Calling all Tuck Fall 2009 applicants!

The movie Animal House is based on the undergrad experiences of a Dartmouth fraternity member. So, if Tuck MBA students are anything close to similar I'd say you hit the drinking culture assessment dead on!

Temp wise I would say its along the lines of Chicago, slightly colder than Boston. However, it is in the mountains so its snowy.

I was told everyone plays hockey...no joke, the majority of the students are on one of the hockey teams. Even people who have never skated before.

A lot of people seem to be saying that Tuck has really stellar consulting placements, but I was wondering if anyone knew how many people actually get into McKinsey, BCG, and Bain out of the ~70 or so who go into consulting. I think there was some info about this on BW forums, but the guy who posted it subsequently deleted all his comments, so I've lost the info.

I'm with you on that VictoryMBA, nothing wrong with wanting to have a bit of fun. Don't forget that there isn't much to do for the students in the Graduate Arts & Sciences school and the Medical School in Hanover either

I've actually heard that there isn't a tremendous amount of interaction between the different graduate schools at Dartmouth. You will have some dual degree students enrolled at Tuck who can introduce you to their friends, but beyond that I don't think theres very many formal events.

hear ya loud & clear buddy...here's to both of us workin the dartmouth scene in '09

I'm sure it's not that hard to "interact" with students from the other grad programs. I mean you'll all be going to the same 3 bars on main street. I don't think there needs to be formal functions to meet people from the other programs. It's a really small town - there's not many people and there's not much to do. You could probably see a hot girl from arts and sciences one night, chicken out and not go up to her, then see her again a week later and get a second shot.

I am considering Tuck...

Any opinions on the usual type of candidates they tend to attract? A lot of IBers, or former consultants? Just wondering what the usual class make-up is like. As a career switcher with a pretty non-traditional background, I wonder how competitive I would be.

~Sam

I'd say its pretty diverse. IB and Consulting tend to be the most popular post-graduate careers, due to the structured recruiting process and the relative difficulty of getting smaller companies to come out to Hanover to recruit.

Tuck has a very close knit culture. More than anything, they are looking for people who get along well with others and fit into the school socially. It is difficult to offer seats to socially awkward people when your class is only 240, they are out in the middle of nowhere, New Hampshire, and the class is very tight-knit/spends a lot of time with each other.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I've also heard that Tuck students are very socially aware (which is awesome, my kind of crowd). The article I read ranked them in the top 3...

I know Yale was #1, and #2...was either Tuck or Haas.

extra blank for some reason

Interesting QA with Dean Danos:

https://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/2007/2/9/qa-with-tuck-dean-paul-danos.html

Interesting that he emphasizes the need to fit with their culture...

It's especially important at the smaller schools. An outlier could get lost in the crowd and do his/her own thing at a school like Wharton or Columbia, but they will stick out like a sore thumb at Tuck.

Here's a bullet point that I did research on earlier today. I had an impression in my mind that Tuck is a very North East / New England focused school and that most of the alumni/students are from there/end up there when they graduate. I found that only 50% of Tuck's graduates end up in New England or the NYC area upon graduation, and the rest are spread out throughout the country and the world. I plan to return to California when I graduate, so the West Coast %s were something that I paid attention to personally.

Tuck's class last year was 54% in the North East, 13% on the West Coast
HBS' class last year was 43% in the North East, 15% on the West Coast
Wharton's class last year was 47% in the North East, 16% on the West Coast
Chicago GSB's class last year was 31% in the North East, 30% in the Midwest, and 11.5% on the West Coast

Chicago's statistic really stuck out to me. I would have figured that Chicago has a stronger hold on the West Coast than Tuck does. I suppose that in sheer numbers - they do, but % wise, they are very similar.

I am convinced that Tuck can place you anywhere in the world - you will just have to work for it and you will have to make the effort to get outside of Hanover more frequently than others.

You're probably right terp06 - 43% of the class was already resident in NYC or New England prior to matriculation, so maybe the NYC/New England placement numbers are skewed even further by that fact. I have no doubt Tuck places extremely well on the West Coast as well.

And btw I just also noticed that average GMAT for the Class of '09 was 713, up 3 points from '08. I think there's certainly some truth to 720 being the new 700.

I noticed that also, however do not take it the wrong way - I do not believe that Tuck is obsessive about the GMAT. They are looking for team players and the right fit first and foremost. You can have a 790, but if you don't like Hanover and don't like the Tuck culture - you're not going to get in.

So how are you all indicating that you'd be a good fit for their culture? like terp pointed out, it seems to matter quite a bit more at the smaller schools - heck this is even true for some extent for getting hired at certain companies that have a strong corporate culture!

I know I'm planning a trip to Hanover in the early fall, also to some Tuck-on-the-road type events, etc to get some additional insight into their student body and then hope to tie that in to my essays. Unfortunately, I don't know any current Tuck students or alums so I'm going to have rely pretty heavily on those types of organized events...

cheers,
ac.