Kellogg, Booth, etc). Given Duke's relatively low historical yield it certainly seems possible that a number of these folks will opt to forgo the scholarship at Duke to attend the higher ranked program. In that case, do you think Duke ends up redistributing the dollars?

I was just curious to see if anyone had any insight into the process.

I don't know for sure, but I would guess in distributing money, they distribute more than they plan to fulfill because they know that many students will decline the offer for a higher ranked school. Just like the admissions process, if the class is 500 people, they admit 1,000 with the knowledge that 500 will go elsewhere.

Nothing to back that up, just how I think it makes the most sense.

~Sam

Hah yea right! I am foreseeing a stream of dings coming my way.