https://gmatclub.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2015-06-16_19-29-30-150x150.png By Adam Hoff, Amerasia Consulting Group This is a post I write basically every year because it comes from what I'm seeing each round, every day, on basically every application. That drum beat is really rigid, hard-to-read Why School X sections on essays. I give the same note to every single client so now I'm giving it to everybody: the simplest and most important thing you can do to improve your Why School X portion of career goals essay is to personalize any and all content. This is a great way to avoid writing something off-putting, as well as a quick and easy method for making your essays warmer, more personal, and easier to connect with. So, what do I mean by "personalizing" this part of the app? Simple: make anything you write about the school specific to you, your experience, your desires, or what you require from a program. Never just state absolutes, generalities, or even known truths and facts - always make them personally-held viewpoints. Examples are the best way to understand this (after the jump): Example #1 GOOD - "I am seeking an intense MBA experience, which is why INSEAD is my top choice." BAD - "INSEAD is one of the most intense MBA programs in the world." WHY - The first sentence is a statement about what you want (an intense experience), which is used as justification for pursuing the school. It doesn't matter whether you are right or wrong in your assessment, so long as you believe it and can then base a decision on that belief. Whereas in the second sentence, you are simply stating a fact. There are multiple problems with this: A) you might be wrong, B) even if you are right it might sound lecturing (which can irritate a reader who is far more of an expert on the subject than you are), or C) even if you are right and the reader is not mildly irritated, you still miss a chance to express something about you. Anything in any essay that doesn't tell the reader more about you, your world, and what you want is wasted space. Example #2 Good - "One thing that drew me to Duke right away was the small class size, which has always been the ideal setting for me to grow and learn." BAD - "Small class sizes are the best way to learn, which is why I love Duke." WHY - This one has a wrinkle, which is that the "bad" sentence sort of seems to personalize the statement with the "why I love Duke" part. The problem is that the revelation is still not based on a personal belief, but rather a statement of fact. Indeed, this statement of fact is even more egregious than the INSEAD statement above because it's offering up as concrete fact something that is highly debatable. Maybe large classes are the best way to learn. Maybe it's online. Maybe it's one-on-one. Who are you to say? Who am I to say? None of us are experts in the sphere of ideal learning models, so this just sounds completely arrogant. Whereas in the "good" example, we see that it's simply a personal preference that is the basis for further interest in Duke. I could go on and on and write 10 examples, but two is probably enough. The main thing is to read every single sentence you write about a program and make sure that it's always personal - told from your perspective, your opinion, your beliefs, and your desires. If it dissolves into "brochure writing" - just statements of fact, no matter how benign or flattering to the school - there is zero upside and plenty of downside. It's a small thing, but we see it crop up in probably 90% of the essays we read, so it's obviously a fairly widespread problem. And while it may not be the entire difference between being admitted or denied, it can definitely be the difference between getting a good or a bad read of your file. And in our experience, *that* is often the difference between being admitted or denied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are interested in making sure your essays are personalized (as well as everything else they need to be), hit us up at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com .

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01 Sep 2022, 11:00

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: The Recruiting Experience of the Greater China Club’s Students

Due to the pandemic and unpredictable international relations, students from Greater China faced an unprecedented and challenging recruiting season. However, with the support from the Fuqua community, students in the Class of 2022 from Greater China still achieved a strong recruiting performance. Here are some of the statistical data:

To provide better insight into their overall recruiting experience, we interviewed some of the students. The following are some excerpts:

Q: What resources did you leverage at Fuqua during the recruiting process?

A: In the preliminary preparation stage, I referred to the annual employment report. The historical data provided information about detailed recruiting results including industry and employers, which guided me to have a clear goal after graduation. In the later stage, connecting with alumni to learn about their experiences is the key to success. Additionally, the school’s Career Management Center (CMC) provided guidance such as roadmap workshops and mock interview sessions to assist students during the recruiting sessions.

A: The resources provided by the school are helpful. The first resource are the job opportunities sourced by the CMC. I received my internship offer by applying for a job in the CMC system. The second resource is the individual sessions provided by the CMC’s career coaches and sector directors. They will track your recruiting status and conduct mock interviews to ensure that you are fully prepared for your interview. The third is the support from alumni. They helped send referrals, write recommendation letters, and do mock interviews with students at school.

Q: What difficulties did you encounter during the preparation, and how did you overcome them?

A: The biggest challenge for me is not receiving an interview. I believe it is essential to understand how to obtain the interview invites and find the right channel and timing to reach out to recruiters.

A: For international students, we need to pay attention to the visa sponsorship issue in the job search. In addition, you will inevitably find cultural differences in networking. However, as long as you capture the target position’s requirements and are prepared to demonstrate your relevant capabilities and experiences, most cultural differences are not enough to affect the recruiting results.

A: The difficulty is that sometimes we may not achieve all our goals on the first attempt. In the recruiting process, continually positioning your background, experience, strengths, and weaknesses and then improving yourself is helpful to achieving your goals.

Q: What advice do you have for prospective students?

A: The Duke MBA program will provide plenty of on-campus opportunities. At the same time, leveraging the Fuqua alumni resources is crucial. Actively participate in networking, don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, and embrace friendly competition among peers. The supportive community made me realize what Team Fuqua is.

A: Don’t limit yourself to a specific field. Reach out to more people early to learn about industries, roles, and career paths. Your efforts will help you understand your goal, adjust your strategy to align with your goal, and finally, you will achieve your goal!

The post The Recruiting Experience of the Greater China Club’s Students appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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14 Oct 2022, 13:00

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: From Durham to Seoul with the Help of Fuqua

Back when I was applying to Fuqua, I remember there was an essay portion asking you to describe your 5-year and 10-year ambitions. Coincidentally, I had just found out about the Samsung Global Strategy Group and decided to write about that as part of my 5-year ambitions. It was my ideal path given my goal for an international experience and for the opportunity to work in an industry I’m passionate about.

Fast forward three years, I’ve graduated and am now with Samsung, working and living in South Korea. The path I took to get here wouldn’t have been possible without Fuqua. Not only did Fuqua open doors for me, but it also taught me how to adapt and succeed in a foreign country.

Culturally Diverse Network

Arriving at Fuqua with a 400-student class was intimidating, but soon, I realized I was immersed in an intellectual environment with individuals from all around the world. In my core study team alone, we had six different cultures and two members from countries other than the U.S. The best part was the different cuisines I would’ve never gotten to try without them. The homemade Columbian arepas and Greek soutzoukakia are foods I still crave today.

Arriving in South Korea was a similar experience. I’m a Chinese-American whose only exposure to Asia was short-term vacations. Here, I’m surrounded by different languages, mindsets, and food. Keeping an open-minded outlook, I embraced what South Korea has to offer. My company offers Korean classes so I could expand my vocabulary more than what watching K-dramas taught me. I’ve tried raw octopus (not bad with soy sauce) and various other traditional Korean foods that can’t be found in America.

Balanced Curriculum

The learnings from these three courses, Business Computer Applications (BCA), Leadership Communication, and Foundations of Strategy, are still applied to my daily work life:

From BCA, I was able to learn new shortcuts in Excel, enhance my skills in other programs such as SQL, and learn new data visualization tools such as Power BI.
From Leadership Communication, I was able to learn how to effectively present to an audience and how to give and incorporate feedback.
From Foundations of Strategy, I was able to learn to storyline.

For many of us that are career-switching, the combination of hard skills and soft skills is important.

As a global strategist at Samsung, I use Excel to build my framework and analysis. When I’m building my presentations, I think about what message I want to tell on each slide and how I want to tell the story while presenting my work to my peers, supervisors, and leaders in the business. These are skills all learned through my past experiences and Fuqua.

Even though the transition to South Korea hasn’t been all smooth (long story), Fuqua did make it easier for me. With the culturally diverse environment, the education, and the alumni network in Korea, Fuqua gave me what was needed so I wouldn’t be afraid to live or work here or anywhere else.

The post From Durham to Seoul with the Help of Fuqua appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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26 Oct 2022, 14:00

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: What is EDGE and How Can MBAs Interested in Energy and the Environment Get Involved?

It’s hard to read the business press these days without running into headlines about energy and the environment. They range from tech companies pledging to reduce their carbon footprints and banks adding new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing products to consumer goods companies offering new sustainable products and energy companies investing in renewable power generation assets.

In 2021, $40 billion of VC investment was invested in climate technology ventures. Just this year, Deloitte announced it would invest $1 billion in building its climate and sustainability practice. As investors and consumers increasingly call for companies to respond to social and environmental issues, it’s clear that gaining an understanding of energy and sustainability issues is a good move for MBAs. Working in the energy or sustainability sector not only provides a meaningful way for MBAs to contribute to social good, but it also presents compelling leadership and innovation opportunities.

Since 2010, Fuqua’s Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) has been a hub for expertise in energy, environment, and sustainability topics, bringing industry connections to campus and offering cutting-edge programs for students interested in these topics.

Together, EDGE executive director Dan Vermeer, faculty director Rick Larrick, other campus stakeholders, and I help students connect with experiential learning opportunities, extracurricular activities, and networks to build deep subject matter expertise in energy and environment topics while at Fuqua.

Sound great? Here are a few of the ways you can get involved with EDGE as an MBA student.

Take the EDGE Seminar.

The for-credit EDGE Seminar course offered in both the fall and spring terms brings industry professionals to campus to talk about current energy and environment topics. The fall seminars primarily feature energy sector speakers, while the spring seminars focus primarily on sustainability and ESG topics.

Work on an EDGE-affiliated FCCP project.

The Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP) is a terrific way to apply your MBA skills in a real-world context and build your industry credentials. Specific projects vary from year to year, but a subset of five to eight projects each year feature energy and environment challenges. Dan Vermeer sources and advises these projects.

Become an EDGE Fellow.

EDGE fellows work on research projects and thought leadership in partnership with our center. Most often, fellows work on writing projects for publication on our widely-read MBA EDGE platform. If you have a particular research interest, come talk to us about ways to join an ongoing research project or scope your own.

Participate in events—or lead them!

EDGE is an advisor to several student-run annual events, including the Duke University Energy Conference, Sustainable Business & Social Impact Conference, ClimateCAP Summit, and Blue Economy Summit. We work closely with the teams of students who design, plan, and execute these incredible events.

Most importantly, we at EDGE are here to be a partner to you in your educational journey. Dan, Rick, and I are happy to meet with students any time to help you think through ways to get connected with impactful programming and opportunities at Fuqua. The time is right to be working on energy and sustainable business issues. Come connect with us! In the meantime, watch the video below to hear a current student join me to discuss all the offerings we facilitate for students.

The post What is EDGE and How Can MBAs Interested in Energy and the Environment Get Involved? appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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10 Nov 2022, 08:00

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Class of 2022 Sets Record High Salaries and Acceptances

Our 2022 graduates have once again proven their agility and resilience. After all, they began their Duke MBA journey at the height of the pandemic, when almost everything about the business school experience had to be adapted to keep everyone safe. Yet, glancing at the 2021–2022 Daytime MBA Employment Report, you would never have guessed the challenging context in which the graduating class set new school records.

Record High Salaries

We believe there is much more to a job than compensation, but it’s worth noting that base salary hit a record-high median of $160,055. That’s a one-year jump of more than 14% from last year’s $140,000 median. You may notice if you look at past reports that we cited mean more often than median—but we’ve updated the metric this year to median as it is the more common standard for comparison.

Record High Acceptances

Reflecting strong employer demand, 98% of the Class of 2022 had received at least one job offer by three months post-graduation. Several graduates also reported they received offers a very short time after that window, in late August and September, so they are not reflected in that percentage.

2022 saw a new record in job acceptances at 97% in three months post-graduation, up one percentage point from 96% in 2021. It’s not uncommon to see acceptance rates decrease in times of employment growth, as graduates have the confidence to say no to early offers that aren’t the right fit. In a hot job market, the high acceptance rate is a signal that 2022 Duke MBA grads got the jobs they wanted.

Record Consulting Acceptances

Driving these increases is a surge in consulting. Both by function and industry, more Duke MBAs took consulting jobs than ever before. More than a third of 2022 grads went to an employer in the consulting industry. At 36%, that’s a relative increase of 12.5% from 32% of the previous year’s class. The rise was even more dramatic by job function, with 40% citing their role as consulting, up seven percentage points from 2021, a 21% jump in only one year.

Record Number of Students Reporting

It’s worth noting the data in this report is based on confirmed reports from 99.2% of the graduating class, which is likely a record of its own! The MBA Career Services and Employer Alliance sets the industry standard for reporting data at 85% or higher. At Fuqua, we strive to provide the most complete representation possible of Duke MBA employment across the entire class and thus work to learn as much information as possible about each student’s status. We are grateful to the Class of 2022 who partnered with us to make such a high level of transparency possible in this report.

Internships Mirror Full-Time Trends

Summer 2022 internship data for the Class of 2023 reflect similar trends and outcomes as the graduating class. Median compensation increased 13% over last year, from $9,167 per month in 2021 to $10,392 per month in 2022. The industry and function footprints are also similar to the 2022 grads, with consulting on the rise in both categories from the previous year.

The top industries for our MBA summer interns were consulting, financial services, technology, and health care. The most popular summer roles were in consulting, finance, marketing, and general management and accounted for 88% of reported job functions.

Strong Industry Partners

Vital to our students’ employment success are strong relationships and a proven track record with many of the world’s premier employers. We are grateful to partner with perennial top hiring companies such as Amazon, Bain, Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Deloitte, Google, McKinsey, and many others that invest significant time, care, and resources into recruiting and hiring Duke MBAs each year. We’ve seen that virtual recruiting increases the ease of access for both employers and students, and it’s exciting to welcome new employers to our recruiting portfolio as a result.

With the ongoing impact of the pandemic, continued shifts across the business landscape, and potential economic uncertainty ahead, what remains constant is the caliber and resilience of our students. With an entrepreneurial spirit and leadership skills for an increasingly complex world, I’m proud to say once again that Duke MBAs not only respond to change but thrive in it.

The post Class of 2022 Sets Record High Salaries and Acceptances appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: How Fuqua Helped Me to Be Successful in My Recruiting Process

As an international student living in the U.S. for the first time, it was really challenging to recruit for a job as the process was new to me.

Understanding the Recruiting Process

In the beginning, I didn’t have the necessary confidence to begin all the conversations and be prepared with a response to the famous TMAY (tell me about yourself) prompt. I remember my first conversation with Dave Solloway, a member of the Career Management Center (CMC), before I started classes at Fuqua. Since the first moment we spoke, he has been supportive, tried to understand my story, and helped me to structure my TMAY. I remember taking notes on all his recommendations and started organizing my TMAY—one of the most important things to have for the recruiting process. Since you are going to mention it in most of your conversations it must be powerful to generate a great impact.

Also, very early into our time at Fuqua, we started having sessions with the CMC and the various clubs to better understand the recruiting process. They walked us through the whole process, including how to start small talk, conduct a mock interview, and potentiate your LinkedIn profile and resume.

Mentorship From Classmates

A key element for me was the help of second-year MBAs. They helped me review my resume and sent me examples of cover letters and mock preparation. Also, they helped me to build an adequate strategy to apply to more than one industry. A very important person in my process was second-year student, Milagros Favre. From our first conversation at her apartment, she was very supportive, gave me tips, and took the time to go line by line through my resume and think with me about the ideas I wanted to communicate.

My C-Lead team was also an important element of my successful recruiting process, because when I was busy with coffee chats, interviews, traveling to New York, or other things, they helped me stay caught up in the classes we shared. Also, my Fuqua friends and partner were critical to me. They motivated me all the way and celebrated my achievements. Now, as an admissions ambassador, when someone asks me one of my favorite things about Fuqua that has surprised me, it’s the great friends I have from Brazil, South Korea, Iran, and the U.S., among others. It is one of the most valuable things that Fuqua has given me.

Practice!

I remember when I was receiving invitations to interview, but I was not feeling confident about succeeding and converting the interview into an offer. I told this to Dave, and he immediately offered me time to practice. We spoke for 30–40 minutes. He asked me some questions, I gave my answers, and then together we gave some structure to my answers. He helped me to boost my confidence and was so helpful with his advice because in the same week I used a lot of the things that we practiced together and received my first offer. Having my first offer helped me to be more confident in my interviews, and I started receiving other offers. If you asked me months before, I would never have imagined the outcome that I had from my recruiting process. I was surprised at how Team Fuqua was able to potentiate me and helped me demonstrate my true self.

All in all, I consider that my success is part of the sum of all the help that I received from many different people: my friends, second years, the CMC, clubs, alumni, among others. This is part of what Team Fuqua is for me—the way everyone helps each other. If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go with a team.

The post How Fuqua Helped Me to Be Successful in My Recruiting Process appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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06 Jan 2023, 07:00

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: A Video Guide to the Daytime MBA Application

Your MBA application is meant to capture your personality, accomplishments, and ambitions. However, we know the process can seem overwhelming at times, so our admissions team made a series of videos to help you make the most of your application.

Academics

We want to see your academic progress and if you are ready to take on the MBA curriculum. Our team uses transcripts as a roadmap through your academic journey, while standardized test scores demonstrate your readiness for an MBA. Watch this breakdown of the academic portion of the MBA application:

Essay

Each of the three required essays shows our admissions team a different side of you, including post-MBA goals, 25 random things, and ways you will be an active part of Team Fuqua. Learn more about each required essay, and how submitting an optional essay could help you answer questions raised in other parts of your application:

1-page Business Resume

A one-page resume is the main way for you to show your work experience, but our team looks beyond your level of experience. Watch this explanation of our “quality versus quantity” approach and the three ways you can adjust your resume for the MBA application:

Letter of Recommendation

A letter of recommendation gives us a look at the impression you have made on a supervisor or colleague. The most valuable recommendations help us evaluate your professional performance and abilities. For anyone struggling to obtain a letter of recommendation, our admissions team offers these four suggestions:

Interview

The most common form is an interview by invitation, but you can also initiate an interview during open interview season. In this video, we explain how to prepare for your interview, including the one big question that comes up every time:

The post A Video Guide to the Daytime MBA Application appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Why We Are Adding Another Admissions Deadline this Year

The past three years have been some of the most unusual in my 17 years at Fuqua. The impact of COVID on our lives was significant. In addition to the pandemic, we face new challenges: geopolitical struggles, rising inflation, large scale layoffs, supply chain disruptions, and more. There’s a lot going on in the world, and a lot of what is happening can feel overwhelming.

Our Admissions team feels it is important to acknowledge that context. As a result, we are adding another admission round this year to better support Daytime or Accelerated Daytime MBA candidates who find themselves in circumstances beyond their control—whether it be caring for a sick family member or facing an unexpected layoff.

Here is how it will work:

Our Round 3 application deadline will move to February 13, 2023

We are adding a Round 4 application deadline of March 28, 2023

The application will be available by January 13th.

Additionally, to allow maximum prep time for applicants new to the process, we’ll also allow students to apply by February 13 as long as they have a standardized test (GMAT, GRE, or Executive Assessment) scheduled to be taken by February 28. Self-reported scores can be given to Fuqua after the student takes the test and before admissions decisions are made.

Students admitted in Round 3 will still have time to attend Blue Devil Weekend, our admitted student weekend. Round 3 admission will also give international students enough time to process visa paperwork. Admissions in Rounds 3 and 4 give everyone time to complete financial aid and loan paperwork, and to prepare to move to Durham.

Our Admissions team wants to make it as easy as possible to help you prepare your application. We have put together a series of virtual sessions covering each component of the application, a special session on the Executive Assessment exam and who should consider it, in-person fair events and essay workshops, and more. You can find more information in our event schedule.

We have also created a series of short videos with application tips. You can view them here.

Additional information about application instructions, deadlines, and decision releases, can be found here.

Wherever you are in the application journey, we look forward to getting to know you better.

The post Why We Are Adding Another Admissions Deadline this Year appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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12 Jan 2023, 09:00

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: How Fuqua Fueled My Esports Passion

It’s February 2019. I’m in the second year of my MBA, and I’m in the Fuqua auditorium leading a Blue Cup competition against UNC (our annual Duke vs. UNC “MBA Olympics”). The crowd is chanting our classmate’s name. You would have thought it was a high-stakes professional sports match, but no, it’s a Super Smash Brothers match, with the glory of Duke on the line. Elimination after elimination—that classmate’s fighter took down his foes without losing a single life and secured the first-ever esports cup for Fuqua. That moment symbolized a key theme of esports: “anyone can be the best,” no matter your physical capabilities.

Following My Passion

I started my career in finance as an analyst, and eventually took a deeper interest in strategic analysis and management. Knowing I needed an MBA to take things to the next level, Fuqua best represented what I valued: teamwork, humility, and leadership. Not to mention, it had one of the best student communities I could find. As a first-year student, I didn’t know what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I explored everything from entrepreneurship, consulting, investment banking, and just about everything else. However, I knew I was an entertainment (particularly gaming) and sports nerd, and that I do my best work when I’m passionate about what I’m doing, so companies like Disney and Blizzard Entertainment were at the top of my list.

Landing at Blizzard

With the help of the career management center, fellow students, and a little luck, I landed an internship at Activision Blizzard doing esports product strategy. Now, I’m the Global Head of the Overwatch League. I’ve gone from developing business cases for digital engagement tools as an intern to leading a global team focused on bringing epic entertainment to millions of fans. While the job isn’t perfect and, like any other job, has its frustrations, we’ve seen great success and I enjoy the dynamic nature and dedicated, talented individuals around me.

My family and I attending an Overwatch League tournament

Fuqua gave me the tools I needed to confidently navigate a career, the courage to follow a passion, and lasting connections that aren’t providing me shallow “career help,” but are friends that celebrate each other’s lives. While I confess that I still may not know what I’ll be when I grow up, I’m grateful for the experiences and people at Fuqua that set an invaluable foundation for whatever is to come.

The post How Fuqua Fueled My Esports Passion appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Empowering Low-Income, First-Generation College Students at Fuqua

I’m a first-generation college student and a Latinx woman from a low-income background. My identities made me the person I am but also came with unique barriers to pursuing my MBA journey, whether mental, emotional, or financial. The process of researching and applying to business schools took me more than three years and truthfully, I gave up on several occasions. I felt intense imposter syndrome and never believed I would be able to get into an MBA program, especially as a nontraditional candidate coming from the nonprofit sector, with little to no network of MBAs.

And then it happened. Despite my insecurities, I was accepted into six different MBA programs, including Fuqua where I was awarded a full ride as a CASE scholar (now called Fuqua Impact Scholar). What should have been one of the most joyous moments in my life also became one of intense anxiety and fear. As the financial safety net of my family, how was I going to stop working for two years? Would I be successful and actually able to find a job, or was this a mistake? Would I be able to connect with others who shared similar feelings? Little did I know I would find a community of support and space through a new Fuqua club, LIFE (low-income, first-generation experience).

My LIFE Experience

My mother immigrated to the U.S. from Nicaragua during the 1980s due to political unrest, with my brother who was a baby at the time. She took on whichever jobs she could find as a non-English speaker with only a high school education. As a child, my mom worked from 3 a.m. to 12 p.m. at a factory, and on the weekends, I would help her clean houses. We rented apartments and lived paycheck to paycheck, with some especially challenging years during economic downturns.

Education became not only my outlet, but a means to survival. I got a job a week after turning 15 and would work 35 hours a week as a full-time high school student, eventually receiving a full-ride to pursue a degree at my public state university. I graduated, the first in my family, Summa Cum Laude. I knew this was an immense privilege and one that many who grew up with similar experiences would not be able to achieve. I no longer wanted to be an exception to my circumstances, and instead, I wanted to mitigate the systemic barriers for other first-generation and socially disadvantaged people to be able to pursue these opportunities.

Finding LIFE at Fuqua

Navigating my first year at Fuqua felt like a whirlwind experience with plenty of highs and lows: adjusting to a new environment, being a student from a non-traditional background, and going through the recruiting experience. I found out about LIFE from my COLE fellow, Anna Menegais. LIFE was a new club that was being charted by her and Indraneel Dharwadkar, to serve as an affinity group for students who shared in this identity. They had laid the groundwork to form the club and get it approved by the MBAA, Fuqua’s student governing body, to become a fully-chartered club for the following school year. At the end of Spring Term 1, I decided to run for co-president of LIFE along with Bill Beaven, a fellow first-year student and friend.

Making LIFE a Community

When Bill and I became co-presidents of LIFE we were tasked with building its mission, vision, and infrastructure. Together we set out to build a cabinet that would drive the initiatives of building LIFE into the space we knew was needed: a community that would empower LIFE students at Fuqua by mitigating structural barriers through efforts in admissions, student engagement, professional development, and alumni.

This past October, we held our first event, LIFE Lens, a panel of five current Fuqua students who shared their experiences with the LIFE identity with our Fuqua student body. It was attended by more than 100 students and administrators. The aftermath was a heightened awareness of LIFE and increased support from our allies, and today we have more than 90 members registered in our group.

The Future of LIFE

We are excited to continue to grow the awareness of LIFE, support our current and prospective members, and hold further programming. We have many initiatives and are excited to leverage our allies within the student body and school administration to continue to expand LIFE’s influence. We are hopeful that continued progress will spark other MBA programs and workplaces to create an affinity space for the LIFE identity.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Plotting a Path to Blue Economy Venture Capital

When I first decided to go back to graduate school, I was sure of only two things: I had a passion for regenerating our oceans, and I had no idea how to turn that passion into a career.

Lucky for me, I was introduced to Dan Vermeer the summer before I committed to Duke, and our resulting conversation helped to turn the tide for my career. Dan’s passion for the ocean and excitement over the opportunities in the blue economy was contagious. As he spoke about his work at Fuqua’s Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment (EDGE), the Ocean 100 project, and Oceans[url=https://gmatclub.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&un=duke]duke[/url], I became more and more convinced that a dual MEM/MBA degree at Duke University was the perfect place for me to take a deep dive into the blue economy.

Year 1: The Maiden Voyage

When I arrived at the Nicholas School to begin my Master of Environmental Management degree, I was singularly focused on gaining experience within the ocean environment. The Nicholas School offered classes that provided a scientific understanding of the ocean and allowed me to gain critical knowledge in coastal restoration ecology, ocean law and policy, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) certifications and reporting. I also joined Oceansduke as a programming assistant and had the opportunity to learn from faculty working on ocean issues across all Duke graduate schools.

As I became more involved with the ocean community at Duke, I was exposed to incredibly innovative projects and had the opportunity to develop a first-of-its-kind interdisciplinary case study on sea level rise and managed retreat. Although I had no previous experience writing a case study, the encouragement and support from my professors allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone and apply classroom concepts to a high-stakes issue.

At the end of my first year, I was confident a career in oceans was possible, but I was still unsure of how exactly that career would unfold.

[img]https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mba/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/01/Mackenzie-Audino-collecting-trash-1024x817.jpg[/img]
I helped to clean up beaches in Indonesia with Parley for the Oceans, a nonprofit environmental organization

Year 2: Finding My Sea-Legs

My second year at Duke was my first year as an MBA student at Fuqua. I was looking forward to developing the skillset I needed to establish myself as a business leader in the blue economy, but I was also anxious to embark on a new journey full of quant classes and cold calls. Soon I realized that my anxiety was unfounded. From day one of orientation, I was blown away by the support from faculty and fellow students to ensure everyone had the tools they needed to succeed.

As I debated my recruitment path, I leaned heavily on the experience of second years and advice from faculty. I had always been intrigued by the world of impact investing and venture capital but felt that my lack of financial expertise meant it was out of reach. When I met with Katie Kross, the Managing Director at EDGE, and expressed my interest in blue economy venture capital, it wasn’t a question of “if” but “how.” She asked me to envision my ideal career and then helped me chart a path to reach that goal. From that moment on, I dove head-first into the world of ocean-focused VC.

Joining the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club provided me with an immediate support group of students with similar goals. The second years were so welcoming and eager to share tips and lessons learned that I was never embarrassed by my inexperience. With their encouragement, I landed a fellowship at SeaAhead, an early-stage blue economy VC firm based in Boston.

As a Venture Analyst at SeaAhead, I gained first-hand experience in fundraising, due diligence, and market research. I was fascinated by the speed of innovation taking place in the blue economy and relished the opportunity to research everything from seaweed and alternative seafood to shipping decarbonization, and the circular economy. I found myself pulling from both my Nicholas School and Fuqua classes and was grateful for my dual degree background.

An Eye Toward the Horizon

As I write this, I am on Winter break and sitting at the kitchen table at my family’s home in Seattle. I feel the ocean’s pull as I look out at the Puget Sound and reflect on the past year and a half. I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve had at Duke that have helped me to hone my career path and identify my role in the broader impact landscape. I also look toward the next year and a half and beyond with excitement and a sense of purpose. I believe there is no climate change solution that does not involve the ocean, and I am thrilled to do my part in supporting innovation to secure the long-term health of our oceans.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Fuqua’s Growing Role in Cultivating Entrepreneurship Skills for All Duke Students

When you hear the word “collision,” the first thing that may come to mind is a violent crash, so you may be surprised to learn that Fuqua is striving to create more collisions — “creative collisions,” to be exact.

In the entrepreneurial world, creative collisions are a way for people with different perspectives to come together and generate fresh ideas and insights, and, on occasion, can result in sparks that ignite fires that change the world.

At Duke, many more creative collisions will be made possible thanks to Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Duke I&E), a new partnership between Fuqua and Duke Interdisciplinary Studies that provides curricular and co-curricular programming to students across Duke. As the director of Duke I&E—and someone who has taught thousands of innovators and entrepreneurs—I am passionate about the impact that’s possible when students who are empowered with an entrepreneurial mindset and skills can make these types of connections.

Duke I&E has experienced incredible growth since it launched a decade ago. Today, Duke I&E offers the university’s second most popular undergraduate certificate, a clear indication of the appetite for entrepreneurship skills among the undergraduate population. But until now, it has lacked a central physical hub on campus.

Now, with a permanent home at Fuqua, Duke I&E will serve as a place where Fuqua students frequently cross paths with Duke students studying engineering, computer science, public policy, and beyond. Students from across the university will exchange ideas in Fuqua’s classrooms, on working teams, in Duke I&E’s new innovation hub (opening in 2023), or just passing in the hallway.

This partnership ensures that all Duke students interested in innovation and entrepreneurship will get the best of what Duke has to offer: interdisciplinary experiential learning opportunities, collaboration with peers and faculty from across the university, and access to cutting-edge research and facilities. Duke’s strong curricular and co-curricular programs in innovation and entrepreneurship will be scaled in a way that ensures their ongoing high quality, and they will be informed by leading faculty research in innovation and entrepreneurship.

For Fuqua students, Duke I&E’s goal is not necessarily to produce more entrepreneurs who start new ventures—although we will certainly serve those students with the education and resources to succeed—but to equip tomorrow’s business leaders with the mindset and tools they need to flourish. With education in innovation and entrepreneurship, students become better critical observers. They become more creative, able to generate novel solutions to difficult problems. They become more disciplined, more resourceful, and more inclined to take action. And they become more likely and better able to affect meaningful change — not only in entrepreneurial endeavors, but in established organizations throughout the profit and non-profit world.

A core tenet of Duke I&E is cross-disciplinary engagement. By including students from a mix of academic interests — environmental engineering, computer science, business and law, to name a few — teams are better able to solve problems and address issues from a broader and deeper perspective.

Exposure to other disciplines also allows you to see new opportunities, to spark your own ideas, and even to join a team of founders. Toward that end, we will be hosting matchmaking events that allow student founders trying to form startup teams to pitch ideas to other students from across campus. These teams will be assigned mentors to advance their ideas. We will also hold lunch-and-learns where teams can share information with each other and mentors. And our New Ventures courses will continue to provide enrichment opportunities to students across Duke.

As Fuqua Dean Bill Boulding has noted, “Innovation and entrepreneurship play a central role in realizing the promise that business offers to address today’s toughest societal challenges and greatest opportunities.”

Duke chose Fuqua to be the central hub for Duke I&E because we are best equipped to help cultivate Duke students’ entrepreneurial spirit, mindset, and skills. By housing Duke I&E at Fuqua, we create the ideal environment for vital and serendipitous creative collisions.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Keep Your Ultimate Goals for an MBA in Mind When Balancing Opportunities

If you are preparing to attend Fuqua… first of all CONGRATULATIONS!! This is one of the best decisions I have ever made. Secondly, take the time to consider how you want to leave Fuqua. Are there certain skills you want to possess? Do you want to turn your business concept into a legitimate company? Do you want to build bonds or create a legacy?

Rather than coming to campus saying “I want to join XYZ club,” think about what you want to gain and stay flexible. There may be even better avenues to accomplish your end goals for an MBA. As I was preparing to move to Durham, I had my eyes set on 15 to 20 different clubs, experiential opportunities, and leadership positions. However, I knew that balancing it all would be impossible—you’ll see how jam-packed just a single day at Fuqua can get in my video below. Instead, I defined goals for myself that align with who I wanted to be once I graduate and found opportunities to help get me there.

Within the first few months of being on campus, I stood in front of my section (a group of 65-75 students who are in the same core classes together) and told them why they should elect me as their section representative. I was nervous, shaking, and hoping it wasn’t terribly obvious in my voice. Despite how proud I was to put myself out there and take the risk, I could not ignore how devastated I was when I was not selected. It was not until later that I realized this was just one role of many that could help me accomplish my goals. By fixating on a single role, I was limiting the opportunities available to me that I may not even know about.

Just a few months later, a friend of mine was a student representative on Fuqua’s Board of Visitors. This role perfectly aligned with a few of my goals, including forming connections across Fuqua (peers, alumni, administration, etc.), improving my executive presence, and boosting my confidence. After learning more about the role, I was incredibly intimidated, but knew I would be challenged exactly how I needed to be challenged.

If I had narrowed my concentration to a rigid list of student clubs and organizations, I may have bypassed this enormous development opportunity. By staying goal-centric and flexible, I have been intentional with my campus involvement and have become a more well-rounded future business leader.

In general, as you prepare for your MBA journey, create goals to help structure your personal and professional development. Think about the greater picture: how do you want these two years to impact the next ten or twenty years? Business school flies by, so make the most of it!

Here’s what a day in my life as a student looks like:

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Exploring the World of Private Equity

I have always been very curious about the skills I would need for a career in private equity (PE). It combines the topics I love the most learning about, which are business and finance; however, I came to Fuqua with very little knowledge of the field. I worked as a strategy consultant in Brazil and Mexico, and I knew I would want to pursue a career in PE at some point in my life.

Fuqua has great opportunities for those who want to explore the PE world. One example is the leveraged buyout (LBO) workshop. The workshop lasted four weeks with weekly meetings to discuss the assignments and it is a collaboration between Duke Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Duke I&E) and the PE Club, two fantastic organizations that teach students about this very interesting field.

The LBO workshop is taught by experienced colleagues from Fuqua who worked in the PE market, focused on supporting students with the modeling that PE firms typically use to understand the possibilities of closing deals and generating value. The workshop was based on individual assignments with open discussion in the classroom. We had to build our spreadsheets from scratch and design a model taking into account all the different strategic aspects of an existing business, forecasting the financials, and defining a final valuation with multiple sensitivity analyses as the PE firms do.

We learned all the important details of what to consider in the model, as well as the dynamics in the decisions during the actual work. It was an awesome experience! Even having very little knowledge in the field, I learned tons!

The LBO workshop was interesting, not only because leveraged buyouts are a common topic asked during the recruiting process of the PE funds, but also for the understanding and discussions during weekly meetings, which made me even more interested in the field. I am really grateful to Fuqua, Duke I&E, and the PE Club for this unique opportunity.

As a next step, I am taking a new course called the Private Equity Buyouts Lab. I am putting these new skills into action to select a buyout target and develop a full investment thesis with the support of a committee of Fuqua alumni that are professionals in the industry. I am loving the class. The practice, hands-on work, and the connection to and support from our alumni network make this course unique in many ways.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: How We Prepare MBAs To Be Climate Leaders

While working in corporate sustainability in the private sector, it was clear to me that business leaders who understood the complexity of climate and its business implications were better prepared to manage, and succeed in, the changing world in which we operated. Instead of being resistant and reactionary, these leaders were better positioned to respond to uncertainty and even capitalize on the opportunities of a world that is transitioning to a low-carbon future. As the climate conversation becomes a requirement of doing business across industries, it’s no surprise that the need for climate-savvy MBA graduates has grown exponentially in recent years, with no sign of slowing down. In my new role as the Program Lead for the ClimateCAP Initiative, created and managed by the Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) here at Fuqua, I get to work with students at Fuqua and across other top business schools to incorporate climate into their MBA experience.

Broad Climate Exposure

When I was a Daytime MBA student at Fuqua, there was a small but mighty group of MBA and MEM/MBA students interested in climate in the business context. We supported each other in our academic and professional pursuits, but our opportunities to develop a deeper understanding, connect with like-minded students, and get exposure to corporate leaders were limited and siloed. Seeing this need, ClimateCAP was founded in 2016 as a specific measure to address the skill gap of MBA graduates around the topic of business implications of climate. In 2018, ClimateCAP held its first summit to bring together MBA students and corporate leaders to build community and talk about the business implications of climate change.

Since then, ClimateCAP has grown to be a collaborative association of more than 30 top MBA programs. The now annual summit is heavily attended by MBA students from across the world and provides a broad perspective and exposure to timely climate topics. This event is a great opportunity for any MBA student, regardless of their post-graduation plans, to get a primer on the most relevant and impactful climate topics and to connect with peers from other top MBA programs.

For Those Who Want To Go Deeper: The ClimateCAP Fellowship

For those students who want to work in climate and develop a more robust understanding of climate in the business context, we created a new cohort-based fellowship program. The ClimateCAP Fellowship provides academic, personal, and professional development to a select group of MBA students who will become tomorrow’s climate leaders. Through learning & development sessions, networking, and a self-directed climate action project, this transformational experience enables and empowers fellows to become the next generation of climate changemakers.

This program is open to any full-time MBA student, and the inaugural cohort features a truly incredible and diverse group of perspectives. Topics of interest for fellows’ projects range from climate startups, to waste reduction, to climate justice and communications, and many topics in between. ClimateCAP fellows Sarah Grace Tucker and Mackenzie Audino are two perfect examples. Tucker, Daytime MBA ‘24, is focusing her project on sustainable land use with a social equity lens, while Audino, MEM/MBA ’24, is preparing an investment thesis on the blue economy.

Incorporating Climate Into Your MBA Experience

It’s becoming increasingly clear that all MBA graduates, regardless of role or industry, will need to understand climate and its broader economic and social implications in their future careers. The climate conversation can’t be siloed into functions like corporate responsibility when there are clear, business-altering implications for climate in all functions: from finance to operations, strategy, marketing, and beyond. For organizations, hiring an MBA student who has both functional business understanding and an appreciation of the climate context is a no-brainer. For MBA students, climate aptitude is a way to stand out to employers amongst world-class peers. Be sure to dig deeper into climate topics during your MBA experience, and you will be better equipped to succeed in your post-MBA career, no matter where your path takes you.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: How Fuqua Helped Turn My Entrepreneurship Dreams into a Reality

I’ve always been creative. During my childhood, my creativity took the form of fiction writing. Later, I used my creativity to tell the stories of communities as a reporter. In the back of my mind, I always thought it would be cool to create my own media relations and marketing business, but I didn’t know where even to start. Fuqua gave me the tools I needed and, more importantly, a community to lean on.

Classes

Fuqua offers a number of entrepreneurship-focused classes that helped me hone my entrepreneurial skills. All full-time MBA students are required to take the Entrepreneurial Mindset and Action course, which helped me learn about entrepreneurship through hands-on exercises with my classmates. I greatly enjoyed completing our innovation project and presenting it at the end of the class to my section. I also took Entrepreneurial Strategy, where the final project involved pitching our classmates using carefully crafted business plans for our venture ideas. Getting feedback from my peers has been invaluable. Additionally, I took New Ventures: Discovery this year, which is a course designed to expose students to different methodologies behind innovation. One of the coolest parts of the course is that any student at Duke can take the class. I loved learning from others with different perspectives on entrepreneurship and was inspired by their entrepreneurial goals.

All of these classes, along with being surrounded by other tech innovators during my summer internship at Microsoft, inspired me to get started in creating my own media relations and marketing firm. Throughout the school year, I continued to work part-time with an agency and loved helping my clients get media coverage in outlets such as Bloomberg and Forbes. The next step was creating a limited liability corporation (LLC) for my business.

Law Clinic

That’s when I learned about the Duke University Law School Start-Up Ventures Clinic through a classmate and fellow entrepreneur Michelle Addison, who founded the startup Allergood. The clinic pairs law students with entrepreneurs from all corners of Duke and the local community seeking advice on a wide array of legal issues, from company formation to intellectual property protection to commercialization strategies. Supervising professors at the Duke Law School also give their guidance to participants of the program by advising the law students working with the entrepreneurs.

Through the program, I worked with a third-year law student on some trademark issues regarding what I should name my company and how to form an LCC. With that guidance, I was able to formalize the creation of my company MAV Media & Messaging in November 2022.

I am so thankful to attend Duke due to all of the resources available throughout the school as well as the supportive community. I couldn’t have created my business without the support of my fellow Duke students!

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: How Team Fuqua Empowered Me to Be My Authentic Self

My greatest fear in life has always been not being able to do the things I want while being my authentic self. As a queer woman in the process of coming out and earning an MBA in a new country, I was worried about being accepted and being able to live my life to the fullest, both professionally and personally.

The most pressing question on my mind: “What will my life at Fuqua and in Durham be like?”

The first week I arrived on campus, I was struck by how supportive and empowering the Fuqua community was. Our orientation week included a session about us talking about our identities, culture, and our journey. Hearing so many resilient stories from my fellow classmates during these sessions made me recognize the empathetic atmosphere Fuqua tries to nurture.

Comforted by the orientation week experience, I decided to slowly come out at the school. My roommate Simran Kaur, Daytime MBA ’24, was the first person I ever came out to at Fuqua. She was not only understanding, but she also went on to educate herself about the LGBTQ+ community to ensure she could support me. This gave me the confidence to come out to my other friends. I sought acceptance from them and I got love, life-long friendship, and support in return. Throughout my time at Fuqua, my friends became my champions and biggest allies. They even came out to support and celebrate with me at Durham Pride!

Coming from a conservative South Indian community, I never had an opportunity to be a part of LGBTQ+ networks in any capacity. I was unsure how I would be received by the pride community at Fuqua. I was welcomed with warm and open hands. Since day one, FuquaPride has been nothing but a pillar of support for me. I strongly felt that the club was invested to ensure its members feel supported and most importantly they have space to be themselves. Even before I started school, the club assigned me a career mentor to help me succeed in my recruiting journey. The club and Career Management Center (CMC) have been extremely helpful to all members of the pride community in gearing up us for the Reaching Out MBA conference (ROMBA).

Me (far right) and other FuquaPride members at ROMBA’22 conference at Washington, D.C.

My affirming experiences with FuquaPride and the Indus community, a diversity and inclusion club that supports students from South Asia, have motivated me to run for several student body positions at the school. Serving as a section representative has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at Fuqua. My biggest fear of not being able to do things I want to do while being my authentic self was shattered when my section mates elected me to the position. This has unquestionably been one of the most empowering experiences of my life. This experience showed me that the Fuqua community sees who I am as a person rather than my gender or sexual orientation.

Me (front middle) with the Section 2 cabinet

I found a strong allyship at Fuqua. One of my fondest memories at Fuqua was when my section mates came out to support me and my fellow section mate, Vann Vicente (Daytime MBA’24), at the annual Coming Out Day panel where we both shared our coming out journeys!

Vann Vicente and I (middle) speaking at the Coming Out Day panel

My journey so far at Fuqua and Durham has been extremely enriching. For the first time in my life, I get to be myself, and I can say that I’m truly happy.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: The Breadth, Depth and Impact of COP27

Nothing could have prepared me for what it felt like to be at the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27). The first time I entered the conference venue, I made it about two feet before stopping to look for anything familiar in the sea of people before me. Little did I know that we all had a lot more in common than I initially thought. I am pursuing a dual MEM/MBA degree with the goal of working in the corporate sustainability space, and everyone at COP27 was interested in problem-solving to create more sustainable practices. That was the first of many things I learned throughout my week at the conference.

Over the course of seven days, I had the opportunity to learn from countless CEOs and government representatives, among so many other driven and intelligent people. A few examples include the Head of Sustainability for Google in Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA), the Chief Impact Officer of the Carbon Disclosure Project, and the Chairman and Co-founder of GreenBiz. I delved deeply into the challenges of streamlining sustainability disclosure, incentivizing sustainable aviation fuel, and leveraging private sector resources to address sustainability issues. I learned about strawberry farming, the apparel value chain, and Saudi Arabia’s energy goals. I engaged in roundtable discussions regarding youth, agriculture, and sustainability. In many instances, I was fully out of my comfort zone and was learning about topics I had never heard of or had never delved so deeply into.

While some conversations felt scary, the overall experience was magical and left me feeling energized and excited about the future. The breadth of knowledge I gained from COP27 has provided me with a more robust toolkit to leverage as I navigate the classrooms here at Fuqua and Duke’s Nicolas School of the Environment, and the consulting world this summer. I can now ask more informed questions, point out more synergies among topics, and offer more innovative solutions. I can also rely upon my newly expanded network to have my own questions answered.

(From left to right) Elena Carrion, Rachel Gordon, Deborah Gallagher, and I at COP27

Attending this conference was an invaluable experience, and I am incredibly grateful to Duke University, former Business and Environment Chair Deborah Gallagher, my teammates Rachel Gordon and Elena Carrion, and the UN Global Compact for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow in this way. While attending COP felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I hope to be lucky enough to be able to attend another COP very soon!

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Being an MBA Partner in the Fuqua Community

I’m a former international student who came to the U.S. for college, a young professional working in tech, and, most importantly to the audience of this blog, the wife of Johnny Yin, a Fuqua Daytime MBA student.

Johnny and I decided to come to Fuqua in early 2022, right after we attended Blue Devil Weekend (BDW), a series of events that allow students and partners to get to know the school, the program, and the people. I was surprised to learn that there were sessions specifically designed for partners to answer our questions about Fuqua and to get to know other partners who could be our future friends.

Fuqua made both Johnny and I feel welcomed and supported, and we luckily met Mitchell and Adrienne Stevenson, a Daytime MBA student and partner, respectively, from the Class of 2024 during BDW. We’ve become friends since and went to our very first Duke Basketball game with them on New Year’s Eve.

Our first Duke basketball game

The friendliness we experienced during BDW continued after we moved to Durham and joined the big Fuqua family. Johnny soon made great friends at school and I have made good friends by attending partner-friendly activities during orientation and gatherings hosted by the Fuqua Partners club.

From exploring attractions in North Carolina with Yvonne (Daytime MBA partner Class of 2023) and her son Lucas to having freshly made Shakshuka brunch at Miri and Yuval’s (Daytime MBA partner and student, respectively, from the Class of 2024); from playing board games with Kareem and Conor who live in the same building as we do, to getting Chinese hot pot dinner with Johnny’s consequential leadership team, the Team Fuqua spirit is everywhere.

Johnny’s Class of ’24 orientation

Obtaining an MBA degree is not only a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students but also a big decision for the partners who might need to give up their pre-MBA life and move away from the city that they are not familiar with. I am grateful that Johnny made the amazing decision to come to Fuqua and took me along with him on his journey. I’m thankful to all the friends that I’ve made through Fuqua.

To learn more about a day in my life as an MBA partner, please enjoy this video:

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: My Two-Year Experience with Real-Business Learning

As I enter my final term of school, I can’t help but sit back and reflect on how much I have evolved during the past two years at Fuqua. I entered my MBA with a unique background: I was a singer/songwriter and founder of a boutique record label.

On my first day of Orientation, I sat in an auditorium of 400 students speaking about their backgrounds in finance and accounting. I wondered how I would be able to translate my wildly divergent experience into a corporate context. My #1 key to my success at Fuqua has hands-down been the experiential learning programs, namely the Fuqua Client Consulting Practicum (FCCP).

My First Year with FCCP

FCCP enables teams of five graduate students to work with a client to develop solutions to a business problem during a 12-week period, almost like a mini-internship. There is a vast array of clients across multiple industries, from startups to Fortune 500 companies.

For my project, I was selected to partner with Deloitte to work for one of their clients, a non-profit company whose mission was to place more diverse candidates into internships within the media and entertainment industry. This match felt like it was created just for me, as it would allow me to combine my passion for DE&I with my background in entertainment, but in an entirely different context.

The opportunity to get my hands dirty working on a real-life business problem, and see the impact we were making in real-time, went far beyond classroom learning for me. On the first day of my summer internship after FCCP, my manager handed me an enormous folder filled with decks and data, and remarked, “you don’t seem phased at all!” It was in fact my FCCP experience that I was leaning on to give me the confidence to succeed.

My Second Year with FCCP

I was so grateful for what FCCP had taught me, and I wasn’t ready for my involvement to be over. Luckily, it didn’t have to be! I was selected to be an FCCP fellow, which meant the chance to source and evaluate new clients during the first semester of my second year, and serve as a mentor for a first-year FCCP team during my second semester.

The Client Diligence Process

If I thought being thrown into a new industry during my first year was a challenge, it had nothing on the client diligence process! Our team of fellows was tasked with interviewing about four prospective clients each. We needed to quickly understand the client’s industry, what the scope of their business problem was, and above all, whether it would make a positive learning environment for the first-year students. My prospective clients were across non-profit, tech, and energy industries, and it was an incredible learning opportunity to rapidly understand a new sector and assess a problem.

First-Year Mentorship

I was ultimately staffed as a fellow to five first-year students working with a food delivery app on a customer acquisition and retention strategy. In addition to once again learning about a new industry, this served as a unique chance to learn how to deliver value and guidance to my team, all while being a few steps removed from the process. During our fellow trainings that occur throughout the year to help equip us for this position, we refer to this as more of a “junior partner” role. While my first-year experience was very hands-on, serving as a fellow has given me management training, where I have been able to navigate client and student expectations, as well as shape team culture and processes. The learnings are vastly different, but equally useful.

Post-MBA Impact

Through FCCP, I developed so many hard and soft skills that will directly translate to any post-MBA role, consulting or otherwise. I gained experience synthesizing vast amounts of data, market sizing, conducting customer/user interviews, performing in-depth competitor analyses, improving efficiency and workflow, defining a project’s work scope, cultivating a team culture, and managing client and stakeholder relationships, just to name a few! FCCP also provides an excellent opportunity to try out a new industry without having to commit to a full-time role, and it makes an excellent talking point on a resume!

I truly cannot say enough about how transformative FCCP has been to my learning and growth at Fuqua. I am so grateful to have had the chance to work with and learn from my teams in both years, as well as the impressive FCCP faculty here at Duke.

The post My Two-Year Experience with Real-Business Learning appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.

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FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: My Experience as a CASE Fellow and Awarding the Kirby Prize

Awarding $100,000 was never a position of power I thought I would be in. I worked in nonprofit philanthropy for six years before coming to Fuqua, and I spent most of that time cranking out cold emails to set up meetings, writing proposals on my weekends, and asking the wealthy for their checks.

As a fellow with the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), I had the opportunity to serve on the selection committee for the Fred Morgan Kirby Prize for Scaling Social Impact. Over three months, we narrowed from 180 applications to 20 semi-finalists, and then four finalists. CASE fellows reviewed each application, presented the merits and concerns highlighted by the proposal to our teammates, and provided recommendations to CASE staff and practitioners responsible for making the final decisions.

We reviewed applications based on a scoring guide developed by CASE, examined enterprises’ current impact and projected reach and investigated the feasibility of the scaling plan. After selecting four finalists, other CASE fellows and I helped conduct interviews with social enterprise leaders where we dug into the proposals and asked pointed questions about their scaling plans. The $100,000 prize winner was Essmart, a rural retailer B2B network based in India for agricultural products with a clear path to scale in one of the fastest-growing economies. Fellows also had the chance to meet with social enterprise leaders not selected and provide verbal feedback on how their application could have been improved. Below are my three takeaways from the formative experience.

1. Know Your Contributions

As I served on the Kirby Selection Committee, I reviewed plans from social entrepreneurs driving change in their communities, with deep expertise of the challenges faced, and I was hesitant about the value I could add. Through this experience, I realized that while I am not an expert in scaling social enterprises and unpacking complex social issues, I do have a background in areas like nonprofit fundraising and organizational change management. The unique skillset I gained gave me a different perspective of the goals of social impact leaders and their considerations for growing an organization and increasing social impact. My experience was the key to feeling confident in my abilities while interviewing and eventually meeting with leaders face-to-face.

2. Rely on Your Community

When reviewing the applications and comparing scaling plans, I realized there were a lot of gaps in my knowledge. Relying on other CASE fellows was one of the biggest takeaways from the selection process. Fuqua, and the CASE Fellow cohort in particular, places a tremendous emphasis on bringing together a diverse set of viewpoints and backgrounds—our CASE cohort includes everyone from former global health workers to investment bankers. CASE fellows advising each other and bringing their diverse perspectives throughout the process was crucial to our success.

3. Understand What Fuqua Has to Offer

Many people know Fuqua is a top business school that produces compassionate and smart leaders that go to all sectors, but the experience of being on the Kirby Selection Prize Committee showed me the things I did not realize Fuqua offers, including that Fuqua is a grant-maker. As a former fundraiser, CASE was one of the main reasons I chose to attend Fuqua. Being on the committee showed me the other side of fundraising by giving me an immersive view what it’s like to be a funder. I learned the inner workings of funding decisions and observed the elements of a funding proposal that make one enterprise stand out from another. My understanding of how to communicate the need for funding, and the importance of aligning your enterprise’s work to the funder’s goals, was dramatically improved through being on this committee. The experience inspired me to explore more areas of the business school I previously might have overlooked—such as taking my first course at the Duke’s Sanford Policy School and becoming more involved in other Fuqua clubs’ symposiums and speaker events.

The post My Experience as a CASE Fellow and Awarding the Kirby Prize appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog.