Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog
My 25 Random Things
If you haven’t noticed, The Fuqua School of Business changed up the essay questions for this year’s application. Here’s one of the newer questions:
Question: 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.
How to Answer: The Admissions team is taking a unique approach with this essay question, and I think a lot of prospective students are scratching their heads about how to respond. So, to help inspire your essays, I thought I would pass along my list of 25 Random Things:
- I was born and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta—specifically Stone Mountain, GA. Stone Mountain is one of the largest pieces of exposed granite in the United States and also the fictional home of Kenneth from the sitcom 30 Rock.
- I am a US citizen by nationality, an Indian-American by ethnicity, and a true Southerner by geography.
- I worked for 5.5 years at Deloitte Consulting doing Human Capital consulting. If you have seen the movie Office Space, imagine the “Bobs” and you may get a picture of some of my work. 🙂
- I have been dating my girlfriend for nearly 8 years.
- My favorite television show in the entire world was Lost. I was so addicted to the show that my friends had a Lost viewing party with T-shirts for the finale.
- I am obsessed with planning and being on time. I wouldn’t say I am OCD but I think 5 minutes early is late.
- I never snooze. When the alarm goes off, I get up.
- I have a nephew, Rushabh, who is the cutest person in the entire world.
- I went to Emory University and graduated with a business degree in marketing and finance. I love Emory!
- I studied abroad in London while in undergrad and I still remember those 6 months as some of the best moments of my entire life. While abroad, I backpacked through Amsterdam, Athens, Corfu, Prague, Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, and Paris.
- I once skipped work with my girlfriend to hear Mark Paul-Gosselaar (Zach Morris from Saved by the Bell) speak at my undergrad school. I’d like to think I just said “time-out” and no one knew.
- If I had to describe myself in one word, it would be “goofy.” If I am not the goofiest person in the room, I want to meet that person because we will get along.
- I had an internship this summer at Facebook. It was absurdly awesome. (Read more about it.)
- I fully intend on winning the lottery one day, buying a private island, and reading books on a hammock while overlooking the ocean.
- I love TV sitcoms and my favorite show right now is How I Met Your Mother.
- I am pretty passionate about cookies. I love them, specifically chocolate chip and double-stuff Oreos. This fact is on my resume and was asked about multiple times during my interviews.
- My hero is and will forever be my dad. He passed away in 2005, but I aspire to be 10% of what he was, every single day when I wake up.
- I am a vegetarian and proud of it. As far as I know, I have never eaten meat or fish.
- I love to do Karaoke but I am so awful that I have to get a private room to save everyone else’s ears.
- I dig Bikram Yoga (hot yoga) and have been practicing it off and on for a few years.
- I grew the most hideous mustache last year for Fuqua’s Stache Bash. It was disgusting, but I raised $900 for charity! (Take a look at it.)
- My favorite guy movie of all time is The Rock and favorite chick flick is Serendipity. (That’s right … I have a favorite chick flick!)
- I always take the day off on my birthday because who wants to do work on their birthday?!?
- I try to always be positive and high-energy. I think I exhaust people at times.
- I shuffle my feet when I walk so most people hear me coming (and run away … LOL).
See more examples from and insight on Fuqua’s 25 Random Things essay