The MLT MBA Prep Class Experience, from Fuqua Student Body Co-President, Chris Castro, MBAP ’15
If I were pressed to pick one, the tagline for the MLT class of 2015 would be, “step into your greatness.” In 2014, an MLT alum delivered that mantra to my MLT class during one of our MBA prep conferences. To this day, many of my current classmates/MBA Prep alums at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University will spout that phrase anytime anyone is hesitating to take a leadership opportunity at our business school or nail an interview with a top recruiter.
I was floored that top business school admission officers… lined up to introduce themselves to us.”
As the fifth of six kids and the son of a mechanic and immigrant, attending a top business school was never something that I imagined for myself. No one I knew ever went to business school. Yet from the time I started with MLT I continuously got opportunities to push myself further than I could imagine. In the MBA Prep seminars, I was floored that top business school admission officers wanted candidates just like me – not only that, they lined up to introduce themselves to us. Throughout my conversations with my wonderful MBA Prep coach, Wendy Dukes, I was reassured that, “yes, a top business school is accessible for a guy with so-so grades that went to a small liberal arts school and then worked in the social sector. You just need to work for it.” MLT gave me the access and confidence to stretch myself but it was up to me to decide if I was going to do my part to accept the challenge.
MLT has become the community that gives me the support that allows me to step into my best self.”
Starting at Fuqua this past fall, I maintained that self-belief that Coach Dukes helped instill and looked for the right opportunity to grow. At Fuqua, my MLT alum classmates were my new support system and coaches. Each of them made the business school experience that much easier to adjust to, since nearly twenty of my classmates were part of my MBA Prep cohort. Having a comfortable home base at Fuqua gave me the backing I needed to push myself into leadership positions throughout my first year. I was elected to be section representative this past fall, and this February I was elected student body co-president. No surprise that it was Tyisha Rivas, an MBA Prep alum and Fuqua classmate, who was the first to push me into thinking about running for student leadership in the first place, and other MLT alums who cajoled and encouraged me when I had self-doubts. MLT has been a supportive community for me throughout my last three years, but more than that, MLT has become the community that gives me the support that allows me to step into my best self.