Suvd Tserenkhuu

Duke University, Fuqua School of Business

“Daughter, granddaughter, big sister, friend, foodie, MBA student at Fuqua.”

Hometown: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Fun Fact About Yourself: Born and raised in Ulaanbaatar (world’s coldest capital city), Mongolia.

Undergraduate School and Major: Kobe University – Bachelor of Economics, Hitotsubashi University – Master of Economics

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: MUFG Bank – Ulaanbaatar Representative Office, Assistant Vice President

The MBA program is renowned for its “Team Fuqua” culture, which is predicated on six paired principles: Authentic Engagement, Supportive Ambition, Collective Diversity, Impactful Stewardship, Loyal Community, and Uncompromising Integrity. Which of these resonates most with you – and what does that principle demand of you as a Fuqua MBA? I would say the “Authentic Engagement” principle resonates with me the most. To me, it means being true to who you are and bringing your full self to the people around you. Throughout my career and my personal life, the people who left the most lasting impact were the ones who engaged authentically with me. It also encourages people around you to be authentic and allows you to connect with them on a deeper level. As a Fuqua MBA, I believe I can make my peers’ and my own MBA journey more meaningful and richer by acting with authenticity and intention when engaging with everyone.

Aside from your classmates and school culture, what was the key part of Duke Fuqua’s MBA curriculum programming that led you to choose this business school and why was it so important to you? If I were to choose one, the flexibility of the curriculum offered by Duke Fuqua was important to me. There are only 13 mandatory core classes while you will have the flexibility to choose from over a hundred elective courses. Because everyone’s background and future aspirations are unique, this flexibility will afford me to focus on the specific skills and knowledge that I want to develop in the coming two years.

What has been your first impression of the Fuqua MBA students and alumni you’ve met so far. Tell us your best Fuqua story so far. Right from the start of my application process, Fuqua’s current students were of tremendous help to me. They have given me valuable insights about the program, its culture, and basically everything I needed to know about the school. Even though they were probably going through their busiest period of the program themselves, they went out of their way and took the time to talk with me more than once.

Even the admission interviewer (a then-second-year student) who interviewed me reached out to me right after the release of my admission decision. He congratulated me and offered to have a chat in case I had any questions about the school. Again, this was a Fuqua student going out of his way to help. As you can see, I experienced the Team Fuqua spirit quite early on even though I was not officially a member of Team Fuqua yet.

Then coming into orientation this week, I am hearing similar stories of Team Fuqua all over again from many different people, which goes to show how Team Fuqua is real and how it reaches everyone.

What course, club or activity excites you the most at Duke Fuqua? There are so many different activities, clubs and events that one could choose at Duke Fuqua. Apart from the professional clubs, I am thinking of joining the culinary club. Since I am such a big foodie, I am excited to try dishes from different cultures while having a good time with my classmates. I also think the Association of Women in Business is a great place to meet like-minded people and share my passion while learning about the issues that are important to me. And of course, I would love to see at least one Duke sports game while I am here.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest accomplishment in my career so far was when I helped introduce a currency trading platform while working in the central bank of my home country. My task was to research potential options and provide proposals and, if approved, proceed to implementation. I had to communicate my ideas to tech professionals who had completely different backgrounds than me. In the beginning, it was challenging to communicate with them and understand them. With some perseverance and endless discussions, we were able to get our ideas across to each other and complete the project on time. I like to describe it as an achievement because of the lesson it taught me. I was able to develop as a professional more in this role because I had to get out of my comfort zone and do something that I normally would not do.

Looking ahead two years, what would make your MBA experience successful? Like everyone else, I made the decision to pursue an MBA to grow as a professional and as an individual. In my cohort, I already see so many different layers of diversity in terms of cultures, experiences, perspectives, and skills. Leveraging the diversity of my cohort, the resources and the faculty at Fuqua, I would like to work on my soft skills and develop my business knowledge. In doing so, I would also like to help my peers have the same successful experience in their pursuits.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into Duke Fuqua’s MBA program? I think the number one piece of advice I can give is to just start by talking to students, alumni and the admissions team to get to know more about the program. For me, the virtual information sessions and the coffee chats were a great starting place to know about the school better and get excited about it.