Category: (Taking a break from the admissions story)
One thing I noticed while doing my program research was the focus on “fit” and “student type”. Every school has an incoming student profile on their website to outline the “average” student, and on every MBA/GMAT message board, the most common post is “what type of student gets accepted?”
Here’s my profile, a data point of one for the Fuqua CCMBA program:
General:
- 30-year-old White male
- Philadelphia, PA, United States
Academic:
- Bachelor of Science in Economics (3.1 GPA) – University of Delaware
- Master of Arts in Economics (3.7 GPA) – University of Delaware
Professional:
- Six years work experience
- Strengths: SAS programming, data management and analysis
- Started career in electricity demand forecasting for Mid-Atlantic power grid (2.5 years)
- Currently in Marketing Decision Science/statistical modeling role at a large financial services provider
- No direct-report management experience
You have a strong quant background. What made you decide to apply to duke?
My application (and enrollment) was based on the feeling I got from the school. From the beginning where they were giving me detailed advice for my application, to my interview, Duke “felt” right to me.
A lot of the other communications I had with other b-schools seemed very combative, and quite off-putting. Duke felt very inclusive (even before I knew I got in), where other schools had the attitude that they didn’t *need* your application.
As far as choosing Duke, the program just sounds awesome. London, Dubai, Shanghai, Delhi, and St. Petersburg, in 16 months? That ALONE sold me.
What made you apply to the MA Economics? I am considering doing a public health degree with a quant focus to lift my GPA. However, I am just not into public health that much even though I have had success career wise in this area.
I didn’t really apply, I just stayed at school after my undergrad. An Econ professor I had my junior year suggested that I stay and get a Masters, and the Economics Department ended up giving me a full scholarship, so it was really a no-brainer.
Certainly I don’t know your specific situation, but I’d say that if your heart isn’t in it, don’t do the public health degree. Graduate level coursework is quite a bit different from undergrad, especially the workload. If your not interested enough to give it your all, the workload might overwhelm you and your GPA could suffer.