Tuck 2013 (Dartmouth) - Calling All Applicants

This week, I've visited Wharton, CBS, Tuck, and HBS (I currently live in SF). And students at Tuck were by far the friendliest and really interested in having me get to know Tuck (they kept asking "do you have any questions"). During my down time, I was walking around and students noticed my name tag and would come up to me and ask how I was doing.

I have an essay question.... The application say that "We encourage applicants to limit the length of their responses to 500 words for each essay." I've heard that your essays don't have to be exactly at 500 words. If i have an essay at ~540 words does anyone know if that is ok? Do they really penalize you for having an extra three sentences?

Thanks for the help.

I read the +/-10% is generally acceptable. I would hone it down to that level.

Just my 2cents

Tuck is a stretch for me for EA given my time constraint.

I contacted the alumni of my target schools, including Tuck, at my firm, and found the Tuckies to be very helpful. In fact, I was really impressed by the fact that they were amongst the first to respond to my queries, despite being relatively more senior than the other target schools' alumni.

Online Recommendation Submission Process

I thought I'd share a small detail regarding the recommendation process in case your any of your recommenders asks a similar question.

One of my recommenders mentioned that after she opened the link for the recommendation form there was a note on the page about the need to 'upload a document'. Based on the information on Tuck's website, I thought they will only have to deal with an online form in which they could copy and paste their answers.

I contacted Tuck Admissions, and they clarified that a recommender will need to:

• complete a portion of the recommendation directly on the online form (My guess is that it's the rating matrix), AND
• type in the remaining answers in a single word document and upload the document prior to submitting.

Tuck Admissions also clarified that there is no guideline of the format of the Word doc (font size, spacing, etc).

To make things easier for your recommenders, you might want to create a word template containing the recommendation questions.

'Hope that helps!

Hi faro, thanks for starting this thread.

I think the Essay questions listed on the first page are slightly different from what's available from the Application account (See attachment). The key change is the 'contribute' question, which used to be essay #4 in the 2012-13 question set, is now tagged at the end of essay #1. Very interesting move by Tuck.

Here are the updated questions.

1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you, and what will you uniquely contribute to the community? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)
2. Discuss your most meaningful leadership experience. What did you learn about your own individual strengths and weaknesses through this experience?
3. Describe a circumstance in your life in which you faced adversity, failure, or setback. What actions did you take as a result and what did you learn from this experience?
4. (Optional) Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere that may be helpful in reviewing your application (e.g., unusual choice of evaluators, weaknesses in academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes, etc.). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application.
5. (To be completed by all reapplicants) How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally.




And below are the latest Recommendation Questions (For the complete questions, including the rating matrix asked at the start of the questionnaire, refer to the attachment):

In one document, please answer the following questions. To be sure to address all of the questions, you may wish to number your responses (i.e. 1,2,3, and so on). Please give examples to support any Top 5% or Bottom 20% ratings in the peer comparison.
1. How long have you known the applicant and in what context? Have you served as the applicant’s supervisor? If so, please provide approximate dates. Please comment upon the frequency and nature of your interactions with the applicant.
2. What are the applicant’s three principal strengths? Please provide an example of each.
3. In which three areas can the applicant improve? Please provide an example of each. How has the applicant worked to address these areas?
4. How does the applicant respond to constructive criticism?
5. Describe the impressions this candidate makes in meetings, presentations, interviews or other important interactions.

Thanks theK for the rec qs.
Is there any word or character limit for any of the questions that should be filled in the text boxes ?

My understanding is that only the rating matrix can be completed through an online form.

The answers to the open-ended recommendation questions should be typed in a Word doc and Tuck doesn't provide any template for this (I have emailed Admissions and they don't have any guideline on font size, word limit, line spacing, etc). The Word doc is to be uploaded and submitted along with the rating matrix.

What are everyone's thoughts on the lengths of the essays?? I know that Tuck "recommends" 500 words, but I have an essay that is at ~700. You think that it will hurt the app if you go over that much on an essay? My others are around 500.

yeah, 700 seems excessive.. Currently My 2nd essay is 584 and I wouldnt submit it unless it were under 550... I think going that far over shows you're bad at following directions.

I'm also sticking to the +/- 10% rule. That's not to say that students don't get in who go beyond those limits, but I would imagine they are the exceptions rather than the rule. After all, if you're submitting 700 words, your essay will be noticeably (i.e., visibly) over the suggested limit, which means the reader may go into it thinking "this better be worth my time."

Depends. rule of thumb is to not go over more than 10% (even a bit more flexible here with Tuck). BUT if you have a very precise and awesome reason why you can't so it in 500 words, then maybe 700 words could work. But this is the really rare exception rather than the rule

Can anyone speak to his/her experiences about their class visit/interview? Faro - I saw that noted you went to Murphy's the night before your "official" class visit/interview - why the quotation marks?

I am getting ready to visit Hanover this coming Wednesday and I'm very excited. I've heard great things about the area, but little about the classroom feel and the interview. Thanks in advance.

What do you think the bold underlined portion of the recommendation questionnaire above i.e. "Please give examples to support any Top 5% or Bottom 20% ratings in the peer comparison" means? Does it mean:
1. Apart from these essays write an example each to support all the Top 5% or Bottom 20% ratings or
2. While writing answers to these five questions only, use examples which also support the Top 5% or Bottom 20% ratings ?

Please help.

I believe it's the later - i.e. the examples related to any 'Top 5% or Bottom 20% ratings' should be intertwined in the evaluator's responses to the five questions.

I'm definitely applying to Tuck. Tuck is my #1 choice in an ideal world...but my fiancee is looking for post-doc and lectureship positions for next Fall so in the end we'll go the city that is optimal for both of us.

I will be applying through the Consortium. Anyone have any insight on Consortium applications to Tuck? There don't appear to be any required essays beyond those that are posted on the Consortium's website, but I may be missing something.

My on-site interview is scheduled for November 8th. Lucky for me, my current client is in New England so I'll be able to make the trip at minimal cost and hopefully take more trips if I'm lucky enough to be accepted.

I was at Tuck couple weeks ago. Overall I had a really good experience. Not only are the student hosts extremely helpful, other students in general were really open to talk. I unfortunately only could spend a night there but if I had more time, I would have reached out to perhaps grab a drink with a current student.

The classroom visit is the same with any other bschool; you sit in the back, be respectful and not participate in discussions. It was interesting to see how engaged the professors were. I came a from a big university and professors could care less about whether you understood the materials.

The interview was very casual and conversational. I connected with my interviewer since she and I both had experience in consumer products. And she also spoke French and we dabbled in that as well.

I was initially hesitant on Tuck before visiting, but I'm glad I did. It's a stark contrast from Columbia, Wharton, and HBS where I felt the student community was a lot more competitive and not open to guests.