Here is the personal statement of an applicant who got admitted to Duke’s Masters in Management program. For personal statement, Duke poses several questions to applicants, which the admissions committee expects to be answered in an essay form. Duke provides these personal statement prompts to encourage students to self-reflect and then to share their insights with the program.

The following 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.

Personal Statement Prompt 1

Why are you pursuing the business management 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.

Personal Statement Prompt 2

What are your immediate career goals after completing the management studies 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. 

Personal Statement Prompt 3

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.

Personal Statement Prompt 4

For our “Masters in Management: 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 masters in management experience. Describe how you plan to be engaged outside the classroom and how your unique perspective, experiences, and passions will add to the Duke’s 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.

Personal Statement Prompt 5

Read Duke’s personal statement prompt 5 essay: 25 Random Things About Me.