Duke MMS Student Blog

Around May of 2019, I had just finished my undergraduate degree, graduated, and was looking forward to yet another graduation the following year at Duke.

I was thrilled to accept an offer to join The Lafayette Group in Washington, D.C., as a management consultant. Now, I want to share the lessons I learned during my job hunt to help future generations of MMS students.

Here are five thoughts I want to share as a new graduate, with the hopes it can shed some light on your own potential adventure into the program.

In hindsight, I can’t believe I felt shocked upon receiving the news I would be completing my degree online. Now that we’ve been quarantined for so long, logging into Zoom feels routine.

I remember barely being able to sleep approximately two weeks before orientation in July. I couldn’t believe that I, a sworn 'anti-anything that has to do with numbers' student was about to embark on her newfound journey to business school.

Being a student leader at Fuqua can mean many different things, and a big part of that process in MMS is giving students the space to decide what that means for themselves on an individual level.

I spend a lot of time thinking about other people’s jobs—specifically the job market for our MMS students. For the past three years, I’ve focused on MMS career services for our Career Management Center, and it’s my job to identify trends in the skills companies are looking to hire.

I felt confident in my decision to join Team Fuqua when I met the campus in person. I remember walking through the famous Duke Gardens with my parents, drinking in the sunlight and watching the ducks. I felt convinced in that moment I could make a home here.

Here at Fuqua, we practice holistic admissions, which means that no one component of the application is a 'make or break' factor in your likelihood of being admitted. That being said, the first questions most prospective MMS students ask are related to their academic readiness.

Just a disclaimer: I didn’t win Accenture’s case competition. I lost. I learned. I lived to consult another day. Here’s what I took away from that lightning hour of casing and our ten-minute presentation