Duke Daytime MBA Student Blog

I began my business school search broadly, looking for a program that stood out. I had little doubt about making close friends in a tight-knit community. But could that collaborative, team-first mentality really make a difference when it counted?

Before embarking on business school and then the business world, I was terrified. I soon discovered there were nice people who genuinely cared and wanted a better world too.

I like to joke that my business school journey would make a perfect entry for, “How not to prepare for business school.” I chose Fuqua for many reasons, the most compelling of which is the Fuqua community. The turning point for me was attending the Women’s Leadership Weekend in November 2018

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.

When I was a prospective student, I remember reading marketing materials about Fuqua. Now that I have graduated, I have seen how the elements of that content have been brought to life.

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.

This was not the spring and summer my classmates and I envisioned. As MBAA Vice President for Student Life, I was excited to get started with several projects on campus that appeared to be on hold.

As an alumnus, the question I get asked most by prospective MBA students is whether attending Duke, in medium-sized Durham, North Carolina, will put them at a disadvantage.