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25 Jun 2024, 06:00
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| FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Seasons of Growth: My First Year at Fuqua |
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Experiencing all four seasons at Duke’s beautiful campus during my first year of the MBA journey has been a visual delight and a metaphor for my personal growth journey and that of my classmates. Joining a cohort of around 400 high-achieving, intelligent individuals has been both inspiring and challenging, pushing us to re-evaluate and grow in unexpected ways. Season 1: Summer – Full of Energy We arrived with starry eyes and high hopes, driven by ambition and excitement for what lies ahead. The energy and positivity were palpable. Key Learning: Embrace Open-Mindedness Interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds and nationalities helped me discover new facets of myself, fostering personal growth. Season 2: Fall – The Pressure Begins Recruiting pressure kicked in alongside intense coursework. As someone with a non-traditional background and a decade-long study gap, this period was challenging. The support from my C-LEAD, peers, and second-year students was invaluable, and I successfully navigated these challenges. Key Learning: Find Your Tribe and Disciplined Time Management Building a support system within the cohort is crucial. The unexpected support and camaraderie I’ve experienced reaffirmed my choice of business school. Additionally, scheduling even the smallest activities, including time with friends and family, has been essential in balancing the demands of business school.  Season 3: Winter – The Toughest Season Winter brought the toughest challenges. The rigors of the recruiting season resulted in multiple rejections and moments of hopelessness. This humbling experience taught us resilience. Key Learning: Learn to Pivot Plans B, C, or D… often prove more effective than plan A. Learning to fail forward and bounce back quickly is crucial. Season 4: Spring – Renewal and Growth Spring brought a sense of renewal. The tough winter gave way to new opportunities and growth, symbolizing the transformative power of perseverance. Key Learning: Healthy Competition with Decency Quotient Competition is fierce, but Fuqua’s emphasis on decency quotient (DQ) sets us apart and strengthens our Team Fuqua spirit. My first year at Fuqua has been transformative, both personally and professionally. These experiences and learnings have not only prepared me for the business world but have also shaped me into a more resilient and empathetic individual. The post Seasons of Growth: My First Year at Fuqua appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog. |
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02 Jul 2024, 07:00
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| FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Letter to the Incoming Student: 5 Lessons That Shaped My Fuqua Experience |
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It seems like only yesterday that I landed in the U.S., fresh off the figurative boat. Two years later, I am graduating from Fuqua, a different person. Below, I have provided some of the more helpful lessons I learned during my time at Fuqua. I hope they are useful for an incoming student, or anyone else ready to embark on this transformative experience. 1. Embrace Discomfort At Fuqua, I learned to become comfortable with discomfort. This started at the Orientation, during a team-building activity that involved a high ropes course at the Triangle Training Center. There I was, afraid of heights, in a strange country and feeling like a fish out of water. Seeing the fear on my face and my trembling hands, our guide told me I need not climb the rope course. I did it anyway. This experience became a metaphor for my time at Fuqua. I leaned into my fear and continuously volunteered for roles that forced me out of my comfort zone, precisely because they were scary. These choices led me on a transformational leadership journey, during which I faced fear and felt challenged every step of the way, but through which I experienced growth and increased resilience.  Me (right) and a classmate on the ropes course at Triangle Training Center, August 2022 2. Expect Change Fuqua will change you in expected and unexpected ways. One change I experienced was in my verbal communication. I was considered a fast-talker in Nigeria, and I often felt like my speech was unintelligible during my first month here. This caused me to go through a spell of quietness in team settings, which was broken by my incredible C-LEAD team members, who reached out and made me feel heard. Now I am a more confident speaker who enunciates better. I have also changed in other ways, including my ability to connect with people from different cultures and my self-awareness. These changes occurred silently without any apparent effort — from the classroom experience to the recruiting experience and the extracurriculars, I found myself feeling increased confidence, authenticity and self-awareness. Fuqua will change you, don’t fight it. 3. Build Deliberate Connections The Daytime MBA program is rigorous. It is easy for one to become lost in the weeds and only befriend people within their immediate circle, but they would be doing themselves a disservice. Fuqua is full of brilliant students and staff members alike, who have lived inspiring lives and with whom it would be a privilege to connect. Engage them. This can be difficult, particularly for someone introverted and socially anxious like I used to be. But it is necessary. I learned to reach out to people I found interesting, grab a coffee or lunch and talk. I stopped worrying about awkwardness because everyone feels some level of discomfort, and everyone wants to feel valued and included. 4. Say “Yes” This led me to some of my more interesting travel experiences, enabling connections with practical strangers, without which my Fuqua experience would not be complete. Opportunities abound in Fuqua, reach out and grab them. Though, I suggest doing so discriminately so you don’t become overwhelmed.  My classmates and I (far left) visiting the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, India, March 2024 5. Don’t Lose Yourself It is easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of school and forget who you are, what you value, and why you came to Fuqua. It happened to me. I realized what had happened but could not find my way back until I started bi-weekly therapy sessions with the Duke CAPS service. I also found other activities helpful for staying grounded, such as my service on the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) committee, fellowship with the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE), and engagement with incoming African students. Like the elephant in the story of the blind men and the elephant, Fuqua is different things to different people. For me, it was a training ground, the perfect landing spot for an anxious foreigner who had never lived so far away from home. For someone else, it might be something different. But one thing common to all our experiences of Fuqua is a feeling of growth. Fuqua, through its focus on decency and its system for rewarding the portrayal of selected values, makes us all want to do more and be more. The post Letter to the Incoming Student: 5 Lessons That Shaped My Fuqua Experience appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog. |
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02 Jul 2024, 12:00
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| FROM Fuqua Student Blogs: Updates to Support Our Applicants |
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With each application year, I’m continuously impressed by the dedication of Fuqua’s fantastic applicants and the matching enthusiasm of our Admissions team in getting to know them. The Daytime MBA Class of 2026 is, in a word, impressive. Amazing. Motivated. Inspirational. I know, that’s more than “a” word, but I can’t help myself! While last year broke a school record for the number of applications received, our team is always looking for new ways to improve our process — and this year is no exception. Here are three things applicants should know before completing the 2024-2025 Daytime MBA application. 1. Interviews Offered by Invitation Only One of our goals is to ensure our process is as fair and consistent as possible. Therefore, as we reviewed our processes for this application year, we have decided to offer interviews by invitation only. In prior years, we offered interviews both by invitation and during an applicant-initiated “open interview” period. However, we found that some applicants scheduled interviews before they were truly ready, afraid that they would be penalized for not taking advantage of the open interview period. While no applicant was penalized for “waiting” for an invitation to interview, we acknowledge the difference in the interview process was a source of stress and anxiety for many. By moving to a single, consistent interview policy, we hope to alleviate this stress. Here’s how the process will work:
We are excited about this change because it allows more time for applicants to plan and schedule their interview, whether they are choosing to interview virtually or travel to Durham for an on-campus interview. It’s important to note that while interview decisions are released on a rolling basis, there is no benefit or disadvantage to receiving an invitation earlier versus later. Regardless of when you receive your interview decision, all applicants will still receive their admission decision on the published decision release date. 2. Applying Through Consortium As we shared earlier this year, we are excited that Fuqua has joined the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, an alliance of business schools and industry partners aiming to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in business schools. Fuqua has a long history of supporting and championing those who are underrepresented in the business world. Becoming a member of the Consortium was a natural fit for us. Applicants who are applying through the Consortium will find our essay questions and additional materials through the Consortium application. They will be considered for interview invitations on the same timelines as applicants applying directly to Fuqua through either Round 1 or Round 2. 3. Understanding the New GMAT Format We are not making any changes to our test score policy — Fuqua will continue to accept the GMAT, GRE, or Executive Assessment (EA), without a preference for any test. Many applicants have questions about how the “new” GMAT score will be considered. Previously called the “GMAT Focus,” this shortened version of the GMAT is now the only format offered by GMAC. In addition to the GRE and EA, we will continue to accept both the new and old GMAT scores (test scores are valid for five years after the test date). The new GMAT format uses a different scoring scale, so applicants should be aware that their scores may look different. Our Admissions team is very familiar with the new scale, though, so don’t worry! We encourage applicants to look into the new GMAT scoring scale. Many people think their GMAT score “looks” lower than published GMAT averages, but that may not be the case. Looking at the percentiles that go along with the composite score offers a more clear comparison. For example, a 700 on the old GMAT was in the 89th percentile; on the new GMAT, the 89th percentile corresponds to a score of 655. Again, Fuqua’s testing policy has not changed, but given the change to the GMAT itself, I wanted to be clear about how applicants should view their scores. We always encourage applicants to submit any test scores they have, whether they’ve taken one test type or have tried all three. With these improvements in place, our Admissions team is ready to start recruiting the next wave of impactful business leaders. The application is live now, and our travel dates are on the calendar. We look forward to getting to know the Class of 2027! The post Updates to Support Our Applicants appeared first on Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog. |
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