Meet Duke Fuqua’s MBA Class Of 2022

Mexico City: A quick trip to Mexico City in 2019 was filled with exploring, history lessons, and an abundance of tequila and tacos.

NO SEX, PLEASE…WE’RE PUBLISHERS

Vineetha Athrey’s moment of truth came when her father suffered a heart attack over five years ago. Without health insurance, his care sopped up the family finances. In response, Athrey dived into healthcare policies and laws to eventually create a framework that enabled her father to be covered – and others like him.

“This was a defining moment for me, as it made me recognize my own ability to solve big, overarching problems,” she explains. “Solving this problem successfully for my father, and subsequently for others like him, made a light bulb go off in my head! I realized that in order to serve others effectively and make the most of my potential, I must go back to school and bolster my experiences with core business and managerial skills.”

During this process, Athrey’s pitch was rejected by 30 insurance providers. It was good practice for her book, which had been rejected by 13 publishers. “They found the title, Sexy Successful Spiritual, too bold and shocking for the conservative Indian mindset! Most of them warned me that if I aspire to ever marry an Indian man, I should not publish a book with the word ‘sex’ in its title!”

That’s not the only memorable story from the Class of 2022. Gabi Fernandez sailed through the Bermuda Triangle “on the cattails of Hurricane Dorian” – but couldn’t report any “supernatural sightings.” Jim Fiene practices mediation…on a motorcycle. In addition, Claire Li’s column on Medium has become a hit, generating over 200,000 page views (so far).

“LEARNERS WHO KNOW HOW TO HAVE FUN”

Yes, the Class of 2022 has now been exposed to the Team Fuqua ethos on a day-to-day basis. How would they describe their classmates? Kelli Valdez labels them as “learners who know how to have fun.” For Abby Larus, the class is filled with people who “care deeply about something.” More than that, she adds, they share these passions with classmates. In the end, observes Mike Pukala, they are focused heavily on the needs of their peers.

“My classmates, especially my learning team, are incredibly competent and high-achieving individuals. But they also care about people beyond the classroom. My learning team started off by asking each other what each member wants to accomplish in their MBA and how the rest of the team can help. Whether it is second years or my classmates, everyone has prioritized me by giving their time and advice, even amid their busy schedules.”

The bust of J.B. Fuqua in the school hallway at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. Justin Cook photo

This commitment brings even greater value during difficult times like COVID-19 adds William Ramos.

“Because of Covid-19 travel restrictions, I started my MBA online, from Brazil. My classmates were generous in many ways, including picking up and keeping materials for me, making sure my time zone would not be a problem for our group assignments, and even helping me find a place to lease – as most places were already taken by the time I booked my flight to Durham. I am excited to continue this journey of mutual support at Duke!”

APPLICATIONS AND CLASS SIZE UP

While COVID-19 was heavily disruptive, it didn’t upend the class profile at the Fuqua School. For one, applications rose from 3,036 to 3,356 – a 10.5% rebound from the previous year. By the same token, the school increased its class size from 395 to 408 students – though down from the 440 full-time MBAs who made up the Class of 2020. In the process, Fuqua’s acceptance rate inched up by 2.5 points to 24.97%.

These results were the product of heavy outreach and sweat, explains Shari Hubert, Duke Fuqua’s associate dean for admissions, in a 2020 interview with P&Q. “We did invest a lot in hosting over 200 events that prior year, and that would have driven those applications,” she says. “We activated a much more high-touch campaign geared toward those applicants who were in the process of completing their applications, but had not submitted yet, to ensure that they were able to get all the information they needed in order to complete the submission. So going through the process, it was much more high-touch tactically.”

The class’ average GMAT slipped from 705 to 702, though its median held steady at 710. That said, GRE scores make up 38% of student submissions, a major jump from last year’s 23% total. Undergraduate GPAs again reported out at 3.50. This year, women also make up 46% of the class. This is up three points from the 2021 Class. Even more, this percentage ranks Fuqua alongside Dartmouth Tuck (49%) and Harvard Business School (45%) for the highest concentration of women in Top 20 MBA programs. Like last year, the Class of 2022 consists of students from 44 countries. Despite COVID curtailing travel, Fuqua’s percentage of international students actually rose a point to 38%.

When it comes to international students, Shari Hubert credits the admissions team’s long slate of events around the world. However, she also attributes the school’s success to its personal touch in recruiting.  “I am just always in awe of the lengths to which our international students will go to invest in their education and to get here,” she explains in a 2020 interview with P&Q. “There is one student who lived in Brazil, but also had a Portuguese dual citizenship, and she traveled to Portugal to fly out to the U.S. to get here. And I think those types of very, very high-touch, very strong communications across the board — but very individualized communications as well — show that our admissions team understands where each international student was.”

RECORD-SETTING PAY

Overall, the Class of 2022 hails from over 200 undergraduate universities worldwide. The largest segment of the class – 31% – majored in Business and Accounting. Engineering and Natural Sciences majors trail closely behind at 28%, followed by the Liberal Arts (19%) and Economics (16%). In terms of professional experience, Financial Services enjoy the largest representation here (19%). Other large class blocs are comprised of students who last worked in Consulting (15%), Health Care (11%), Marketing and Public Relations (7%), Sales and Business Development (7%), Non-Profits and Education (6%), and Government (5%).

Fuqua has remained relatively immune from the worst of the pandemic. The Class of 2020, for example, enjoyed all-time pay packages of $171,000, with 91% accepting jobs within 90 days of graduation. The school also ranked 9th globally in January’s Financial Times Ranking, finishing with the 5th-highest score in the Alumni Recommendation survey and 9th in the Faculty Research metrics. As usual, Fuqua’s academic chops were recognized by faculty and administrators at rival MBA programs. Fuqua ranked among the ten-best programs in Management, Marketing, and Non-Profit programming in the latest U.S. News survey (and 11th in  both Finance and Analytics).

Fuqua student team working on the patio

Such rigor is one reason why Fuqua doesn’t fit the “party school” label slapped on some MBA programs.

”We can throw some pretty awesome parties,” admits 2020 grad Sahana Qaundinya, “but Fuqua is a lot more than that. Socializing at Fuqua can take various forms – trivia nights, dinner with strangers or just your regular C-Lead team dinner. The Triangle has a lot of places to explore and it has been great to do just that the last couple of years. I would say that Fuqua is a place for everyone and everyone finds their crew here!”

A Q&A WITH RUSS MORGAN

What can MBA students and applicants expect next from the Fuqua MBA. P&Q posed this question (and several more) to Russ Morgan, senior associate dean for full-time programs. From the impact of COVID to the value of the living in the Research Triangle Park, here are Morgan’s thoughts on the state of the Fuqua MBA program…

P&Q: What are the most exciting new developments at your program?

RM: “We are thrilled to be launching new curriculum in our Daytime MBA program this year focusing on three themes: leading technology transformation, entrepreneurial mindset, and action and creating common purpose in a world of differences. The themes compliment and reinforce each other throughout the program. We believe the new curriculum will make our graduates better prepared for the world of business today, and therefore, even more in demand by recruiters.

I will briefly describe each:

Russ Morgan, April 23, 2018. (Justin Cook for Rotarian Magazine)

1. Creating common purpose: We feel that common purpose in organizations is critical to having everyone come together as members of the same team. As the role of business in society is put into question, and as we observe continued polarization in society that bleeds into business, it is increasingly difficult to have everyone feel they are on the same team. This limits the effectiveness of organizations and we want to help demonstrate that business can be a role model for how we can bring people together with widely different backgrounds to act with common purpose.

2. Leading technology transformation and innovation: We believe there is a role for technology in driving business transformation. Business must use human difference and leadership judgment in harnessing technology to create value in society. The leaders of today and tomorrow will require an increased level of technical competence, not necessarily as technology doers, but as informed consumers of technology.

3. Entrepreneurial mindset for a lifetime: If we are going to live up to the potential the platform of business provides to transform society for the better, we need to instill a sense of responsibility to seize that opportunity. We need leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset who will own the challenges they face, not only in the domain of startups, but in traditional business settings as well.”

P&Q: What is the two most unique or differentiating features of your full-time program? How do they enrich the MBA experience?

RM: “I feel that Fuqua is truly unique among business schools because of the supportive culture we have. I discuss Team Fuqua separately and stipulate that, at our core, everything we do is predicated on the foundation set by Team Fuqua. We want to create an environment where students feel free to experiment and treat the MBA as a learning lab, knowing that they can do so with only upside. That environment is one where you can thrive by being yourself. We want each student engaged in what they are most passionate about. That has a feedback loop to the community where each student’s passion and expertise make every other student in the program better.

I find Fuqua to be unique through the partnership and mutual trust we have between students and the staff and faculty. This is enabled by Team Fuqua. Across the community, we believe we have a responsibility to co-produce the experience and have a true partnership. While we try to set the conditions for success for our students, we comfortably hand off leadership responsibility to the students and student organizations to create and execute co-curricular activity with a great deal of autonomy. It results in a win-win, where students have developmental opportunities and the school and students benefit from the scale and scope of offerings available through clubs and the student government.

Second, the academic and curricular positioning of the school offers unique breadth and optionality. If you come to Fuqua, you will have the opportunity to experience deep expertise in an academic discipline but also to experience the breadth of exposure to academic training across disciplines. In addition, that breadth intersects in important applications at Fuqua around Health Sector Management, Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship, Sustainability and Energy, and Leadership. We don’t attempt to be good at just one or two things. We seek excellence across all areas and look to combine that excellence in application.”

MBA students working together in the Winter Garden

P&Q: How has COVID-19 impacted your business school?

RM: “Like every other business school, COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our operations. However, I’m happy to report that Fuqua has been able to manage the crisis very well. We were able to pivot classes online quickly in the spring because we had such deep expertise in teaching online in other Fuqua programs. In fact, teaching surveys completed by our students from the spring did not show a drop in satisfaction once we went to a purely online model. I credit our faculty and IT departments for not just quickly adapting the technology, but actively seeking ways for students to remain engaged at a high level in their courses. I also credit our staff and our student leadership in finding ways to keep our students connected. Our MBAA leadership in particular has been tremendous in not just keeping their cohort connected, but in running virtual sessions over the summer to make sure our first-year students felt a part of this community before orientation. The way our community pulled together was in no way surprising, but made me proud once again to be part of Team Fuqua.

Our top priority is the safety of our students, staff, and faculty. We spent the summer rigorously planning to implement a hybrid model in which some students can join classes in person and others will be virtual. We again are lucky to have deep expertise in this format from other programs. We have been able to effectively implement a hybrid model with great engagement between the faculty member and students because we have technology in place that allows simple things like all participants being able to see each other, regardless of their physical location. It was also very important to get the building ready for this type of experience. For example, we’ve spent significant time reconfiguring larger spaces, such as our library and ballrooms, into classrooms to ensure physical distancing of six feet or more between students. The undertaking of logistics has been significant with signage, markers, and supplies. Again, we are so proud of how our team has pulled together.

We feel extremely confident in our plan to deliver classes in person for some students and are especially grateful to have had the guidance of a world class medical system at Duke guiding all of our decisions.

We are also proud of the way our community has so far responded to follow the safety protocol to keep each other safe by wearing masks, physical distancing and engaging in testing and daily symptom monitoring.”

Page 3: In-depth profiles of 13 members of the Class of 2022