Calling all Tuck Fall 2009 applicants!

I think it's okay if you don't mention the toughest criticism you ever received as one of the 3 weaknesses. It could have been neg feedback you got a few years back and have since corrected (my story ). It could also have been delivered by someone other than your direct supervisor so your direct supervisor may not want to speak to it in the recommendation....

Hi,

I just completed my 1st draft for essay 1 - 780 words long. Although it might seem long, I dont really know as to wht I should be cutting. The goals essay in general are always at least 750 words long. I have a quick question. how many words did u all use to explain "why tuck"?

Thanks,

I had that problem too - my first attempt at that essay was around 900 words. I've gotten a fairly solid version of the essay down in 580 words (200 on why tuck, 380 on what I've been doing and what I want to do next). Since Tuck's average essay length is 500 words, I'm comfortable with my 580 count

My essay 1 is 530 words. roughly 280 on why tuck, 250 on what I've done and goals.

My constuctive criticism story is also from a few years ago that's no longer a problem. Didn't want to write a whole essay on a current problem I meant to ask whether it would be expected for your supervisor to use this story when they answer the rec question on how you respond to constructive criticisim

My essay 1 is 535 words and here is the split
What I've done - 139 words
My short and long term goals - 222 words
Why MBA + Why Tuck - 174 words
For my essay, why Tuck and why MBA are not separate.

All of my essays are approximately 530 words or so thus far. First one was about 300 why MBA and 230 why Tuck. (I'm a career switcher Accounting to Strategy so I need to sell my transition)

Also, I've been trying to schedule an interview on their website but there are no open days before the R1 deadline. Does anyone know of getting off the waitlist for the interview or am I going to have to push back my app to R2 to ensure that I am interviewed? (I really don't want to do that since Tuck is one of my top choices and everything else will be ready well before the deadline)

*INTERVIEW COMPLETE*

So I just got back to Philly after a longggggggggg drive from Hanover.

I was the first interview so an admissions staffer interviewed me and a second year student shadowed her as part of the training.

The interview was very conversational and took about 30 minutes including Q&A with both the student and the staffer.

The specific questions she worked into the conversation:

Why an MBA?
Why Tuck?
(I covered my short and long term goals in this part)
What will you add to Tuck/participate in?
Walk me through your resume.
What would your team members say about you?

About 1/3 of the interview was spent on an odd tangent. My interviewer asked me about a social meet-up I started and we literally talked about it for 10 min. Everytime I thought the convo about it was over, she would dig deeper. It was nice to share a little about who I am outside of work, but I wish that time had been spent on some other areas such as leadership stories, accomplishments, my volunteer work.....I barely got to mention any of that because of the tangent!

Everybody there was super nice and made me feel very comfortable. Any specific questions anybody has, just ask!

Thanks for the debrief raabenb...very helpful for the rest of us

Thanks for sharing your experience. Interesting to know about the tangential part of your interview. Did you talk about this social meet up your self or was this mentioned on your resume ? Wasn't this your volunteer work ?

Did you have a class visit too before/after your interview ? If yes, based on your interactions with students did you include anything new in your answer for "Why Tuck?"

This is how schedule looks.

Schedule:

9:45 AM - Arrive at Tuck
10:15 AM - Class Visit
12:00 PM - Lunch with students
12:45 PM - Tour of Campus
1:30 PM - Q&A Session with member of the admissions committee
2:15 PM - Interview

I have my visit this coming week. I will inform u ll about my experience shortly after.

The meet-up was on my resume. I do have a lot of really solid volunteer work on my resume also but she chose to specifically talk about this social group I started.....

I was the first interview of the application season and it was at 8:30 am. After the interview I did class visit, tour, and lunch with students. That means during the interview, I touched on my conversations with students/alumni and the info session I attended.

I was told that all interviews after Monday September 13th will be conducted by second year students only.

oh, thats sad! I was hoping that a member of the adcom would interview me! They just trained the students for 2 days?

Question for those re-applying... how are you guys/gals handling the essays? Same topics as last year, tricky to navigate repetition vs. maintaining consistency in your profile. Don't want to write the same essays as last year but don't want to present an entirely new story/set of experiences either. Wondering if others have discussed this with school reps or other applicants. Good luck everyone

*INTERVIEW COMPLETE*

I was interviewed by a member of the admissions staff. The interview was very casual and took about 35 minutes with Q and A, usual questions:

Walk me through your resume
Why an MBA?
Why Tuck?
How will you contribute to the Tuck community ( helps to have the essay#4 ready)
What don't you like about working in teams.
Describe a project which was not a success and what was your role in it.

Also attended a first year core class, the prof was really good. Had lunch with students , everyone was very nice and friendly.

All in all , a great experience. Let me know if you guys have any questions.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.
All the questions that you listed sound common except the one about working in teams. Were you prepared for this one ?

And hope you found a good parking

Yeah the team question came as a surprise , but I think I managed to answer it. Parking was fortunately easy to find , right in front of the school actually.