Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog

Here at Fuqua, we believe that design thinking is a fun, creative way to answer questions, design products, and ideate process improvements. We strive to introduce these skills and provide a fun environment in which to practice them.

School fit was an essential criterion when evaluating which school would be the best choice for me. Thus, attending the Workshop was a crucial step in my search process. Throughout the weekend, I was able to get a real sense of Fuqua’s overall community.

I had been researching business schools for a couple years, and after a while, all the top schools seemed the same. I needed something that would cut through the sound bites and similarities to know whether or not I, an openly gay individual, would belong.

My journey at Fuqua was not linear. I moved from Brazil to the United States specifically to join Fuqua. I’ve experienced all the feelings and struggles international students usually go through when pursuing their MBA.

Needless to say that an entrepreneur's life is not all roses, and I learned a lifetime of lessons in this journey. Here are a few I think everyone should know at the beginning.

This past year, Fuqua launched a new set of core summer term introductory courses. One class was Technological Transformation of Business, which discussed how technology and specific companies revolutionized and disrupted markets, institutions, businesses, and ultimately, society.

When I came into my first year at Fuqua, second year of my dual-degree overall, I had decided it was time to embrace something different. Fresh off an internship at WeWork, I had entrepreneurial inspiration and an idea for applying techniques I learned during my internship to a new context.

I had heard how fast time flies once school starts, but it only really registered in mid-December while I was walking out from my last exam of the term. Time and tide wait for no man, but man did I wish I had known a few things before the craziness came and went.

As I was boarding my flight for a spring break ski trip in early March 2020, I thought our class had already been tested. And that had nothing on what was yet to come.

2020 is anything but boring. That’s what I always say to my friends and family. When we think we might finally have things figured out, there’s always something that takes us by surprise. And as an international student at Fuqua, I can say that has a special connotation.