Calling all Duke-Fuqua Applicants(2015 Intake) Class of 2017

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: Top Tech CEOs Share Leadership Perspective with Fuqua Students

Fuqua students have high aspirations to make an impact on the world, and this environment provides numerous opportunities to make the business school experience transformational. The Distinguished Speakers Series (DSS) at Fuqua is instrumental in this process, exposing students to the personal and professional stories of current leaders who are actively changing the business world. DSS is an incredible supplement to what we learn in the classroom everyday and a great opportunity to be exposed to business leaders in an intimate and personal setting that is rare outside of business school. The spring semester of 2015 was fantastic for DSS, as Fuqua hosted two female CEOs of fortune 150 companies within two weeks. Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox, and Meg Whitman, CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP), both visited Fuqua to share insights from their personal and professional journeys. Both leaders have very different backgrounds, and therefore very different approaches to leading their massive organizations. They were excellent at sharing their perspective on the current business world, and how each of their companies would impact it moving forward. The opportunity to hear both speak so closely together really emphasized the diversity of perspectives in leadership. Ursula Burns Ursula Burns talking with Dean Boulding To a crowded Fuqua auditorium, Ursula Burns was candid about her path to becoming the first female African American CEO of a fortune 500 company. During her conversation with Dean Bill Boulding, she spoke very highly of her mother, who inspired and encouraged her throughout college and her career to do well and think of herself as deserving, despite her poor background. She began her career as an intern with Xerox in 1980 and joined full time in 1981 as an engineer. In 2009, she was named CEO of the corporation. When speaking of her journey from intern to CEO, Ursula mentioned a number of things, but most of all, her determination to become the best at her job and her reliance on a diverse set of mentors. A student asked Ursula how she transformed her reputation as an excellent engineer into someone who could think critically about larger business problems. She explained that becoming proficient at your job is always the first priority, and only after mastering the task at hand is asking for additional responsibility appropriate. She attributes the trust that she was able to earn, as well as her in-depth knowledge of the company, to this method of thinking. Burns talking with students afterwards Ursula also talked a lot about her reliance on a diverse set of mentors over her career. Though many of her mentors were managers within Xerox, she accumulated a great deal of mentorship from leaders at other corporations, discerning those that could guide her by their passions in their own careers. Ursula also spoke about the quality of the team that she has assembled around her, even to this day acknowledging that she has sought out people smarter than her in particular areas. In acquiring mentors, Ursula also mentioned the importance of realizing the value and talents of all people that surround you, including the janitors, administrative assistants and other people who may hold a perspective that is more practical and realistic than the people operating in the boardroom. She attributes a large chunk of her success to her refusal to discount anyone’s opinion, which I found very unique and inspiring. Meg Whitman It’s common to see Geneen Auditorium full for speakers of these magnitudes Meg Whitman was exceptional in explaining her career path, which took her from working for a number of large corporations, to consulting with Bain & Company, to joining the bottom floor of eBay and turning it into a company that would define a generation of tech startups. Meg described her journey as a desire for challenge. Each opportunity led her to be challenged in a way that she had not been before, and therefore revealed her own strengths. Now as CEO of HP, Meg is undertaking the major initiative of splitting one huge corporation into two. Though this sounds intimidating, Meg explained how her previous experience has prepared her to excel at her current tasks. Meg spoke in great deal about how her time in consulting provided value when she would have to navigate the career hurdles that followed. She attributed her impact at eBay to her ability to learn and pick things up quickly, and think thoroughly about how to solve any problem. She also highlighted some of the obstacles that she faced as a business woman in the early 1980s, and what fearless attitude was needed to confront individual problems and injustices as they arose in order to change the norm going forward. One of the topics that Meg was most candid about was her political career. Her run for governor of California in 2008 was unsuccessful but very useful in revealing her true passions. Though passionate about many political issues and invoking change, Meg found that there was a game to politics, and that answering questions truthfully and candidly was not always the “correct” way to go. Because of this, she realized that the mold of a politician was not fit for her, and instead she could make more of an impact in the business world. Executive Fellows I am fortunate enough to serve as an executive fellow for the DSS, meaning that I am one of the student ambassadors who hosts these important leaders during their visits to Fuqua. As an executive fellow, I have the opportunity to have lunch with them on the day of their visit, and to help facilitate the talk given to the Fuqua student body later in the day. As a student-led business school, our team of fellows is key in hosting and facilitating the visits of these senior leaders. It is a very special and unique opportunity to attend a business school that places this responsibility in the hands of its student leaders. A list of past DSS speakers and videos of their talks can be found here.

Hello Fuqua Class of 2017 -

Congrats on getting into Fuqua. You may not be thinking about your 2016 summer internship yet, but for those of you who still have not made it up to Durham and currently reside in/around the Atlanta area, Delta Air Lines is hosting a pre-MBA reception for its Commercial Strategy Program on Tuesday, June 30, 2015 in Atlanta, GA from 6:00 to 8:00pm. If you are interested, please send your resume to suman.rao@delta.com, and we will provide you with event details and confirmation upon receiving your email. Good luck at Fuqua, and hope to see you there

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: An International Experience in Fuqua’s Exchange Program

Going abroad to study in Argentina as part of Fuqua’s student exchange program was an incredible experience, allowing me to spend time living like a local and practicing Spanish. Here are some of the highlights: Study abroad location Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE) in Buenos Aries, Argentina Dates of the exchange program January 19 through February 25, 2015 Additional travel In addition to my time in and around Buenos Aires, I traveled for three weeks in Asia before the program, and spent four days in Patagonia afterwards. Why I chose to I study abroad I wanted to spend an extended period of time living like a local in a foreign country, and I felt that the exchange program was a more cost effective way than doing a . Why I chose Argentina I wanted to practice Spanish, be somewhere warm during the winter months, and have a solid home base during my experience. Rather than the programs—Chile for example—where people are moving around a lot, I wanted to settle in one place. I wasn’t alone There were 18 other Fuqua students at UADE with me, and it was great to have a big group there. Best Meal Fugazetta from El Cuartito pizza in Buenos Aires. I never had Argentine pizza before and I loved it! And best drink was the homemade gin and tonic at Florería Atlántico, also in the city. Favorite part of the experience I took a road trip with four good Fuqua friends to Salta, a small city of about 600,000 people in the north of Argentina. We rented a car and just winged it—no hotel reservations, just the freedom to explore an incredible part of the country with unbelievable scenery and topography in the foothills of the Andes. Cultural takeaway Argentines are an incredible mix of so many European cultures, and this is apparent in their language, food, and personalities. Economic takeaway Inflation is tough! But on a serious note, it was incredible to learn about how companies in Argentina are dealing with such frustrating government and economic policies, and yet don’t give up on business! The post An International Experience in Fuqua’s Exchange Program appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: More than 100 MBAs Gain Experience in China

Since I started at Duke, I heard several good stories and reviews about the Global Academic Travel Experience (GATE) that allows MBAs to gain experience in China. Students from the prior year surely had an awesome time and told us it was one of those things you could not miss at Fuqua. It was not a surprise, that with all that good publicity, 104 students (nearly a quarter of our class) would sign up for it this year. Preparation GATE is a three-credit elective course, so prior to our departure we took some theory classes on Wednesdays during the Spring 2 term in which we learned about the business, culture, economy, and politics of the region. Learning all this in a classroom while knowing we would soon be on location was very exciting and resulted in making the term pass by very quickly. I am sure all my classmates were counting the days to our trip in early May as I was! The Experience in China We visited Tiananmen Square After an incredibly long flight of 14 hours, we arrived in Beijing. My first impression was that it was a very big city, somehow disorganized and chaotic, but with a lot of history and culture. The next day, we visited the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square. We also had our first taste of real Chinese food, which was amazing and so different from the ‘Chinese food’ we are used to having in the U.S. Even though these places were beautiful, the Great Wall of China was by far my favorite experience in the trip. This piece of architecture with its historical significance demonstrates the wisdom and ability of the Chinese people. With more than 13,000 miles, it passes through mountains, valleys, and even rivers. No wonder why it is considered one of the greatest wonders of the world. However, not everything was tourism-related for us. GATE focuses on gaining exposure to international businesses, and so we visited a variety of companies to learn how business is done in China. We went to New Oriental, Microsoft, PwC, Procter and Gamble (P&G), GlaxoSmithKline, and NBA China, among others. It was very interesting to meet with leaders from different industries and experience an in-depth view of a Chinese company such as New Oriental and contrast that with an American company with offices in China, such as P&G. Besides Beijing, we also traveled to Chongqing, Chengdu, and Shanghai. These three cities are very different from each other, especially Shanghai which from my point of view, sometimes you would forget is located in China and you would think you are in a city such as New York. With some classmates in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam Additional Travel After the China GATE trip, many of us continued traveling through Asia. I think this is a great opportunity to become closer to your classmates and visit cities you never dreamt of going before. I had the chance to go to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. They are all such incredible countries with so much history and beauty that we should all try to go visit them at some point in our lives. In fact, if I would have to pick one of these as my favorite destination, I wouldn’t be able to do it. However, I can say that the trip as a whole has been my favorite that I’ve ever taken. It has been an unforgettable experience. I recommend watching this video from my classmate, Rob Pixton, in which you will get a taste of the four cities we visited in China. The post More than 100 MBAs Gain Experience in China appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: An Entrepreneurial Spirit: Students Launch an Organization to Help Veterans

One of the best aspects of Fuqua is the entrepreneurial spirit that exists among the student body. We are quickly entrusted to make this school better than how we found it. Be it through improvements in classes as teacher assistants or the establishment of a new student club, the sky is really the limit to how we can leave our mark on this institution. My classmates Kevin Brilliant and Herman Bulls identified a gap for a growing segment of the U.S. population: veterans transitioning out of the military who did not feel prepared to effectively or successfully navigate the job market. To that end, they founded the Fuqua Initiative for Veteran Employment, or F.I.V.E. STAR Transitions (FIVE STAR), to assist those veterans and to continue Duke University’s strong history of supporting the military. As veterans of U.S. Army Special Operations, my wife and I quickly realized the potential for such an organization and have been actively involved with their transition education events. I asked Herman and Kevin about their work founding FIVE STAR and the support Fuqua provided. Paul: What made each of you want to become involved with veteran issues? FIVE STAR visited Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina to conduct a workshop Herman: I’m an active duty U.S. Army Captain, and during my 10 years of service I have frequently seen soldiers leave without a sound plan. They get a solid job lined up back home, but one that may not tap into the many unique technical and leadership skills they can offer the workforce. Kevin: I don’t have any direct links to the military, however I went through a challenging career transition where I left the only profession I’d known to pursue something different. I felt I could relate to the uncertainty and doubt that transitioning veterans face. During mine, I relied heavily on others for their support and guidance, and I wanted to help empower transitioning veterans by giving them access to the same types of resources. Paul: How do you think Fuqua supported your entrepreneurial vision for the organization? Student volunteers conducting a mock interview Herman: The Fuqua administration and students have been 100% supportive of us starting this organization. We had faculty dedicate countless hours to speaking with us about the initiative and many volunteering to participate in the veteran symposiums we have put together. We never had an issue finding students who would dedicate their time to either travel to nearby Fort Bragg (one of the largest military bases in the world), conduct mock interviews with soldiers, or help with our events. We even had amazing Fuqua partners that have joined the FIVE STAR team in volunteer capacities or in full time leadership roles. While other business schools could try to put together a program like this, I don’t believe they have the same supportive ambition that Fuqua does, which is key to the operation. Kevin: We’ve felt from day one that Fuqua is the perfect place for this program. The community has rallied behind this initiative, which isn’t surprising given the growing and impactful presence that veterans have on campus through the Duke Armed Forces Association (DAFA). Duke has made an authentic commitment to veterans in a way that differentiates it from other top universities. Paul: When making your decision to attend business school, did you think you would have the time to work on a venture such as this? Herman leading a session for women veterans Herman: No. I knew I wanted to work with the admissions department and teach undergraduate Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC). To that, add the academic workload, having two kids born while I was at Fuqua plus other activities and clubs in which I wanted to be involved. I figured I wouldn’t have time for anything else. Additionally, I had never started an organization from scratch. The idea of starting something new was intimidating to me but it was the supportive environment that Fuqua provides that made me realize this was something Kevin and I could do and excel at. Kevin: I came to Fuqua with the broad concept that would become FIVE STAR, so for me not doing it was never an option. There are only so many times that the merits and ingenuity of an idea marry perfectly with the conditions in which you find yourself, and this was one of those times. Finding Herman as a co-founder was the single-most important thing that happened along the way. Without him, there’s no way the organization would be where it is, and it’s possible that it would never have gotten off the ground at all. Paul: What were the biggest challenges you faced in starting this organization? FIVE STAR has hosted multiple events at Fuqua Herman: Putting on events. Because we are not technically a Fuqua club, we did not have access to certain fundraising options that clubs normally do. For our first few events, Kevin and I paid for all expenses out of pocket, but we knew that wasn’t sustainable. So we began to partner with other Fuqua clubs which allowed us to fundraise for events and be able to provide veteran participants with a more enriched experience. Through the supportive ambition of our classmates we were able to overcome this challenge and allow FIVE STAR to grow. Kevin: Getting the word out to potential participants in the transitioning veteran community has been difficult. Right now in America there are so many veteran assistance organizations that it’s confusing; instead of using a lot of services, transitioning veterans end up using none. That’s an uphill battle we’ve had to face, and even with the reviews that we’ve gotten from our participants, which have been extraordinary, it’s still a challenge. At our last event, a Marine told us that she’d spent the first half of the event wondering what was in it for us; when she discovered that we just wanted to help, she was blown away. Paul: What can future classes of students expect from FIVE STAR, and what challenges will they face? Kevin leading a session on how to leverage LinkedIn Herman: The biggest challenge will be building out the organizational structure to allow it to be sustained going forward. At times over the past two years, the organization only existed through will and effort from Kevin, myself and the core leadership team we had in place. Though our passion for seeing this organization grow was successful in getting us to this point, that will not be enough going forward. We addressed this issue by getting a strong leadership group for next year together. Anne Wu and Susan Whitmer, the Class of 2016 students who will be leading FIVE STAR into its next phase, have already done a great job executing an event we had in April. We have also worked out a permanent partnership with DAFA that will allow the two organizations to share synergies. Kevin: FIVE STAR has a lot of good things going for it, not the least of which is the strong cabinet Herman mentioned. They will face the challenge of continuing to build momentum while innovating. Running FIVE STAR requires a lot of work and dedication, but seeing positive results for the veterans we assist helps to stoke the collective passion of everyone involved in the cause. Paul: Any words of wisdom for future students who might want to leave a legacy at Fuqua? Herman: Regardless of who you are, do not sell yourself short. Embrace your entrepreneurial spirit, and don’t be afraid of doing something new. I never thought I would be able to start an organization from scratch during my MBA experience, let alone one that has made this kind of impact. My work with FIVE STAR has made me realize that, just like the veterans we worked with, I have more to offer in my career as an Army officer and beyond than I used to think. Kevin: There’s a difference in life between ‘enthusiasm’ and ‘passion.’ Enthusiasm can be temporary, fleeting, and in the moment. Passion persists. It allows you to overcome obstacles and push through challenges. Find something about which you are truly passionate: your work, your life, and the people around you will be better for it. The post An Entrepreneurial Spirit: Students Launch an Organization to Help Veterans appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: The Principles of Team Fuqua: Spring 2015 Honorees

We are excited to continue the initiative that highlights and celebrates the students within our community who make extraordinary contributions to Team Fuqua. After collecting nominations from the Daytime MBA student body, a group consisting of student leaders, Fuqua administrators and faculty chose eight students to celebrate and honor. Here are the principles of Team Fuqua, students who embody them, and some stories from their classmates. Authentic Engagement We care and we do. We make a difference to Team Fuqua by being ourselves and engaging in the things we are passionate about. Paul Escajadillo, Class of 2015 “As the leader of Operation Blue Devil, Paul has been able to bring what he is passionate about—the military and our Veterans—to the Fuqua community in an authentically engaging way. He has invested a significant amount of time and energy to facilitate this incredible leadership development opportunity for Fuquans. He is also willing to share his experience serving in the military in a genuine way, support his classmates when they are challenged during the program, and is just a great guy who cares about his classmates, their development, and their well-being. He embodies what authentic engagement is within the Fuqua community, is a dedicated leader, and is a person of upstanding character who has made a difference in the Fuqua experience of his classmates.” Diana Vining, Class of 2015 “Diana could easily be nominated for just about every single one of these values, but most of all she is a great example of authentic engagement. Diana does it all—she is a second-year cabinet member in two major clubs, an MBAA sub-cabinet member, and a COLE fellow. It seems like every day she is working on a different initiative to make campus a better place, including pioneering leadership development workshops for club presidents, planning week-in-cities trips, and leading the charge to overhaul alumni engagement efforts. In everything she does, Diana brings 110%. I can think of nobody who better exemplifies authentic engagement than Diana Vining.” Supportive Ambition We support each other to achieve great things, because your success is my success. The success of each individual member of Team Fuqua makes the whole of Team Fuqua better. SooMin Lee, Class of 2016 “SooMin has gone out of his way to proactively enrich the learning experience of his peers, particularly in the biotech space. By independently initiating a biotech best practices session, he brought folks together to discuss and learn about the space independent of courses, recruiting events, and HSM activities. He’s also shared readings that are relevant to understanding current dynamics of the industry with his classmates. At Fuqua we encourage, support, and challenge each other, and SooMin stands out for supporting his classmates without any selfish motivations.” Collective Diversity We embrace all of our classmates because our individuality is better and stronger together. Kevin Belt, Class of 2015 “Kevin Belt has demonstrated collective diversity by being intentional about making his time at Fuqua transformational. He has strong passions to increase Latino enrollment in top MBA programs (especially Fuqua) and help his classmates succeed. Kevin devoted countless hours early during Fall Term 1 to plan an excellent Consulting Club Symposium, lead the consulting breakout for the Black & Latino MBA Organization’s Diversity Conference Bootcamp, help organize the first ever “Un Cafecito” Latino coffee chat for prospective students, and personally case eager first-years. Kevin has also been a strong voice in continued conversations about Latino engagement strategies. As a second-year student, he has stepped into an even more impactful role as an admissions fellow to help develop the pipeline of diverse talent attending Fuqua. I see Kevin as an “ever present” part of the Fuqua Family, and what’s most important is that he does it with a smile. It is a great feeling to know that when I need help, his hand is always the first to shoot up! He operates without formal title or recognition because he truly cares about what he does, which is why he is so deserving of this honor.” Loyal Community We are a family who looks out for each other. Team Fuqua has got your back when you need it the most. Immanuel Palugod, Class of 2016 “Manny has a keen sense for others’ needs and consistently shows support in small and large ways. As Manny’s section mate, I have benefited from his generous support in several ways. Early in Fall Term 1, Manny spent several hours on a Sunday catching me up in one of our classes. I went from feeling like I was losing ground to truly comprehending the material. It was a pivotal point in the class and I went from doubting myself to finding my confidence and ultimately achieving a great academic outcome. Later in the term, he brought me breakfast on a tough morning and a few times has brought in Whole Foods cookies to give to my almost two year-old son, Trent. The one singular night that I went out at Fuqua (my husband and toddler were out of town!), Manny went out big with me: Fullsteam Brewery, Shooters, and late night karaoke. It sounds a little silly but he really rallied and made the night special. As the only mom in my section, I often feel different and sometimes isolated—my struggles can feel somewhat unique to my situation. Manny is great at reaching out in the right ways, when it counts. Above all of his strengths and prior successes, he has a gift for empathy and spotting opportunities to connect with others when they need it.” Impactful Stewardship We are leaders who focus on solutions to improve our communities both now and in the future. We aren’t satisfied with just maintaining the status quo. Jennifer Kim & Becca Shepherd, Class of 2016 “Jen and Becca have taken on the daunting and gargantuan task of launching Fuqua’s first ever school-wide alumni mentoring program. While in the past, various clubs have had individual programs with varying levels of success, Jen and Becca stepped up as first-year students who could see the potential of having an integrated program that would build on club best practices and open the opportunity up to any student or alumni that would like to be involved. They have worked tirelessly with the club representatives and with development and alumni relations to create a program framework that will be in place for years to come. In the first semester alone, they matched 134 mentor and mentees together.” Uncompromising Integrity We internalize and live the honor code in the classroom. We conduct ourselves with integrity within Fuqua, the Duke community, and in our lives. Paul Jacobs, Class of 2016 “Now that we are nearing the end of Fall Term 2, some folks in our section are starting to let the norms slide by checking their phones during class. Paul, our section rep, is not afraid to get in front of the class and respectfully remind everyone why we are here and that the norms matter. I am so grateful he does this because I don’t have the courage to do so myself! Paul is also just one of the most respectful and honest guys out there. He absolutely deserves to be recognized for his uncompromising integrity!” The post The Principles of Team Fuqua: Spring 2015 Honorees appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: Fuqua Application Insight: Our 25 Random Things

For the last several years, Fuqua’s MBA application has included the essay question that asks you to provide 25 random things about yourself—essentially 25 interesting facts. That question is back for the 2015-2016 application year, so we wanted to provide some insight on how you might approach it. The Fuqua Admissions team wants to get to know you beyond the basic test scores and resume, and the essays help achieve this. As an applicant, the topic can be a refreshing break from more traditional application essays, so give it your best effort, but above all just have fun with it! Here are five random things from each of our application essays: Emily Silman In 2009, I completed ‘life goal #1′ when I ran the NYC Marathon. OK, more like I ran/walked it, and then hobbled across the finish line. But I finished it, and to me, that’s what counts. One of my other, slightly more ambitious life goals is to visit every country in the world. So far I’ve been to 20 different countries, so I’ve still got a lot of traveling to do! My work at Food Network afforded me two TV appearances. The first was in the premiere episode of season five of Food Network Star—in the back, behind Giada DeLaurentiis’s head. (What, you don’t recognize me?) The other was a slot on New York’s Pix11 Morning News, representing FoodNetworkStore.com on live TV to talk about holiday gift ideas. Serving in the Peace Corps in Madagascar and receiving my government-issue mountain bike turned me into a biking addict. At first, it was a big deal for me to bike 8km up the road, but then I started biking 40km, then 60km, then finally up to 100km in one day! One of the best things I did while in Madagascar was a 3-day, 230km ride through the unpaved roads of the southeast coastal region with three of my Peace Corps friends. My philosophy on airplanes is that because we’re all stuck together enduring an unpleasant experience, I might as well be a beacon of kindness and civility and try to impart as much positive energy into the situation as I can. One of the most amazing experiences I had with this was when I asked a woman with a baby if she needed help lifting her suitcase into the overhead. Instead of giving me her suitcase, she gave me her newborn to hold! Dan Tudesco I launched the “Sad Irish Fan” campaign after I was (unfortunately) caught on TV, dejected, during the BCS National Championship game between Alabama and my alma mater, Notre Dame. The campaign became a national news story and raised a lot of money for leukemia research. I am a master crane machine operator…at the arcade. I started a South Park plush dolls eBay business in 1998 based entirely on my success with the crane. I was recently quoted as an expert on eBay selling in U.S. News and World Report. While the South Park dolls are gone, today I am a ‘Powerseller’ and ‘Top Seller’ on the auction site. I started my first business, a neighborhood candy stand, at age 8, and the next year I hired my brother and sister to ‘franchise’ a new stand a couple streets away. I drove my mom crazy by having her drive to the local wholesale warehouse to buy bulk candy. My role model is Tim Russert, a man for whom I had the honor to work before he passed away. His incredible talent was impressive, but it was his caring, principled and gregarious personality that to me, as an intern, was a formative and early example of a ‘Leader of Consequence.’ I consider working for him my greatest privilege, and I miss his presence in the news every day. Emmy Komada I don’t have a middle name, but I do have two first names: Emi and Emmy, depending on which passport I’m using. Discrepancies between the name on my ticket and the name on my passport have gotten me within a hair’s width of missing several flights. I once performed a lip-sync on live TV in Ruzhou, Henan Province. Monologues I can recite from memory include: the president’s speech in Independence Day, Henry’s discourse on love in Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and all of Sebastian’s breakdowns in The Little Mermaid. I have driven across the U.S., ridden five 50-plus hour trains, biked through Ireland, rock climbed in Yangshuo and Yosemite, led hiking trips in Vermont, and hitchhiked across the Tibetan plateau. But am a total homebody at heart. I get very competitive at trivia night. Emily Madden My first job was working as a waitress at a diner that was featured on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Each employee, from the front to the back of the house, contributed to the customer experience. This summer job offered a great lesson in teamwork and the value that each part of an organization contributes to the final product. I was a coxswain on my high school rowing team for four years; my boat won second place in a national championship race in my junior year. Though most people think all I did was yell into a microphone, this role greatly shaped me as a leader, a team member, and a strategist. I discovered my interest in marketing while participating in a case competition my freshman year. I continued to compete in case competitions throughout college. My senior year, my team was sponsored to represent our university at a competition in Thailand. Many of my best friends live across the country and one way we stay connected is by traveling to compete in running races together. By the end of my ten-week undergraduate internship I was managing two other interns. I was able to earn the respect of my peers because of my sense of confidence and my enthusiasm for the work. Those qualities were more powerful than a job title. Connie Chai I moved to Minneapolis after graduation to work for Target Corporation. My first winter there was quite the experience. I now judge how cold the weather is based on if my nostril hairs freeze. The longest distance I had ever run in college was a 5K. When I saw pictures of several friends dressed up at the Disney Princess Half Marathon, I knew I had to sign up. I convinced two other friends to train and run the race. All three of us completed the race this February wearing tutus. Seeing that finish line was one of my proudest moments. The summer between my sophomore and junior year I worked in a fly lab. My basic responsibility was to collect virgin female flies and mate them. By the end of the summer I could distinguish female and male flies without using a microscope. I speak fluent Mandarin Chinese, and I try my best to speak it with my parents but tend to lapse into a mixture of Chinese and English. At best I can probably read and write at a first or second grade level. My youngest cousin knows more characters than I do! I love baking. A good friend from Duke introduced me to the world of break and bake cookies, and my hobby just took off from there. I now keep a blog on all my baking adventures. You can check it out at easypeasybaking.tumblr.com. The post Fuqua Application Insight: Our 25 Random Things appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

The MBA Recruiting Process – Insights from Darden ’15 Grad and CEO of RelishMBA

Hello from the RelishMBA team, and congratulations on being admitted to the MBA Class of 2017! My name is Sarah, and I’m a recent Darden School of Business graduate who founded RelishMBA, an online recruiting platform built specifically for the business school recruiting market. As a recent grad who works full-time in the MBA recruitment space, I wanted to share some recruiting advice and tips to help you prepare for arriving on campus at Fuqua.

The first thing to be aware of is that MBA recruiting is a long and intense process. Recruiting activities begin quickly once you’re on campus and they take up a huge amount of your time and energy for most of your first year. While virtually all top MBA students have great jobs available to them, finding those jobs can be frustrating and stressful, with relevant information often hard to find and a complex networking process that can be tough to effectively manage. I started RelishMBA to address these problems and make the process more efficient for both students and employers.

The summer is a great time to get started with recruiting processes (while you don’t have to worry about school, student clubs, social life, and the dozens of other activities that fill up your time during first year). Luckily, there are a few things you can do to prepare before school starts in August: Relax. Explore. Prepare.

Relax – business school is a big change from the working world; take a bit of time off. You deserve it and you’ll need the break!

Explore – In your time relaxing, begin checking out what industries and companies recruit MBAs. This is something RelishMBA helps with. Sign-up at RelishMBA.com to begin exploring employer’s company pages on MBA Careers specific for your school (“day in the life” alumni testimonials, on-campus presence, key points of contact, etc.).

Prepare – And lastly, get your resume ready. Below are some tips from my experience.
It’s also important to remember that once you’re on campus, you’ll be networking with recruiters and alumni frequently – and RelishMBA will help you here too, through relationship management tools that make it easy to stay on top of your networking game. Have any questions? Reach out anytime at recruit@relishmba.com.

Resume Tips:

1) Writing your resume is your first Marketing assignment

Your resume is essentially a one-page advertisement designed to sell your brand to employers. But as your first year marketing class will tell you, marketing is about a lot more than just a fancy design and a few well-placed buzzwords. Think about your audience (i.e. who will be reading your resume? Finance recruiters? Consultants? Marketers? Others?) and how you are positioning yourself with that audience (i.e. what work experiences would be most relevant or interesting to the recruiters reading your resume?).

For example, if you’re headed up to Wall Street, focus on the more quantitatively rigorous parts of your work experience, and try to make sure that your resume as a whole reflects an interest in and passion for finance and its associated disciplines. Future consultants will want to highlight problem-solving and analytical thinking. Marketers could talk about leading cross-functional teams or point out examples of especially effective communication.

And if you are not sure what you want to do, don’t sweat it – there are lots of you out there, and it’s no big deal for the next few weeks or months. But regardless of your eventual industry or function targets, remember: your resume is not just a chronicle of your past work achievements; it is an advertisement designed to effectively sell you and your brand to recruiters.

2) Be concise but specific

This is one of the more difficult parts of honing your resume: providing specific examples of relevant work accomplishments in a way that a recruiter can easily digest in a few seconds. Try starting each bullet point with a strong action word. Instead of saying something like “Helped to more than double sales during tenure in catchment area,” try something like “Launched blogger outreach program that increased web traffic by 72% and increased sales by 120%”.

These sorts of hard numbers are really helpful, especially since many recruiters will spend only a few seconds looking at your resume and those numbers stand out on the page. So it’s also important to be sure that your bullet points can be read and processed easily. And if you don’t have a lot of specific numbers to add to your resume, it’s still important to be specific about your accomplishments and to pick your words wisely.

3) Add some flair

You should be careful with how much flair you add to your resume, but it’s a good idea to think of ways to set yourself apart from the competition. The “Personal” section at the bottom of your resume, where you list hobbies, activities, and interests, is an easy place to hook a recruiter (or break the ice in an interview). Only mention things that are truly a part of your life, but still consider your audience and which of your hobbies or experiences might be of interest to the recruiters reading your resumes. Once you reach campus, you’ll hear plenty of stories about students who were able to land first or even second-round interviews largely on the basis of what seem like minor resume items.

Other ways to add flair:

-Were you kind of a big deal in college? It’s worthwhile to mention any particularly important or impressive extracurriculars from your undergrad days (particularly leadership roles), and including club affiliations and other school-specific positions can be a good idea once you get onto campus

-Recruiters are looking to hire real people, not business robots. Make sure your resume – the accomplishments you choose to mention, the structure and content of the Personal section – reflects your personality.

4) Don’t be careless

This is the part where we tell you that a few people every year submit resumes with misspelled words or mismatched fonts or other significant but easily avoidable mistakes, and that you could be one of those people if you’re not careful, and you think “I’d never be that much of an idiot,” and then you send your resume to McKinsey or Google with your name spelled wrong at the top. Don’t be that person.
Seriously, just get a friend to read it. Several friends. Have a resume-reading party. But don’t spell your name wrong.

Have any questions? Reach out anytime at recruit@relishmba.com

Sincerely,
RelishMBA Team

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: Take Advantage of Our Strong Latin American Community

If you’re a Latin American thinking about business school, I can tell you that pursuing an MBA abroad is a life-changing experience that will open your eyes in ways you have never imagined. But let’s be honest. The road is not easy. Every day will be full of new challenges and learning experiences that will push you out of your comfort zone. Your future classmates will play a key role in supporting you and guiding you throughout this journey. So finding the right school for you is THE most important step in your application process. Fuqua has strong Latin American community—maybe one of the most robust and engaged among U.S. business schools. When you combine recent first- and second-year classes it adds up to a group of more than 100 MBA students from at least 10 different countries in the region. As part of the Latin American Student Association (LASA), my classmates and I have taken advantage of the growing Latin American community at Fuqua to support all candidates from the region during the application process. Our main goal is to help you learn more about Team Fuqua by connecting you with a diverse group of students and alumni who are really excited to share their personal and professional experiences with you. Here are three LASA initiatives that will help smooth your application process. Connect with a country representative First, LASA has a designated team of country representatives, one per country, who are thrilled to talk about their experiences at Fuqua. Reach out to them early in your process and they will tell you all you need to know about the MBA and how amazing life is in Durham, and additionally answer questions about the application process. Remember that they went through the same process recently, so you can learn a great deal from their successes and mistakes. Do you have more specific questions? Want to learn more about how to land a job in financial engineering or activities for your partner in Durham? No problem! Our country reps can leverage our massive Latin American network to hook you up with a student with your same interests, hobbies or career paths. Let us know if you’re visiting campus Second, if you are planning a campus visit, we encourage you to let us know in advance. LASA can help you find accommodations at students’ houses, schedule airport pick-ups, connect you with Fuquans from your home country, accompany you to classes you’re observing, organize dinners and coffee chats to introduce you to the community, and much more. You just need to tell us when you are coming and we will help you have an unforgettable visit! Join us in Latin America Third, LASA hosts informal gatherings during winter break (around mid-December) in several Latin American countries which typically include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. These meetings will connect you with students who have returned home for the holiday season, alumni and potential classmates that have already been admitted. This is particularly valuable if you are not able to visit Fuqua as this is one of the few opportunities you will have to exchange experiences face-to-face with Fuqua’s students and alumni back home. As you can see, there are several ways to learn more about Fuqua. Our whole Latin American community is excited to hear from you. The sooner you discover where you want to pursue your MBA, the easier the admissions process will be. Start today by reaching out to Admissions and/or LASA directly here! The post Take Advantage of Our Strong Latin American Community appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: About the Career Management Center

A few years ago, Fuqua’s Career Management Center (CMC) went through a significant re-organization as part of a broader effort to better align the school’s strategy, resources, and activities. As a result, the CMC now consists of 30 staff members operating in three work groups: recruiting and operations, student and alumni career services, and sector (corporate) engagement. Additionally, there is a small group of executive coaches who serve as adjunct staff, and a part-time student staff of over 100, who provide peer reviews of first-year students’ resumes, cover letters, and mock interviews. We’re excited about how this model has been working and the role that each team plays in our student’s MBA career search. Recruiting & Operations Group manages the multitude of corporate events, interviews, and job postings that constitute campus recruiting and provides supporting technology and data infrastructure Student & Alumni Career Services Group ensures that the portfolio of services and resources that we offer to students in all Fuqua programs, as well as to alumni, meets the diverse and changing needs of our job-seeking populations Sector Engagement Group facilitates interaction between employers and students in specific industry sectors (consulting, financial services, technology, health, social impact, etc.), provides sector-specific training such as case interview preparation for consulting, and meets regularly with employers to expand Fuqua relationships in key industries CMC Goals and Responsibilities The Career Management Center’s primary focus is to enhance Fuqua’s national and global presence as a top-tier business school through delivery of a comprehensive career services and recruiting program for students and alumni. What we do to achieve this objective and how we approach our work evolves with stakeholder needs, which include students, employers, alumni, and the Fuqua and Duke communities, but our purpose is quite singular and largely unchanging. Career Consulting and Advising We review resumes and conduct mock interviews, but we do a lot more as well! While each person’s needs are unique, we partner with job-seeking students and alumni to assist them in: Identifying satisfying, interesting work that aligns with an individual’s values, interests, skills, and innate traits Carrying out a thoughtful, well-executed search that utilizes a wide range of relevant Fuqua and Duke resources Making decisions that consider both short term and long term career interests, based on all available information at that time Enhancing the Fuqua and Duke brands, as well as their own, through their communications and actions. If you’re interested in how the MBA career search works at Fuqua, I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction and will read my past and future posts. If you have any specific questions you’d like me to address, please send a note to me at sheryle.dirks@duke.edu. The post About the Career Management Center appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

FROM Fuqua Current Student Blogs: China Serves as a Classroom for MBA Students

读万卷书不如行万里路 The Chinese proverb above says “reading 10,000 books is not as effective as traveling 10,000 kilometers.” Fortunately for nearly 25-percent of Fuqua’s Daytime MBA Class of 2016, they were not forced to choose between reading or traveling, but instead were able to do both as a part of the school’s Global Academic Travel Experience (GATE). Along with Fuqua faculty, our East Asia Regional Team plays a key role in shaping the GATE learning experience for the students who travel to our region. The goal is to deliver experiences that help students examine the business, culture, economy, and politics of China by leveraging our connections in the region. Setting the Context of China for Students Take into consideration that for most of the 104 students on the trip, it was their first time visiting a country where all of the following characteristics are simultaneously present: State-capitalism A developing country A major economic superpower (other than the United States) An ancient land and civilization A very ‘young’ country (The People’s Republic of China is only 65 years old!)   Facilitating the experiential learning opportunities in China can be a challenge, but the work is very important and rewarding nonetheless. The unique nation presents a one-stop shop for posh and poverty, indigenous innovation and intellectual property imitation, political reform and political corruption, palpable potential and bewildering puzzlement. China provided students a chance to experience all of this in just two short weeks. To the untrained foreign eye, China is a land of one billion customers, but as James McGregor talked about in his book of the same name, to the savvy analyst, China can be as tough as it is easy, and as frustrating as it is fascinating. Mao Zedong famously addressed the Chinese public by saying: “The future is bright, the path to get there is winding.” More recently in 2015, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson proclaimed, “You can make as big a mistake exaggerating China’s strength, as you can underestimating its potential.” Providing Insight into Chinese Business and Culture Students visit a hospital to learn about its health care model… In an effort to explore the business of the region, we worked together with the trip’s passionate and outstanding student leaders to help organize corporate visits that ran the gamut from the China offices of Fortune 500 companies including General Electric, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and GlaxoSmithKline, to the Beijing office of Mindwalk Studios, an international gaming-design company founded by a Fuqua alumna, to Nasdaq-listed, private education services company, New Oriental. Students got a backstage pass to see the development of indigenous innovation in China by visiting Beigene, a rapidly growing, 170-plus person, clinical-stage, biopharma company with its headquarters in Beijing. There, serial entrepreneur and CEO John Oyler showed students China’s potential to disrupt the life sciences industry in a major way. …and observe social activities at the Temple of Heaven park Also on the list was the Ford-Motor Company’s massive production facility in the outskirts of Chongqing as well as the Beijing office of the global consultancy firm PwC. In addition to the excellent insights gleaned from the corporate sessions, students also experienced the Bund in Shanghai, the National Panda Center in Chengdu, cultural and historical cornerstones, the Great Wall of China, Beijing’s Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square and of course, the “Forbidden City.” Takeaways from the Experience All in all, a vast amount of learning took place, proving the core idea of the aforementioned proverb to be true—there really is a lot of educational value in travel! Like the paradoxical statements from Chairman Mao and former Secretary Paulson, many of our students left China feeling torn between the two potential extremes of its future prospects and prosperity.  Whether China continues its torrent rise or stumbles along the way, one fact will remain—China is an incredible classroom for all those who visit. The post China Serves as a Classroom for MBA Students appeared first on Duke MBA Student Blog.

Welcome to Fuqua Class of 2017! Get ready for a great journey!
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