Hi folks! Just got done with the women's weekend - the session was well-run, I had a great time. Thought I'd share my notes from sessions and chatting with current students. Some of this is relatively common knowledge about the school but I hope it helps anyway..
Misc obeservations:- Current students at Fuqua are all super nice and helpful, answered all my questions (even the blunt annoying ones like "so why did you really choose Fuqua over Kellogg?" and "if you got in here and at school x, where would you go? why?")
- Durham is really...less than exciting. It seems that students really bond about the fact that they are in Durham. (several said, "it's like tuck and hanover...only duke and durham")
- Everything really is student run - from Fuqua Friday to the whole weekend, it was all organized by the students. Was really well done!
Admissions/Financial Aid- Every app is read at least twice, by staff/students/contract essay readers (mostly alums)
- Biggest Pitfalls the AdCom sees on essays:
1) make sure you answer the essay question being asked
2) Make sure your answer is tailored to Duke - don't copy/paste from other schools
3) Be cautious with humor - sometimes the meaning doesn't come across well, just ends up being awkward
4) Make sure you demonstrate passion (for the school, your job, etc)
- Qualities they look for in your app:
1) Do you think differently?
2) Do you value culture? will you be a good fit?
3) How will you give back and impact your school, classmates?
- They expect this year to be as competitive or slightly more than last year. Despite the slight increase in apps, they don't plan to increase the class size
- Leaders of Consequence essay (many people asked about this): Adcom said they were looking to understand how you will shape the world. Broadly speaking, outside work, what impact will you have on the world?
HSM- If you are applying for HSM, the HSM office does review your app prior to admission.
- Fuqua is looking to increase classes on the payor side, increase integration w/ law and policy schools through classes
- if you want to do anything in the healthcare space and don't have HSM, recruiters will ask you why you didn't do the HSM concentration
- they are looking to start a HSM GATE trip for next year to Africa
- About 20% of students are in HSM; the program enrollment is not capped though.
Entrepeneurship at Fuqua- Huge push to get Fuqua known for Entrepeneurship - they want people to say "Oh Entrep Schools? Like MIT, Haas, Stanford and Duke?"
- There's a Program for Entrepeneurs that gives you course credit for starting a company; it's invitation only, based on interest expressed in your application. This year, they had 6 people doing it, for next year, they're thinking 8 people. Howie Rhee (program director) reviews apps for potential candidates.
- Geographically, they find that VCs in the RTP area are really welcoming to Duke students. Harder to get to the ones in Cali, have to fly there a lot on your own (that's the case in most schools apparently).
- Fuqua is increasing the courses that are offered in Entrepeneurship.
- Support for Entrep includes: Startup Matchmaker Blog, Startup Support Group, Duke Startup Challenge, EVCC Club, Entrepeneurship week, Duke Global Entrep Network, Week in Cities
Career Stuff:
- "Duke loves Duke" - apparently, Duke grads (not just Fuqua, all Duke) really like hiring Fuqua students
- This is the first year that a non-profit (Education Pioneers) was listed as one of the top employers of Fuqua grads. Hoping this means that Net Impact will increase membership, etc.
- For GM, John Deer loves hiring Duke kids. lots of alums work there, really have strong hiring presence.
- For Consulting, Deloitte has a huge Duke network. Lots of alums work there too, really hire lots of Fuqua grads.
23 Nov 2008, 09:18
