Ask a Duke Fuqua Student

Talk to current MBA students about life in MBA programs (not for app advice/discussion)
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by PurpleReign » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:32 am
^Thank you for your thoughtful responses! I did some research on the Cole Fellowship. Are you going to be a fellow next year? It seems like a cool program. Fuqua Vision also seems like a lot of fun!

I'm also a California native. The thing that gives me the most pause about Duke is the location -- it's in the south and it's in a small city. I consider myself a city girl, but it's good to hear that you're loving it. Gives me hope that a Californian can adjust to NC.

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by sv02 » Thu Mar 24, 2011 4:25 pm
No problem! Yep I'm going to be a COLE Fellow next year =) All leadership positions (be it like COLE/Admissions, etc or clubs) is switching over this term to our class to prep/plan for next year, so training has already begun! Actually producing for FuquaVision is a time suck, but still a fun break/distraction =)

It's not super south here, but there's definitely BBQ and twangy accents and bigger vehicles. It did also snow a bit more than I expected, but that was fine...more and more "growing" experiences. Having experienced the suburbs of SD & Mountain View, and having lived the public-transit-always-awake city life in the middle of Berkeley & SF, it's definitely doable!

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by fuqua2012 » Thu Mar 24, 2011 4:47 pm
More apparel companies that recruit, Levi, Limited Brands, maybe Vanity Fair (they are located in NC). I can think of those from the top of my head.
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by PurpleReign » Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:17 pm
fuqua2012 wrote:More apparel companies that recruit, Levi, Limited Brands, maybe Vanity Fair (they are located in NC). I can think of those from the top of my head.
Thanks! I appreciate it.

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by dinkfeet » Tue Mar 29, 2011 4:58 am
Hi Sarah,

Thank you for answering all the questions on this thread thus far!

I'm trying to get a sense of what life is like at Fuqua, and what truly is a great fit there. What would you say are the Fuqua resources that you use most frequently in your day-to-day. And also, are there common traits you see in your classmates, something that's a signature characteristic of someone who does well at Fuqua?

All the best,
Monica
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by sv02 » Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:15 pm
Hi Monica,

I'm not quite sure what you would define as a resource... the biggest resource to me are my fellow classmates. That's also my answer for what the common traits are - Fuqua runs because of its students (at least for the Day Time experience).

Before I dive in more to our student-run culture, just wanted to note that while we are serious about what we do, we don't take ourselves too seriously. We make fun of ourselves with FuquaVision. We send useless joke emails at 2 in the morning. I heard that some feedback from prospective students in the beginning of the year was given to admissions that some of us sitting in the lounge were too "casual" -- jeans, flip flops...note, the people who interviewed them were "Dressed up," but those of us in the lounge are busy students volunteering blocks of our time sit and answer any questions (no judgement; we have no say in admissions) and to help candidates relax/kill time between interviews or various admissions events. So of course we're in between classes and not in business casual (unless there was a corporate event). I had been to other schools during my search, and in comparison to Fuqua's "warm" lounge, had been lonely/put off by those tense waiting experiences. So honestly, my gut reaction was that then the person who complained doesn't belong here if that's the expectation/reaction that they had.


Ok, done with vent, back to the student-run aspect... From SY fellowships [Academic (per class), Career (help FY's thru intern process), Admissions (interviews) , COLE (FY teams/Leadership)] to the other events [Symposiums & Conferences (club cabinets), Blue Devil Weekend, Orientations]...to anything else (mock interviews, "prom," etc) it's all here because of what we put into it.

The type of person I think who does well is someone who not only leaves here better than when they first arrived, but also leaves the school better than when they started. So if you're the type of person to put your studying on hold to help someone else who is struggling, is fine with going to class at a different time if you still need to check off some-to do's for a club/career related event, or is happy spend time during winter break helping with phone mock interviews or editing cover letters, is ok to be late to a team meeting if your roommate needs to vent in the hallway, may create a brand new initiative because you see a need, and is ok to prep with others for the same interview, then this is the place for you.

To be clear, there is definitely a subset of people who do much more (I'm over committed and admittedly one of them) and you see them more often doing a lot of these things more visibly in terms of leadership roles. However, I still know that even a classmate who's not super involved, and spends most time with his family or studying, put a few hours aside to help me with accounting and would do it again if I needed help.

The type of person who is just here for themselves may get by, but would be missing out on what I have loved about Fuqua. It's more than the three letter stamp on the resume. I think there are a handful of those who are here just for that, but I don't think they're getting as much out of Fuqua as the rest of us are...

Does that help?
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by ssgmatter » Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:26 am
I am an international student from India. I wish to ask that how are international students doing in duke regarding the job prospects. I mean they are coming back to India or getting jobs in US.
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Amit

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by fuqua2012 » Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:03 am
Most of the Indian students want jobs in the US and get them. The economy is picking up, so it's a sellers market (seller = MBAs).
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by ssgmatter » Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:10 am
Thankyou for sharing your thoughts.

I have sent you a PM. Please take out sometime to share your advise.
Best-
Amit

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by dr.adbee » Mon May 23, 2011 9:48 pm
hi Sarah,
i am a doctor based in India. my profile is-
1.MBBS- multiple gold medals
2.Stats course- A++
3.Diploma in financial management-90%
4.Gmat-720, international experience-6mths, exceptional extracurricular's.
as i want to pursue a HSM degree, DUKE is my first choice.
ill be applying to duke this year in the early decision round.
i have some questions that i would like to ask-
1.What is the stress on in the HSM curriculum.
2.Which company hired the maximum students from the HSM program.
3.is my profile good enough for Duke.
4.Does duke conduct research on Health sector management topics?
i would be grateful if you could answer my queries.
Thanks,
Abhishek

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by sv02 » Thu May 26, 2011 2:59 pm
Hi Abhishek,

sorry for the delay as I just returned from a GATE trip and will be leaving for my internship soon...BIG disclaimer: I have not been involved with admissions aside from being a lounge host, giving tours, and helping with class visits. I am not an admissions fellow, and even they only interview and don't have the whole picture to make the final decision, so I don't have much guidance aside from knowing my own classmates of who would fit at Fuqua.

1) I'm not sure what you're asking?...HSM is what you make of it. You can join the health care club, which is closely associated with the program, and do a lot more. Or you can do the minimum - go to bootcamp, go to the seminars, do the required electives, and that's it. HSM has a lot of resources and strong faculty, as well as its own internal web presence/community. HSM is a strong program here, but I myself joined a bit late (will have to do bootcamp this coming summer before my SY) so may not be experienced enough to answer your question.

2) It may be best to contact the Career Center to ask about this, if they are able to tell you. I know friends who are going to Medtronic, J&J EES, Amgen & Genentech for their internship, but have not paid close attention to interns or hires in terms of numbers.

3) again, I'm not in admissions. The data looks strong, but I know people with much lower grades/GMAT scores that had something else going for them, e.g. they started their own non profit in a 3rd world country, who are my classmates. There's no one type here in terms of stats on paper. It's also about the ambiguous "fit" (which I've written about at length earlier on this board =)

4) I'm pretty sure all our faculty does research - one of our strengths is being a research school - but being new to HSM, I can't comment in detail on what HSM topics they may cover.

Sorry if that wasn't quite what you were looking for...
--sv

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by dr.adbee » Sun May 29, 2011 9:27 pm
hi Sarah,
the reply is really informative.thanks a lot.
i have an experience of 5 yrs in the healthcare sector and am now an in charge of a 150
bed tertiary care hospital. post MBA i want to start a chain of healthcare clinics in East Africa.
does duke have exchange programs or internship positions in Africa.
i know i am going overboard with the questions(career related).
Abhishek

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by fuqua2012 » Mon May 30, 2011 4:36 am
Fuqua has a exchange program with University of Cape Town in South Africa. There's also a GATE trip to South Africa. Last year, a group of students organized a Habitat for Humanities trip to Cameroon. I'm not sure if there are anything in East Africa, but one thing about Fuqua is that many of the activities are student organized. If you are ambitious, you can start your own trip to East Africa - great way to gain some leadership experience.
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by dr.adbee » Thu Jun 02, 2011 7:31 am
hi,
that's great advice. there are loads of opportunities in E.Africa as an entrepreneur.
i want to opt for a Finance and healthcare major,i hope i can make it through.
thanks,
Abhishek

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by sv02 » Wed Jun 08, 2011 10:11 pm
I know at least one person that interned in South Africa last year, though that was partly due to his time there over spring break with a GCP project. But anything is possible =)