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19 Aug 2015, 09:00
| FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: 3 Ways Fuqua Helped Me Transition from Science to Business |
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I started my career in science prior to attending the MBA program at Fuqua, working as a lab researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. During that time, I dabbled in business through a startup I co-founded in my free time and loved it. I realized I wanted to move into a business function to make my impact in health care instead of continuing down the scientific route. At the same time, I saw the MBA as the best way to make the transition from science into business. Now, two years later and a graduate of the Duke MBA program, I’d like to share my personal experience on how Fuqua prepares “non-traditional” business school students like myself to become candidates for roles in the business world. Here are the top 3 ways the school facilitated my transition from science to business: 1. Exposure to the minds of business leaders When I was in science, I had very limited opportunities to engage with business leaders and role models. This is often the case for many folks who come from non-traditional backgrounds. The Duke MBA changed that for me. Through school-initiated programs such as the Distinguished Speakers Series and classroom and/or seminar speakers, to student-led opportunities such as conferences and company treks, students have abundant opportunities to directly engage with business leaders. Having role models and mentors in business is very important and helps not only to develop business thinking but also something called “executive presence”—essentially the perception that you are leadership material. Because of the Duke MBA program, I learned from business leaders directly—how they thought about problems, how they captured opportunities, and how they built their careers. Through my internship at Bristol-Meyers Squibb and other one-on-one mentorship programs at Fuqua, I was able to learn from business leaders directly. This aspect of the MBA program at Duke was one of the most valuable resources that aided my transition into business. 2. Highly experiential business training  Duke Fuqua first year MBA students attend a company trek on the West Coast Business training at Fuqua is hands on, engaging and—most importantly—relevant. The core curriculum teaches students the fundamentals quickly in short, yet effective, six-week terms. After that, electives and experiential opportunities allow students to practice those newly acquired skills from the classroom. In my first year, I spent a considerable amount of time on my Program for Entrepreneurs (P4E) and Mentored Study project. For my P4E project I worked on founding a biotech startup, and for my Mentored Study project I helped with strategy for a mid-sized biotech firm. Combined with my summer internship at Bristol-Meyers Squibb—a Fortune 100 pharma company—The Duke MBA gave me the chance to experience the entire life cycle of a pharmaceutical company. Many of my classmates also took part in Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) and other amazing experiential opportunities offered by The Duke MBA. Students can pick their experiences based on their career goals, such as FCCP for consulting and others for private equity, venture capital, etc. The choices I made were instrumental in helping me transition into a general management position at Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Prior to business school, I had little experience working with people in business. This all changed once I joined my Consequential Leadership (C-Lead) team. I was able to work with and learn from a diverse team of professionals withing this small group—two American consultants, a Korean marketer, a Spanish engineer, and an Indian banker. These and many other team experiences helped me adjust to the global work environment in business today. 3. Health Sector Management and other industry tracks For students who know the industry they want to get into but have no contacts or experience in that space, Fuqua’s industry tracks are a godsend. Fuqua has concentrations and certificates that cover a wide range of topics. As I knew I wanted to enter health care, I took advantage of courses and industry events in Health Sector Management (HSM), general management and marketing. The HSM courses allowed me to expand my understanding of health care from R&D into other areas such as providers and insurers. This was critical in providing the foundation of knowledge for my summer internship in pharma. Industry events allowed me to begin building my network on the business side of health care and learn what was happening on the front lines of the industry. Almost half of my classmates in HSM were not coming from the health care space and Fuqua’s industry tracks are a great way for students to break into unfamiliar industries. The networking opportunities and industry knowledge provided are immensely helpful for recruiting for and during the internship. The industry tracks also send a clear signal to companies that Fuqua focuses on these areas which helps return more job opportunities to graduates. Because of the strength of the HSM program, there were abundant on-campus recruiting opportunities available, making networking with firms very effective. Final words  Without Fuqua, it would’ve taken me a lot longer to transition from science into business. The two-year Duke MBA gave me the skills, network and experiential opportunities necessary to bridge the gap between the functions and industries. In my personal blog, From Bench to Board, I share more details on how The Duke MBA has helped me make this transition—feel free to check it out! The post 3 Ways Fuqua Helped Me Transition from Science to Business appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog. |
20 Aug 2015, 13:00
| FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: Peace Corps Experience Benefits MBA Academics and Recruiting |
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One of the best realizations I’ve had during my Fuqua career is just how much my Peace Corps service has benefited me in my MBA studies and career recruiting. Although it may not seem like the obvious precursor to business school, I’ve found that being a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) has greatly enhanced my experience, specifically in the following ways: Gave me sensitivity towards being an international student One thing I love about Fuqua is that our current student body is made up of about 40 percent international students, which has been typical in recent years. Meeting so many international classmates made me think back to what it was like for me to move to Madagascar without knowing a soul and trying to learn the language and acclimate to the culture. Of course, I wasn’t doing all that on top of studying for an MBA, so my experience has given me a greater appreciation for how hard my international classmates work. One of the greatest compliments I’ve received was from an Asian classmate who thanked me for speaking English very clearly to him, because it made it much easier for him to understand. I remembered being in those exact same shoes and appreciating it greatly when people would recognize my situation and speak Malagasy more slowly to me. Imparted the ability to talk to anyone  With fellow RPCV classmates and Mark Rampolla, RPCV/Fuqua alumnus and founder of ZICO coconut water, after his speech at the Fuqua Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club conference Something I experienced a lot in Madagascar was being thrust into social situations with people I’d never met. If you’re sitting next to a woman for 22 hours on an overnight bus ride, it’s a lot more pleasant for you both if you strike up a conversation. If you’re waiting for said bus to finally depart like it was supposed to have done an hour ago—and you don’t have a smartphone to stare at like we all seem to in more developed countries—you might as well joke around with the funny guy working at the bus office. I didn’t realize it until I came to Fuqua, but having so much practice with random conversations has helped me tremendously when it comes to recruiting and networking. When you find yourself in a ‘sip circle’ with recruiters at a corporate event, you’ll be much better off having something to say instead of staring into your wine glass. Added unique international context to my learning Part of the reason why I did Peace Corps is that I wanted to get real, on-the-ground international work experience that was more than what a traditional expat job might provide. I am so glad I made that decision, because it has dramatically broadened my worldview and expanded my understanding of the truly global nature of business today. My Peace Corps project was to implement a sustainability program for spice farmers who sold their cloves to Unilever. I realize now that this opportunity to see the very beginning of the supply chain is something that most people never get. Now, in classes like Emerging Markets Strategy or Supply Chain Management, I can talk knowledgeably about rural value chains and market access for smallholder farmers. Strengthened my skills overall and gave me lots of stories to talk about in interviews  Holding a mosquito net while conducting a malaria education event in my town, along with a fellow volunteer and a local health worker Initially I found it challenging to translate my Madagascar work experiences for people who may not be familiar with Peace Corps. However, after receiving guidance from the Career Management Center and practicing with my career fellow and other second-year students, I have been able to show that many of the unique challenges I worked through in Madagascar will have direct application to my skills in the workplace. For example, an answer to the interview prompt “describe a situation where you’ve had to overcome an obstacle to achieve success,” could come from the time that I had to bike 56 km on muddy dirt roads to visit my project site, only to find out the farmer meeting had been cancelled. Or the time that the bus full of local girls heading to the summer camp we’d spent months organizing for them was blocked from leaving because the driver was demanding more money. They may not be examples from the corporate world, but they certainly demonstrate quick problem-solving and thinking on your feet. Now that I’m heading into my second year at Fuqua and have passed the one-year mark since finishing Peace Corps, I still find myself missing Madagascar every day, and I’m hoping to go back and visit for spring break 2016. However, I find myself amazingly fortunate to be studying at Duke, home of the world-famous Duke Lemur Center (DLC). The lemur center gives me a priceless bit of connection to my former island home, and I’ll be volunteering there as a tour guide starting in the fall. I’m also working with them to help create a social enterprise program with Fuqua students to support the DLC’s conservation work in Madagascar. This is just another way that I’m able to bridge my experience in the Peace Corps and my MBA studies at Fuqua. Both of them are life-changing, transformative, two-year adventures, and I couldn’t be more grateful for both of these opportunities. The post Peace Corps Experience Benefits MBA Academics and Recruiting appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog. |
20 Aug 2015, 13:12
20 Aug 2015, 14:00
| FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: Transitioning from the Peace Corps to an MBA and How Fuqua Helps |
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When you meet your new classmates at Fuqua, the usual first question you get is, “where did you move here from?” Although most of my classmates had fairly straightforward answers—Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Buenos Aires, Beijing—it was always a bit of a convoluted answer for me: Madagascar, by way of New York City and Vermont. You see, I’d spent the previous two years serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Madagascar, and had returned home to the U.S. less than three months before I was due to start at Fuqua. My time in Madagascar was close enough in the rearview mirror that it truly did feel like the home I had left behind for Durham. Although I’d spent a couple months at my parents’ house in Vermont to readjust and collect all the belongings I’d stored there after leaving my job in New York, having been away for two years put me in a funny limbo between feeling like a domestic student and an international student. After all, I had been living on a tropical island for two years, and I felt very disconnected from American life upon my return. I had no idea what Snapchat or Venmo were, most Internet memes and hashtags puzzled me, and I still wasn’t able to go into a grocery store without experiencing a mild anxiety attack. Why is there so much food? Why are there so many fluorescent lights? Why is all the meat wrapped in plastic on foam trays? How is there an entire aisle devoted just to ice cream?  The Peace Corps flag hanging in the hall of flags at Fuqua Fortunately however, Fuqua’s community of Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs) provided me with just the resource that I needed to help smooth my transition from a flip flop-clad volunteer in rural Madagascar to an MBA student at Fuqua. I felt incredibly welcomed by the RPCV community at Fuqua, right from the very moment that my Fuqua buddy Julie reached out to me after my Round 3 acceptance. Julie (and her husband James, a fellow student blogger) had served in Burkina Faso before coming to Fuqua. Talking to her provided exactly the guidance I needed as I was deciding whether to take the leap and attend Fuqua versus a different school. One of my main questions to her was if I would feel like an outcast among a sea of students with backgrounds in finance or consulting. She reassured me that I wouldn’t, and that aside from the 20 RPCVs at Fuqua, there are tons of other Fuquans with unique backgrounds ranging from Teach for America to military service to acting. Now when people ask me what my favorite thing is about Fuqua, I say that it’s this diversity of student body experience. Indeed, what first attracted me here was its appreciation of students with Peace Corps service, and I first learned about Fuqua through the grad school database on the Peace Corps site.  With 4 girls from my community, Vangaindrano, who participated in the GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) camp that I put on with other volunteers in my region One of the best things about the RPCV presence at Fuqua is having a group of classmates who know firsthand what you’ve been through. Peace Corps service is unlike any other experience on earth. It gives you a very specific worldview based on living and working with a community for two years—learning their language, persevering through setbacks and hardships, and rejoicing in the fact that thousands of miles away from home, you’ve become part of a community. This tends to give us RPCV MBAs a different perspective on some discussion topics that come up in class, and knowing you’re not the only person looking at an issue from the Peace Corps angle helps immensely. This shared perspective also helps when tragedy strikes your country of service and it’s hard for other friends to quite comprehend exactly what you’re feeling. One of my most gratifying experiences at Fuqua is having an RPCV social gathering and being there to support my classmate Mary, who was dealing with the heartbreak of seeing Vanuatu, the country where she’d served, get ravaged by Cyclone Pam. She later told us how much it meant to be with a group of people who really understood the situation she was in.  Me and fellow RPCV Fuquan Bryan Polson at the legendary Cameron Indoor stadium Above all else, though, it has provided me with a great group of people to socialize and reminisce with, even though nearly all of us served in different countries. We have get-togethers about once a quarter, including our traditional Duke Basketball Campout team-up, and often do potlucks where we bring dishes and wear traditional clothing from our countries of service. My recent contribution: traditional doughnuts made using the recipe from my adoptive Malagasy “grandmother,” dusted with Madagascar cinnamon that I’d brought back as a souvenir. At our most recent gathering, dancing to West African pop music and swapping stories with friends brought me back to Madagascar for an evening, and that brief moment of recollection was exactly what I needed when I was missing the island so very much. There are also ways the Peace Corps experience has benefited me academically and in job recruiting. I explore them in this blog post. The post Transitioning from the Peace Corps to an MBA and How Fuqua Helps appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog. |
21 Aug 2015, 00:51
21 Aug 2015, 06:21
| FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: 3 Ways Fuqua Helped Me Transition from Science to Business |
|
I started my career in science prior to attending the MBA program at Fuqua, working as a lab researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland. During that time, I dabbled in business through a startup I co-founded in my free time and loved it. I realized I wanted to move into a business function to make my impact in health care instead of continuing down the scientific route. At the same time, I saw the MBA as the best way to make the transition from science into business. Now, two years later and a graduate of the Duke MBA program, I’d like to share my personal experience on how Fuqua prepares “non-traditional” business school students like myself to become candidates for roles in the business world. Here are the top 3 ways the school facilitated my transition from science to business: 1. Exposure to the minds of business leaders When I was in science, I had very limited opportunities to engage with business leaders and role models. This is often the case for many folks who come from non-traditional backgrounds. The Duke MBA changed that for me. Through school-initiated programs such as the Distinguished Speakers Series and classroom and/or seminar speakers, to student-led opportunities such as conferences and company treks, students have abundant opportunities to directly engage with business leaders. Having role models and mentors in business is very important and helps not only to develop business thinking but also something called “executive presence”—essentially the perception that you are leadership material. Because of the Duke MBA program, I learned from business leaders directly—how they thought about problems, how they captured opportunities, and how they built their careers. Through my internship at Bristol-Meyers Squibb and other one-on-one mentorship programs at Fuqua, I was able to learn from business leaders directly. This aspect of the MBA program at Duke was one of the most valuable resources that aided my transition into business. 2. Highly experiential business training Duke Fuqua first year MBA students attend a company trek on the West Coast Business training at Fuqua is hands on, engaging and—most importantly—relevant. The core curriculum teaches students the fundamentals quickly in short, yet effective, six-week terms. After that, electives and experiential opportunities allow students to practice those newly acquired skills from the classroom. In my first year, I spent a considerable amount of time on my Program for Entrepreneurs (P4E) and Mentored Study project. For my P4E project I worked on founding a biotech startup, and for my Mentored Study project I helped with strategy for a mid-sized biotech firm. Combined with my summer internship at Bristol-Meyers Squibb—a Fortune 100 pharma company—The Duke MBA gave me the chance to experience the entire life cycle of a pharmaceutical company. Many of my classmates also took part in Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) and other amazing experiential opportunities offered by The Duke MBA. Students can pick their experiences based on their career goals, such as FCCP for consulting and others for private equity, venture capital, etc. The choices I made were instrumental in helping me transition into a general management position at Bristol-Meyers Squibb. Prior to business school, I had little experience working with people in business. This all changed once I joined my Consequential Leadership (C-Lead) team. I was able to work with and learn from a diverse team of professionals withing this small group—two American consultants, a Korean marketer, a Spanish engineer, and an Indian banker. These and many other team experiences helped me adjust to the global work environment in business today. 3. Health Sector Management and other industry tracks For students who know the industry they want to get into but have no contacts or experience in that space, Fuqua’s industry tracks are a godsend. Fuqua has concentrations and certificates that cover a wide range of topics. As I knew I wanted to enter health care, I took advantage of courses and industry events in Health Sector Management (HSM), general management and marketing. The HSM courses allowed me to expand my understanding of health care from R&D into other areas such as providers and insurers. This was critical in providing the foundation of knowledge for my summer internship in pharma. Industry events allowed me to begin building my network on the business side of health care and learn what was happening on the front lines of the industry. Almost half of my classmates in HSM were not coming from the health care space and Fuqua’s industry tracks are a great way for students to break into unfamiliar industries. The networking opportunities and industry knowledge provided are immensely helpful for recruiting for and during the internship. The industry tracks also send a clear signal to companies that Fuqua focuses on these areas which helps return more job opportunities to graduates. Because of the strength of the HSM program, there were abundant on-campus recruiting opportunities available, making networking with firms very effective. Final words Without Fuqua, it would’ve taken me a lot longer to transition from science into business. The two-year Duke MBA gave me the skills, network and experiential opportunities necessary to bridge the gap between the functions and industries. In my personal blog, From Bench to Board, I share more details on how The Duke MBA has helped me make this transition—feel free to check it out! The post 3 Ways Fuqua Helped Me Transition from Science to Business appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog. |
27 Aug 2015, 08:36
27 Aug 2015, 08:42
27 Aug 2015, 08:43
28 Aug 2015, 14:00
| FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: 3 Daytime MBA Application Changes |
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I have been in Admissions at Fuqua for almost 10 years, and I have to say that the start of a new application year is always exciting. Who will I meet through the application process this year? What will I learn? What individual transformations will I be witness to as I meet prospective students and watch them become applicants and ultimately members of Team Fuqua? Among all the various responsibilities we have as Admissions staff members, shaping the incoming class is the most important. And the most fun. Our Admissions team takes great care to get to know each and every applicant as well as we can during the application process. We are always looking for new and better ways to engage and to really help you understand The Duke MBA culture. More importantly, we want to know you authentically, and we work to refine our application as part of that “getting to know you” process. For the 2015 – 2016 Daytime MBA application year, our team has made three key changes that we hope will improve the application experience for you while simultaneously helping us get to know you even better. 1. No English as a Second Language Test Requirement Perhaps the biggest change to our application this year is that we are no longer requiring an English proficiency test (TOEFL, IELTS, PTE) for applicants whose native language is not English. This is not because we don’t think English fluency important. To the contrary, we know that high English proficiency is critical to a student’s academic, extracurricular, and professional success. What we do believe, however, is that there are many other ways for us to gain an understanding of language proficiency. Your essays, recommendations, GMAT/GRE scores, and your interview are all important points for the Admissions Committee to consider. These areas together give us great insight into whether you have the language skills required to succeed at Fuqua. If you, a non-native English speaker, have taken a language proficiency exam, we encourage you to submit those scores with your application. However, the scores are not required for your application to be considered complete. It is our hope that this change will also make the application a little smoother for international students. It can be challenging to schedule these language exams, as dates and locations are sometimes sparse. We believe that this change will also make the MBA application process more accessible to applicants around the world. 2. Expansion of the Application Fee Waiver Program  The ability to ask alumni questions, such as those seen on stage here in Shanghai, is one of the major benefits of attending an information session We have always encouraged candidates to interact with us at information sessions, virtual information sessions, campus visits, open houses, and to connect with our alumni. We have also provided application fee reductions to applicants who attend an event or who submit a recommendation from a Fuqua alumnus. This year, we are expanding the fee reduction into a fee waiver program. Attendees at any of the events listed above, as well as individuals providing an alumnus recommendation, will qualify for a full waiver of the application fee. By providing both in person and virtual event opportunities for a waiver, applicants from Alaska to Zimbabwe and everywhere in between can participate in a Duke MBA event and get to know Fuqua. Encouraging participation in our events ultimately results in a pool of applicants who are more knowledgeable about Fuqua and who are committed to our values. Visit our Admissions events page for a listing of qualifying upcoming information sessions and the application instructions page for information on how to redeem your fee reduction. 3. More Space for Short Answer Essay Questions Finally, we made the decision to double the amount of space provided for applicants to share career goals and plans. We are still keeping these answers short—maximum of 500 characters, up from 250—but you have a little more room to share details. Our intent is to allow those of you who may have unusual goals or a career switch extra space to explain your goals and motivations. We are keeping our essay questions the same this year. The “25 Things” essay is an all-time staff and student favorite, and we are all looking forward to reading the lists this year. As many of our past blog posts have noted, this essay was designed so that you can share with us what makes you unique—what events, ideas, motivations, and influences have made you who you are today. We learn some pretty awesome things about you through this essay! We are also keeping our same two choices for the second long essay this year. You can choose to share what you would tell your family and friends about why you want to come to Duke, or to write about which of the six Team Fuqua Principles you will embody as a student. We hope you are excited to begin the application process for The Duke MBA—the online application is now live. We will look forward to meeting you, in person or virtually, during the application year! The post 3 Daytime MBA Application Changes appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog. |
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Hi Guest,
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
Tuck at Dartmouth
GMAT Club REWARDS
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