Tuck (Dartmouth): Class of 2016- Calling all applicants! : MBA Archive

28 year old white male
GPA= 3.9 from liberal arts college, GMAT = 730
WE = nonprofit/government/military

I knew absolutely nothing about the whole business school application process a year ago, and the one thing I would recommend is to network with current students at target schools who come from a similar background. I found that it helped me understand the school and made my essays better.

Indian, 27, Govt/Non Profit
WE: 4 years at Matriculation
GRE: 1440/1600, GPA: 7.6/10 B.Tech in CSE from IIT/NIT/...

My suggestion would be to focus on your short-term and long-term career goals. How an MBA from Tuck (or any other BSchool) would enable you to achieve those goals. Career goals essay is probably the best place to demonstrate your fit with Tuck.

PM me if you have any specific queries regarding the application process at Tuck.

I am 28, female, experience in technology consulting for a major firm and working in the family insurance business, 740 GMAT, and 3.55 GPA. Originally Waitlisted.

My single biggest recommendation is that anyone who is considering Tuck make the effort to visit and do the applicant-initiated interview. I didn't and I know for a fact my application suffered for it. Luckily, I was one of the very few the adcom invites to interview. At that point, I did fly out to visit. I was floored. Tuck was a contender, but not necessarily a first choice until that visit. After that, I couldn't even see other schools. People have a very visceral reaction to Tuck and Hanover. You either fall in love or you don't. If I had made the trip first, I would have written very different essays and may not have been sentenced to the Waitlist in the first place. Come. Visit. You won't regret it.

Sure, would love to share.
1) location: I went to a large state university in a large city and felt that I was sort of always distracted in school, so wanted to go to a school in a rural town and with a smaller class size. And I know Tuck is sort of in the middle of nowhere, but when you think about it, its actually 2 hours from Boston and 4 hours away from NYC. Yes, you cannot visit those cities every day, but they are still at a drivable distance.
2) recruiting: In my opinion, Tuck has the strongest recruiting among all schools(including HBS/Stanford) when it comes to traditional fields (consulting/banking). I am interested in MBB and have heard that pretty much every interested applicant gets an interview slot because there is not much competition. When I visited, there was a Bain event going on, and I heard that there were as many Bainies as students.
3) Lastly, not to throw any dirt on any school, but I found student body to be more mature than other schools (I have visited all top schools in small towns). While, this may be a turn off for some, I am a slightly older applicant and not very much into the party scene.
4) to add one more thing: two current students I connected with last year are helping me with the reapplication process (they offered help without me asking for it). You can't beat the family like atmosphere up there. Now, let's hope that I get in, so I can start improving my hockey skills. You need those up there

The EA round has many pros:

- Non binding
- You get to know if you've been accepted at Tuck 'early' - this is relative to Tuck's other deadlines where the time gap between applying and acceptance is much more
- If Tuck is your #1 choice, you will know by Dec end which isnt a bad deal at all given so many things to manage post acceptance (employer notice, moving, loans, finances, pre MBA trip planning etc.)
- Showing the school that they are your #1 choice - there's a reason this round is called EA and not Round 1
- Higher chances of admission - this is completely my theory, but EA should see the highest yield for Tuck as most people who apply really do want to go to Tuck. This means lesser space is available as rounds progress. Multiple arguments to this argument, but general consensus is that EA has max no. of admits (as a % of applicants), then R1

Cons:
- You will lose $4,000 if you apply to another school such as HBS/Wharton etc. in R2 and choose to go there versus come to Tuck

Hey I don't think there is a specific timeline. However, I suggest you to do the applicant initiated interview. Below is the overview of how Tuck selects its students. I am posting verbatim of associate director of admissions at Tuck, Pat Harrison. I just loved the beauty of the process. We all will get our fair chance, I think

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Those of you applying today might be curious as to what happens to your application next...

Once we get it, we print out the application and put it in a file with your letters of recommendation (which hopefully have already arrived), and the write-up from your interview (assuming you have already completed one). The complete file then goes to one of our eight admissions committee members for the first read. S/he reads everything that has been submitted and writes a brief evaluation of the pros and cons of the file and makes a recommendation whether to admit or deny the applicant. If the applicant has not already had an interview, the reader also makes a recommendation whether we should invite him/her to interview. Please note that this happens for EVERYONE. We don’t have minimum cut-offs for GMAT, GPA, work experience, etc. All files go through this process. Next, the complete file then goes on to a second adcom reader for another full read. S/he goes through the same exercise and makes a recommendation whether to admit or deny.

Next stop is our Director of Admissions, Dawna Clarke. She reviews each reader’s comments and may read some or all of the file if she needs further clarification. Some of the applicants she reviews are clear admits, and some are unfortunately clear denies. She makes a final decision on those groups accordingly. However, a larger number of applicants fall somewhere in the middle, and that group goes to “committee.”

Committee occurs at the end of the application round, and basically we lock ourselves in a conference room for a few days, with a generous supply of junk food, and the group discusses each applicant. Some of those discussions are lengthy and some become quite passionate. Eventually we arrive at a final decision as a group. Final decisions are then communicated to all applicants via their on-line admissions account on the published notification date. Hopefully, the news is good!

The important thing to take away is that A LOT of time and attention is given to every single application. One of the things I am most proud of is how thoughtful our process is. We really try to get to know each of the applicants as a person, not just their stats. All of the hard work you put into your application is appreciated, and we really do read every essay you write."

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Two points, second one is more generic

- Show the love: Tuck thrives on this. If you are in the US, visit. If you aren't, try to visit. It won't go unnoticed. Don't be afraid to email people in their admissions office directly regarding queries - they are extremely helpful. Stress on your 'love' for Tuck in the interview versus talking about generic points like rankings, employment data etc. Don't be afraid to let your essays take a much more personal flavour than essays you may be writing for other schools.

- Competition among Indian applicants is just tremendous. Be prepared to turn in your absolute best. Tuck is a very prestigious school in the US (it doesn't have as big a name in India/ Europe as US) which makes it very competitive to get into. There are folks joining me in Hanover who have turned down HBS, Sloan, Kellogg, Booth etc. to come to Tuck. Hence, even if you are not an Indian, make sure your Tuck application is top notch. And when I say application, I don't mean just the essays. The interview is where they really look at how well you mirror the paper versus the real you. If you wrote stuff for the sake of pleasing them, you are dinged immediately

Some quick (and very obvious) updates/suggestions from my side:

1. Try to send "thank you" notes to people who helped you through out your MBA application process. This includes your peer groups, people who wrote your recommendations, AdComs you interacted with, your interviewer at Tuck (and other schools), and most importantly say thanks to your friends and family for tolerating you throughout the process.

2. Relax. Remember you have done your part. Its very common to have that feeling of reaching out to the AdCom regarding the status of your application, chances of success, recent (scheduled) promotion or updated employment report. Hold on to that feeling unless you think its critical and it will drastically improve your chances at Tuck.

3. Hedge your bets and start working on Round 2 applications. You may choose not to submit them later.

4. Don't loose focus on your current job (and your career progress). Even if you get in to Tuck, you wont matriculate before Aug 2014. Sweet promotion to Project Manager or Senior Associate or an Economist (in my case) will help during first year recruitment at Tuck (exactly 11 months from now).

Keep me posted, and if you have any specific queries, shoot me a PM. Glad to chat.

Hope you all make it to Tuck next year.

VN

As Dawna Clarke mentions in her P&Q interview, visiting/interviewing on campus is definitely a plus because it shows a sincere interest in the school and allows the applicant's essays to come to life because the applicant is not just speaking in generalities about why he or she likes Tuck, but instead has a concrete experience from which to draw.

That said, plenty of people get into Tuck without ever setting foot on campus. In fact, if Tuck likes your application they can invite you to interview on campus or via Skype, as you alluded other schools do.

Glad you asked. I was an International applicant last year and due to prior commitments I couldn't visit Tuck for interviews. If your application is competitive enough, the AdCom will find one or the other ways to get in touch with you. F2F interviews (in your home country) and Skype calls are common for international candidates.

But that being said, if you live and work in the US or nearby countries, its expected that you make use of open interview policy at Tuck.

As a T15, I second the opinion that you should interview on campus if you live in the US / North America. I didn't and I'm positive it affected the strength of my application. I was lucky that the adcom asked me to interview after I applied and I flew out for the interview then. Tuck is a very unique place in a very unique part of the US. People have an incredibly visceral reaction to meeting the community. You love it or you don't. For me, I know I fell in love in a way that would have made for a completely different application. As it happens, I wasn't admitted right away. I was waitlisted. I'm almost positive that if I had flown out to interview before I submitted my application that I would have been a much stronger applicant and been admitted right away.

Moral of the story: Interview on campus, have a better application, and maybe even avoid the waitlist.

Mine was on-campus applicant-initiated interview. The interview was very enjoyable. The second year student who took my interview was very humble. She was genuinely interested in getting to know me.

The interview is mostly about

what you have I done till now (walk me through your resume),
why I need an MBA (career goals),
how Tuck will help me out (my personalized plan to achieve those goals),
most importantly, WHY Tuck (am I genuinely interested in Tuck or not)

The last part was pretty important I felt. I think she was not hooked by my justification of why Tuck. So my advice is to really work on that. I was also asked to share about a leadership experience. I would strongly suggest visiting Tuck for an interview. It will be one hell of an experience. If you live in a big city, you will immediately get hooked.

Hope that helps. Send me a PM if you want to ask anything specific.

Had my interview today. Preparing definitely helped me, but I only prepared the night before. Of course, I went through this process already last year, so I knew what to expect.

In the end, I was making myself worry over nothing. The interview was very pleasant. I think what also helped is that my interviewer was of the opposite sex. I've always felt that people, in general, interview better with someone of the opposite sex.

My questions were very standard and have all been reported before on the ClearAdmit blog (except for maybe the penultimate question below):

-Walk me through your resume
-Why do you need an MBA?
-What are your long term goals?
-Tell me about your leadership style and a team experience. What three things would the members of that team say about you?
-Tell me about a time you failed.
-Why Tuck?
-What will you contribute to Tuck?
-Explain to me the current situation at your company (I work for a unique financial services company that is in the news a lot, and people are always curious. PM me if you want to know)
-If you could meet any person in the world or in history, who would it be?
-Is there anything you wish I had asked you?

Thanks.

The schedule for the conference is pretty jam-packed and I also interviewed that weekend. The other thing is that the Admissions committee is pretty busy for obvious reasons, so I'm not sure if they themselves would have time for that. I guess after the introductary session of the conference where the AdCom has a Q&A might give you a few minutes to speak with an admissions committee member afterwards. But you'll have a lot of people who want to do the same.

That said, there are plenty of opportunities to interact with students and alums, and I even exchanged emails with the professor who did our mock class after the conference as well as with two alums with whom I bonded over dinner. Like any school visit, I would take the conference more as an opportunity to learn about Tuck and see if it's the place for you.

That said, you do get "credit" for attending the conference, which Tuck will note in your application file. And if you haven't written essays yet, the conference will probably give you examples of why you want to go to Tuck. It certainly did for me.