Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College

When I had questions about an industry that is far less common than healthcare and talked to Tuck about it they were incredibly responsive. Mind you it is an area where 1 or 2 people max a year head...they gave me some contacts and they all were responsive.

Overall I tend to think if you know exactly what you want to do, the career services or someone at most schools will help get you information on it. Especially if its pretty unique like healthcare where they often cant point to their literature. Overall I had great responses with my questions last fall on career prospects...much better responses than with Adcoms (probably because they are less annoyed by applicants bothering them constantly).

They may not be able to give you success rates on career switchers but if you can talk to some alums working in a given field they often will provide an idea of how succesful friends were switching into it (they may even be a switcher). Alums of all schools were very responsive to questions for me last fall (probably a function of the area being uncommon for MBAs)...just dont bother them too much and dont ask questions that are easy to answer using a school's website.

So I know folks have asked about fit and Tuck...but I'm wondering:
- what are some characteristics of students who would "fit in" and do well at Tuck?
- any "types" of students who should steer clear and look for a different school?

thanks!
ac.

I've only visited, but the impression I got was that the isolated location and small school has a large impact on fit.

I think an ideal Tuck student would be highly social, not mind constant interaction with a relatively small group of people and possessed a drive to get involved with school activities. I also think it would be very difficult to keep your school life and non-school life separate. Of course these attributes are common to most successful MBA students, but I think they are even more important at a place like Tuck.

I think you are a lot less anonymous at Tuck. Consider it something like living in a really small town. Everybody knows your business and you know theirs.

I think there are only 3 bars in town and since undergrads can't drink you will see the same people over and over again. It's not like Columbia where you and your friends can find a bar away from the school and enjoy some down time.

RF

Thanks refurb! It's helpful your impression! That pretty much gels with what I've heard so I'm relieved

Hey guys,

sorry I havent been on here in forever, and it is most likely to only get worse. Tomorrow is the last day of orientation and I can only tell you that I am so incredibly happy about my choice.

Before Orientation I did a week of Outward Bound, sleeping on a boat for 5 days with future classmates. The people are just amazing. Tuck truly is a self-selecting place. I havent met anyone yet who I wouldnt want in my study group. The staff is incredible: they know your name, even without a name tag, you meet professors and staff in downtown Hanover and the nature here is so beautiful.

I now know that this is the best business school for me.

Let me know if you have questions.

Congrats Mate!! Glad to hear that you are happy with your choice...

Sigh!!!! When.... When....

Hi,

Feel free to shoot me a PM or ask a question on the forum about Tuck. I have just graduated and will be happy to give more details about my experience in general. Hope you'll enjoy the experience and the nice winter (freezing dead cold )

Hi Buddy,

Must be a great feeling once u graduate. To brief about me, i am a chartered accountant from India (equivalent to CPA in US). Of late i have been doing a lot of research on US Bschools. i m more inclined towards PE post MBA. my hunch is Tuck is strongly focussed towards it. Just want to know whether my assessment is coorect. May i know what percentage of your batch got into PE post MBA and whther it was through internship there or some other way and what is the typical profile of a tuckie who gets into PE. Thanks

PE is a tricky subject because realtionship and experience is everything in that industry. YOu can be good and smart, if you have done no prior work or you have no connection it will be much more complicated. Few spots for many candidates. I don't have the numbers with me but a few people move into PE each year, usually they have either bank/accounting background or a large industry experience which can bring them to work on targeted portfolio company. Tuck is doing good in this area I believe, especially considering the relative small number of students.

Perfect analysis...that's pretty much the school.

Difficult to answer you because you have multiple dimensions on a job placement. I am sure you can find many tuck people involved in the industry but it depends on which level and more importantly on which function: IBD, PE, Non Profit, Unit Manager, Group Strategy, Marketing for CVS, etc.. I exagerate but in my opinion try to narrow down your objectives to 3 positions/functions and ask the Career Office at Tuck if they have alumni who are doing and who are career switcher. You'll then get better answers.

Antmavel,

Let me ask you this, did the closeness of the school ever become too much?

I love getting to know new people and getting involved with school activities, but I also need time by myself to digest it all.

Did you ever feel a need to just get away for a little while? Or was there enough of a variety of stuff/people that it never got to that?

RF

PS Thanks a ton for coming back to gmatclub and sharing your experience, I'm finding it REALLY valuable.

I have no finance experience, but I'd like to go into banking post-MBA. Any insight into how Tuck places on Wall Street? Which banks recruit at hanover? How difficult is it to land a gig?

I have heard that UBS loves Tuckies...but unsure about some of the other BBs, like Citi, JPM, GS. Would also love to know about whether boutiques recruit, too.

Thanks!!!!

(fyi: I do realize that we're in the midst of a banking crisis!)

I would tell you, yes, sometimes you want to get away. The good thing is: Boston is just 2 hours away and you could always spend a weekend there, to get away from it all.

On the other hand, it's just so great to just go two doors down the corridor and be able to ask some incredibly bright kid about that excel model you re having difficulty with.

250 people is not such a small number. I could never imagine going to a school where at the end of the MBA I still might not know everybody in my class.

I am not shooting for banking, but all of the above mentioned BB banks were at campus this year. Also there were a couple boutiques, I think Lane Berry was here two days ago.

Something that hasn't really come up in this thread and is something that everyone has advised me to stress everywhere I can is hockey. As I understand it a HUGE portion of the students (one guy I spoke with said 80%, but I think it's more like 50-60%) are involved in Hockey at some level. They host one of the big B-school tournaments and there's a beginners league as well as the tournament team.

I'm surprised this hasn't come up as I haven't really had a conversation with someone about Tuck where the hockey culture hasn't been mentioned. Then again, that may have something to do with my extensive background with the sport.

Yep, hockey is big around here. And to my surprise it's a LOT of fun. We will have our Tripod (that's the beginners league) championship finals tomorrow with around 150 people expected to show up as spectators.

In January there will be a trek to Montreal where the A, B and Womens teams play against a school up there (while us tripods will cheer them on and party).