Report Out

I had my Fuqua interview recently. I decided to fly down to Duke for the interview, so I could look around the campus. The facilities are nice. They are doing some construction, which was loud, but certainly will help to expand the facilities. I liked the student center - it seems very much alive with energy.

They have the interviewees wait in a lobby outside the office. They also have students sit with you to talk to you and answer your questions. I thought this was great! It put me immediately at ease, and I ended up asking a lot of questions. While they had particular students who were apparently "assigned" to sit there with us, many of their friends saw them there and stopped to chat as well. They were very friendly!

My interviewer came out to get me right on time. We went to a room and she offered me something to drink. She broke the ice with a few questions about my trip and visit thus far and then we got down to business. She noted that I worked in consulting and must travel a lot. I told her I did and she asked where I had gone. She also asked if I had ever had an eye-opening travel experiences when traveling to a place w/ a different culture. She then jumped into some standard questions:

Why do you want an MBA? What are your career goals?
What could you contribute to the Fuqua?
Tell me about a challenge you faced at work - how did you handle it?
What are the qualities you consider critical in a leader?
What classes outside your major did you enjoy in your undergraduate studies?
What would you do at Fuqua to round out your learning experience? Any specific extracurriculars?
How would your friends describe you?
What would you do if money were not an issue?
Any questions for me?

The interview lasted about 45 minutes. I could have done a better job on a few of the questions (I felt I started and ended strong, with just a little dip in the middle). I hate silence in interviews, so I have a tendency to ramble at times. I haven't interviewed in about 3 years, but I did practice the standard questions beforehand to smooth my story. The positive thing was that when I was explaining why I wanted an MBA to help me on my career goals, I was getting a lot of nods and she even said something like "that makes sense." I wanted to be like... "yeah, I thought so too." :) I went about answering the questions honestly, so I think they got a fairly good picture of who I am. I actually kind of enjoyed the conversation. I always have to reign myself in during interviews, as I have a tendency to just keep talking and asking questions because I enjoy meeting new people so much (my undergraduate interview lasted 2.5 hours!)

She also told me about a Weekend for Women, which sounds awesome. You have to apply (probably b/c Fuqua foots part of the bill while you're there). I am definitely going to try to get into that. I think it would be a great experience. Overall, I very much enjoyed my visit to Fuqua. The staff and students were engaging, the interview wasn't at all painful, and I learned a lot about the program and the school.