Here are the essays that made a deep impact on Duke’s admissions officers. These essays are an example of a compelling story and reflect the original voice and personality of the applicant. Get inspiration from them and try to incorporate their strengths into your own personal statement.

Essay 1 Duke

Why are you pursuing the MMS degree at this stage in your professional development?

I graduated in Economics with high merit. Since then, I have worked on short-term projects in a couple of consulting companies. I have provided strategic and business solutions, ensuring effective administration, financial management, contracting, procedures, and large-scale procurement implementation. Through my professional experience, I have developed a strong penchant for consulting. Still, I believe that to provide cutting-edge business solutions to large multinationals, I need to increase my international business exposure, hone my problem-solving skills and develop strong business networks via a master’s degree from a competitive school like Duke.

Essay 2 Duke

What are your immediate career goals after completing the MMS program?

I aspire to become a strategic management consultant synthesizing modern businesses’ complex problems into simple, workable solutions. For this purpose, in the short run, I want to become a management consultant in one of the top four consulting firms and provide strategic business solutions, especially to the sports industry worldwide, as it blends well with my experience. In the long run, however, I either want to become a partner at one of the Big Four consulting firms or start my consulting firm to provide management and strategy solutions to multinationals around the globe. 

Essay 3 Duke

Life is full of uncertainties, and plans and circumstances can change. As a result, navigating a career requires you to be adaptable. Should the immediate goals you provided above not materialize, what alternative directions have you considered?

My plan B is to become a Basketball coach/manager, initially at Duke, and then work on my career in Basketball management at the international level. This plan B is because I am a seasoned performer in this sport. I have received numerous accolades and medals and have led my undergraduate university team with aplomb. I am naturally good at leading and inspiring people, and it would be a pleasure if I could take this up as a profession and harness the ability to play this sport with my peers.

Essay 4 Duke

For our MMS: Foundations of Business class, the admissions team is looking for students who are eager to engage with, and learn from, their classmates. This learning occurs inside and outside the classroom, as extracurricular engagement is an important part of the MMS experience. Describe how you plan to be engaged outside the classroom and how your unique perspective, experiences, and passions will add to the MMS community.

While exploring Duke as the school that was a perfect fit for my career aspirations, I realized that my niche lies in Duke Sports Clubs’ Recreation and Physical Education Initiative, where I can transform and contribute to the student fraternity. This platform is fascinating because it caters to creating network linkages between students through a single platform that is synergistic as well as competitive. While those linkages are a potential gain, I also want to contribute to improving the experience of my fellow students, peers, and alumni on this platform.

As an avid sportsman, I have actively engaged in sports like Basketball, Squash, and Table Tennis throughout my educational career. In doing so, I have won 42 gold and 12 silver medals in various sports. 

I was honored to be selected as the ‘Best Sportsman’ of my batch of more than 1500 students. Given my experience in playing different sports, I want to utilize Recreation and Physical Education’s platform to teach courses on sports management, including Basketball. I have chosen this course because I have had very positive results and traction for the pilot course I introduced during my undergraduate studies. 

The students enrolled in this course gained confidence and immensely honed their teamwork and leadership qualities. This is because I firmly believe that some soft skills cannot be developed within a classroom setting, even if the instructor adopts the case-based approach. 

Most of the discussion is elite-captured by more confident students, which affects the confidence of those students who have difficulty expressing themselves. The sport functions very differently by enabling expression in physical terms; hence the psychological abilities which drive soft skills are enhanced, giving these students a boost in their confidence levels.   

Given my success, I am confident of reaching a wider audience at Duke, which has a broader student community. In doing so, I firmly believe that I will not only be able to make a valuable contribution but will also have a far-reaching impact on my fellow peers and alumni.

Essay 5 Duke

25 Random Things About Me

1. For me, height and weight are just a number as I am 5 ft. 5 and 20 kg overweight, yet I have won 42 gold and 12 silver medals in various outdoor sports.
2. I was awarded the best sportsman of the year in my university among 3,500 students.
3. I am a fantastic dancer.
4. I was one of the 5 students selected to represent my university in Spain at an international Basketball competition, and I cannot wait to be part of the blue devils at Duke.
5. I have a photographic memory.
6. During my last semester, I received the Dean’s Honors List award (award for getting more than a 3.6 GPA) 
7. I love traveling. I have explored the beautiful mountains of Nepal, Kathmandu’s fresh air, and Switzerland’s snow-capped peaks.
8. I once played in an international Basketball event with a strained ankle injury.
9. My world distinction in High-school Economics was converted to a regional distinction because of terrible handwriting. They wrote to the principal explaining how bad my handwriting was. 
10. While being a Teaching Assistant, I convinced a professor to give a second chance to a student on probation.
11. I can look at funny memes all day long. 
12. My favorite animal is a Penguin because penguins are compassionate. 
13. I remain as cool as a cucumber, even in stressful situations.        
14. I am calm but clumsy. I once slipped in front of more than 500 people while co-hosting the annual concert event. I got up, smiled, and pretended it had never happened.   
15. I can mimic Bollywood actors perfectly.
16. I am an Orthographer. I have won many regional spelling bees.
17. I hate playing video games. Instead, I’d go out to the field and play sports rather than sit in front of the television for hours.
18. I am an Epicure. I could probably win an “All You Can Eat” competition. 
19. I have helped and coached various patients who have AIDS.
20. I suffer from psoriasis – a rare (3% of the population suffers from it) auto-immune skin condition. 
21. I saved my friend’s marriage by acting as a bridge between them.
22. I love watching horror thriller movies.
23. I cannot make a straight line even with the help of a ruler. 
24. I once saved a young maid from domestic abuse.
25. I am called “The Sloth” for sleeping through entire films in cinemas. This will be changed. If you’ve any suggestions, then do let me know.