UPDATE: This article was originally posted on October 26, 2018. It has been updated with new information and tips below.

Located in the Research Triangle, one of the greatest concentrations of academic output anywhere in the world, Duke is a haven for collaboratively-minded professionals who seek to have an immersive MBA experience and truly bond with their professors and classmates. 

Considering its focus on collaboration, diversity, and community engagement, Duke is a popular choice when it comes to elite MBA programs, meaning it’s no easy task to win a spot in its small class. With Fuqua’s accelerated 1-year MBA, competition is more difficult than ever to join Duke’s next incoming class. 

Unlike the majority of other business schools, Duke Fuqua also offers Early Action admissions for students who are sure Duke is their first choice. This does come with certain conditions, so make sure you read up on exactly what Early Action means before applying. 

That’s why we’ve prepared this guide to help you use your Duke admissions essays to stand out. We’ve rounded up our best tips and links to Berkeley Haas MBA sample essays to ensure you give your Duke Fuqua application your best shot. 

 

1. Who is Duke Fuqua looking for?

(Photo courtesy of @dukefuqua on Instagram)

“You’ll find the Fuqua Daytime MBA program is challenging and very rewarding. Acceptance is based on the ability to excel academically—and in the business community. Our students have a desire to bring out the best in others and succeed while making positive changes in the world.” Duke Fuqua Admissions 

Every year, Duke’s admissions team sorts through thousands of applications to find the perfect admits for its class of about 400 students. With a strong emphasis on diversity, teamwork and collaboration, there is no “standard” student at Duke. Surprisingly, in contrast to many US schools, the average age for the Class of 2024 was 29. The average admitted student had a GMAT score ranging from 680-760 and the average GRE was 318. 

Beyond the impressive statistics, though, Duke is also a highly community-driven school and tends to look for a certain set of characteristics in prospective students. According to Duke’s admissions committee, these are:

If this sounds like a community in which you’d be right at home, you’ll first have to prove you’ve got what it takes by successfully answering Duke’s admissions essay questions. 

 

2. How should I answer the essay questions?

Before starting your Duke essays, we highly suggest you review Duke’s guidelines on telling your story. It’s clear that Duke wants to learn about more than just your greatest achievements but also wants to see the person behind the impressive CV. 

Considering Duke’s relentless focus on storytelling, you might also want to check out our post on how to tell high-impact stories that wow the admissions committee. 

Be sure to also keep in mind the following formatting and content tips, as following instructions is also a crucial part of any strong MBA application.

 

2.1. Required short-answer essay Tips

Instructions: Answer the following question in 100 words.

What are your post-MBA career goals? Share with us your first-choice career plan and your alternate plan.

This year, Fuqua has kept it simple, retaining its questions from the 2020-2021 application cycle. In line with this decision, the “goals” essay that Fuqua introduced last year has remained the same. Considering the short word count, your greatest challenge is going to be providing a complete picture of your future ambitions as concisely as possible. 

The first part of the question asks you for your goals while retaining last year’s angle on what you’ll do if your goals don’t quite work out. For this answer, given the length, make sure to be direct. Include what you plan to do career-wise after your MBA in terms of job title and industry. 

Statements like: “I want to be an executive” will not be specific enough for this task. 

You don’t need to mention specific companies you want to work for unless you’re going sponsored, and then it’s good information to include. If you have space, you can also include why you are interested in pursuing these goals. 

TOP TIP: Goals are an essential part of your MBA application, so if you’re not sure how to define your goals for your MBA application, check out our post on the topic here! 

Furthermore, it’s always good to have a backup plan, especially considering the tough economic realities present in many places in the world these days. For your Plan B, make sure it relates in some way to your “official” goal so as not to undermine your goals statements. 

For example, if your goal is to work in Private Equity, but your Plan B is to start an eco-travel company, the admissions committee is going to wonder just how committed you were to those original goals in the first place. 

However, a job that allows you to achieve the same impact, just in a different format, would be ideal. 

For example, if you want to work in a biotechnology startup to learn best practices and shape health care, a good backup might be working in a more established biotechnology firm and later making the jump to an earlier-stage venture. 

 

2.2. Essay 1 – 25 Random Things – Tips

The ‘Team Fuqua’ spirit and community is one of the things that sets the MBA experience apart, and it is a concept that extends beyond the student body to include faculty, staff, and administration. Please share with us “25 Random Things” about you. The Admissions Committee wants to get to know YOU – beyond the professional and academic achievements listed in your resume and transcript. Share with us important life experiences, your hobbies, achievements, fun facts, or anything that helps us understand what makes you who you are.

 Your list will be limited to 2 pages (750 words maximum). Please present your response in list form, numbered 1 to 25. Some points may be brief, while others may be longer.

When detailing this year’s application instructions, Allison Jamison, Duke Fuqua’s Assistant Dean of Admissions, mentioned that this is the essay their admissions team likes reading the most. 

It’s also true for our team. Year after year, helping candidates select which fun facts to share about themselves is one of our favorite tasks. 

Our best advice here is to have a little fun with this list. After all, they could have asked “How do you feel you can contribute to the diversity of the Fuqua community?” but gave you this more open format instead. 

Additionally, the admissions committee encourages applicants to be creative. This means you can include pictures, links to portfolios, and other multimedia. While you don’t want to overdo it, use the 25 things as a way to show off who you are!

Before starting, we suggest you read this post from former Director of Admissions Megan Overby. In it, she talks about why Fuqua created this question, and it’s still just as relevant today. 

Then, start thinking about what makes you, YOU. This could include meaningful tipping points in your life, such as a childhood mission trip that ignited your passion for volunteer work, or even more lighthearted information like the origins of your nickname or favorite soccer team. The list is truly endless, but ensure you have a good variety of topics on your list and that you complement (rather than simply repeat) elements of your application that you’ve already discussed elsewhere. 

Finally, if you can think of any meaningful way to connect a few of your “things” to the Duke Fuqua experience, this can add a great level of depth to your essay. For example, if you mention your extensive volunteer work starting a local women’s empowerment group, perhaps share how you’ll use this experience to contribute to Duke Fuqua’s Association of Women in Business. 

Need more guidance? Our MBA Resource Center has dozens of Duke Fuqua MBA essays that worked to get our clients admitted to help you plan out a winning Fuqua essay. Our library also includes guides for all top global MBA programs, detailed essay brainstorms, interview tips and mocks, CV templates, and recommendation letter guides. Click to join! 

 

2.3. Essay 2 – Fuqua Community – Tips

Fuqua prides itself on cultivating a culture of engagement. Our students enjoy a wide range of student-led organizations that provide opportunities for leadership development and personal fulfillment, as well as an outlet for contributing to society. Our student-led government, clubs, centers, and events are an integral part of the student culture and to the development of leaders. Based on your understanding of the Fuqua culture, what are 3 ways you expect to contribute at Fuqua?

Your response will be limited to 1 page (500 words maximum).

Just like last year, the Fuqua admissions team makes it clear that you need to state 3 specific ways in which you feel you can contribute to Fuqua (rather than leaving the number of items up to you). 

Nailing this essay, in our view, depends on three things: research, sincerity, and brevity. 

This is even more challenging, considering the fact that you need to list 3 things in 500 words. 

First, you will need to do extensive research. If you don’t know much about the Fuqua community, it’s going to be hard to write a compelling essay about why you feel you belong there. 

So first start out by doing your homework. What does Fuqua offer in terms of clubs and initiatives? Why do these motivate you and how do you hope to learn and grow by participating in them? Which parts of Duke’s definition of “Consequential Leaders” do you identify with, and how do you see yourself putting those into practice while at Fuqua? Finally, how can you contribute to the Fuqua community?

We suggest you start by selecting three different elements to focus on in your essay. Then, move on to the second critical element: sincerity. How you express yourself in this essay is as important as showing you did your research. 

You may want to use a few past examples that demonstrate just why you’re so passionate about a given topic. 

For example, let’s say you visited campus, stayed with current students, and got to experience Fuqua’s community firsthand. Using this as a starting point to discuss what the Fuqua community means to you then continuing by demonstrating how you plan to get involved and add value if given two years rather than just two days on campus is sure to develop into a stellar argument. 

Second, make sure you’ve got the tone right. Duke Fuqua wants to hear your story, so imagine you’re sitting across the table from a current student, a friend, or even a family member and are explaining to them why you’re so passionate about Duke. This approach makes the letter feel more personal and genuine, helping you win the heart and mind of the Fuqua admissions committee. 

Third, make your essay as concise as possible. You want to make sure to give space to fully explain your different examples and ensure you tie each to the Duke community, but this is no place to wax poetic about your love for Duke. Writing such a short essay can be tricky, though, so make sure you review our post on how to write outstanding short essays here! 

 

2.4. Optional Essay Tips

If you feel there are circumstances of which the admissions committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g. unexplained gaps in work, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance). Note that you should NOT upload additional essays nor additional recommendations in this area. The Optional Information section is intended to provide the admissions committee with insight into your circumstances only.

Your response will be limited to 1 page (500 words maximum).

This is not a place for you to retell your life story or sum up your interest in Duke or need for an MBA. It is also not a place to copy and paste a strong essay you wrote for another school. Make sure you focus only on weak spots and also discuss what steps you have taken or took to rectify the weaknesses. 

Find additional tips and tricks to help you master the optional essay here. 

Do you have other lived experiences that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee that may give us insight into your opportunities, challenges, and/or achievements? If so, please share 200 words or less explaining how those experiences might affect your contributions to Fuqua.

There is really no “right” answer to this question. We have seen clients discuss how growing up in a low-income context fueled them to overcome adversity and, later, share this success with other people in their communities. Other clients have talked about their varied multicultural experiences gave them a unique view of the world. 

If you do not have any relevant context, however, it is ok to leave this blank. 

Looking for Duke Fuqua MBA essay examples? Check out our real sample essays that got our clients admitted here.

 

3. Make sure you get into Duke Fuqua

One of the most common mistakes we see in MBA essays is that candidates fail to tell compelling stories. This is important because if your stories are not compelling, they will not be persuasive. At the same time, they must be backed by strong examples that establish a track record of success and prove to the admissions committees why you belong at their school. 

Striking this balance between content and creativity can be tough, however, as succeeding means not only choosing the right stories but ensuring they are told in an optimal manner. 

This is why our iterative developmental feedback process here at Ellin Lolis Consulting helps you mold your message through the application of our storytelling expertise until it reflects exactly what makes your profile stand out and show fit with your target program. 

That’s the approach we took with Andre, who was admitted to Duke. In their words, “I can’t fully describe what an amazing job Ellin has done with me, but I will try. A good admission consultant can put you in a good school if you have a 700+ GMAT, but an excellent admission consultant can put you in a top school with a 660, and this is what Ellin has done with me.

Her job is professional and complete, from the beginning – developing a road map, millstones, and essays – to the end – preparing for interviews and scholarships. Thank you very much, Ellin, for changing my life and making my dream come of going to Duke come true.” 

Not only can you take advantage of our editing expertise through multiple edits – you can also benefit from it after a single review! If your budget is tight, our editors will be happy to help polish your text as much as possible and leave “bonus comments” so you can keep working on it on your own!

No matter how long we work with you, we will always ensure your essays shine. Sign up to work with our team of storytelling experts and get accepted.

 

4. Deadlines

Here are the deadlines for the 2023-2024 season. You can access the online application here.