I’m a junior in high-school who is interested in business and looking to go to Duke. Due to my college choice, I’m pretty worried about how I look tocolleges. I started an FBLA team at my school this year, and I’m the president of the club. That’s great and has been a commitment since September; the problem comes with competitions. My team didn’t register with the FBLA Organization early enough in the year to qualify for the regional or state competition. We have a good team, and I have leadership, but does not being able to get an award heavily hurt my chances?
Although some Duke undergrads go into business jobs, there are no business majors at Duke (there is a finance minor). Make sure that Duke offers the types of classes that you are interested in, and will prepare you for the types of jobs you are interested in. Economics, Math, and Statistical Science are majors that could lead to business careers…so do some research and see what makes most sense for you.
Not winning an FBLA award wouldn’t be the reason for not gaining admission, to any school.
Good luck.
Awards look good, but they aren’t the only part of an application.
You have a logical explanation to share why your club isn’t competing this year. More importantly, you can also use an essay or interview to explain all the exciting things you and your club are doing this year while they are not competing. How are you preparing for competition next year? How are you keeping the members engaged? Are you fundraising for the club, and if so, how? Have you done anything special that no similar clubs do/are doing? There is quite a lot that can be said about your character, involvement and level of engagement in the club, even while you are not competing.
FWIW, our high school never lets first year clubs compete. I don’t know if its a money issue in terms of tournament fees, or they want to make sure the club is going to “stick” before they invest resources (money, energy, staff) in it, or if they recognize that first year clubs don’t generally see much success in tournaments. Whatever the reason, like it or not, that’s policy.
Thank you for your response. I agree with what you said. I think I’ll keep the club up and work on a fundraiser for next year, teach others about the areas of business, continue to work on the competition for next year and create a website without work posted on it so others can learn about fbla. However, I feel like interest is dying down a bit because we can’t compete in competition this year. Do you have any ideas on how to keep them engaged?
Thank you for your response. I knew it wouldn’t be a significant factor, but I was just wondering. I’m mainly going to Duke for the environment, but I do know they have an excellent business school even if I can’t receive a major from it.