Tuck at Dartmouth Admissions Tips

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Information is subject to change. Please verify all data with the schools.

(~20% accepted; ~55% yield)

also known as

  • The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

DISCLAIMER

Information is subject to change. Please verify all data with the schools.

FIT

Tuck may be a good fit for you if:

1. You want to go into private equity

2. You want to work in Japan or the UK

3. You are bringing a partner and/or a family with you to business school

4. You are switching careers

5. You appreciate the small size and truly understand the value of relationships

6. You are not afraid to work hard

(found at http://www.veritasprep.com/blog/2011/06/tuck-is-a-good-fit-for-you-if; accessed 2011/07)


MBA Program Consideration Set

  • Stretch Schools: Harvard, Stanford

  • Match Schools: Chicago, Wharton, Northwestern’s Kellogg School, MIT Sloan, Berkeley

  • Safety Schools: Duke, Virginia, New York, Michigan, Yale, Cornell

(found at http://poetsandquants.com/2010/12/09/dartmouths-tuck-school-of-business; accessed 2011/08)


CRITERIA

Tuck Admissions - Evaluation Criteria

1. Demonstrated Academic Excellence

2. Demonstrated Leadership

3. Demonstrated Accomplishments

4. Interpersonal Skills

5. Diversity of Background and Experience

6. Global Mindset

(found at http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/admissions/criteria/index.html; accessed 2011/07)

Leadership at Tuck


Leadership is inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things.

THE COHEN LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM


The Jonathan L. Cohen D’60, T’61 Leadership Development Program was first implemented in the fall of 2003 to provide specific avenues for students to explore and expand their potential as leaders.


Through coursework, periodic self- and peer assessments, one-on-one coaching, career counseling, and the creation of an individualized leadership development plan, Tuck students are expected to develop their own, unique leadership goals and to create a plan to achieve them.


PRINCIPLES

  • Leadership development is central to Tuck’s mission. We believe it is our responsibility to ensure that each graduating student be capable of exercising leadership and feel responsible for being a leader in the world.

  • Each organization for which you work will probably have its own criteria for identifying and developing leaders. The purpose of Tuck’s model is to provide a common, overarching framework around which you can build your own personal leadership model.

  • You will inspire and enable others by first focusing on your own leadership skills. Tuck will help you to improve these skills by developing certain leadership competencies. These competencies will focus on who you are, what you know, and what you do.


LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY MODEL


WHO YOU ARE

  • Integrity

  • Self-Awareness

  • Courage

  • Responsibility

  • Commitment to Lifelong Learning

  • Tolerance for Ambiguity


WHAT YOU KNOW

  • How to Apply Business Theories and Skills

  • How to Demonstrate Intellectual Curiosity

WHAT YOU DO

  • Motivate and Develop Others

  • Create and Articulate a Vision

  • Communicate Effectively

  • Balance Multiple Constituencies

  • Be Proactively Alert to Opportunity

  • Envision New Approaches and Possibilities


LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY DEFINED


WHO YOU ARE


• INTEGRITY: to make ethical decisions, model moral courage, communicate moral reasoning, and hold moral intentions

• SELF-AWARENESS: to learn about and manage your skills and behaviors, both as an individual and a member of an organization

• COURAGE: to do what your inner compass tells you is right, regardless of the risk

• RESPONSIBILITY: to assume responsibility for the decisions and actions of yourself, others, and the organization and to understand the importance of individual citizenship

• COMMITMENT TO CONTINUOUS LEARNING: to seek learning and development throughout your life

• TOLERANCE FOR AMBIGUITY: to recognize and explore multiple possibilities, solutions, and outcomes



WHAT YOU KNOW


• HOW TO APPLY BUSINESS THEORIES AND SKILLS: to understand and apply theories, principles, concepts, and models for all functional areas and disciplines

• HOW TO DEMONSTRATE INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY: to cultivate an intrinsic eagerness to learn for the sake of learning and to display both imagination and creativity



WHAT YOU DO


• MOTIVATE AND DEVELOP OTHERS: to create conditions that elicit others’ passion, commitment, and best work

• CREATE AND ARTICULATE A VISION: to create and articulate a vision for the future and rally support for it

• COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY: to communicate effectively, both in oral and written form, across multiple situations and audiences

• BALANCE MULTIPLE CONSTITUENCIES: to balance the interests of multiple constituencies—financial, organizational, political, societal, and global

• BE PROACTIVELY ALERT TO OPPORTUNITY: to display entrepreneurial spirit and initiative, constantly look for opportunities, and measure and take risks

• ENVISION NEW APPROACHES AND POSSIBILITIES: to transform a problem by looking at it from multiple points of view, and elicit strategic creativity from both self and others



LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AT TUCK


The topic of leadership is very important at Tuck. You will find it woven through your coursework, co-curricular activities, job searches, and conversations. We invite you to take advantage of all that we offer!


COURSES


• All courses at Tuck play a part in developing leadership potential.

• Numerous courses in organizational behavior, effective teamwork, management skills, management communications, and corporate and global governance focus on more specific aspects of the leadership development process.


VISITORS AND EVENTS


• Hearing from and interacting with senior business leaders through Beacon Capital Partners Leadership Speaker Series

• Leadership Lunches with leaders across multiple industry sectors

• Periodic leadership conferences and seminars

• Annual second-year leadership summit with high-profile executives


INDIVIDUALIZED LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES


• Individual leadership coaching sessions with trained staff and faculty members

• Interview training, through the Career Development Office, in the art of talking about your leadership skills and potential in a job interview

• Six-person learning teams

• Online self- and peer assessments

• Individualized feedback reports based on peer assessments

• Creation of a personalized Leadership Development Plan

• Second-year Study Group Leadership Fellows

• Leadership positions on the student board, the judicial board, and all student-run clubs and organizations


(found at www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/leadership_model.pdf; accessed 2010/09)


Learning how to lead from beside

One of the unique opportunities provided at Tuck is personalized leadership development. In addition to a seminar course taken as part of Fall A, there is the opportunity to complete a leadership self assessment, have each of your study group members complete a peer feedback assessment form (and you do likewise for them), development of a personal action plan and one on one coaching from a member of the faculty and staff to help you progress against your plan.


I have to admit, I was skeptical about the entire process. I was late turning in my personal assessment, struggled on how “truthful” to be regarding my peer feedback forms and until just a few days ago, I didn’t see the need for a personal action plan and coaching. The difficulty of all this was compounded when I received the summary of my study group members’ assessments of me – they were PERFECTLY aligned with mine…


…so what do you do when how you see yourself is PERFECTLY aligned with how others see you? It may sound like an excuse to cease participation in this process, but it actually was the starting point for me to tackle my leadership development.


The inspiration for my personal development plan comes from two sources. One i my Fall A study group. Amongst the vast number of possible study group assignments available, I have to say, I was very fortunate. My group is absolutely talented and we have very similar work ethics. Couple this with respect for one another and you have a great study group. I just wish I had more influence with them – I always want to have impact among strong peers and this group is no exception.


Then there was a conversation I had with someone a few months ago. He relayed a story about being on jury duty, where everyone is peers and everyone has an equal vote. I had never dissected the jury process in this way before, but after our conversation I began thinking it is among one of the most difficult situations to find one’s self.


I don’t think study group and jury duty are that much different. You bring a group of people together to accomplish a task none of the participants initiate or choose. Further, no one has “demonstrated” expertise or accountability for the final result and there is no hierarchy. By far this is the toughest leadership position I have ever found myself in.


I think to be successful in the situation, you have to learn to lead from “beside”. I had never considered this as a possible leadership development area, because my career to date had focused on leading others or influencing people above me. When you strip away positions and make it about influencing your peers it becomes more challenging, but I would also argue, more rewarding,


There is no feeling like being surrounded by your intellectual peers and being able to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way. I also think that finding a strategy which enables this type of influence could be the most powerful leadership tools available. It’s the type of leadership that comes from what you have inside of you, without the assistance of position or pre-determined role.


(found at http://tuckschool.blogspot.com/2008/12/learning-how-to-lead-from-beside.html; accessed 2011/07)


THE INTERVIEW

The Tuck Interview

Many of Vince's past admitted clients were asked these questions (on campus and with adcoms in Tokyo)

  1. Walk me through your resume from your undergraduate degree to current job

  2. Why MBA? What can you do with MBA? (Goals)

  3. Why Tuck?

  4. Why should Tuck admit you over many others who are equally qualified?

  5. Are you better at leading teams or being a member of teams?

  6. How did you solve conflict among your teammates?

  7. Do you know any current students at Tuck?

  8. What do you do outside work?

  9. Tell me about your leadership outside work?

  10. What extracurricular activities at Tuck are you interested in?

  11. Convince me you want to live in the countryside.

  12. Anything you would like me to know about you?

  13. Q and A


More reports here

http://www.clearadmit.com/wiki/index.php?title=TuckInterview

and

http://www.accepted.com/mba/interviews/search.asp?bhcp=1

Interview Tips from the Tuck School of Business Admissions Blog


So I have interviewing on the brain right now. One of my roles is to supervise our 37 student interviewers, and I have been busy getting ready for their training which I will conduct tomorrow. In preparation, I have been thinking a lot about interviewing dos and don’ts for applicants and thought I would share some of them here.


Similar to your essays, interviews are a great vehicle to share your story. Through the interview, we hope to hear more examples of the types of experiences you have had in both your personal and professional life, and to get a sense of your demonstrated record of achievement, your interpersonal and communication skills, and your focus.


It is important to prepare for the interview in advance. Think about the types of questions you are likely going to get, e.g. what your goals are, why you want to get an MBA, why you want to come to Tuck, leadership roles, your strengths and weaknesses, etc. Also, think about a few key points about yourself that you want to get across. Then think about specific anecdotes from your past experiences to support each response/point. In describing the anecdote explain the situation, what actions you took and the result. The caveat here is don’t over-prepare. You don’t want to sound like you are reading from a script.


Listen carefully and answer the question being asked. This may sound obvious, but many applicants are so excited to make particular points that they don’t offer them at the appropriate times. I once had an applicant launch into a long discussion of what his goals were and why he needed an MBA when my question to him was “so, are you originally from Chicago?”


Your answers should be specific and include details, but also be concise in your answers. The interview is short, make the most of it. Once you have made your point, stop. The most frustrating interviews I conduct are the ones where the applicant is long-winded and/or strays off topic.


Remember your audience – don’t get overly technical in the details and don’t use too much jargon.


For most questions, there is really no right or wrong answer. We are most interested in what you really think. Be yourself. Don’t try to guess what the interviewer wants to hear. If what you say isn’t true for you, it will come off sounding phony or lacking substance.


Research the school in advance – asking questions that could be easily answered by looking at the school’s marketing materials/website does not create a good impression.


Our student interviewers are really nice people, and we try to make our admissions interviews as stress-free as possible; however, as a result, some applicants get too casual. They assume since they are being interviewed by someone more their peer it is okay to slouch, slip into slang or reveal information they probably shouldn’t (see Karen’s 9/2 post on too much honesty). While we certainly want you to feel comfortable and act like yourself, remember, no matter who conducts your interview (student, staff or alum), you should approach it in a completely professional manner.


A couple of obvious points that bear repeating: don’t be late, and never ever answer your cell phone or check your Blackberry during an interview. You may laugh, but trust me, people have done it!


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do I register to interview on campus?

Nancy G.- Admissions said...

try this: - go to www.tuck.edu - click on 'visit us / interview' - click on 'request an interview' under the 'related links' heading in the right column of the page - For location of event select Hanover NH - For dates select today's date for the 'from' field; select ... for the 'To' field - for Type of event select 'on campus interview' - Select 'all events in the future with space available'


NOTE: if you want to see events that have space available on a wait list, select 'all events in the future' Hope this helps!

(found at http://tuckschool.blogspot.com/2009/09/interviewing-interviewing-interviewing.html; accessed 2011/07)

FAQ

Vince note: please read the Tuck Admissions FAQs for useful tips ▸ http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/admissions/admissions-faq

FAQ highlights

LINKS

Link highlights


TESTIMONIALS

Tuck MBA Class of 2011

Longing for admissions to top schools, I was looking for an individual counselor who could teach me how to best market my strong points and commit himself to my success since I did not have much overseas experience. While I visited top schools in the U.S. in the spring and asked current students about their counselor experiences, I found that Vince's service met all my needs.


Vince is most excellent in drawing thoughts and personal stories from me. Brainstorming with him made me feel that I was able to respond appealingly to any essay questions of any school. At the same time, he was strict in quality of essay and never said OK unless I fully presented my understanding of culture and program of a school and showed my enthusiasm for the school. Therefore, I could submit those essays with confidence, which brought me good results.


I was so lucky to find a skilled and experienced counselor like him. Vince is sometimes strict because he keeps high standards, but I am conVINCEd that you will get closer to top schools by following his professional advice!


海 外経験のない私がトップスクールに合格するためには、私の長所を最大限売り込む方法を指導してくれるとともに、私に強くコミットしてくれるカウンセラーが 必要だと考え、個人でサービスを行うカウンセラーを探していました。春先にいくつかのトップスクールをビジットし、在校生にカウンセラーの起用経験を伺う 中で、私のニーズに合致していたのがVinceでした。


Vinceの素晴らしさは、自分の持っている考え・経 験をフルに引き出してくれる点にあります。彼とディスカッションしていると、どんな学校のどんなエッセーに対しても、競争力のあるエッセーが書ける気がし ました。同時に彼は、学校のカルチャー、プログラムを理解し、その学校に対する熱意を十分に示したエッセーでない限り、OKを出さない厳しさを持っていま す。それゆえ彼のOKを得たエッセーは自信を持って提出することが出来、結果もついて来ました。


私は Vinceのような知見・経験のあるカウンセラーに出会えて幸運でした。Vinceは時に厳しいカウンセラーですが、彼の要求に応えることが出来れば、 トップスクールへの合格は自ずと近づいてくるはずです！

DISCLAIMER

Information is subject to change. Please verify all data with the schools.