Tuck 2013 (Dartmouth) - Calling All Applicants

I visited campus in April and would say business casual is perfectly appropriate.

Looks like the adcom has posted essays for this year on their blog - https://tuckschool.blogspot.com. Good luck all!


Please respond fully but concisely to the following essay questions. Compose each of your
answers offline in separate document files and upload them individually in the appropriate
spaces below. We encourage applicants to limit the length of their responses to 500 words for each essay. There are no right or wrong answers.

Please double-space your responses.


1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is
Tuck the best MBA program for you, and what will you uniquely contribute to the community? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)


2. Discuss your most meaningful leadership experience. What did you learn about your own
individual strengths and weaknesses through this experience?



3. Describe a circumstance in your life in which you faced adversity, failure, or setback.
What actions did you take as a result and what did you learn from this experience?



4. (Optional) Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not
addressed elsewhere that may be helpful in reviewing your application (e.g., unusual
choice of evaluators, weaknesses in academic performance, unexplained job gaps or
changes, etc.). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented
by this application.



5. (To be completed by all reapplicants) How have you strengthened your candidacy since
you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally.

Question about possible the optional essay... I have an employment gap of around 6 months. I was laid off, and used that time for a huge road trip, moved across country, and tried to launch a startup that failed. This is the experience I plan on writing about in essay 3. Since I will be addressing it there, I shouldn't use the optional essay correct? I mean, for other schools I plan on pushing this to the optional, but essay 3 here seems perfect to fully explain my setback and failure during my layoff/employment gap/failed venture and how I grew.

I think I answered my own question... Thanks! Excited to get started.

For an international applicant such as me, visiting campus might be logistically as well as economically unfeasible. At the same time, Tuck lays a lot of emphasis on campus visits even for international applicants.
Anyone who can comment on how much of a drawback the inability to visit can be in an application?

Business casual should be fine unless they indicate otherwise. It'll be pretty warm at the end of July.

Keep in mind also that most students will not be on campus at that time (2nd years are interning somewhere and 1st years mostly arrive in August, although some will be there).

Hanover is a beautiful, quaint town. So it'll be a good opportunity for you to see if you can see yourself there or if you'd prefer being in a city, for example.

There you go! Good luck

Your application is reviewed as a whole, so no need to be repetitive.

Welcome applicants! Following in the footsteps of my T'14 peers, happy to help with any questions you may have as you navigate this process. Best of luck with your applications!

They take into account the difficulty for some to visit (ie, if you're from NH you better visit, if you're from Australia they understand it's not feasible). Obviously it would speak volumes if you visited despite the difficulties, though.

I would show the school how committed you are in other ways - see if there are events in your country, connect with alumns near you, attend the online chats, apply early admission if you can, etc. Tuck has "Tuck Connections" which puts you in touch with an alumn near you or who has similar background/interests as you. Definitely recommended.

Make sure to also show in your essays that you understand the school and made efforts to connect with the Tuck community as a whole. Basically making it clear that despite not visiting, you did what you could.

Good luck!

Thanks a lot for your response, faro.

Just noticed that despite a score of 730, you retook GMAT? Any specific reason why you did that?

Thank you!

Thanks, faro!

You made a good point! Should I wait to visit when students are actually on campus? I have contacted alumni from Tuck Connect, and really DO want to contact some more students and get more inputs.

Also, I will spend 1~2 extra days in town, to explore Hanover. I assume I will enjoy it!

thanks Guys for helping us out. be sure to get disturbed a lot

Hi Chintamani,

I was also an international applicant to Tuck last year (and now part of the class of 2014). I did not visit campus before applying. From what I gathered from my conversations with Tuck students and adcom, while they do put a lot of emphasis on campus visits, even for international applicants, the adcom understands that for some applicants it can be very difficult. So the drawback for someone from Canada not visiting might be greater than for someone from Thailand for example.

I am in Asia myself and did not visit campus or interview before submitting my application, but eventually they invited me to interview and gave the option for a Skype interview. So if you are very far away, don't worry too much the drawbacks of not visiting in person.

Hope this helps.

A few different reasons. Here it is from my debrief, but the clincher was really the 80/80 rule:

1) I knew I could do better. My practice tests, taken after a long day at work, were consistently Q48-50. I didn't submit the last question on the actual GMAT, and I think that hurt me. If I had taken the test again immediately after, I probably would have done better on the quant part. The verbal was just above my practice ranges (~44).

2) I'd like to do consulting after my MBA. I came across information that firms look, not only at your total GMAT score, but also at your quantitative breakdown. I remember a specific article noting that quantitative scores correlate greatest with future success as a consultant, given the measure of your analytic abilities.

My 44 in quant is a 66th percentile. Not bad, but nothing special either. Especially if I'm shooting for top firms. If I was serious about consulting, I didn't want something that I can actively change be a hindrance. And if I'm going to retake for recruiting purposes anyway, I might as well have it benefit my bschool applications, too.

3) The 80/80 percentile rule. Admissions counselors gave me a "politically correct" answer when I asked whether they recommend retaking. I eventually came across the "80/80" rule that has been discussed here and there - that the top schools are looking for a minimum of 80th percentile on both the Quant AND Verbal section. This was corroborated by an admissions consultant who suggested I retake if I know I can bring that score up.

4) I'm "poor". I'm not only trying to get into a top school, but I'm also trying to get scholarships/fellowships/financial assistance there. Some scholarships and fellowships take GMAT score into consideration.

5) I wasn't alone. A friend of mine from undergrad took the GMATs for the first time a couple days after me. He got a 710 and was set on retaking. It was one of those situations where you're more likely to go to the gym if you have a friend going as well. We didn't take it together, but just having someone else going through the same thing helps. In fact, had it not been for him, I probably wouldn't have registered to retake in time since it wasn't high on my priority list.

Let's get this show on the road! GOOOD LUCK EVERYONE

Please is anyone aware of the specific essay formatting instructions? I cant seem to find any but want to be really sure.

"Please respond fully but concisely to the following essay questions. Compose each of your answers offline in separate document files and upload them individually in the appropriate spaces below. We encourage applicants to limit the length of their responses to 500 words for each essay. There are no right or wrong answers.

Please double-space your responses."

https://tuckschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/ ... tions.html