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*Please note: You are viewing an essay analysis from the 2015-2016 admissions cycle. Click here to view our collection of essay analyses for the current admissions season. 

Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business essay questions are the same as last year, but in many ways, the kinds of essays the school is requesting of its applicants hearken back to years ago, when candidates were given the opportunity to provide a broad picture of themselves. Fuqua starts by posing a few traditional goals questions, finishes by offering applicants a choice of two questions about their personal connection to the school, and in the middle, presents its rather unique “25 Random Things” question—which is, in our opinion, one of the most generous opportunities offered by any admissions committee to well-rounded and qualified applicants. After submitting a Fuqua application, no one should feel as though he/she did not have sufficient occasion to provide a comprehensive overview of his/her values, experiences, and accomplishments. Our full analysis of Fuqua’s essay questions follows…

Required Short Answer Questions: Answer all 3 of the following questions. For each short answer question, respond in 500 characters only (the equivalent of about 100 words).

1. What are your short-term goals, post-MBA?
2. What are your long-term goals?
3. Life is full of uncertainties, and plans and circumstances can change. As a result, navigating a career requires you to be adaptable. Should the short-term goals that you provided above not materialize, what alternative directions have you considered? 

With this trio of questions, Fuqua is essentially asking for a standard, but very brief, personal statement—only this one has a nonstandard component, presented in the third query. Most candidates feel that they have to be unequivocal in their goals, but here Fuqua is asking applicants to equivocate somewhat. Fuqua’s admissions committee knows that sometimes the best-laid plans do not always play out as expected or yield the intended results, and the school wants to know that you are prepared to switch gears and recommit to a different path, if necessary, and are fully capable of doing so. The key in answering this question is showing that your alternate goal is just as connected to your skills, interests and ambitions as your original plan and does not come “out of left field,” so to speak. For example, you would probably have a difficult time convincing the admissions committee that your short-term goal is to work in technology consulting while your alternate goal would be to work in human resources, because these industries, for the most part, require entirely different skills and personalities. Just be mindful that both goals you present must be plausible and achievable.

Because personal statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which helps applicants write this style of essay for any school. We offer this guide to candidates free of charge. Please feel free to download your copy today.

Essay 1 (required): 25 Random Things About Yourself

Answer the following question—present your response in list form, numbered 1 to 25. Some points may be only a few words, while others may be longer. Your complete list should not exceed 2 pages.

1. The “Team Fuqua” spirit and community is one of the things that sets The Duke MBA experience apart, and it is a concept that extends beyond the student body to include faculty, staff, and administration. When a new person joins the Admissions team, we ask that person to share with everyone in the office a list of “25 Random Things About Yourself.” As an Admissions team, we already know the new hire’s professional and academic background, so learning these “25 Random Things” helps us get to know someone’s personality, background, special talents, and more.In this spirit, the Admissions Committee also wants to get to know you—beyond the professional and academic achievements listed in your resume and transcript. You can share with us important life experiences, your likes/dislikes, hobbies, achievements, fun facts, or anything that helps us understand what makes you who you are. Share with us your list of “25 Random Things” about YOU.

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Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday. 

“Should I use Calibri or Times New Roman font for my essays?”

“Should I list my GPA to the third or fourth decimal place?”

“I don’t have enough space to enter my full title, so should I write Vice President or VP Sales?”

As candidates approach their first application deadline, small questions start to arise—questions that often require using judgment to answer. We can safely say that no one was ever kept out of Harvard Business School for listing his/her GPA to the third decimal point or for abbreviating a title. Remember, the admissions officers are not punitive. They are not mean-spirited people, reading your application and searching for reasons to reject you. So, if you have a small lingering question about your application, you can connect with the admissions office and ask someone there. Most often, they will ask you to use your judgment. As long as your broad story is compelling, the smallest details should take care of themselves.

With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this blog series, Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.

What is “the 80/80”? All schools look at your overall three-digit GMAT score (the one given on the 200–800 scale). In addition, a few of the very top business schools, such as Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton, look for the 80/80: an 80th percentile score or higher on the individual quant and verbal subsections. Essentially, if someone hits a 700 but does so by scoring 99th percentile in one subsection and only 60-something in the other, the schools might be concerned about the lower-scoring area. From their point of view, an “80/80” minimum ensures that you have got a solid base in both quant and verbal.

What if I score in the 75th percentile?

The 80/80 guidelines are just that—guidelines. The schools do not use these parameters as a hard cutoff. In other words, a score in the 70s is generally fine, as long as the overall score is also within a school’s desired target range. If, on the other hand, the overall score is a bit low, the GPA is a bit low and one or both of the GMAT subscores are low … well, you still might get in, but your job just became a lot harder.

What if I score in the 60s?

Unless there is something else that is stellar in your profile and can therefore offset this lower score, the 80/80 schools will likely be concerned about a quant or verbal percentile in the 60s—particularly so for quant. For verbal, they have a whole host of other tools with which to assess your communication skills, starting with your essays. A 60s (or lower) quant score, though, could indicate that you will have trouble handling the quantitative portions of the MBA curriculum. You might be able to offset this concern if you can demonstrate that your current job involves significant quantitative components; make sure that your recommendations highlight your quant skills. Alternatively, perhaps you excelled in quant-focused classes in school (calculus, accounting, physics, statistics) and your transcripts show A grades.

If not, then something needs to be done. Two paths are possible here, and you can follow just one or both. First, the no-brainer: take the GMAT again and get a score in the 70s (or higher!). I call that a “no-brainer” in the sense that there is no question that you should try to do this. You might not succeed, though. An alternative, then, is to take a calculus or accounting class at a local university. If you do this, you must get an A; getting a B at this stage will not inspire confidence in the admissions staff. In addition, taking such a class will involve a decent amount of lead time; these classes often run over a period of two to four months, so this is not a last-minute solution.

The big picture? Ideally, get the GMAT done well in advance of admissions season so that you have ample time to address unexpected or unwelcome surprises during the process.

With so many business schools to choose from and so many different essay questions, how do you decide what to write for which MBA program? And how do you make sure your essays stand out?

Our brand new, first-of-its-kind presentation, “B-School-Specific Essay Extravaganza,” will help you tailor your application essay ideas for your preferred MBA programs and then execute them in a way that ensures your stories stand out. Experienced mbaMission senior consultants will explain the nuances of how to brainstorm topics, structure your essays, and assemble a compelling overall MBA application.

In addition, for this special essay writing webinar, you will select two business schools from the following list. During the session, participants will break out into separate groups and rooms based on their chosen b-schools and attend focused sessions specifically targeting those programs’ essay questions and presenting strategies for answering them.

– Columbia Business School (CBS)
– Duke Fuqua
– Harvard Business School (HBS)
– Stanford Graduate School of Business
– Wharton

Attendees will have the opportunity to ask both general and school-specific follow-up questions at the end of the presentations.

mbaMission Senior Consultant Jessica Shklar will lead the presentation, while school-specific breakout sessions and Q&A will be conducted by mbaMission President and Founder Jeremy Shinewald (Stanford), along with mbaMission Senior Consultants Eric Hollowaty (HBS), Rachel Beck (CBS), Liza Weale (Wharton), and Daniel Richards (Duke Fuqua).

Please join us for this valuable and unique event that will prove essential to your MBA planning!

Space is limited! Register for free today!

Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday.

Are You Employable? 

We believe that asking MBA candidates about their goals is plainly absurd, because so many students change their goals while they are in business school. Further, an MBA is supposed to be about career development and exploration, right? Regardless of how we feel regarding the subject, though, you must ensure that if a school asks about your goals in its essay questions or an interview, you have a compelling story about where you believe your MBA will take you. Several years ago, getting a banking job may have sounded compelling to you—are you really capable of making that transition today? Certainly, fewer jobs are available now in the real estate world—is this a likely next step for you during a prolonged real estate drought? Venture capital and private equity jobs are challenging to land even during the best of times—are you able to compete with the elite during a downturn?

These are just a few examples of questions you should honestly ask yourself. Keep in mind that not only are the admissions committees examining your story to determine what attributes you might bring to the next class, but if you are a borderline case, they may also send your profile to the career services office to help confirm whether your stated goals are realistic and if you will be difficult to place by or after graduation (i.e., whether you will hinder the school’s employment stats and thereby negatively affect its standing in the rankings). So, pay special attention to your goal statements and make sure that you can credibly stand behind them—and, as we have written in the past, even consider being prepared to discuss some alternate goals.