Tuck vs. Darden

Question

I recently got accepted to both Tuck and darden. I'm from Atlanta and went to UVA for undergrad, and I am absolutely enamored with the school/ Charlottesville. I am planning to go into consulting post-MBA and ideally would like to work at one of the top 3. I also want to be in Atlanta/ South east after business school.

Darden
pros: Charlottesville, convenient location, strong consulting placement (though not as strong as Tuck), strong alumni network, strong ties to the Southeast
cons: reputation is not as strong as Tuck, already went to UVA for undergrad, tough academic workload

Tuck
pros: incredible access to consulting firms, reputation, Dartmouth name on resume, alumni network
cons: inconvenient location, north eastern job placement, cold/weather

What is a girl to do?

Mo2men · Answer

Congrats

Both schools are good and have reputation in the consulting field but Tuck has more candidates n the consulting. Please review the following link: https://poetsandquants.com/2014/01/17/wh ... sulting/2/ I need to draw your attention to the way of teaching gin both schools. While Darden adopts heavily the case method, Tuck has many other ways beside case method such as: independent study and research to practice. So you need to study them carefully to see in which style you fit more. :gl

Shakandbake · Answer

hello, I was in a similar dilemma few weeks ago and had to decide between three great schools (Tuck, Darden, Duke). I personally felt that Duke resonated more profoundly with me than Tuck or Darden. To answer your question, I have indicated few of my own criteria below that you touched up on in your question. Please take my opinion with a grain of salt as everyone's situation is unique. I apologize if my response got a bit longer, I wanted to make sure to give you as much detail as possible.

Career goal: consulting - I want to do consulting post-MBA as well and personally felt that I can get to Big 3 firms from any of the three schools. As for you, I think Darden or Tuck would get you to where you want; either way you have to do well in your interviews and there is no way around it. I think this criteria for you would be a wash between Darden and Tuck.

'Tuck does better in consulting than x, y, z school': I initially felt the same way, but came to the conclusion that it is a self-selecting process where majority of Tuckies want to go to consulting. When I spoke to consulting club members at all three schools, I walked away with the impression that all three schools are great collaborative schools that prep you really well to face case method interviews. Using the similar analogy as you gave in your question, I can argue that Tuck does not do well in Financial sector since so few Tuckies go into finance. Again, this would be misnomer as it is a self selecting process and Tuckies who want to go to Finance do end up in the financial sector. This criteria for you I think should again be a wash between Darden and Tuck.

Location / weather: Personally for me, location was important. A lot of people might disregard this criteria, but I felt that it is vital to select an environment that you will love for 2 years. I feel that two years is a long time to be miserable, or short time to be happy. I love to run outdoors all year long, and felt that Darden or Duke offered this better than Tuck. I am grateful for the acceptance to Tuck, but couldn't imagine spending 2 years in frigid NE winter. As for you, I think you have to qualitatively decide how important location is for you. This might be your wild card.

'Tough Academic Workload': From the informational interviews I did with students and alumni at Darden and Tuck, I came away with the impression that workload indeed is tough in first year. I think Tuck and Darden hammer you in first year to ensure you build relationship with your peers while working in the trenches deep in the night. I think for you this is a wash again as Tuck or Darden would offer similar academic culture and workload.

Alumni network: I did informational interviews with students and alumni at Tuck and Darden. I personally felt that both groups were great at selling their schools and being honest about what their school offers and lacks. I honestly can't say that one network is stronger than the other, but I do hear quite often that Tuck alumni's respond all the time. I had similar experience with Darden and Tuck alumni, so I can't really say much on this end. I think you would have to decide on your own which one resonates more to you.

Reputation: I have always felt that I am someone one who can forge my own path and all I need is some guidance and academic background to stand on my own two feet. So for me, reputation was not the 'IT' factor'. I was often told by wide variety of people that Tuck > Darden = Duke. I personally felt that I need to be in an environment that is truly reflective of me and where I can blossom (so to speak). This criteria again is a bit of a personal thing and I would strongly urge you to not even consider 'reputation' as a factor since Darden and Tuck offer similar career and academic opportunities, and 'reputation' to me is not a factor that should decide where you want to spend your two years as rankings, etc. change every year. If you are someone who really feels that having a certain schools name on your resume will truly make a difference, then you have to make a conscious decision as to which one you pick.

'Already went to UVA for undergrad': I went to Duke for undergrad as well and personally didn't consider this as a factor when selecting MBA programs. Perhaps you have your reasons for not wanting to go back to UVA, but I felt that people I will meet in my MBA program and career opportunities available to me will be very different than the experience I had as an undergrad. In my opinion, this should be a wash, unless there is a strong reason why you don't want to go back to UVA.

I hope I have added some insight to help you. Please do share what you decide and how you came up with your decision. Cheers!

dontquixote · Answer

Congrats on both schools!

There is a great TED talk about making hard choices. Its called "how to make hard choices" given by Ruth Chang. You can search for it on google I highly recommend it, it will give you a new perspective on how to decide between two hard choices. (I won't link.. maybe rules against it on this forum) But it is going to guide you in how you think when choosing between 2 things.

I think you should go to Tuck. Let me explain why.

First of all Tuck is a seriously good school. It is ranked higher and is perceived to be better on all rankings and perception than Durden.

Now, just because it is ranked higher and is perceieved to be a better school doesn't mean that you should go. It might be the case that Durden is a better fit for you, but still Tuck is a way* better school and so you should go.

The alumni network is fantastic and second to none, their community spirit is well known and in terms of the community expriecne i think that you might have a better experience there.

ALso you already went to UVA. It means that you already have access to all if not most of the networking capabilities of alumni from UVA. IF you go to Tuck you will have both networks to network off from and this will double the size of your current networking capability.

To me this is a no brainer. You will have way more opportunities at Tuck.

Dont forget to KUDOS!

pagezakas · Answer

Thank you both for your responses. I think the thing about Tuck that keeps drawing me to the school is responses where everyone says that the decision to go to Tuck over Darden is a no brainer for sure. While I do feel that way, I wonder if my desire to be in the Southeast long term outweighs the reputation of Tuck.

bostonbp · Answer

From people I have spoken with Darden recruits well for the Mid-Atlantic/Southeast. It will probably be somewhat, if not much, easier to recruit locally from Darden. I have friends who went to both schools and I will say that from the outside both are cult-like in culture. Darden prides itself in the difficulty of their first year, Tuck also has a distinguished curriculum. Here are a few other factors to think about:

Do you prefer to study outside in warm weather or indoors by the fire?
Are you outdoorsy? Tuck is in a really beautiful part of NH and a lot of the students are into hiking, skiing, etc
Tuck supposedly has some of the nicest dorms of all MBA's, not sure what UVA's housing is like
Are you interested in new experiences or looking to minimize the upheaval of your lifestyle? NH is a different way of living than down here (I am from Boston but now in DC so I can somewhat relate)
Do you have a strange, resonating connection with Thomas Jefferson?

Either program ends up being fairly close knit, but the earlier comment to case study vs. open method is a big one. Some people love case study; I am a fan of it and think it is great training for consulting; but a more flexible approach also has its pros.

Don't kill yourself over fear of snow, just buy appropriate clothes. It's half the year for two years with trips out in between. Don't go to an MBA program because you "have to"...each school will provide phenomenal opportunities for you upon graduation.

Reputation is a funny metric in picking an MBA. HBS is more well known than Stanford but to many people Stanford's reputation is superior. Wharton has a bigger brand name than Booth but I know a number of people that selected Booth over Wharton. Haas has a better rep than UNC but if you're recruiting in the southeast you will probably find more UNC grads to help network with. Very few top schools open "every" door and you shouldn't plan for the imaginary possibilities. Just take comfort in that both Darden and Tuck will provide the tools necessary to take the step you are looking for - and the rest is up to you.

If my comments sound contradictory that is intentional; I don't think you need to be guided in this particular decision. But just a few things to think about.

Shakandbake · Answer

pagezakas .......... Just wanted to reiterate one more point. I agree 100% with what bostonbp wrote that reputation is a funny metric. People who say 'Tuck is a no brainer over Darden' do not know your profile and can not relate to who you are and what you want out of your career. I would be very skeptical of such people. A lot of people view business school as the end goal versus using it as a stepping stone to eventually meeting your career goal. As you stated, your goal is to end up working in consulting in southeast, so you should not disregard the location factor here.

Also, I would wisely urge you to not fall for 'one fits all' mantra. Make a decision based on what is important to you by laying out your criteria and giving a number to identify how important it is to you. People who say 'Tuck is no brainer over Darden' are zombies who can't think for themselves and suffer from herd mentality. As a future business leader, you should take everything being said on these forums with a grain of salt and don't let people who make vague statements deter you from doing what is going to help you meet your long term career goal.

LazyBoy8 · Answer

Tuck is fantastic for consulting and I'd choose Tuck. But, I see Darden's future in consulting as very bright with the new dean. His ties to the industry will be a boon to recruitment I think. Just my 2 cents.

domotron · Answer

As a current Tuckie, and as much as it pains me to say, it sounds like you want to go to Darden more than Tuck. While I wish you would choose Tuck, Darden is a phenomenal school that offers great opportunities. However, obviously I want you to come to Tuck. Frankly, it would be a bad idea to convince you to go to a school for 2 years where you would not be happy. I would definitely advocate going with gut mostly. However a few things that Tuck does particularly well at:

Tuck is a hotbed for consultants - roughly 15% of the class get MBB offers for the summer and 20% get full time offers. This is a pretty significant statistic. Throw in the fact that we have quite a few sponsored consultants who can help with you preparation for interviews. This is invaluable.

Most Fuquans will be looking towards those jobs in Atlanta/South. Let's face it MBA programs are self-selecting. Personally, I went to Tuck and recruited for Europe. This was pretty rare. It worked out great and because of the relatively low level of the competition, I have an offer for consulting (MBB) in Europe and US and I am figuring out where I want to be this summer.

Top on of MBB, I know of a significant group of people who are going into Deloitte, LEK, Parthenon, etc. There are way more opportunities outside of MBB and they all recruit on campus! These opportunities allow you to try out consulting and figuring out whether you want to re-recruit second year

I think the biggest thing is going where you feel comfortable. It is bad for both parties if it does not work out, so think carefully.

Shakandbake · Answer

@pagezakas.........keep us posted when you make your decision. It would be nice to know what criteria you used to make your final decision. Best of luck!

MBAschooled · Answer

Congrats - A fantastic position to be in. One point that  dontqixote  made that I thought was really compelling was that you already have the strength of the UVA network at your disposal - think of what you could be if you had both the Tuck and UVA Network at your disposal. When I was searching for internships my MBA network was really helpful but my undergrad network was incredibly helpful as well (not the Top Public University in the US but still pretty strong)

Either way, you can't go wrong.

pagezakas · Answer

Thank you everyone for taking the time to respond to my post! I have officially decided to go to Darden in the fall, and I couldn't be more excited!!! I really polled a lot of people to try to figure out what opportunities both schools held, and I figured in the end that Darden was a better fit for my goals.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN! 8-)

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