Duke (Fuqua) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

I saw the evaluation form she was taking notes on, and that has a list of bullet-ed questions that they circle if they asked, and then write details about the answer below it. I am sure there is a form about whether they recommend the candidate or not, but I obviously didnt see that one. Hope this helps! If anyone else knows what the actual recommendation form is, I would love to hear about it as well.

The girl I interviewed with was very nice and conversational which was great so I'm sorry to hear you didn't have a similar experience. But at the same time I wouldn't worry too much about how your interviewer responded as long as you felt like you gave good answers. It sounds like it may have just been her personality. Like someone else said there is a good deal of luck involved in the interview and how much of a connection you have with the interviewer.

Also keep in mind that interview is just one aspect of the application, so a less than stellar interviewe is not an automatic ding. If other parts of your application are strong, you will still get in. An alum, who was an admission fellow told me that if you have a decent personality, can crack a joke or two and show your passion for Fuqua, you will get good grades on the interview. He also said that you will be surprised how many people don't mention Duke as their top choice during the interview, and that hurts them eventually.

I think I mentioned Duke as my top choice and the buzz word "Team Fuqua" at least 5-6 times during the interview I might have actually over sold myself ):

Lastly, don't quote me on this, but I heard that for Rd3 Duke is usually selective on who to interview and the admit rate is around 70%. The reason being that most of the applicants are invited by Duke and the adcom already has enough backlog of wait-listed applicants from EA/Rd1 that it doesn't have to invite less than stellar applicants.

When you said 70% for "Rd3" did you actually mean the upcoming March 21st "Round 3", or the Jan 4th deadline "Round 2"?

Sorry, I meant Round 2.

Thanks for the info, it really adds an air of hope and optimism to a process that has seemed very uncertain and unpredictable thus far. I hope there is some truth to that 70% stat that you heard...

And no, I won't quote you on that, but thanks anyway...

Hi All

I may be late on this one but I am an R2 applicant who visited Fuqua, kept in touch with alumnus, got alumnus recommendation ( because my manager is from Fuqua and he is the one who introduced me to Fuqua ) but I didn't even get an invite for an interview. Does this mean I have no chance and I will be dinged or I am already dinged or is there something I can do at this stage to improve my chances of landing an interview?

Any help on this is most appreciated.

- N

Hey Idryan,

My interview was pretty similar. The interviewer just had a list of questions and went through them with no follow-ups. She just kept writing notes while I was talking and it was pretty hard to have a conversational type interview because it felt more like question-answer. I was pretty nervous too but ended up getting in! In hind-sight, I don't think it was that she wasn't interested in having a conversation with me, but more that she was trying to make notes so she could make an evaluation afterwards. I was pretty confident about my answers so I guess that was good that she probably had good notes from my answers.

I wouldn't worry too much! Good luck!

I am one of the applicants who was admitted to the Weekend 4 Women, interviewed that weekend, and therefore have no idea how well my R2 application has been received by the adcom, since an interview invite is not necessary. how nerve-wracking - anyone else in the same boat? I would love to know the acceptance rate for individuals who were invited to the minority weekends.

Hey MBAcm2013,

I also went to the Weekend for Women event and interviewed there. Submitted in Round 1 and found out my decision the day it was supposed to be announced for R1 applicants. Got accepted!

Good luck!

Congratulations and thanks for letting me know! The wait is killing me but this has me hopeful for some good news!

Fuqua's advice to Chinese students. I think it's also relevant for applicants in general.

https://blogs.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-mba/gu ... ss-school/

Enjoyed my visit, class and interview, it was nice spending time with first years and prospectives. Ready to play the waiting game.


Agree with others sentiments that the 2nd years lose a little bit by having to fill out their official note form and thus it often can dominate the overall interview. Despite this, their ability to select from about 30 questions or so is useful to keep the process 'uniform' and make sure that interviewer skill is limited in the process. The interview itself is very much like other places, straightforward and looking for fit.

Had my interview yesterday. Wasn't asked anything crazy but I totally screwed up one question. She asked for 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses and I came up with 3 strengths and 2 weaknesses and then I totally blanked and she said we could just move on. Not good.

I mean, 85%+ of the interview went pretty well I feel but there are a few things I wish I would have said differently... Now the wait.

My interviewer didn't write down anything or have a list of questions with him. I think it depends on who you get.

They are not going to ding you because of 1/6th of an answer. I screwed up on "Biggest Achievement Question" also. (talked about how I went from really low GPA to graduating with high honors). Now, I think I should have talked about my professional achievement. I think all they care about is the overall fit with Duke and ask all these questions to see if you can display a link with Fuqua.