Ask Stacy Blackman

Hi Stacey/Amy,

First of all, my wife and I are on cloud 9 because she was just accepted to Duke's Nurse Anesthesia Program!

Duke happens to be my first choice, so it feels like everything is falling into place. One thing I noticed about Duke's statistics is that they're high enough to attract all the top talent, but not quite high enough to matriculate all the top talent, as evidenced by their low acceptance-to-matriculation rate of ~43%. In my goal essay I'm putting everything I can into showing that Duke is my absolute #1 choice.

Do you think it will be looked upon even more favorably that my wife will be attending Duke when I apply there? I plan on highlighting it in one of my essays, but I was just curious to know how this will be viewed from an adcom's perspective.

At-a-glance, here are my stats again:
* Oregon State U., Mechanical Engineering, 3.68 (5 months at Denmark Technical U.)
* GMAT: 730 (Q47, V44)
* Recommendations from: Current manager, director of student mentor program I'm volunteering for (both of which I've been assured will be glowing)
* Reason for MBA: To leverage engineering/quant background into a career in real estate finance, based on my experience job-shadowing a real estate developer and financial consultant for over 2 years. Must have the MBA to pursue this path.
* Reason for Duke: Rigorous quantitative finance program, touted collaborative environment, visited campus and loved it!

Thanks once again for the helpful insights!
Sadowski

Hi Sadowski,

I'm sure mentioning your wife's acceptance and planned matriculation Duke's Nurse Anesthesia Program will add some weight to your "why Duke?" answer. I wouldn't hit the point too heavily, but they will certainly understand why Duke may be very appealing to you in light of that information.

Good luck!

Amy

Amy,

Thanks for your input. I don't mean to bog you down with questions because I know you get a lot of them, but I've got one more for you:

As far as recommendations go, I'm actually not sure who I should ask to write my 2nd letter. My first is my direct manager at Xerox. My options are for the 2nd are:

1) Director of the volunteer program, known her for only 5 months, but have already helped gain corporate Xerox sponsorship of a Lego Robotics Competition team of 9-13 year olds that we're putting together. I'll be the co-leader of that group. She's been very happy with my involvement.

2) Another colleague at Xerox, manager (not in my group) and single point accountability for the project I'm working. He said that he would be glad to put in a good word for me. He's known me for 2 years.

Which one of these would be the strongest addition?

Thank you!
Sadowski

Hi Sadowski,

I generally advise that the second recommendation come from someone you know professionally.

That being said, if you think the volunteer recommender has seen you do something extraordinary and really show leadership, teamwork and management skills more than the other recommender, she may be a decent choice.

Good luck!

Amy