|
It is currently 27 Sep 2023, 18:04 |
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
08:30 AM PDT
-09:30 AM PDT
10:00 AM EDT
-10:30 AM EDT
08:00 PM EDT
-11:00 PM EDT
08:00 PM PDT
-08:00 PM PDT
10:00 AM EDT
-11:00 AM EDT
03:00 PM EDT
-11:00 PM EDT
06:00 AM PDT
-11:45 AM PDT
02 Aug 2018, 09:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Get to Know Tuck: 2018 Women in Business Conference |
 When I was first contemplating going to business school, Tuck’s Women in Business Conference was recommended to me as a way to experience firsthand what an MBA might be like. I applied, signed up to stay in a dorm(!) for a night, and made the drive up Route 89 to Hanover—surrounded by New Hampshire’s turning October leaves—to see for myself what business school could look like for me. What I got out of that weekend was far more than I had expected: conversation and debate with like-minded women, a bit of enlightenment around my career path, plenty of good laughs, and a real understanding of the Tuck community. I left my brief weekend at Tuck in awe of a community that effortlessly embraced dozens of strangers as if they were fellow classmates and friends. The shock I felt after experiencing how genuine and forthcoming an entire organization could be was what cemented in my mind that I needed to go to Tuck—and that I should think seriously about this whole MBA thing. Looking back on that weekend now, and having completed my first year at Tuck, I can say my instincts weren’t awry. Small group dinners were an event at the WIB Conference that I was delighted to hear is a permanent fixture at Tuck: getting together with a handful of randomly selected classmates over a homemade meal. At my WIB small group dinner, I met women from all over the world and from a vast range of industries. Over homemade lasagna and red wine, we swapped ideas—career ambitions, travel plans, what restaurants were musts in each of our respective cities. It was the type of intimate setting generally reserved for dear friends, but the small group dinner made quick friends out of strangers. The professional development I came away with from the Women in Business Conference is another aspect that stuck with me long after the weekend had ended. It was a time to trade anecdotes and best practices that have risen to top of mind many times in the past years. I took these tools for use not just in my next role, but for structuring and driving my overall career. With this in mind, my fellow co-chairs and I have put a focus on professional development for this year’s conference. Rarely do we step away from our everyday jobs to think more broadly about our careers and the way that we chase after those careers. This year’s conference strives to help women as they drive towards their next career success. Breakout sessions will delve into topics such as negotiating, personal branding, and industry briefings. In keeping with Tuck’s values, those sessions will be personal and collaborative to provide attendees tools for future success generated in part by their peers. As a co-chair for this year’s Women in Business Conference, I aim deliver that same welcome that I received a few years back and equip you with tools to carry with you throughout your career. I hope that you’ll join us in October! |
08 Aug 2018, 13:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Round 1 Ready: 6 Things for Your Tuck To-Do List |
 Six weeks until Tuck’s Round 1 deadline (September 24) and six things to make sure you’re checking off your list. 1. Learn what our new admissions criteria are all about. Not only are smart, nice, accomplished, and aware descriptors of a Tuck student, they’re also exactly what we’ll be looking for when reading and discussing your applications. You might just want to bookmark this page. 2. Take the GMAT or GRE. Were you disappointed in your GMAT/GRE outcome based on higher practice test scores? Did you score below the average at your target schools? Yes, you can demonstrate to us that you're smart outside of the GMAT/GRE (and you should). But if you answered yes to either of those questions, and have the resources available for a retake, why not give it a shot? If you crushed it the first time arounds, that’s awesome. Now you can turn your focus toward other areas of the application. 3. Get to know us (and all the schools you’re targeting). We’re on the road and hopefully in a location near you. Talk to admissions staff at Tuck Info Sessions, often hosted and attended by Tuck alums. Join us at Forte Forums and Consortium MAPS events. Meet up with Tuck Student Ambassadors for an informal “coffee chat” and hear how they’re thriving at and contributing to Tuck. I also encourage you to join us for an online event, read the Tuck 360: MBA Blog (as you are right now!), and check out student and alumni stories on the website. Get to know Tuck by getting to know our community; whether that’s through Tuck Connections, reaching out to a student leader, or connecting with MBAs in your own network. We’re not going to admit you because you came to enough events, or talked to enough “Tuck people.” We’re also not going to deny you because you didn’t. But engaging with us will likely strengthen your application anyway. Doing so will allow you to better articulate how the Tuck MBA can help you reach your goals and how your individuality will add to the fabric of Tuck. Really getting to know the programs you’re applying to will also help ensure you end up in the place that best challenges and supports you. 4. Watch the webinar, “A Walk through the Tuck Application.” This one is simple. Don’t pass up an opportunity to learn more about Tuck’s application and get further insight from ad com. 5. Talk to your targeted recommenders. Make sure you’re giving them plenty of time so they can write a positive and thoughtful letter of reference. If you’re shooting for Round 1, we’re only about a month and a half from September 24. Now is the time! You can peek at what we’re asking them, here. Surprise: Their questions are focused on smart, nice, accomplished, and aware, too. We also suggest having a (verbal) conversation with your references that will help them understand what you hope to highlight in your application, why you’re pursuing an MBA, and why you’re applying to Tuck. You might even remind them of some recent projects or accomplishments. Put a reminder on your calendar to check in with them as the application deadline approaches. Your application is not complete until we have received both LORs. 6. Plan a time to visit (and interview). One of the best ways to learn about an MBA program and get a feel for the culture, is to visit campus. Tuck allows all applicants (yes, all applicants) to self-initiate an official admissions interview, as long as you’re able to do it on campus, in Hanover. This guarantees the opportunity to tell your story, face-to-face with an admissions rep (great for helping to illustrate qualities like nice and aware). If you’re not able to make it, that’s ok! After an initial review of your application, if we want to learn more, we’ll invite you to interview either on campus or virtually. Even outside of the scheduled visit day (class, lunch, tour, Q&A), just being a part of our community for a few hours is valuable as you complete your application and ultimately, decide which community you want to be a part of for the next two years and the rest of your life as an alum. Interview registration is open and on-campus interviews will begin at the end of August. It’s a first-come, first-served process so don’t procrastinate (or at least be open to a Wednesday visit). As always, we're all about helping you live that stress-free (or at least limited-stress) MBA application life. If you have questions about this list or anything else, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to me directly. Application deadlines, applicant-initiated interview deadlines, and admissions decision release dates, can all be found here. |
17 Aug 2018, 07:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Tuck Admissions Insights: Your Application Essays |
  Happy August, friends! Recruitment season is in full swing, and my Admissions colleagues and I are traveling to the corners of the earth to get to know you, and give you the opportunity to get to know Tuck. I’ve spent the last four weeks meeting many of you in Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Beijing, Chicago, New York, Houston, Dallas, and Mexico City, and I look forward to meeting more of you on upcoming trips to Boston, Houston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Now that our application is live, many of you are asking questions about what we’re looking for in a great Tuck candidate, and where we find it. The simplified and streamlined criteria are generating lots of interest, and we’ve explored them in depth on our website and in this space. The other topic coming up frequently on the road is our essays, and I’d like to share thoughts here on each of the two required essays. There’s lots of advice and guidance for our revised essays popping up all over the web, so I want you to hear insights directly from me on behalf of the team that will evaluate and assess them. Before diving into each, some relevant context: as with every component of your application, both essays map directly to our simplified and streamlined criteria. Both essay prompts open with a framing sentence that articulates the connection to the relevant criterion, followed by the essay question itself. Starting this year, both essay responses will be submitted via text box rather than an uploaded document, which means the 500-word count is now a firm limit. Essay Question #1 Our first essay prompt begins by stating, “Tuck students are aware of how their individuality adds to the fabric of Tuck.” This essay maps to our “aware” criterion, so we encourage you to review what being aware means at Tuck. Beyond awareness, there’s another important cue here: the interplay between individuality and community. We want you to confidently bring your whole personal self, including your strengths and growth areas, to Tuck. We also hope you appreciate how this extraordinary community is a tapestry of the collective individuals therein, and adding to it means choosing to consistently engage rather than stand apart. Then comes the question, which is really a two-part question: “Tell us who you are and what you will contribute.” The first part is your opportunity to articulate your individuality, and we’re excited to read your response. We’ve long been known for getting to know our candidates well, and this is another deliberate step to learn more about you. Perhaps my favorite aspect of this question is that there’s no one right answer, or even a right category or domain of answers. We’re expecting responses that are as diverse and wide-ranging as our students. Maybe you define who you are most strongly through your professional experiences and aspirations. Or perhaps your sense of self is rooted in personal values that may or may not have anything to do with your professional work. Maybe a community of importance, a culture, or specific relationships shape who you are. The heart of this question is about your identity, and the strongest responses will reveal the clarity and depth of your reflection. The second part of the first essay invites you to turn a narrative corner and articulate how your individuality, which you just shared with us, will add to Tuck. The emphasis on contribution is intentional; while we hope you expect to gain much from the Tuck community, we also expect you as a student to give at least as much as you take. Like the first part of the essay, there’s no one right answer, and we’re expecting responses that vary in both content and specificity. You might identify elements of the Tuck experience – faculty, centers, courses, clubs, etc. – that you intend to engage. Or you might reflect more broadly on how your individuality enhances our distinct culture. Perhaps you bring a set of experiences and perspectives that you believe will be particularly uncommon in our community. However you choose to respond please know that we’re not taking an opinion on how broad or narrow your contributions are. Instead, we’re evaluating your grasp of what Tuck is, and how Tuck’s distinctprogram, community, and culture align with who you are. The first essay is meant to invite reflection, and the second is meant to invite a story. You’ll note that the first essay prompt doesn’t ask for a story or an example, and telling one isn’t necessary for a strong, reflective response. Some of you may choose to tell a story to further illustrate who you are, but this will be supporting evidence for your central thesis, which is your articulation of your individuality and identity. In the second essay, the story is the central thesis, and you absolutely need one to deliver a strong response. Essay Question #2 Our second essay prompt begins: “Tuck students are nice and invest generously in the success of others.” This essay maps directly to our “nice” criterion. This criterion has generated considerable interest, so I’ve had numerous opportunities to definewhat being nice at Tuck means. And when you read carefully, you’ll note that investing in other’s success does not mean sacrificing your own. Some of you have asked me to clarify the degree that your investment in others should have personally set you back. My response: ideally, not at all. The wise leader – and thus the great Tuck candidate – considers investment in others mutually beneficial, and creates outcomes where both you and others win. The question continues: “Tell us about time when you helped someone else succeed.” Again, we’re asking you to tell one specific, discrete story. A poor response will speak broadly and generally about your investment in others but fail to produce a meaningful example. An adequate response will factually recap events and outcomes – the “what,” “when,” and “who” – without additional exploration. A good response will explore your motivations – the “why” – that prompted you to act. And a truly great response will consider the broader impact and implications of your actions beyond this one investment – the “so what.” That’s a lot to take on in 500 words, so you’ll have to use good judgment about the level of situational detail to provide; you’ll need just enough to provide helpful context, but not so much that the narrative drowns out the analysis. Let me share some additional thoughts on the second essay, based on questions I’m hearing from you:
Looking Ahead I’ll be back here in September to say more about the four short answer questions, but here’s the sneak preview: they’re intentionally really short. You’re already reflecting deeply on the two required essays, so we want to relieve you of the pressure to craft an elaborate narrative around your goals. The best responses will be direct, straightforward, and matter-of-fact. I’ll say more next month. In the meantime, keep up with me on Twitter, and message me directly there - I’d love to hear from you! |
20 Aug 2018, 11:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Why Tuck is a Great Choice for Transitioning Veterans |
 I’m passionate about Tuck. As a co-chair for the Tuck Veterans Club, I speak with many prospective veterans, and I love doing so. I am often asked why I chose Tuck to receive my Master of Business Administration. When asked, I have a difficult time providing a clear and concise answer. Not only are the factors too numerous to easily articulate, but the compounding effect each has upon the other also gets lost. Just as it is challenging to describe why a great unit in the military performs the way it does, the experience at Tuck is tough to put into words that resonate. Regardless, I will attempt anyway.
In the end, the Tuck experience is unique among MBA programs. Each of these factors build upon each other to create a program whose whole truly is greater than the sum of the parts. |
31 Aug 2018, 14:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: A Summer with Inspiring Capital |
 “Inspiring Capital facilitates learning, development, and inclusion through impact.” Having spent a few years working a conventional job, I came to business school to pivot into the social impact space—so hearing those words at a company presentation by Inspiring Capital really peaked my interest. After a few (surprisingly fun!) rounds of interviews, I was thrilled to find out I would be spending 10 weeks as a MBA Social Impact Consulting Fellow with Inspiring Capital in New York City! Inspiring Capital matches MBA fellows from business schools around the country with organizations that require assistance with projects intended to create sustainable and measurable social and financial impact. I was paired with a municipal bond insurer based in New York City. My client’s portfolio includes bonds issued by cities, towns and school districts that raise money to serve their local communities’ education, sustainable transportation, water and sanitation needs (amongst others)—these bonds are a natural fit for what is increasingly becoming known as Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) Investing. With this as the backdrop, I was tasked to design an ESG metric framework and scorecard for my client—once implemented, my client will use this framework and scorecard to evaluate its current and future portfolio and provide ESG designations. This designation would make investments more attractive to large institutional investors with ESG mandates, thereby increasing fund flow toward projects like renewable energy power plants, wastewater management, energy efficient buildings and transport in communities that need it the most around the country. I recollect my client saying to me during our introductory call “so Neeraja, we have 4 months before this initiative goes live for our organization but you’re here for only 10 weeks, but there’s a board meeting 8 weeks after you start so we’re looking at getting everything done by then to present to the board." Wait, WHAT?! I had never heard of a municipal bond before—how was I going to pull off this project, and in 8 weeks?! During my first few days, I felt like a fish out of water; scrambling to read about the industry and start working on my deliverable. As time went by, skills I had acquired during my first year at Tuck came to my rescue—I was able to make sense of what needed to be achieved, created a project plan, divided the project into workstreams and deliverables and held regular check-ins with my manager to ensure that I was on track. Of course, I still hit several roadblocks along the way but the teams at Inspiring Capital and my client organization were always at hand to offer support and guidance. Before the end of my 10 weeks with the client, my work was presented to the Board and the rest of the team and work is currently underway for the official launch in October. I am extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work on a project that is going to have a lasting, measurable impact on communities across the country. What’s unique about Inspiring Capital is that once a week, they organize information and networking events with thought leaders in the space; Monday ‘training days’ as Inspiring Capital called them—imagine unhindered access to individuals who work for organizations like Patagonia, the Robin Hood Foundation and DKNY’s sustainable sourcing arm. Training days left me feeling inspired and hopeful about a career where I can do well while doing good. I had a truly rewarding experience over the summer and I am leaving with memories to last a lifetime—thanks to Tuck GIVES for the support! |
11 Sep 2018, 15:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: A Summer Internship with UNICEF |
  My summer with the UNICEF Innovation Fund has been deeply fulfilling. Heading into the summer, I searched for experience within the venture capital and investing world. Coupled with my First Year Project with a Venture Capital firm focused on creating a social impact mandate for their new impact investing focused fund, the opportunity to work with UNICEF in their Innovation Ventures Fund was the perfect opportunity for my interests. I initially was struck by the diversity and depth of innovation of the fund team. From the founder and head of the ventures fund, a lifelong technologist focused on providing solutions to societal problems facing children to the data scientists, software developers and experts in learning and education, drones, virtual and augmented reality, blockchain and artificial intelligence, the team is as accomplished as it is diverse. Working within a United Nations program, the team not only had such a diverse set of professional and academic backgrounds but also was composed of 10+ different nationalities. My main responsibility within the Innovation fund was to assist in the investment selection process for technology startups from developing markets that are working on open source solutions to improve children’s lives. With the focus on frontier technologies, I quickly had to get smart on concepts related to blockchain, drones, data science, artificial intelligence and virtual /augmented reality. Responsibilities included performing due diligence on startups by analyzing their business plan, partnerships, team capabilities, robustness of prototype and potential for growth. The goal being to defend the merits of high potential startups in front of the broader fund team so that the Innovation Fund would then perform a formal startup analysis and diligence. My other main project revolved around support of Innovation fund portfolio companies. As the UNICEF Innovation fund focuses on early stage startups, once the portfolio companies end their investment period with the UNICEF, there does not exist a formal follow on funding process to further continued company growth. I helped begin to formalize a “portfolio company follow-on funding” process through conversations with investors. The end goal of the Portfolio Roll Up Process is to combine UNICEF resources with equity-ready portfolio companies to generate equity-based interest and investment from the wider investment community. I have gained a deep appreciation for the venture capital, innovation and accelerator space. What struck me most has been the depth and passion of innovation from entrepreneurs of developing countries. There is so much untapped talent that is just waiting to be discovered and given the opportunity. Many of the opportunities we are afforded at Tuck, we sometimes take for granted. To see an entrepreneur from a developing country with few socioeconomic and human development opportunities pitch with such conviction a blockchain application platform to digitize service-delivery claims and tokenize impact data to register children truly inspires you. |
13 Sep 2018, 14:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: An Internship with Maine Venture Fund |
  Binh Nguyen is a proud member of the Class of 2019. In his free time, he loves to explore breweries, sing karaoke, and go hiking. Prior to Tuck, I worked with smallholder farmers in Cambodia and with microfinance institutions in the Philippines. Coming to business school, I knew that I wanted to continue using the power of finance to empower small business owners. This summer, with the support of Tuck GIVES, I interned at the Maine Venture Fund—an evergreen fund that invests in Maine-based companies in order to create jobs locally. For my summer, I had two workstreams. First, I was tasked with conducting due diligence on one of the Fund’s portfolio companies in the edtech space. The edtech company was planning to do another round of fundraising at the end of 2018, and from the Fund’s perspective, we would like to know how attractive the future opportunities would be in the edtech verticals that the company competes in. In conducting research on the market size of these edtech verticals, I reached out to my T’19 classmates who have experiences in edtech, and received rich insights. Before I started Tuck, a Tuck alumnus told me that I would learn a significant amount from my classes, but I would learn the most from my classmates. This summer, our T’19 GroupMe chat was buzzing with classmates helping each other, and I felt so fortunate that I had picked Tuck as my family. Towards the end of my internship, I delivered a PowerPoint deck with market size and growth trends of education verticals to my colleagues at the Fund, and also shared my insights from this research with the founder of the mentioned edtech portfolio company. He told me that as he was planning on raising a substantial amount of money, the work that I had done would help him formulate his fundraising pitch, allowing the company to continue its explosive growth trajectory. For my second workstream, I was tasked with improving the production efficiency of another portfolio company in the manufacturing space. When I first started walking the floor at the manufacturing company, I could sense that while the management team was excited to work with me, the staff members who physically make the products were not quite sure why I was there, and how I could help them with their production. In order to establish trust, I took the time to ask them about the current production processes, as well as the frustrations that they were experiencing with how things were being done. I then asked them to proceed with their normal production activities, and I did a time study and a process mapping—using tools that I learned from Tuck’s core Operations Management course—to identify the bottlenecks. After I figured out the bottlenecks, I proposed that the production staff adopt it, and I would do another time study on the new process. I then asked them how they felt about the new process. After they described how smoothly the new process felt to them, I presented the data to back up their observations. By involving the staff on the production floor in the decision making process right at the beginning, I was able to earn their trust. Having these great working relationships enabled me to get their buy-ins in subsequent process improvements and implement these changes smoothly. When I left, I had created an additional $1M worth of value, which is significant for a $4M startup. My summer internship experience has further solidified my plan of pursuing finance to create social good. I would like to thank the Center for Business, Government & Society for supporting me, and I cannot wait to share my experiences with future Tuckies who are interested in this line of work! |
17 Sep 2018, 08:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Tuck Admissions Insights: Your Short Answer Responses |
 Happy September, friends! The T’20s have arrived, the T’19s have returned, and another great year is underway at the Tuck School. My Admissions colleagues and I are squeezing in as many trips as possible to see you before our September 24 application deadline—we have events on six continents this month alone! I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo. If you haven’t yet seen our updated class of 2020 profile, I encourage you to check it out. In addition to enrolling a record number of women, we also enrolled students from a record number of international countries, and experienced growth in application volume from the previous year. In the midst of news about MBA application declines at many top schools, I’m thrilled and delighted that the mission and values of Tuck are resonant with so many of you around the world. Speaking of applications, I shared thoughts last month about our two required essays, both of which map directly to our simplified and streamlined criteria. This month, I’d like to share thoughts on our four short answers that focus on your goals. I want you to hear directly from me what we’re looking for and how we’ll find it. SIMPLIFIED, STREAMLINED, SHORTENED First, some context about the updated format: we’ve always cared at Tuck about your professional goals and aspirations. That hasn’t changed. In recent years, we asked you to share your goals with us in a long-form essay. While your goals remain important to us, requiring you to craft a long narrative around them isn’t necessary for you to articulate them and for us to understand them. We instead encourage you to reflect deeply on your identity, your contributions, and your efforts to invest in others. This is why the short answers have word limits that are… short. Many of you have told me that they’re really short. This is by design. There’s no room, literally or figuratively, for elaborate storytelling here. We want your responses to be crisp, clear, concise, and matter-of-fact. My advice to those of you trying hard to shoehorn in a supporting narrative: save the additional details for your interview, and trust that we really, truly do want you be factual and direct. The responses may be short, but I assure you that they matter to us. As we map your application to our criteria, the short answers directly reflect your awareness. As articulated in our criteria, aware Tuck candidates envision what’s ahead, identify coherent goals, and illuminate how the Tuck MBA will advance your aspirations to better the world of business. QUESTIONS ONE AND TWO While your first essay highlights what you will contribute to Tuck, your short answers convey what you expect to accomplish thereafter. This distinction helps frame the scope of the first question which asks you to share your short-term goals. Some of you have asked for clarification on the short-term time horizon. This question is not asking about your goals while at Tuck; you have opportunities elsewhere to highlight what you will contribute to Tuck such as in your first essay, your fourth short answer response, and your interview. In this first short answer, we’re keen to learn your goals immediately after graduating from Tuck. We stopped short of explicitly specifying that the goals must be professional, as some of you have goals that are both professional and personal. That said, I expect most of you will tell us about the job and the impact you expect to have after you graduate. If the first short answer is meant to capture your first stop on your post-MBA trajectory, the second is meant to capture your last. What is your dream job? What role and impact do you want to have 20, 30, 40, 50 years from now? What legacy do you want to leave? My colleagues and I are especially excited to read your response here, as this reflects how you aspire to better the world of business. Let me take a moment to highlight a critical phrase in our awareness criterion: strong candidates will have coherent goals that are both audacious in scope yet grounded in reality. I can’t overstate the importance of this balance. On one hand, the Tuck School and the world of business need wise leaders who dream big. You don’t better the world of business through low ambition, so share your highest aspirations with us. At the same time, remember that judgment is an essential aptitude of wise leadership. You need that good judgment to identify the right steps on the path to your goals, and to assess whether the Tuck MBA makes sense as one of those steps. If the path from an MBA to your goals isn’t apparent, you will need an especially compelling response to our fourth short answer prompt about how Tuck helps you achieve your goals. Absent that, we will wonder about your awareness and your ability to contribute and thrive here. Both your short- and long-term goals should be ambitious and realistic, though on the margin, we will expect your long-term goals to tilt towards the former and your short-term goals to tilt towards the latter. This balance will be the hallmark of strong responses to these first two prompts. We’re not taking an opinion on the industry, the function, the geography, or the ideology of what you aspire to do. Instead, we’re assessing that your goals are coherent, audacious, and realistic. QUESTION THREE The third short answer asks how you arrived at your goals. For many of you, this is the short answer that offers the greatest temptation to craft a narrative. We appreciate that (slightly) more detail is appropriate here, and we’ve given you (a few) extra words relative to the first two questions. But this is still short, and we continue to encourage directness. An alternate wording for this prompt is “Where did your goals come from?” For some of you, a specific person or group of people may have shaped your goals. For others, a formative academic, professional, or personal experience was a significant influence. Some of you will have a clear inflection point informing your goals, while others’ formed slowly and gradually. You can’t share every relevant detail in 75 words, so you’ll have to make choices about the most substantial influences. As you do, keep in mind that strong responses will demonstrate that you’ve given thought and reflection to why your goals are your goals. QUESTION FOUR Finally, the fourth question asks how Tuck helps you achieve your goals. The first three prompts don’t require you to mention Tuck at all. This prompt is different; we expect you to illuminate how the distinctive Tuck MBA will advance your aspirations. My recommendations:
For this final prompt, a weak response will demonstrate little to no awareness of Tuck; a merely adequate response will name aspects of Tuck that are related to your goals; and a strong response will explain how your immersion and engagement at Tuck accelerates your progress towards your goals. LOOKING AHEAD For those of you applying in Round 1, I wish you well as you put the finishing touches on your application! By the time I return here in October, we’ll have begun learning more about you via your application. I expect I’ll have thoughts and reflections about what we’re seeing in applications, and how we are evaluating it. Check back next month, and keep up with me on Twitter in the meantime. |
18 Sep 2018, 14:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Strategic Planning at Dartmouth-Hitchcock: My Summer Supporting Rural Health in VT & NH |
  Lily is a second-year student at Tuck and is pursuing her MBA alongside an MPH from The Dartmouth Institute. Prior to Tuck, Lily supported a variety of healthcare clients as a commercial strategy consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, D.C. She obtained her B.A. from the College of William and Mary where she majored in Political Science. This summer, I worked in the Strategic Planning group at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health System. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health (D-HH) serves a large swathe of New Hampshire and Vermont that includes some of the state’s most vulnerable regions and citizens. Within that service area, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) provides tertiary and quaternary care to many people with serious conditions that cannot be treated by smaller local hospitals. These local hospitals play a critical role in delivering care to patients in some of the most rural parts of the state, but financial pressures have, in some cases, kicked off a vicious cycle of cuts to specialties and programs that bring these important community institutions closer to the brink of collapse. To keep hyper-rural hospitals and their communities alive and well, D-HH decided to develop a strategic plan to strengthen the rural health network as a component of a broader strategic planning process encompassing eight focus areas. I helped Chief Strategy Officer Steve LeBlanc lead a group of executives drawn from each of the individual entities within the D-HH system through a strategic planning process that began with the identification of goals and critical questions and ended with a set of recommended services to strengthen capacity across rural institutions. To support the recommendation generation process, I worked with a small team to assess current and anticipated health and health care needs across eight key regions in the D-HH service area. We then assessed the financial stability of over twenty hospitals alongside referral patterns to identify vulnerable institutions and their role within the broader rural health network. Through a series of accompanying working sessions with the executive group we explored the gathered data and analysis and built a menu of potential services and partnerships to support vulnerable regions. Outside of the rural markets workgroup, I also helped define and develop materials to guide the shared strategic planning process used by each of the eight workgroups supporting the organization’s focus areas. Helping to define the process then operationalizing it through the rural markets workgroup taught me a lot about the importance of clarity and consistency in helping a diverse group to move towards a shared goal. While the issues were fascinating enough to me on their own, I was most inspired by the working sessions with D-HH executives. Each of our conversations began and ended with a shared goal to make health care better. Faced with such extreme financial and operational pressures, it would be so easy to focus inward and forget their commitment to the broader region. Instead, these leaders were open, forward-looking, and compassionate, realizing that a rising tide lifts all boats. I deeply enjoyed the opportunity to build my skills as a researcher, and facilitator and I look forward to re-joining D-HH after Tuck to keep making health care better. |
25 Sep 2018, 08:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: My Summer with a Mission-Driven Consulting Firm |
 They told me I’d be working on multiple engagements. “Two or three,” I thought. “Four would be pushing it, right? No way it’ll be any more than four—that’s too much to juggle.” Five full engagements and 10 weeks later, I am ecstatic to be back to the understated quiet and measured pace of New England academia. All joking aside (my summer was great, for the record), my time at Next Street Financial, a mission-driven consulting firm with a focus on small business lending and community investing, was a full-to-the-brim learning experience. While working on five projects was at times, hectic, doing so allowed me to get exposure to a broad range of Next Street’s impactful work, with clients ranging from large financial institutions like KeyBank and JP Morgan, to private foundations and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and Opportunity Fund, respectively. Moreover, while I walked into the summer with only vague notions of what consulting looks like on-the-job, working on multiple projects provided ample opportunity to (with the aid of patient and competent colleagues) refine my project management, storyboarding, ThinkCell, Powerpoint, Excel and other consulting-relevant skills. The first few weeks were a struggle as I juggled the day-to-day work and practicing new skills to get my bearings, but I ultimately found my stride by the middle of the internship. And with that, in the course of just a summer, my work came to include:
I was able to work on projects with depth and breadth in large part due to the small size of the firm—Next Street only has about 10-15 associates on its consulting / advisory team across three offices. While I was an intern, I was working shoulder to shoulder with the full-time team to advise our clients. Moreover, it was a privilege to work with the Next Street team, comprised of incredibly intelligent individuals recruited from a range of top universities, consulting firms, and financial institutions—and, more importantly, all driven to leverage our skills and knowledge base to create positive outcomes in underserved and low to moderate income communities in the U.S. In summary, I came into the summer looking for an opportunity at the intersection of consulting and social impact. I got more than I bargained for, and at the same time, exactly what I needed. |
28 Sep 2018, 11:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Building a Health Care Network in Africa |
  Tolu Kehinde is an MD-MBA student from Nigeria, who moonlights as a New Englander. She is a believer in the transformative power of words in all forms and hopes to one day be able to say she contributed significantly to African healthcare. For close to a decade, I’ve had an organizational crush on African Leadership Academy (ALA) and this summer, my fangirl dreams were realized: I got to intern at ALA … in real life! I first heard of the pre-university program located in South Africa in 2008, when it was just starting, and I was just finishing secondary school. Initially, I paid it no mind—this Nigerian had her heart set on leaving the continent. But as I grew into myself as an African woman—interestingly, in college, removed from the continent, as I had hoped—institutions like ALA began to feature significantly in my thoughts and discussions. As I dissected the continent’s multiple histories and how they had shaped the present, I went in search of narratives that showcased African nations as entities with dignity and agency, narratives contrary to the prevailing ones of handouts and helplessness. ALA, with its mission to identify and develop the next generation of African leaders, was crafting a new narrative, and I wanted to be part of that journey. This summer, I spent time thinking through strategy and programing for ALA’s first health care network. With ALA’s alumni maturing, and their career needs with them, the Academy is realizing it needs to adapt the ways in which it supports careers. Since a significant portion of its alumni are interested in health care, ALA was interested in creating a network that best supported health care careers. Working on this project was delightful not only because it drew on both my medicine and business backgrounds, but also because it opened my eyes to how much I had grown over my year at Tuck. In the consulting-style projects I had done at Tuck up till that point, I had always been in groups and often felt like I had less to offer than my peers who had more typical business-type backgrounds. However, alone on this project, I was forced to trust that both my non-traditional background and the tools I had acquired at Tuck were both necessary and sufficient for my task. I was glad that by the end of the internship, I had proposed a game plan for the network that was wider in scope, and potentially in impact, than either my boss or myself had initially envisioned. I am truly excited about my work this summer and all that will hopefully come from it. But more importantly, I feel incredibly blessed for the opportunity to craft a narrative of Africans, young and old, leading and creating African prosperity through health care. |
09 Oct 2018, 07:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Inside a Course: Energy 101 |
 Sandwiched between fall semester classes, club meetings and recruiting events, a group of Tuck and Thayer students recently enjoyed a September afternoon exploring the US energy industry. This one-day course, sponsored by the Revers Center for Energy, gave a broad overview of the energy landscape from customers to physical system and operations and finally to regulations within the industry. To begin the course, we started with the end: the consumer. Who are the gas and electric customers in the US and what drives their demand? What are the most important factors that drive that demand and how do they vary amongst residential, commercial and industrial users? The discussion then moved on to the physical systems and operations that allow us to obtain and energy and transport it vast distances to individual homes or large companies. We explored where natural gas is found beneath the Earth’s surface as well as how it is extracted and then delivered to millions of users across the country. It was also fascinating to delve more into how the electric delivery system operates by ‘stepping up’ the voltage from generation sources such as nuclear, natural gas, or renewables. This voltage increase allows the transmission system to carry the current much longer distances, making it easier to distribute to the end consumers. Finally, we ended with a discussion of regulation and how it has led to a restructuring of both the gas and electric industries. However, the changes in regulation between the two have not moved in lock-step. The electric industry has lagged the gas industry in deregulating their wholesale markets – this has led to greater competition in the gas industry as compared to the electric industry within those wholesale markets. Additionally, the retail markets vary in regulation from state-to-state. All of this creates a complicated regulatory environment in which a deep understanding is essential to effectively navigate the ever-changing landscape. All in all, this course provided a fantastic overview of the energy industry, especially for an energy beginner like me. Not only was John Ferrare, our instructor, deeply knowledgeable, but my fellow classmates with experience in the industry added excellent insights that improved my understanding of the material. They, along with April Salas, Executive Director of the Revers Center for Energy, were also able to provide many interesting and pertinent anecdotes that gave color to many of the topics discussed that furthered the class discussion. Despite the hectic first few weeks of this semester, I, along with many of my fellow classmates, am happy to have attended the this immersive introduction to the energy industry. |
17 Oct 2018, 08:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: 5 Questions with John Gardner, Founder of Fitness Startup Kudos |
  John Gardner T'13 is the founder and CEO of Kudos, a tech-enabled personal training service that combines a human coach with a personalized exercise and nutrition program delivered via SMS, video chat and an app. Before Kudos, he was COO at BuildZoom, a home improvement marketplace and a consultant at Bain & Company focused on technology clients in San Francisco. He received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and BA from Columbia University. We recently caught up with John to talk about post-Tuck life and how his startup Kudos is doing. 1. Can you briefly share your career journey post-Tuck? Tuck helped me understand what I really want to do with my life. By the time I graduated, I knew then that I wanted to found and scale a company that used technology to help people in tangible, real world ways. I returned to consulting at Bain & Company in San Francisco with a laser focus on technology clients and building the skills I would ultimately need to break into the venture-backed startup world, which I did after 2 years when I joined BuildZoom, a data-driven marketplace for remodeling, as COO. After 2 years scaling BuildZoom and learning what it takes to go from nothing to something useful, I founded Kudos in October 2017. 2. What made you start Kudos? Have you been a longtime wellness advocate? Fitness has been a passion ever since I joined the track team in 7th grade. But as a consultant and then a startup COO with almost no free time, every day I wished I had a coach to help structure my exercise and nutrition and push me to do improve over time. I believed then (and now have overwhelming evidence to support the notion) that humans need human support and accountability to reach their potential when it comes to fitness (and any very difficult behavior change). I saw that the ultra rich used personal trainers to fill this need, but that no one else could afford a trainer (certainly not 3+ times per week, which is really what is required to make a difference). So I decided to get certified as a trainer myself and leverage technology to make human to human training better and cheaper. And Kudos was born. 3. What exactly does Kudos offer? Kudos provides exercise and nutrition training with an expert coach via SMS and video chat, when clients want, where clients want. The coach starts by discussing goals, obtaining exercise preferences, and identifying opportunities for reasonable, sustained improvements to nutrition. He or she then crafts a super personalized exercise and nutrition plan and delivers it daily via SMS, video chat and our app. The app walks clients through workouts, and coaches are available 24/7 to answer questions and remove barriers to success. 4. What do you want people to know about Kudos? Everyone who gives Kudos the old college try meets their goals. 85% end up subscribing at the end of the trial week, and the vast majority of them stick with us (96% retention month to month). Everyone who does this sees results (for example, the average weight loss client loses 15 pounds in the first 2 months). It's not rocket science: If you exercise more, eat a bit better, and avoid injury, you will see results. Those things are very hard to do, however, and we work really hard and leverage technology to make it easy for clients. 5. Any advice for Tuck MBAs looking to take the entrepreneurial career path? Do it as soon as you can. Make sure you are in a stage of life that can support it financially and emotionally, but then get as close to entrepreneurship as you can. For me, that meant going to work as an early employee at a seed stage startup, as I needed more first hand experience before starting my own company. But go after it - regardless of where Kudos goes, I'm so thankful I had the chance to scratch this itch. Learn more about Kudos. |
17 Oct 2018, 14:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: 5 Questions with John Gardner T’13, Founder of Fitness Startup Kudos |
|
John Gardner T'13 is the founder and CEO of Kudos, a tech-enabled personal training service that combines a human coach with a personalized exercise and nutrition program delivered via SMS, video chat and an app. Before Kudos, he was COO at BuildZoom, a home improvement marketplace and a consultant at Bain & Company focused on technology clients in San Francisco. He received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and BA from Columbia University. We recently caught up with John to talk about post-Tuck life and how his startup Kudos is doing. 1. Can you briefly share your career journey post-Tuck? Tuck helped me understand what I really want to do with my life. By the time I graduated, I knew then that I wanted to found and scale a company that used technology to help people in tangible, real world ways. I returned to consulting at Bain & Company in San Francisco with a laser focus on technology clients and building the skills I would ultimately need to break into the venture-backed startup world, which I did after 2 years when I joined BuildZoom, a data-driven marketplace for remodeling, as COO. After 2 years scaling BuildZoom and learning what it takes to go from nothing to something useful, I founded Kudos in October 2017. 2. What made you start Kudos? Have you been a longtime wellness advocate? Fitness has been a passion ever since I joined the track team in 7th grade. But as a consultant and then a startup COO with almost no free time, every day I wished I had a coach to help structure my exercise and nutrition and push me to do improve over time. I believed then (and now have overwhelming evidence to support the notion) that humans need human support and accountability to reach their potential when it comes to fitness (and any very difficult behavior change). I saw that the ultra rich used personal trainers to fill this need, but that no one else could afford a trainer (certainly not 3+ times per week, which is really what is required to make a difference). So I decided to get certified as a trainer myself and leverage technology to make human to human training better and cheaper. And Kudos was born. 3. What exactly does Kudos offer? Kudos provides exercise and nutrition training with an expert coach via SMS and video chat, when clients want, where clients want. The coach starts by discussing goals, obtaining exercise preferences, and identifying opportunities for reasonable, sustained improvements to nutrition. He or she then crafts a super personalized exercise and nutrition plan and delivers it daily via SMS, video chat and our app. The app walks clients through workouts, and coaches are available 24/7 to answer questions and remove barriers to success. 4. What do you want people to know about Kudos? Everyone who gives Kudos the old college try meets their goals. 85% end up subscribing at the end of the trial week, and the vast majority of them stick with us (96% retention month to month). Everyone who does this sees results (for example, the average weight loss client loses 15 pounds in the first 2 months). It's not rocket science: If you exercise more, eat a bit better, and avoid injury, you will see results. Those things are very hard to do, however, and we work really hard and leverage technology to make it easy for clients. 5. Any advice for Tuck MBAs looking to take the entrepreneurial career path? Do it as soon as you can. Make sure you are in a stage of life that can support it financially and emotionally, but then get as close to entrepreneurship as you can. For me, that meant going to work as an early employee at a seed stage startup, as I needed more first hand experience before starting my own company. But go after it - regardless of where Kudos goes, I'm so thankful I had the chance to scratch this itch. Learn more about Kudos. |
23 Oct 2018, 11:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: The Inaugural Tuck Canoe Race |
 By Daniel Hasler T’19 Outside of a well-rounded core curriculum, a close knit-community, and a wide array of extracurricular opportunities, I came to Tuck to get outside. Having spent the last three years living and working in Washington, DC, I was ready for a break from midnight sirens and the smell of Metro brake dust in the morning. And what better place to retreat from city life than Hanover? Tuck students are within striking distance of world-class hiking in the White Mountains, great skiing at Killington Mountain, and an extensive network of Dartmouth-owned backcountry cabins. What’s more, the Tuck Outdoors Club stands at the ready to make it easy to enjoy these natural assets, subsidizing and facilitating experiences that get as many students as possible exposed to natural beauty that makes the Upper Valley a special place to spend two years.  This fall, the Outdoors Club’s signature event showcased Tuck’s nearest and dearest natural landmark—the Connecticut River—the scenic waterway that moseys past campus and outlines the border of Vermont and New Hampshire. The inaugural Tuck Canoe Race took place on September 29, when some 60 students took to the river in a two mile, down-and-back contest for class bragging rights. Ten first-year canoes and ten second-year canoes navigated a course that brought paddlers south, around Gilman Island, and back north again, with a finish line marked by Ledyard Bridge. Afterwards, participants convened back on campus for fun and fellowship with a pancake breakfast. And while the second years ultimately won a race that featured only one capsized canoe, everyone enjoyed a sunny day on the river that showcased some of the best parts of being a student here: We’re risk takers While the goal of the race (and the Outdoors Club in general) was to get folks outside who wouldn’t have done so otherwise, we were surprised (terrified?) that several of our canoe teams had little to no canoeing experience. But again, that was the whole point, and just another example of Tuckies’ bias for action and penchant to get involved and ask questions later We’re competitive Not all racers were novices, however, as two teams featured veterans of the 17-mile Kenduskeag Race last spring. And these paddlers got after it, with the winning canoe hitting the finish line at 21 minutes, 15 seconds, or a pace of roughly six miles an hour. We’re interested in any excuse to be together Because it was the first time this event had ever been organized, the race was largely an unknown quantity for spectators and racers alike. Would it be fun? Would all the pre-race logistics get done to ensure a timely race? Organizers learned the answers to these questions didn’t really matter, so long as other Tuckies would be there. |
29 Oct 2018, 10:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Tuck Admissions Insights: Between the Rounds |
 Happy October, friends! My Admissions colleagues and I are (mostly) off the road and back at our base camp. Autumn is a beautiful time to visit Tuck, and we’ve been hosting many of you for campus visits. Several hundred of you have come to Hanover to take advantage of our open interview policy. We welcomed over a hundred more at Military Visit Day and the Women in Business Conference. We’re looking forward to seeing over 70 of you at the upcoming Diversity Conference. If you can’t join us on campus for DivCo, don’t worry—you can stream the event virtually! We’re also getting to know many of you through your applications. It’s reading season! Each of us on the Admissions Committee appreciates the trust and faith you place in us to evaluate your candidacy. At Tuck, we view your application as an opportunity to get to know you better, and we take great care to conduct our evaluation work with fairness, equity, humanity, and positivity. Round One Applicants To all of you who applied in September: thank you. It’s an honor and a privilege to read your applications, your resumes, your essays and your reference letters. For those of you who have already interviewed, we love hearing about your conversations with our student interviewers. We updated our essay prompts this year, and I’m inspired by all the distinct and wide-ranging ways you are collectively defining who you are, what you will contribute, and how you have invested in the success of others. Yes, the essays require thought and reflection, but there truly is no right topic, and I am appreciating the incredible variety in what you’ve shared with us. And thank you for your patience as we learn more about you. Our evaluation efforts take time, as we review each application one by one; we’re just over halfway through our Round 1 reading. I know this wait can feel long, and some of you are wondering what else you can do. My encouragement: stay connected with us! You can reach out to me and my colleagues if you have an application update, or if you just want to say hello. Connect with the students and alumni you’ve met, and make new connections with those you haven’t. Keep up with the Tuck 360 blog and social media. We want you to continue to feel connected our community. Round Two Applicants Now, a few words for those of you considering a Round 2 application. My colleagues and I very much want to get to know you, too! Some of you have told me you’re waiting until Round 2 so you can close a deal, or secure a promotion, or work on your test scores. Good on you; we want you to confidently submit your strongest candidacy. Others have told me you’re still carefully pondering our updated essay and reference questions, and contemplating whether you and your references should dedicate time and effort to them. My encouragement: don’t let these components stand between you and Tuck. We care about lowering application barriers, both for you and for everyone supporting you on this journey. So keep in mind the following:
On the Fence about Applying? If you’re still deciding whether to apply, or you know you’ll apply and want to know more about us, we have great upcoming opportunities to do so. We’re hosting a Facebook Live Admissions panel on November 8 at 7 pm Eastern Standard Time, featuring several of my wonderful Admissions colleagues. I’ll be interviewing our Dean Matt Slaughter in early December about why you should come to Tuck, and we’ll stream the conversation live. We’ll soon be offering a virtual conversation specifically geared towards those of you applying from India. Our students will be hosting informal coffee chats all over the world in November and December—keep checking our events calendar for locations and times. And I’ll be in Boston on November 16 and New York on December 14 to host morning coffees; I hope to see many of you there! Keep in Touch! My colleagues and I care a great deal about your experience with Tuck as you get to know us and prepare your application. If you haven’t yet created a Tuck profile to stay informed about upcoming events and school news, and to receive insider tips on the application process, you can do so here. And if you’d like to personally connect and share how we’re engaging and inspiring you—or how we can do better—don’t hesitate to reach out to me via email, Twitter, or in person in Hanover. My colleagues and I pledge to be accessible, responsive, and helpful, and we’ll offer all the encouragement and support we can. Keep in touch, and see you back here on the blog in November! |
12 Nov 2018, 08:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: A Career Trek in Energy |
 When most people think about energy, they probably imagine a wind turbine, solar panels, or an oil refinery plant. What most people don’t realize is there was probably a private equity firm investing capital to kickstart the construction of the turbine and there was probably a data analytics firm providing the wind turbine operator with projections of regional energy demand. The energy ecosystem reaches far and wide and encompasses companies along the entire value chain providing each other with requisite funding or valuable information. On a late October Friday, I, along with a handful of other Tuck energy enthusiasts from the Revers Center for Energy, went down to Boston for a day of industry exploration and career insight. We went to visit three places: ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC, Swift Current Energy, and IHS Markit. The day was meticulously curated with an incessant stream of passionate Tuckies in industry sitting down with us at the respective sites, explaining to us what they do within the grand scheme of energy generation. We had the chance to meet Dan Revers T’89, the namesake of the Revers Center for Energy and founding partner of ArcLight Capital. He, along with other key partners and principals, walked us through their respective careers and plethora of experience and offered sage advice to our group of wide-eyed MBA students. At Swift Current Energy, we were able to speak with two Tuckies, Jim Marrett T’10 and Caroline Mann T’15, that had traversed extensively through the renewable energy space and found themselves at Swift, a clean energy-focused development and investment firm. They spoke extensively about the rapid growth of the renewable energy industry and provided us tremendous insight into the daily workings of their professional lives. Lastly, to conclude our day of industry immersion, we visited IHS Markit, the premier data and information provider for the energy industry. We were able to meet with Craig Urch T’00 along with a select panel of senior leaders internally to have an informal discussion regarding global trends within the oil and gas sector alongside renewables. To compound the learnings of a day immersed in industry, we found ourselves the next day in attendance at the Harvard Energy Symposium, a gathering of industry professionals amalgamated to discuss the current and future prospects of the energy industry. From engaging panels regarding the future of battery storage in grid integration to a beyond charismatic keynote by Helge Haldorsen, VP of Investor Relations for Equinor, the day was a great conclusion to a weekend of energy and an invigorating way to learn more about the endless opportunities that await us. For me personally, the trek served as a great introspective opportunity to see what was the right fit for me career-wise. I had the opportunity to see a snapshot of what working in the energy sector looked like from so many different angles. The conversation and experience that stood out to me the most was an intimate small group lunch with NextEra at the Energy Symposium. My conversation with their recent MBA hires as well as their hiring manager was an incredible opportunity to hear a personal account of what a post-MBA career looked like at a renewable developer with the scale that NextEra has to offer. |
29 Nov 2018, 07:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: The International Tuck Experience |
 It was a few months ago that I first arrived at Tuck. As someone who was born and bred in an 8 million strong city in India, I would be amiss if I did not talk about 12,000 strong Hanover experience. For those of you who read Agatha Christie growing up, Hanover in a nutshell, is like many of the little towns Hercule Poirot visits to solve crimes. Minus the crime, of course. Here are some quick facts about Hanover that blew my mind:
Now that I’ve bulletized (like a true business school student) why Hanover is an awesome place to live, let’s move on to Tuck. Every student at Tuck goes through a roller coaster of a term called Fall A. If you are an international student, expect a few more crazy twists and turns in the ride. Make no mistake, it will be hard being uprooted from everything familiar and there will be tough days that will make you question your choice. It will be a cultural shock, no matter how much American television you watched growing up. But there is no place better than Tuck to go through this experience and grow. Tuck not only encourages diversity but celebrates it. Despite this, there are numerous challenges that come in the way of achieving complete inclusiveness in a group of extremely diverse people – socially, culturally and intellectually. Tuck realizes these challenges and dedicates impressive amount of time and resources to address them. Be it the diversity and inclusion workshop that helped us recognize and work through our inherent biases or the international night that gave us an opportunity to share all of the beautiful stories of our home countries, Tuck provides the platform for us to grow while being ourselves. In addition to the student-driven inclusion activities, the entire Tuck staff—professors, admission committee members, program office executives, career development office mentors, are some of the kindest and most empathetic people I have come across. Having helped generations of international students at Tuck, they know what we go through even better than we do and guide us through challenging times. On a tough day, all you need is a conversation with any one of them to realize that there is an entire army of people waiting just to support you.  Tuck staff, including the MBA Program Office pictured above, "are some of the kindest and most empathetic people I have come across," says Keerthi Vallabhapurapu T’20. All in all, the experience of being a part of the record-breaking Tuck class of 2020 has left me in awe of everyone around me. It has made me feel incredibly privileged to be surrounded by some of the brightest minds. It has given me an opportunity to learn, not just through class but through unimaginably diverse experiences of people, literally from all over the world. One month in to the Tuck experience, we might not yet be the best of friends, but we definitely are a community who will stand for each other and enable each other’s growth. We all benefit and contribute to the Tuck fabric and we are proud to say that #WeAreTuck! Sree Keerthi Vallabhapurapu is an MBA Candidate at Tuck School of Business, Class of 2020. Prior to Tuck she was a principal consultant at Orbees Business Solutions in Hyderabad, India. She earned a BE in electronics and communications engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad. |
04 Dec 2018, 13:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: Reapplying to Tuck |
 One of Tuck’s defining features is our small student body. The personal scale of the program is critical to creating the immersive and collaborative trust-based community for which Tuck is known. The unfortunate result of a small student body is that the Admissions team cannot admit anywhere near all of the fabulous candidates we see. Every round we have to make incredibly difficult decisions. If you were among those not offered admission, you may be thinking about reapplying to Tuck and wonder what we think of reapplicants, how you might improve your chances next time and what the process is. First of all, we hope you will reapply to Tuck! We view reapplicants positively. The fact that you remain enthusiastic about Tuck and want to contribute to our community enough to give it another try shows us you sincerely want to be here—and we like that! That said, we want to see reapplicants who have taken action to strengthen their candidacy, not someone who simply resubmits their previous application. Spend some time reflecting on your prior application and identify what areas might have held you back the first time. Then work hard to improve them. To give you some ideas on what you might need to work on, I encourage you to start with our Admissions criteria. Tuck is looking for students who are smart, nice, accomplished and aware. You should make sure that you are demonstrating these four attributes in your application. Smart Sometimes applicants strengthen their candidacy by improving their GMAT/GRE scores. There is no magic number required for admission, and we admit people with a wide range of scores; however, if your score is below our average or you think you can score higher, then you might want to consider giving it another try. A higher score can make you more competitive in a strong applicant pool. If you are someone who has had very limited exposure to quantitative concepts in your education or work experience, you might consider taking some classes like financial accounting, statistics, microeconomics or finance to demonstrate that you are prepared for the rigors of an MBA program. Please note that taking classes is not a substitute for trying to improve your test scores if the GMAT/GRE is what is holding you back. The value of classes is that you will set yourself up for success when you begin your MBA. At Tuck, being smart is not solely about test scores and your GPA. We are also looking for confident humility, curiosity, and a willingness to stretch yourself and learn from others. Think about whether you have conveyed those qualities in your essays and interview. Nice By nice, we mean something very specific. I encourage you to spend some time with our definition and reflect on whether your application, essays and interview highlighted how you demonstrate those qualities in your actions and impact on others. Luke Anthony Peña, Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, has written some great blog posts on this topic which you might find helpful as you think about it further. Accomplished Some applicants need to strengthen their candidacy by getting more work experience or by better highlighting their professional or community accomplishments and impact. Again we are not looking for a particular number of years of experience (but if you are only a year or two out of school, you might want to think about waiting to reapply until you get some more experience). Quantity is not important, quality is. Be sure that your results and progression are clearly articulated. If you have changed jobs multiple times or have a gap between positions, be sure to explain what was going on. The optional essay is a great place to do this. Aware Unclear goals and/or a lack of understanding how the Tuck MBA will help you reach them is something we see from a lot of applicants. While we don’t need your life plan down to the most specific detail, having a good sense of where you are headed, and why, is important. Luke’s blog on our short answer questions should give you some great ideas on which to reflect. Finally, you may need to work on articulating your distinct candidacy. This can be hard sometimes, but focus on being yourself. Let your personality come through. You are more than just your job or where you went to school. Tell us who you really are and what you are passionate about, rather than telling us what you think we want to hear. Tell us what makes you unique and how your experiences will contribute to the community and the learning of your classmates. The Reapplicant Process Procedurally, applying as a reapplicant is just the same as the first time you applied. You must complete the entire application, including all of the essays. Additionally, you must complete a reapplicant essay explaining how you have strengthened your application, so going through the analysis outlined above will be helpful. Even if the essay prompts are comparable to those from previous years, we strongly encourage you to rewrite all of them. Some of the topics you choose may be very similar, but approaching them with a fresh voice is likely to make them stronger. We will have your prior application when we review your new one, and will refer back to it. However, we will not review it as carefully as your new application, so make sure that anything important is included in your new application. If you're able to, we encourage you to come to campus for an interview, even if you interviewed before. It provides another opportunity for you to share your story and explain what you have done in the past year to improve your application. However, if you are not able to visit again, we will have your prior interview evaluation on file. We may, or may not, invite you to re-interview depending on whether we need additional information. While it may not feel like it now, we hope you will view this extra year or two before you start your MBA as a positive. You have the opportunity to gain additional professional experience and take on new responsibilities. You have more opportunity to lead and collaborate, challenge yourself, get involved, reflect and grow. You may find that as a result, you will be a stronger student and get more out of the program. Good luck! We look forward to hearing from you again, and remember; some of our favorite students at Tuck were ones who got in on the second try. |
05 Dec 2018, 07:00
| FROM Tuck Admissions Blog: 5 Questions with NextEra Energy’s Henry Karongo T’15 |
  Henry Karongo is a director of business management at NextEra Energy Resources at Juno Beach, Florida. 1. What was the most important part of your Tuck experience that you’ve taken with you to your job and/or life? Tuck taught me the value of the general management toolkit. In my roles since graduation, both in consulting and in industry, I continue to find incredible value in considering the multiple dimensions of business problems such as the strategic implications of pursuing various actions, the operational and financial impact of business decisions, as well as the human factors required for implementation and sustained impact over time. 2. What are some of the biggest challenges that the power and utilities industry faces and how are you working to solve those? There are tremendous changes occurring in the power and utilities industry. Shifts in technology, customer requirements, the policy environment and the competitive landscape require utilities to consider how their value proposition to customers will change in the future, and how they need to organize themselves to meet these needs sustainably over time. In my role, I spend much of my time thinking about how to use automation and advanced analytics tools to increase productivity and reduce operating costs. I’m also interested in understanding how the industry can organize and equip its people to fully embrace the uncertainties inherent in the operating environment to exploit new opportunities and uncover innovative ways of doing business. 3. How do you expect the type of transactions to change, if at all, in the energy space? Investor-owned utilities will likely continue looking for attractive integrated assets which promise significant merger synergies, in addition to one-off asset deals to meet their customer demand requirements. In addition, I’d expect to see other investments in emerging technologies (e.g. electric vehicles, digital analytics platforms with energy applications, distributed generation, storage, etc.) as toeholds for potential future growth. 4. What advice would you give to current students interested in working in energy? The problem-solving, interpersonal and leadership skills you’ll pick up from the Tuck experience will form a strong basis for pursuing lots of different paths within the energy industry. I’d suggest spending time on understanding how value is created within the parts of the industry that you’re most interested in, as well as current industry trends. For power and utilities, I’d also recommend learning at a high level how the industry is regulated, how this has influenced the development of different players in North America, and the future strategic implications of regulatory policy for the industry. 5. What do you miss most about being at Tuck? I miss the camaraderie among classmates, playing with the T’15 band, the non-winter months, cocktails at Pine at the Hanover Inn, lots of unexpected thought-provoking conversations with faculty in the hallway, and the great dining options all over the Upper Valley. So, tons! |
|
|
||
Hi Guest,
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS Wednesday, Sep 27, 11:30am NY; 3:30pm London; 9pm Mumbai ✅ Highly effective steps you need to take to score high on GMAT Verbal. ✅ Subscribe to us on YouTube AND Get FREE Access to Premium GMAT Question Bank for 7 Days
YouTube, Instagram Live, & Chats This Week!
Sep
20
09:30 AM PST |10:00 PM IST |12:30 PM EST Everything you wanted to know about MBA Admissions with ARINGO
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
Veterans at Yale SOM
Tuck at Dartmouth
|
close
