When you come to Fuqua, you will discover the need to develop your time management skills. This is not a place for procrastinators. I am going to run through a few fall term activities that will help you gain some perspective on this claim. Never before had I so appreciated the importance of a personal planner.

The Purpose

Fall is the time of the year when most major organizations kick off their recruiting events and conduct information sessions in universities across North America. An information session is usually a 30-minute long presentation followed by a Q&A with the employees and an informal reception that provides an opportunity to grow one’s professional network (plus complementary T-shirts and muffins if you’re lucky). Since almost every major U.S. firm recruits at Duke, expect to attend a lot of these when you’re here. You will need to schedule your priorities to make the most out of your time. I for one, was balancing my job search activities with a pro bono consulting assignment for a non-profit organization that promotes environmental awareness. Think of being a member of the Duke community as playing World of Warcraft, there’s never a shortage of interesting things to do.

The Perks

We Blue Devils are strong believers in the “work hard, play hard” school of thought. Duke’s campout to secure coveted basketball season tickets is one of the most important sports related traditions this side of the ocean. Just to give you an idea, some people pay thousands of dollars for a ticket to the Duke versus UNC game, which is arguably the biggest college sports rivalry in the world (I bumped into a few folks in Durham who had no idea who Kevin Durant was but could name the entire roster of Duke’s basketball team). Check out a few videos of the season-opening event, “Countdown to Craziness,” floating around the internet (including this video blog from my classmate) to get a feel of the ambiance and the hype that surrounds this platform. Jahlil Okafor probably gets a louder cheer at Cameron Indoor Stadium than Carmelo Anthony does at Madison Square Garden!

The Posse

Of course, Durham is in close proximity to some of the coolest east coast locations and attractions. So, if you spontaneously feel like driving to the Chattahoochee Hills in Georgia to attend TomorrowWorld, one of the biggest music festivals in the world, and bobbing your heads in unison to EDM music, you can always find like-minded MMSers to make that venture possible. Just be sure that you can submit your assignments (you’ll get tons of these here!) in a timely fashion after a fun-filled weekend. See how it all comes back to time management?