Tuck Visit and Interview

I got a companion to visit Tuck. We met at Wharton as prospective students and we continue to help each other in our MBA application process. He is also applying Early Action at Tuck. But he could only get an interview slot on 15th Oct- the deadline for EA. So he decided to join me to experience Tuck before applying. FYI: applicants can schedule an on-campus interview with tuck before the application deadline.

Because of delays on and off-road, we ended up at the admissions office only at 10.30 am, a delay of 45 minutes. We missed our class visit. We convinced the receptionist to get us some other class. After looking at various options, she found a 2nd year class at 4.45 pm. The next scheduled event was only at 12.00 pm. So I took some time to see around the Dartmouth campus. The Thayer school of engineering is close to Tuck and they both share the library. We also looked at the construction of the new student housing building. Before lunch I got back to the admission office and talked to few prospective students. A guy came from Turkey to interview.

Tuck provides free lunch to every prospective student who visits campus and connects them to a first year student. At noon a group of 5 of us had lunch with first year student Johnathan. He has worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before coming to Tuck. Surprisingly, Tuck was the only school he applied. He provided information about his background and why he came to Tuck. He talked about his experience at Tuck so far – the study group, 1st year sections, clubs, extra-curricular activities etc. For some one who does not know about Tuck’s study groups, the incoming class of about 240 students is split into 4 sections. Each section is split further into study groups of 5 or 6 students. The study group works together for a minimum of 3 hours each day. After Fall A and Fall B, the sections and study groups are shuffled for winter and spring classes. Most Tuckies are member of few professional clubs and few recreational clubs. The Tuckies are crazy about ice hockey (What else to do in cold winter?)

After lunch, we had a tour of the facilities. That is when I saw the whole crowd of prospective students, around 25. One important feature of Tuck facilities is that all the buildings, including the on-campus student housing, are connected by tunnels – a feature well appreciated during winters. A new building with classrooms, study rooms and student housing would be opened in Dec 2008. The halls and buildings all have a traditional and cozy feel. The class rooms are below the ground level and the faculty offices are above ground level.

After the tour we meet with Dia Draper in the admission office. She answered all our questions about admissions. Some takeaways are:

• Three important criteria for admission in the order of importance are Essays, interview and transcripts. For Americans, educated in US, the Quantitative part of GMAT is important. For internationals, both Quantitative and Verbal are important.
• 40 % of the applicants use optional essay
• Do not discuss too much about your weakness
• If rejected feedback would be provided in spring
• Interview measure Emotional Intelligence of the applicant
• It is ok to send additional information such as improved GMAT score after submitting the application.
• 30-50% of the students get scholarship from $5000 to full tuition

After the Q&A, I had to wait for almost 1 hrs for the interview. I used this time to talk to other students waiting for interview and to read about Tuck from its alumni magazine “Tuck Today”. My interview was with a 2nd year student Nykia Wright. She has done her internship with a consulting firm and is going to be a consultant post-MBA. The interview was more conversational. Both of us were speaking equally. She added her perspective for all my responses. Some of the questions asked were

1. Walk me through your resume. (She interrupted at many places and asked follow up questions. She was very much interested in my entrepreneurial experience.)
2. Why MBA?
3. Why Tuck?
4. How will you contribute to your study group?
5. How will you contribute to the Tuck community? (I kind of repeated the answer to the previous question. I could have talked post-Tuck contribution to the community)
6. After 30 min, she asked me if I had questions for her

We spend a total of 40 minutes and the message she received was that I am passionate about entrepreneurship.

At 4.45pm I attended the class “Leadership out of the box”. It was a touchy feel course and one that meets only once a week for 3 hours (Other classes are 90 minutes). The class was very interesting as I could relate to the class easily. Everyone in the class had some story to tell. The students were very nice and outgoing. During breaks, they themselves initiated conversation with me and also provided contact information for further questions. The professor was Ella Bell and she was very nice, friendly and innovative. She introduced us (just my friend and me) to the students and talked to us about Tuck and it’s Corporate Persona. (The class was about individual’s Corporate Persona and how we box ourselves). After the class I felt that the morning delay was a blessing in disguise and helped us attend a 2nd year touchy feel class rather than a 1st year accounting class.

Finally we left Tuck around 8.00 pm and felt bad for not being able to enjoy the drive through the scenic woods. Tuck is pride of being a close-knit family environment and its small class size. We could see it in all the activities we were part-of. The students are very friendly and ready to help. If you are city-person, Tuck is not for you. Tuck is in a rural small town and is the best place to develop close relationships and also get a good education.