Duke Fuqua 2012 - Calling All Applicants

I am re-applying to Fuqua and I am tweaking my 3 essays. There is always room for improvements/updates so why not take the chance to improve. I know for some of the essays, it is a bit more difficult so I would just start from scratch using the same themes as last year. I know its an investment in time, but it will probably pay-off in the long run.

I would assume if you are re-applying there is a need to change something since we did not get in last year. Just my 2 cents.

I'm just going to start new. After I got dinged last year I did a lot of reflection and went back over my applications and essays to find areas for improvement. My biggest weakness I saw was a general lack of a focused career goal, which led to an un-cohesive application.

I'm going to scrap last years essays and start with a blank slate. I've got a more focused career goal now, as well as more experience to draw on for the other essays. Also, why would I want to use the same application that got me dinged last time?

Like rgupta83, I applied in R3, was waitlisted before finally getting dinged during orientation week, and will be re-applying this year. Considering I submitted my application in March, scrapping my essays and sending in totally new ones will only make me look fickle. Therefore, my plan is to keep the core of my essays, take out the weakest parts, and then replace these with some new updates from the past five months. I anticipate that my Essays 1-3 will have around 30% "new" material. I say "new" because unfortunately, since I was waitlisted and was encouraged to send in updates as late as the first week of August, there is pretty much nothing that I can share with them that they do not already know.

Although I understand that some dinged re-applicants feel the need to make some drastic changes to their essays, I recommend that you be careful when you do this. A totally new package might raise a red flag. Don't give AdCom a reason to think that you are making all these changes just so you could tell them exactly what you think they want to read/hear from you. If anything, I suggest that you make sure to explain why your essays look completely different compared to last year's. At least AdCom won't question if your essays genuinely paint an accurate picture of who you are and how you plan on leaving a legacy.

I am certainly not an admissions expert. I did not make it this year after all. I just felt compelled to share my thoughts on this matter, as I would like as many re-applicants as possible to be successful this year.

I guess I just don't see the point in submitting the same material with small 'tweaks' that got me dinged last year. They didn't like it then, why should they like it now? The core of my application will be the same, but the focus and delivery have undergone big changes.

The re-applicant essay is intended to give you the platform to sell yourself as a better candidate with the changes you have made to your application, so I don't think I will raise any 'red flags.'

That just my opinion.

Don't get me wrong. I did not suggest that you keep your essays as they are. Like I said, I have worked on my Essays 1-3, and each essay is currently around 30% new, maybe more. I'm just reminding all the re-applicants that they shouldn't get carried away when amending their essays because they could potentially send the wrong message to AdCom. Based on what you just posted, I think we are on the same page anyway.

Good luck to both of us this year.

Here is what you need to know; it's public knowledge. Fuqua did very well last year in consulting and does better each year:

https://www.fuquaworld.duke.edu/cmcfile ... 010-11.pdf

In addition, here is a good summary to help think on these employment stats as it applies to consulting:

• Fuqua has a new top employer this year. After Johnson & Johnson’s many years at number one, Deloitte hired 31 graduates and 23 interns for a total of 54 hires. They literally doubled their hiring in only one year, bringing aboard 27 Duke MBAs in 2009 – 2010.
• This year's top ten also includes McKinsey (32 hires), Boston Consulting Group (25), Johnson & Johnson (19) Bank of America Merrill Lynch (17), Apple (16), Bain & Company (14) , Samsung (13), Citi (12), and Goldman Sachs (12). Like Deloitte, many of these firms increased their hiring over the prior year, in some cases substantially. For example, McKinsey went from 16 to 32, BCG 10 to 25, Bain 6 to 14, Citi 5 to 12, and Goldman Sachs 7 to 12.
• As you can see from our top employers’ list, consulting has increased its Fuqua footprint this year. In the graduating class, 31% of the Class of 2011 accepted positions in the consulting industry, up 11 percentage points from the prior year. The consulting industry captured 23% of the intern Class of 2012 representing a jump of ten percentage points over the 13% of consulting interns in 2009 – 2010.
o The mean and median salaries for both classes benefit from this trend, as consulting salaries tend to be the highest among those industries hiring massive numbers of MBAs.

Great Stuff Thanks to everyone for the information. I'm planning to attend Duke Information Session in Singapore on 20th Aug. Anyone else in Singapore ?

I am trying to figure how long the essays should be? The limit is upto 2 pages but do you really need to write 2 pages or can it be less?? especially the essay 2 where you can not talk about work related activities.

2 pages is the maximum, you can certainly write less. As long as you can get your points across in an understandable manner, you should be fine.

Fuqua professor named one of the best professor in BusinessWeek article: https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/bl ... hools.html

If any of the current students/applicants or alumni could answer the following questions I would greatly appreciate it:

1) what is the culture like at Duke? is it competitive? or more coopetitive? examples would be great

2) I am applying to the HSM program and I want to know how being at research triangle helps my MBA study? (I hope to work at a pharma company afterwards.) I keep hearing how it's great to be at Durham since it's close to the RTP, but Wharton has a really great Healthcare management concentration too and it's no where near any pharma/ biotech companies!

3) what really distinguishes Duke's HSM from Wharton's HCM?

Thanks!!!

good luck guys im in E1

If you check out the "Ask B-School Ambassadors" sub-forum, there's a recent Duke alumni who created a thread and is happy to answer any questions you may have.

The Duke Information Session in Singapore was very good. Ms. Connie Swarts from Duke was very helpful and informative, and so were the other alumni and current students (we met a few who are currently working/interning in Singapore). People were pleasantly surprised to know that in GMATClub we're running a thread for applications to Duke

They actually played the clip from the Duke info thread on GMAT club. Basically rewatched the 10minute clip of Duke students partying and getting drunk

anyone wanna go to the 9/16 information session in Durham together? Free room ( share with me) if you can give me a ride from hotel to Fuqua... otherwise i have to call the cab myself :O