Fuqua (Duke) Class of 2016: Calling all applicants!

Got the call an hour ago. Based in Houston. Re applicant who was wait listed until August. I am speechless. Good luck everyone.

EA applicant converted... got admitted with my fiancee, who applied first round. We are from Brazil. Megan called us 3 hours ago... very happy!!!

mba20144, ritinster, and you sayak57 should get over your insecurities. Let me ask you a question, if everything was determined by academic merit, or test taking ability, then why arent 99.9% of all CEOS in the world Indian or Asian men? Maybe what is important is not only your academic fortitude, but also your ability to be a well rounded and cohesive individual. The comments from you all clarify that you do NOT have the mental ability to be a great MBA candidate. You still see the world from whatever small shell of a hole you are in. Stop being salty over not having a call back and work on your social abilities. Afterall, failure is the ultimate form of motivation...no?

As for me, Im 75% african american and 25% native american (shinnecock)...I am disgusted by your comparrison of a lower "castes" in India to being black, and some random "tribes" to being Native American...I am nothing like you or your people and vice versa. You talk about "sacrifices to be made" in reference to not having a spot in a program? Are you serious? Maybe thats the problem with "common" people like you, you are just too common for your own good.


I hope that I never have to study with a person like MBA20144. In fact, I take that back. I hope we are in the same class, taking the same classes, so I can show you just how fast I can run circles around you...maybe then you will get the big picture.

Good Luck

For those of you who really want to make an impression, definitely sign up for the "Group Greet and Meets" if Duke comes to your city.

I think it varies who hosts the events, but for my city (Chicago), I got lucky and spoke with the Senior Associate Director of Admissions. She pretty much told me bluntly she will see my application and will more than likely review it so I got very lucky and was able to talk to the person who will play a huge role in my application.

Not too many surprises though but I did hear how the admissions process goes. If you apply Early Admissions, they categorize people into 3 groups:

1. DFD - Dying for Duke (Self Explanatory)

2. Those who might have "some" holes in the application and want to play it safe.

3. Those who are well prepared

She also told me if there is a something that you think will be an issues (low GPA, low GMAT, etc.) make sure to disclose it! They try to advocate for everyone but she told me if it's a lot easier to admit someone with a 2.6 GPA who justifies it than someone with a 2.7 who doesn't say anything. The more information the better.

Those that were admitted in EA were exactly in your shoes just 2 days ago, and surely some of us have been dinged once (or more) before, so there's no magic tip we can give.
Nevertheless, I can think of several tips that made me feel confident in my application and connection with the school. Most of it can be found in any admission consultants blog, but I will write it here anyway.

1. Research the program to the point that you can clearly articulate WHY you should go there and not any other school. Identify the courses, the professors, the employers, the clubs and the conferences that LINK you to this specific school. If you can state this link, and it is unique to you (i.e. I can't just take out your name, insert some "John Doe" and it will relate to them as well), it will reflect in your essays.

2. Talk to students and alumni. For each school I was interested in, I approached many members of the community. Some of them told me great things, some didn't, most of them were very friendly and responsive and a few were annoying. However, through each conversation I learned yet another thing or two, and it influenced my connection with the school. It can make you fall in love with the school or exactly the opposite, but it will give you precious information, formally and informally.

3. Make sure your goals are reasonable, ambitious and make sense. There should be a clear thread that starts in your work experience, goes through Bschool (see my 1st point), leads to your ST goal and in few (7/10/20/...) years will bring you to the LT goal. This thread must be SOLID and obvious. It must make sense to everyone who hears it, and you should be able to state this thread in 3-4 sentences to yourself. It took me a couple of months to think I had my goals right (I was wrong), and then another 6-7 months to really make them great and to the point. And you know what, after more discussions with students and alumni I lately discovered that I still have room to improve, but for starting my BSchool experience these goals are perfectly fine.

4. Take every tip you get with a grain of salt. The world is full of admission consultants, friends and family that may or may not have an MBA, online forums and multitude of essays analyses. Read and hear it all, but trust your instincts in the same time.


Again, being admitted doesn't mean we did a fantastic job with our essays or have an amazing resume, it just means that we were able to wrap it all in a nice, cohesive package that was clear to the reader\interviewer, and we probably had some luck I can write about my thoughts, but it is certainly not "One size fits all" approach:
I really felt that the 25 facts essay was something that made my image pop out of the page, in the eyes of the admission officers. This is a valuable opportunity that not many other school offer, and you should use it wisely. Make the reader get interested in knowing you, having a beer with you after work or just spending an hour with you between classes. If you can make the reader smile to himself and say - "this fella is quite cool!" - you've done it correctly. Don't waste room on boasting your work achievements. It is the person that should come off the page, not the professional (although it seems fine to write something about work. Just don't make it a copy of your resume).

The second essay ("Why Duke") is pretty standard but it also deals with you and your motives and reasons for applying to Duke (again, see my 1st point). Make your reasons bullet proof and make sure there are unique to you. Again, if I can do a "Search and Replace" with another name, and this essay will work just fine, you are wrong. There should be clear passion for the Fuqua in this essay, for whatever your reasons are.Make the combination of You+Why Fuqua a perfect match.



I hope it helps other GMAT clubbers in some way

Inn... got a call at 1030 est from Jake. Relieved, stoked, confused. Was driving, missed a couple of calls. He was kind enough to call back. Reapplicant, hsm, india.. this will take some time to sink in.

Posted from my mobile device

IIIINNNNN!!!! Got a call from Jake around an hour back.....he asked me do you want to know anything else - I just said it would be great if can say that I am IN once again!!

Jumsumtak : looks like after giving the Gmat just a couple of days apart, we are now heading to he same please !!!

Posted from my mobile device

Posted from my mobile device

Just spoke to Jake, Admitted..Am super excited..Going to party well into Monday...Nothing about scholorship but he said that more will be known by mid day...Thanks guys for all the support..Looking forward to Fuqua!

just missed a call from durham, guess im in

edit: they left no vm, but called back 30 minutes later. Scholarship info will come out on the email this afternoon (around 5pm est)

For those of you waiting for the good news tomorrow, here is how Duke releases its decisions: Starting early morning tomorrow (5 am ET), adcom members will start making calls to every admitted applicant. The calls start from south east Asia and move west. Usually, east coast applicants start getting calls around 8am ET time. I am based in Texas, and got my call at 11:51 ET (I think I was one of the last ones to get a call) and by 2:00 pm ET, all online decisions are released. You should be looking for a 919 area code. Adcom usually spends few minutes on the phone with you (my call was 5:47), so be prepared to go to a quiet spot if you are at work.

Good Luck everyone and we, the EA admits, are very excited to greet all of you. Once you get admitted, make sure to add yourself to the Facebook group (search: The Duke MBA - Daytime Class of 2016) and start connecting with other other admits.

DISCLAIMER: I don't work in admissions and adcom can change things up this time.

Go Blue Devils!

Just got the call ! Admitted to Fuqua, this is a dream come true !

Moderator Note: Ritinster/MBA20144 - it is against GMAT Club rules to have multiple accounts and to mislead others. However, I also understand you had issues with account access after changing the email address, still you should have identified yourself with a similar username or by a signature - this should be considered an official warning for breaking the rules. I also see that you have denied having the two accounts linked together - I am sorry but that's not appropriate. Thank you for being a part of GMAT Club - Our goal is to be a place that encourages helpfulness and leadership. I am only finding evidence of the opposite. Please consider this your second warning, which results into a deactivation of both accounts.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Best Regards,
BB

Still Wednesday for some of us

Good luck everyone - this looks like my last decision of my MBA journey. Lets hope it matches the first one!

In! Got the call at 9:23 EST, I'm based out of Maryland.

I haven't cried since my wedding and as soon as I got off the phone with admissions I bawled.

Hailmary, thanks for all your posts, they really have gotten me through the waiting period.

Posted from my mobile device

In! From New Delhi, India. No word about scholarship.

First just want to say good luck on the application. Just submitted my EA application!



Sure. So I visited Fuqua a week ago. First thing I did was meet with ThreeStripes he told me a lot about the school and what it takes to survive at Fuqua. I would truly suggest meeting with and even cold calling various students because I think they can tell you more about the school than any brochure could ever do. We ate at the cafeteria which was filled with other Fuqua students.

I then took the tour of the school which is given by a first year student. It is an interesting tour and you can learn a lot more about the history of the school. You are given lunch (free!) and more time to talk to other applicants and students. I learned about what people at the school are pursuing and what other applicants are thinking. Pretty interesting situation.

Following the tour I went for a class visit which was fun because the professor was really interesting. I am certain this experience will vary by professor/class.

After the class I had a office hours with admissions. Which is great because you get to ask a lot of questions you may have about the application process. I had a question regarding recommendation questions which were specific to me and the applications director was happy to help.

The next day was my interview which was pretty casual. Standard stuff:
- Take me through your resume
- Leadership
- What is a leader?
- Why should we accept you?
- Leadership experience?
- Why Fuqua?
- Strengths and Weaknesses

I hope my quick write up helps. Any questions please feel free to ask!