Duke essay 2: How will your background, values, and non-work activities enhance

moonwalker

请教一下： 这一题写working experience也可以吧？

zzy8671

可以

JonFrank

Hey there!  Honestly, it would be a better idea to AVOID work in this essay.  While it wouldn’t be a disaster, read the question carefully—they are specifically asking you about NON-work activities.  So you could talk about work, but then…where else in the Duke app would you cover NON-work?  The safest play here is to focus on personal things here, extra-curriculars, etc.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

Jon Frank

NewLifeK

oo

NewLifeK

Hey there!  Honestly, it would be a better idea to AVOID work in this essay.  While it wouldn’t be a disaster, read the question carefully—they are specifically asking you about NON-work activities.  So you could talk about work, but then…where else in the Duke app would you cover NON-work?  The safest play here is to focus on personal things here, extra-curriculars, etc.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2010/9/18 13:06:47)

我个人不太同意Frank这次的看法。
从题目的问法来理解，
DUKE是在问How will your STORY enhance the experience of other MBA students and add value to Fuqua's diverse culture
这些STORY包括：1）background; 2)values; 3)non-work activities
non-work只是和backgound/value并列的一部分，并非Frank说的“specifically asking you about NON-work activities”

如果题目的问法是： How will your background, values, and OTHER non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua's diverse culture，那么Frank的理解就是对的了。。。

zzy8671

说到底就是value-add的地方，diversity的地方，contribution的地方，所以无论哪方面都可以咯。比如一个人的工作是NBA球员或是战斗机驾驶员或是著名外科医生，ta们写工作背景就可以嘛。

nhelpn

i agree with newlifek.

JonFrank

Hey there!  Honestly, it would be a better idea to AVOID work in this essay.  While it wouldn’t be a disaster, read the question carefully—they are specifically asking you about NON-work activities.  So you could talk about work, but then…where else in the Duke app would you cover NON-work?  The safest play here is to focus on personal things here, extra-curriculars, etc.
Hope this helps, and good luck!

Jon Frank

-- by 会员 JonFrank (2010/9/18 13:06:47)

我个人不太同意Frank这次的看法。
从题目的问法来理解，
DUKE是在问How will your STORY enhance the experience of other MBA students and add value to Fuqua's diverse culture
这些STORY包括：1）background; 2)values; 3)non-work activities
non-work只是和backgound/value并列的一部分，并非Frank说的“specifically asking you about NON-work activities”

如果题目的问法是： How will your background, values, and OTHER non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua's diverse culture，那么Frank的理解就是对的了。。。

-- by 会员 NewLifeK (2010/9/18 14:30:16)

Thank you for the thoughtful response.  And I respect your opinion very much—technically, I even agree with it.  J  Duke doesn’t FORCE you to avoid work in this question.

But let me just explain a bit more carefully why you should avoid “work” in this essay.  Duke asks only three essay questions.  Most schools ask more.  Why is this important?  Well, because you don’t have many opportunities to create a compelling application for Duke.  And one of the best ways to be compelling, is to show that you are well-rounded., You need to prove that there is MORE to you than just “work.”  We tell all our clients, “Schools accept PEOPLE, not PROFILES.”
Why is this important?  Well Essay 1 will be entirely about WORK.  They ask about career path.  Essay 3 will be about Duke, and most likely, therefore about work.  After all, you want to go to Duke because you are international, interested in the non-profit sector, the professors you like are there, etc.  So now we have written two of our three essays mostly aboutwork.  This now leaves a third essay.  J
And if we can all agree that no application should be 100% about work, then this Essay #2 is your ONLY chance to show something other than work.  It is the only essay where you even have the opportunity to discuss extra-curriculars, your family background, etc.
So yes, technically, I agree with you.  The question doesn’t FORCE you to talk about things other than work.  But you would be very, very smart if you read “between the lines” of the question here.  Don’t submit 3 essays all about work!That would be a recipe for disaster!  Only submit 2.  That leaves Essay 2 as your only REAL chance to be about something other than work.

Thanks for the great comment, and I wish everyone the best of luck!



Jon Frank

nhelpn

View  it as a whole! Yes, Jon's comments remind me. Thanks.

moonwalker

Thanks for all your comments, really helpful.
i have some rough ideas and also some concens, would appreciate your future comments:
1. we can write two pages for this essay, i plan to write two separate stories, how you think about this approach?
2. The theme of the two stories is to demostrate that i can share something about China to Duke students and enhance their understanding of China. Do you think this match what is asked in essay2?