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11 Nov 2015, 07:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Veterans Day and the Common Good: An Opportunity for Reflection |
  By Dan Linge T'16 Dan hails from Wenatchee, WA and attended the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY on a Naval ROTC scholarship completing majors in Political Science and History. He served for nearly three years in various roles on an Arleigh Burke class destroyer out of Bath, ME and San Diego, CA. He then spent 18 months as an operations and exercise planner working with foreign navies throughout Asia while assigned to Destroyer Squadron Fifteen in Yokosuka, Japan. After a nine month stint studying at the Department of Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, he worked nearly two years as an exchange officer embedded with a squadron of Fast Attack Boats in the German Navy in Warnemuende, Germany. Dan spent this last summer interning in management consulting for Deloitte out of San Francisco and will be returning to the firm upon graduation. During my seven years in the Navy, I rarely reflected on what service to country was and what it meant to be a veteran. I approached my role as a job that I was very proud to do, but I didn’t take much time to dwell on what it meant. However, I was often aware that being a service member impacted others’ perceptions of me. From the opinions held by foreign populations abroad to the perspectives of friends and acquaintances here at home, there is a wide range of attitudes toward the merit of US military service. At times I was self-conscious about the amount of “hero-worship” I observed whenever a patriotic holiday would roll around; at others, there were moments I’d become furious when I felt people did not respect the gut-wrenching sacrifices so many veterans have made. In all of these situations though, I rarely viewed myself as a “true” veteran. Rather, I often felt more like someone who had experienced the veteran culture but just didn’t have the bona fides to truly be counted among it. Yeah sure, I’d been on a couple deployments and served in various countries around the world, but my work had rarely, if ever, been a matter of life and death. Because of this, I discounted the sacrifices and value that veterans like myself contributed to the common good. This outlook began to transform when I began the MBA application process. Through speaking with both veteran students and admissions officers, I started to build a better picture of how veterans are viewed by most in the business world. It’s not just about how many times you’ve been shot at or whether you’ve had to sleep out in the field for weeks on end. While those sorts of experiences can be undeniably transformative, MBA programs and employers are looking far beyond them. Because they operate in an environment where goals are collective and individual accomplishments are subordinate, veterans are presented with unique opportunities to develop skills and perspectives that encourage examining problems with an eye on the greater good. They are willing to make hard decisions and personal sacrifices to ensure the success of the task at hand. Since arriving at Tuck just over a year ago, I’ve been surrounded by a truly incredible cadre of veterans. Their experiences run the gamut from special-forces operators to artillery logisticians to intelligence professionals to nuclear reactor supervisors to fighter pilots, to nearly everything in between. Regardless of their backgrounds though, the most common trait I have observed among them is their deep commitment to the success of the teams and environments they have been a part of. Tuck is renowned for placing an extraordinary emphasis on altruism and community. Correspondingly, as a veteran at Tuck, I have found it to be a welcoming and nurturing environment that values veterans’ service not only for specific acts and hardships endured, but also for the grander sacrifice and commitment which it represents. This Veterans Day here at Tuck, I’m finally spending time contemplating what it means to be a veteran by reflecting on the life-altering, cumulative sacrifices so many incredible veterans have made throughout the years. Further, I’m incredibly thankful to learn in a place where the essence of these values is celebrated all year round. This environment has reinforced within me what being a veteran is all about and even reminded me a bit about what Veterans Day was designed to recognize: “patriotism, love of country, and a willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.” Find resources for veterans applying to Tuck here. (Photo above by Laura DeCapua) |
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| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Tuck Spotlight: 10 Questions with Phil DeGisi T’09 |
  Phil DeGisi T'09 is vice president of marketing at CommonBond, a leading marketplace lending platform that lowers the cost of student loans for students and graduates. Prior to joining the CommonBond team, Phil held ecommerce general management and marketing roles spanning startups and large organizations, including Quidsi (a subsidiary of Amazon), littleBits electronics, and Walmart.com (where he also did his summer internship at Tuck). Phil received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and his BA from Vassar with a degree in economics. He lives in Connecticut with his wife, Alanna Hynes DeGisi, a T’10. 1. What was the exact moment when you first felt like you were a part of Tuck’s community? When I got to Tuck, I was coming from a non-traditional background in media & advertising and so I opted to go up to school early for “math camp” to ensure I had the basic quant background I’d need to succeed at Tuck. It was during that week of math camp that I met many of the classmates who’d be some of my best friends during Tuck and remain some of my best friends today. 2. Who had a profound impact on you during your time at Tuck and why? Becky Joffrey, who was at the Tuck Career Development Office at the time, was a huge help as I was evaluating different internship opportunities. She helped me hone in on what would become my career path after Tuck, ecommerce. She also was instrumental in connecting me to a Tuck alum at Walmart.com who eventually hired me for my summer internship. Additionally, there are a few classes that I think about regularly to this day. Two in particular stand out. The first, Management Communication, was where I got my first formal training in public speaking and presentation, skills that only become more and more valuable as you move forward in your career. The second, Organizational Behavior (now called Leading Organizations), where we learned about organizational performance frameworks and how to think about both intrinsically and extrinsically motivating team members, is a class I think about constantly now as part of CommonBond’s executive team. 3. What’s your favorite Tuck/Dartmouth/Hanover/Upper Valley event and why? The Tunbridge World's Fair. I met my wife, Alanna, at Tuck and that was our first date. Where else but the Upper Valley do you get to see ox pulls, watch pigs racing, and ride a ferris wheel? 4. Fill in the blank: every visitor to the Upper Valley needs to __________. Go to Lou’s in Hanover for breakfast. It’s a staple of every visit I make back to Tuck. Well worth the wait in line. 5. What’s a challenge that you’re currently working on solving? Or perhaps a world problem you’d like to see solved? The reason I joined my current company, CommonBond, is because I had experienced the personal pain of student loans with high interest rates and confusing processes. I remember graduating with loans over 8% interest rate and it just not making sense to me why I was paying such a high rate. I joined the company because I believe there is a better way to serve both students in school and those who’ve graduated by delivering a student loan that is priced appropriately, with exceptional customer service, and a simple process. 6. What do you personally feel is the key to good leadership? Listening. It’s the single most important thing leaders can do. Listen to the feedback from team members in your organization and then dive into the ‘why’ behind the feedback. Sometimes we try to diagnose or triage problems without really understanding what they are. And other times we miss entirely what the problems are in the first place. Both of these instances can be at least partially solved by listening more. 7. Outside of work, what do you like to do for fun? Traveling with my wife. We’re trying to figure out where we want to go to next Fall. The good thing is there are a lot of world travelers among our network of Tuck friends, so we have no shortage of incredible suggestions. 8. What would your theme song be? It’s hard to choose just one. I will say that the theme song of Tuck during my time there was "Don’t Stop Believin’" by Journey … and incidentally it is probably the one song I’ve heard at every wedding involving a Tuckie since. 9. What’s the best piece of advice you can offer on getting ahead? Or, what’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? The value of networking cannot be overstated. It’s something that is discussed during Tuck when you’re a student but only continues to grow in importance after you graduate. Whether it’s networking within an industry that you’re in and want to get ahead in or an industry you want to transition to, it’s one of the most important things you can be doing. And it cant be only when you’re looking for a new job. Some of the best hires we’ve made at CommonBond are people we met within the industry, enjoyed speaking to, and several months down the line we have a role that fits them. Or I hear about a role at another company and think of someone great I met at an industry event. Those that have effectively built out a network are increasing the percentages for themselves that when there is an opportunity, they will be considered for it. It’s never been easier to meet people within your space, those that are taking advantage of that are well positioned to move ahead. 10. What is one thing that people would be most surprised to learn about you? I was born in Louisville, KY. It was a brief time period but enough to make me a University of Louisville fan even after moving to the Northeast, where I grew up.  Tuck Tripod All-Stars – Wharton Cheesesteak Tournament Champs – 2009 |
13 Nov 2015, 13:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: A Brief Introduction to Fall A |
  By Charlie Humphreys T’17 Charlie started at the Tuck School of Business in the fall of 2015. Prior to Tuck, he worked in project management for Brasfield & Gorrie, the largest privately held construction management firm in the Southeastern U.S. Working out of Atlanta, Charlie helped lead and execute commercial construction projects spanning the mixed-use, office, and mission-critical spaces. Charlie attended undergrad at Auburn University, where he majored in Building Science and minored in Finance. Post-Tuck, Charlie is considering a shift to the development side of commercial Real Estate while also exploring opportunities in other industries. Long term, his goal is to run an entrepreneurial venture in his native South Carolina. Let’s start at the beginning—what is Fall A, anyway? Tuck’s first semester is split into two periods for first years, Fall A and Fall B, which act as independent terms. But Fall A is only four weeks long, specifically desi gned to lay the foundation for our time at Tuck. The result is one busy and fast-paced month! Fall A is our first taste of being students at Tuck, our chance to finally begin the “real” part of our b-school journey that has been over a year in the making for most of us—from taking the GMAT and applying, to moving to the Upper Valley, doing pre-term programs, and completing Orientation week. Given the lead-up, it’s safe to say we were all pretty excited to get started, and Fall A certainly did not disappoint. It was overwhelming in all the right ways—more challenging than I expected but wildly more rewarding (and fun) than I thought it would be, too. Academically, Fall A is the first dive into the core general management curriculum that’s central to the Tuck education. The courses and their descriptions can be found here, but I think it’s important to note how complementary they all are, with both quant and “soft” subjects and a combination of teaching methods including case studies, team projects, guest lectures and action-based learning. Our study groups, which are a unique aspect of Tuck’s academic experience, are critical to successfully navigating the academic rigor. A favorite Fall A course of mine was Analysis for General Management with Professor Paul Argenti, which brought several guest speakers to class including Gen. John Amos, former Marine Corps. Commandant and Joint Chiefs of Staff member and John LeBoutillier T’92, CEO of Unilever Canada. Other courses I took include Leading Individuals and Teams with Professor Adam Kleinbaum; Managerial Economics with Professor Joe Hall; and Statistics for Managers with Associate Dean Praveen Kopalle. Fall A also marks the start to recruiting season. Thankfully, there is a buffer between the first several weeks of classes and when recruiters arrive to campus. But after recruiting began, the floodgates were opened. The biggest challenge (for those like me, not sure of their career track) is simply deciding which interesting industries and firms you’ll pick to learn more about given all the options. I’ve been blown away by the sheer number of companies on campus to recruit—beyond just the traditional MBA employers like consulting firms, banks, and firms with general management programs. Tech, marketing, social enterprise, and beyond have all been here recruiting Tuckies as well. I attended a wide variety of company briefings including MBB, Goodyear Innovation, Under Armour, and more. For all the volume, the process is extremely well organized, with a robust infrastructure put into place by the Career Development Office. Lastly, Fall A is the official kickoff to the social and extracurricular calendar here at Tuck. There’s a reason why Tuckies are substantially and consistently the most supportive alumni base among top b-schools, and I believe a large part of that equation goes back to the Tuck experience—which is nothing if not a lot of fun. Social activities included Field Day, Tuck Tails each Thursday (themed happy hours at various spots around campus), many different cultural events, and a Fall Formal.  If you enjoy an active lifestyle, Tuck and the Upper Valley offer a plethora of options. But make no mistake, hockey is king. It’s an institution here at Tuck, with the majority of students and partners playing. Never been on the ice before? No problem! Neither had most of the first years, including me. During Fall A there was a well organized sale of all the gear needed, along with an open training/tryout session where second years taught us all the basics. If you’re an amateur Gretzky (and there are some here), two Tuck travel teams play competitively in the region and against other top b-schools. But for most of us, “tripod” is the right fit—an intramural league within Tuck featuring nine men’s teams and four women’s. There is no better way to clear your mind after a day of schoolwork than a hard-fought win that evening on the ice! Another great extracurricular resource at Tuck is the Visiting Executive program, which brings industry leaders to campus for students to interact with them in small, intimate settings. An advantage to our location is that visitors usually stay for a full day and evening, rather than dropping by for a few hours, so it gives more opportunities for students to spend time with visitors while they’re here. During Fall A, I participated in about a half dozen visiting exec events, including breakfasts, lunches, dinners and drop-ins. They were all great, but my favorite was having drinks at the Norwich Inn with Bill McNabb, CEO of Vanguard Group, where the discussion focused on ethical practices and their direct links to business success. This was only a taste of Fall A, but I hope it gives you a sense of what it was like to go through as a first year. What this post can’t convey is that it was ultimately the people—my fellow classmates who are such an accomplished, diverse, and welcoming group—that made Fall A a great experience. My first month in Hanover confirmed for me that there’s no place like Tuck; I can’t wait for the next two years! |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
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