Duke Fuqua Received More MBA Apps Than Ever For Fall 2024 — And The Result Was Historic

History is happening right now at Duke University. After receiving the most applications ever to its Daytime MBA program, the Fuqua School of Business has enrolled 51% women for the MBA Class of 2026 that began classes earlier this month — the first time in the program’s storied history that it has achieved gender parity.

After years of coming close, Duke Fuqua joins an exclusive club of B-schools, including USC Marshall School of Business, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University School of Business, and Johns Hopkins Carey Business School.

“We are thrilled to reach gender parity in a Daytime MBA class for the first time,” Shari Hubert, the Fuqua School’s associate dean for admissions, tells Poets&Quants. “It is fitting that we are celebrating this extraordinary milestone just weeks after Mary Frances Luce stepped into her interim dean role — making her the first woman to be named dean in the school’s history.”

DUKE FUQUA DAYTIME MBA BY THE NUMBERS, 2018-2024

Duke Fuqua	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020	2019	2018
Applications Received	3,808	3,292	3,539	3,762	3,356	3,036	3,557
Admits	744	729	727	723	838	695	798
Class Size	427	385	399	447	408	395	440
Acceptance Rate	19.5%	22.1%	20.5%	19.2%	25.0%	22.9%	22.0%
GMAT 80% Range	660-760	670-760	660-760	670-750	660-740	600-770	650-750
GPA Range	3.17-3.89	3.10-3.89*	3.1-3.9*	3.06-3.86*	2.70-4.00	2.65-4.00	3.10-3.88
Average Undergraduate GPA	3.54	3.49	3.46	3.48	3.50	3.50	3.49
GRE Average Score	318	317	317	317	315	319	319
GRE Percentage	47%	37%	35%	33%	38%	23%	14%
Women	51%	45%	48%	48%	46%	43%	42%
URM Students	40%	27%	25%	25%	23%	17%	16%
International Students	41%	47%	57%	47.0%	38.0%	28.6%	38.0%
First-Gen Students	18%	18%	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
Hold Advanced Degrees	16%	21%	18%	NA	NA	NA	NA
Military/Veterans	11%	19%	9%	NA	NA	NA	NA
Countries Represented	45	51	55	54	44	44	44

*80% range

Source: Duke Fuqua

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DUKE RECEIVED 3,808 MBA APPS LAST CYCLE — UP 15% FROM THE YEAR BEFORE

Hubert says the Fuqua School owes much to the way its alumni and students have helped to create a pipeline of women applicants to the program.

“This year, we’ve held several events prominently featuring women in our community and piloted new campaigns engaging alumnae across our most senior alumni boards to provide outreach and connect with admitted women,” she says. “We hope this has helped women applicants develop the sense of connection and belonging that is at the core of Fuqua’s culture.”

The school, currently ranked No. 6 in P&Q‘s ranking of top U.S. business schools, received the most MBA applications in its history in the 2023-2024 cycle, 3,808, up more than 15% from the previous year. The school had lost 12.5% of its app volume between 2021 and 2023. The turnaround allowed Fuqua to seat its biggest class (427 students) since the pandemic year of 2021 and to achieve a new high in diversity: The class is comprised of 40% under-represented minorities, up from 27% last year, and 56% U.S. students of color.

“Our Team Fuqua values rest on the foundation of embracing difference and harnessing the power of what diverse teams can achieve in solving the world’s most pressing problems — and those values have not changed,” Hubert says.

“We are very proud of our continuing efforts to create a class that reflects the diversity, across many different dimensions, that exist not only in the U.S. but around the world.” She adds that 18% of the new class identify as first-generation college students, matching the level in the MBA Class of 2025.

TECH LAYOFFS CONTRIBUTE TO JUMP IN DOMESTIC APPS

The Fuqua School’s acceptance rate declined for the first time since 2021, to 19.5%, while its yield grew to 57.4%, up from 52.8% last year. The school admitted 744 students, the most in a non-pandemic cycle since 2018.

The increase in overall applications was driven by a jump in domestic interest, which was accompanied by a corresponding decline in international apps. The result was a drop in international enrollment to 41% from 47%. Shari Hubert notes that “several factors” may have contributed to the increase in domestic applications, pointing to growth in the overall market due to economic changes. She also mentions the tech layoffs that have spurred many in that sector to return to school to seek new skills.

“After a few years of seeing fewer campus visits, we now have more people visiting us in-person again,” Hubert says. “Given our location in Durham, North Carolina, having prospective students be able to see our campus and experience our unique Team Fuqua culture first-hand helped us drive more applications as applicants were able to experience life as a student.”

Regarding the drop in international enrollment, she adds, “From our perspective, we see this as a natural fluctuation in the market and it has more to do with the growth in domestic applications at Fuqua than any decline in interest from international students. In any given year we recruit talent from around the world and have been fortunate for that talent to come from an extensive range of regions and countries.”

See the Duke Fuqua Daytime MBA Class Profile here.

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Q&A WITH SHARI HUBERT, DUKE FUQUA ASSOCIATE DEAN OF ADMISSIONS

Poets&Quants: The obvious big news in this class profile is the 51% women in the new cohort, which is the first time the Fuqua School has reached parity after years of coming close. What are your thoughts on this historic achievement?

Shari Hubert: We are thrilled to reach gender parity in a Daytime MBA class for the first time. It is fitting that we are celebrating this extraordinary milestone just weeks after Mary Frances Luce stepped into her interim dean role — making her the first woman to be named dean in the school’s history.

I am especially proud of the ways our alumni and students have supported our efforts to build a pipeline of women applicants. This year, we’ve held several events prominently featuring women in our community and piloted new campaigns engaging alumnae across our most senior alumni boards to provide outreach and connect with admitted women. We hope this has helped women applicants develop the sense of connection and belonging that is at the core of Fuqua’s culture.

We will have to see how future classes unfold over the next few years to give us a clearer picture of what makes the greatest impact in terms of supporting women throughout the application process, but we’re delighted to see our classes become more diverse and will continue working on it.

Fuqua has managed to maintain a high level of under-represented minorities in its Daytime MBA. What does this say about the school’s priorities in a time of widespread political attacks on DEI and other diversity efforts in higher education?

Our Team Fuqua values rest on the foundation of embracing difference and harnessing the power of what diverse teams can achieve in solving the world’s most pressing problems — and those values have not changed. We are very proud of our continuing efforts to create a class that reflects the diversity, across many different dimensions, that exist not only in the U.S. but around the world. For instance, we are just as proud that 18% of our class identify as first-generation college students, and when these students arrive, they will find affinity and support through our Low-Income, First-Generation Experience Club.

Has Fuqua ever had as many applications as this year? 3,808 is the most going back at least as far as 2018 — what do you make of this big jump (more than 15%) from last year?

This is a record number of applications for us in the history of the program. There are several factors that could have contributed to the increase in domestic applications, from growth in the overall market due to economic changes to tech layoffs and more. After a few years of seeing fewer campus visits, we now have more people visiting us in person again. Given our location in Durham, North Carolina, having prospective students be able to see our campus and experience our unique Team Fuqua culture first-hand helped us drive more applications as applicants were able to experience life as a student.

Our Fuqua Impact Scholars program was launched four years ago, and now has more market recognition and robust programming to be an application draw in and of itself. This program is a collaboration between Admissions and Fuqua’s five research centers, which are unique and dynamic hubs of academic research, experiential learning, and leadership development.

Our Admissions team also returned to a more robust travel schedule and has seen increased interest and attendance at in-person events. We made changes to the support we provide applicants, including an increased number of office hours for individual or small-group chats and hosted events that provided more immediate value to attendees as they went through the applicant process, like interview and essay workshops.

Is the increase in apps the reason for class size jumping so significantly this year? Is this the size that the school wants its MBA classes to be?

We experienced an increase in applications as well as yield, which contributed to an overall increase in the class size compared to last year. Historically our class size has fluctuated around the 390-450 range. Our ability to be flexible on class size enables us to create the student-driven and team-focused culture that allows our students to thrive.

Internationals, however, declined from 47% to 41%. What do you see as the cause and what are the ramifications for Fuqua (and other B-schools, where this effect has been also seen and/or suggested this year)?

From our perspective, we see this as a natural fluctuation in the market and it has more to do with the growth in domestic applications at Fuqua than any decline in interest from international students. In any given year we recruit talent from around the world and have been fortunate for that talent to come from an extensive range of regions and countries.

Last year was an incredibly successful year for us to find the right talent internationally, and the class was by far the highest international representation we have ever had in the program. We feel exceptionally fortunate to have similar international talent from 45 countries join us this year and note that this is the second-highest percentage of international students we have ever had in a class.

DON’T MISS DUKE FUQUA REPORTS MBA APP DECLINE, BECOMING THIRD MAJOR U.S. B-SCHOOL TO DO SO (2023) and FIRST-GEN, LGBTQ+, MILITARY & MORE: KEY MBA CLASS PROFILE DATA AT THE TOP U.S. B-SCHOOLS