Any alumnus review you read is admittedly going to be biased, but Fuqua exceeded every one of my expectations, and I'll try to explain why.
From a career standpoint, I landed my top choice for an internship and am now there full time. A lot of my classmates can say the same. But what might be more difficult to describe is how the experience itself exceeded my expectations.
The first thing you will hear if you look into the program is the "Team Fuqua" culture. I initially found the phrase a little gimmicky and was weary of the substance behind it. However, once I was on campus the cut-throat behavior that I anticipated I would see in business school just wasn't there. That's not to say that there wasn't a healthy level of competition (it's still a top business school after all), it was just never at the expense of others. Everyone seemed to feel a responsibility to help each other in both academics and recruiting. I even saw students come out of interviews and give advice to classmates who were about to interview for the same position. Everyone seemed to realize that the “me vs. the world” mentality just won’t get you far in the long run.
To show how the “Team Fuqua” aspect extended into the alumni network, every Fuqua alumni I reached out to during the recruiting process (hint: it was a lot) got back to and spoke with me. Every single one. I’m sure that wasn’t the case for all of my classmates, but that really stuck with me.
I found it interesting how Fuqua is able to maintain this unique and very real culture when students cycle through every two years. After reflecting on my two years there, I came up with four main factors:
1) Admissions. I think it starts with really trying to select multi-dimensional students. Admissions seems to look beyond the “easy” metrics (GMAT score, GPA, career accomplishments, etc.) and learn about each candidate as a person. The “25 Random Facts” essay is a good example of this. This multi-dimensional focus probably makes it more difficult to compare candidates and creates a more involved decision process, but the effort seems to be paying off.
2) Self-selection. This is somewhat obvious. If you buy into the mindset that you can achieve more collectively than individually and you want to the develop skills to bring the best out of others, you’re likely to come to Fuqua. If you don’t, you’re likely find another school that is a better fit for you.
3) Location. Being located in Durham, I think, is an advantage. It’s not such a large city that students have a lot of external ties nearby. Everyone’s entire social network is within the Fuqua community and, subsequently, the connections formed are quite strong. At the same time, Durham is big enough to have plenty of opportunities for students and has truly grown into a vibrant area. In fact, quite a few students end up falling in love with the area each year and decide to stay in Research Triangle full-time.
4) Class structure. This one is a little more subtle. Most business schools have classes just four days per weeks (generally Monday-Thursday) in order to leave one day (generally Friday) for recruiting and other events. Fuqua has Wednesdays off. This lends to Fuqua students usually staying in town during the weekends, which in turn leads to more socializing and creates tighter bonds between classmates. I don't know if this was intentional or not, but the effect is certainly noticeable.
My suggestion to any MBA applicant is to not underestimate the importance of culture and fit. Certainly the program you choose should enable you to reach your post-MBA career goals, but make sure that the experience is one that you will enjoy and will enable you to develop as a person as well.
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