Duke Fuqua 2012 - Calling All Applicants

I admire your commitment level! Fuqua would be lucky to have someone as dedicated as you to go there. I hope you get in!

I am still unsure how committed I am to Fuqua just yet, but if I do proceed, my updates wont be anything as great.

Not sure if this was 100% serious but I would not bombard them with all those updates at once. I would space them out over at least a few weeks if not target one a month...I have heard schools get turned off if you bombard them with information that does not provide substantial additional information about your candidacy. Not sure if 4 recs will really show that much more. Might want to focus on 1 rec now and work from there...

Again, appreciate the advice, but it's not a strategy I'm going to pursue. Plenty of people take the approach you're advising and do not make it off the waitlist. According to a chat with Liz Hargrove, waitlisters are re-evaluated with every round. If the R2 decision is coming out March 20th, I will make sure every update since November 11th is in before that round is solidified. Any notion that Duke will penalize me for being too eager seems out of line with the apparent strategy of yield management.

If my strategy backfires, then it'll be an interesting GMATClub case study.

Hah - they do take their time. After seeing how well my recommenders received my gifts to them, I realized that I should have told them ahead of time that they would get more of what I gave them if they submitted the letters earlier.

Good luck again! Hope your additional documents do the trick! It would be nice to have more people like you on campus.

Sorry to hear that buddy!!! Good Luck with your other applications!!

Duke sends all decisions, interview invites, admit decisions on the days published through one mass system upgrade.

Just recieved a call for 75% scholarship! I'm so grateful!

Go Devils!!!! They are going to need big games from Rivers and the Plumlees.

Got an invite, but I am from Durham and would be bleeding Duke blue either way. For all of you who have never been to Duke-Carolina, it is like a religious experience. Basketball is a terrible reason to choose a b-school, but as far as terrible reasons go, it is an awesome one.

the EA admit letters took ~2 weeks to get to everyone so i think you guys are right on schedule

Go with the tie and the jacket if you're more comfortable wearing a more formal attire. They won't penalize you for overdressing.

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I was asked about how would I spent my free time if it were not to relate to acquiring of knowledge. What naturally comes into mind is nature, books, church, etc etc. Wondering whether anyone ever had guts to say that they would have sex, talk on phone, chat in facebook or get completely drunk

The way I understand this question, it is a thinly veiled attempt at asking you what your real extracurricular activities are. They want to know what you are so passionate about that you end up wanting to do these things anyway even when you're not being paid to do them or you're not trying to pad your resume with volunteer activities.

I forgot that I was asked this question... but now that you've mentioned it, I remember how I answered it. At this point in my interview, I felt like I was acing my interview so I candidly answered this (inserting the names of organizations that I have worked with along the way) as if my interviewer and I were old friends.

- I told her that I would like to sleep in a little bit and wake up at around 9am, followed by taking a quick shower.
- And then I would go for my daily 5-mile run because nothing makes me feel productive more than finishing a good run. I mentioned some charity races in which I have participated in the last few months.
- After a long hot shower, I would go out to meet with my friends for lunch. I touched on how I prioritize keeping in touch with friends and family because they are my most important assets.
- In the afternoon, I would spend a couple of hours coaching a youth basketball team. I discussed my past experiences and how these have inspired me to be more active in the community through sports.
- After that, I would have dinner and go to a sporting event with some friends/family. Here I talked about my passion for sports, which is why my goals are what they are to begin with.
- Finally, I would go home and check how my fantasy teams did that night before going to bed. I used this to elaborate on how I enjoy healthy competition with my peers and how my passion for sports has many layers.
- And then I reminded her that this is what I would do on a normal day. If I had unlimited financial resources, I would be a voluntourist making a difference every single day. After all, nothing beats discovering the world while changing it.

I believe your status should eventually change to "complete", but you will not receive an email notification when this happens.

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Hah - I had no idea I have gained such status.

Your status should remain as is. The interview status will no longer change. The next time you will hear from AdCom is on 3/20.

Good luck!

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Hi, nope, I was in directly, only that I forgot to post it here a month ago...

I support this approach. You've done everything in your power to impress AdCom, so don't over analyze the situation because it will do you no good. Good luck!

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I hate to disagree with threestripes as he obviously knows his stuff, but I have to wonder whether mentioning in the essay that you are "only" applying to Duke is a wise strategy or not. I'm wondering how many people state this dishonestly in their essays, i.e. saying that they are only applying to Duke when in actuality they are applying to other schools, and if it is something that's common if that might lead adcoms to be suspicious of the candidate's authenticity. Even if it doesn't lead them to be suspicious, by telling them that you are only applying to Duke, I'd have to think that would greatly lessen your chance of getting scholarship or fellowship funding as well. Since they would know that no other schools are competing for you, there would be no incentive for them to offer any aid.

On top of all that, I have to wonder if only applying for one school might not reflect positively on the candidate. After all, part of recruiting for jobs is getting your name out to a lot of different companies and tossing your net wide, considering many different paths and opportunities. If you were to recruit for McKinsey and ONLY for McKinsey...well then what would happen if you didn't get the offer? Schools undoubtedly want to accept candidates that will recruit well and get great job offers.

In short, I think there's a lot of drawbacks to showing "too much love" for just one school. Maybe I'm overthinking it though? I know you've already submitted the ap so it's a moot point, but I think this is an interesting discussion to consider for other future candidates.