Q&A: Looking back on the first few months at Tuck
After seeing an HBS and CBS thread on their reflections on the first term of their MBA programs, I thought I'd do the same. Thank you to @dabears92 for the format that I'm using below.
1.) Recruiting a. MBB – As someone recruiting for consulting, this was my first concern and Tuck did not disappoint. McKinsey is interviewing 80, BCG is interviewing 80, and Bain is interviewing nearly 70. Given our class size of 280, this is pretty impressive. LEK and Parthenon are also taking huge numbers of Tuckies. In short, I think you’d be hard pressed to find another program equaling Tuck in terms of consulting placement. I know the class of 2015 has done incredibly well in terms of placement, but those results have not yet been released. However, over 21% of the 2014s went to MBB. Scary good results.
b. Investment banking – I am not recruiting for IBD, but the following is what I know / have witnessed. Approximately 40 people are (very similar to most years). In the past pretty much everyone who wanted to go into IBD did successfully. Nearly all of the BBs (GS, MS, JPM, Barclays, BAML, etc) recruit on-campus and classmates also are interviewing with elite boutiques like Evercore and Moelis. Additionally, a number of London positions are recruited for on campus, particularly Credit Suisse.
c. Private equity – We have a very active PE club and I know a number of classmates are pursuing that and a couple have had success thus far. But, I don’t really follow this. Hopefully if another Tuckie is around they can expand on this.
2.) Academics The academic workload has been greater than I expected, not necessarily in terms of how difficult it is, but more so the volume. That said, I have learned a fair bit and dusted off subjects I haven’t touched since my UG days. Additionally, one main complaint is the process of exempting classes is incredibly opaque and there seems to be little rhyme or reason to who gets exemptions for certain core classes.
3.) Community / Social
This is arguably Tuck’s greatest strength and what really enables the development of the famous Tuck network. I have experienced this via dinners with senior execs in VC, F500 companies, and partners at MBB and other consulting firms. Everyone really is ecstatic to hear from you and will get back to you within minutes or hours. The few who took more than 24 hours were literally apologetic about not getting back to me sooner. It is mind-blowing!
In terms of socials, we have two formals as well as tons of trips. This has ranged from Outward Bound and hiking pre-term trips, a Peru trip, Costa Rica pre-Christmas trip, and a half dozen ski days. Personally, I am looking forward to Winter Carnival in February, which is Tuck’s biggest social. I can’t wait!
4.) Campus I would put Tuck’s campus up against any other business school’s in terms of beauty (and convenience). The dorms are great and well appointed. There are gyms in the building as well as access to the bigger Dartmouth gym a few blocks away. One of my favorite things is walking around Tuck any time of day or night you will always run into friends, which really helps bind the community and the network I touched on above.
All in all I am exceedingly pleased with my decision to attend Tuck and I’m happy to answer any questions people may have!
Great information, thank you.
Two questions about consulting recruiting- have firms (MBB and others) been asking for gmat scores? Second, have students been able to secure internships/full time offers at offices around the country, or is it mostly focused on the northeast?
Regarding gmat scores, no matter what school you are coming from, MBB requests GMAT scores. If you have an under 700 GMAT and are not a URM, it will be an extremely tough road.
In terms of location offers, my class is still interviewing; however, I know last year people went to MBB in Boston, NYC, San Francisco, Washington DC, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, etc. Internationally, we had people going to the UK, Australia, Belgium, and Singapore. We are strongest in Boston, but it isn't hard to go elsewhere if you want.
Is military considered (or atleast treated as) a URM? (Fyi I am a white male). Have you heard anything about classmates joining a type of Tuck Military/Veterans club and do you know how helpful they have been in regards to recruiting or placement? Are they a tight-knit group?
@"GlobeTF" - thanks for the shout-out.
Tuck is an awesome school and you really helped illuminate this. You guys also throw the baddest winter party - the Winter Carnival.
Tuck is a powerhouse. Loved it there, really hoping I can get off this wait list but I know my chances are basically 0.
Why would you say your chances are basically zero? edit: of course this is an old thread, just realized that
One thing, I neglected to mention, was general management / corporate strategy recruiting. Tuck is very active in this space, and while it is not always big here on WSO, thought I'd mention it.
This year we have people interviewing and interning with a huge variety of big general management programs. Most of big tech recruits at Tuck for their various programs (Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Intel), big pharma recruits (BMS, GSK, Sanofi), big oil (Chevron and Exxon), and other top GM programs (General Mills, Johnson & Johnson, Target, 3M, GE, Siemens, Land of Lakes, Medtronic, ConAgra, Colgate, etc), and even some unique opportunities (ESPN, Under Armour, and New Balance). I've also heard of classmates getting offers and interviews at some really interesting GM type roles in hot techish companies like DropBox, Space-X, and even Tesla.
How difficult would it be to get a corp strat gig at a firm without previous consulting or F500 experience?
And, would it be reasonable to be able to land a corp strat position at a firm that doesn't recruit on campus, like Nike?
@"GlobeTF"
What would be your advice to someone right out of college working in F500 CF (in one of the companies you mentioned) to be competitive for M7+Tuck/Haas admissions. What are some mistakes you made and you would advice us to do differently. One of the most frequent answers I've heard to this question is: Take the GMAT early, as soon as possible out of college.
Anything else you might have to add. I'm specially curious about what I should be doing in terms of activities outside of work/volunteering.
Thanks.
Also, how does Financial Aid work at Tuck? Are there merit or need based scholarships for non-URM candidates?
cool bro
Do you mind shedding some light on how much contact you had with Tuck before starting there in the fall? I've heard it's very important (not only at Tuck, but maybe more so than other b-schools) to get to campus, meet current Tuckies, express a strong interest in Tuck, etc. Is there any advice you can offer about how to get that ball rolling and how to genuinely express a strong interest in Tuck? Much thanks!
Would you please share your reasons for choosing Tuck (over XYZ b-school)? Also, if you could change something about Tuck, what would it be?
Thanks for doing this AMA! (Any current students on the west coast...Stanford/Haas/UCLA, would be amazing to have AMAs for those schools too!)
@"bmcrhino" I was previously a consultant; however, most of those applying to corporate strategy gigs are not. And most with the interest got multiple interviews. So, very doable. As for Nike, we have two people in my class who worked for Nike before and I know another student who has reached out to Nike and seems to have gotten traction. This combined with a rising sports / athletics interest in the last few classes (we have our biggest group ever heading to the MIT Sloan Analytics Conference, ESPN is recruiting (only at Tuck for two specific roles), Under Armour's strategy group is recruiting (again I am 99% sure only at Tuck for this particular team), New Balance recruits, and Brooks. You will be in good stead if this area interests you.
@"snakeoil" First, take the GMAT as early as possible. Also, particularly for Tuck, show passion in something outside of work. Be it extensive Church involvement, coaching, tutoring, something. Additionally, involvement in a professional organization helps. Finally, as for non-URMs aka the white heterosexual male category, I am one and I received a fairly decent scholarship (approx. 50% of tuition), as did at least two other of my close friends at Tuck off hand. Full scholarships at any top school outside of HBS and Stanford tend to mainly go to URMs though.
@"Striderite33" I visited Tuck for my interview, spoke to someone on Tuck Connect (highly recommend this), and went to a coffee chat in my city. I also reached out to people in clubs I was interested in. Tuck was my #1 choice from the start (didn't apply to H/S), but I also got into two MBA business schools ">M7 programs. I actually told admissions, Tuck was my top choice and if they admitted me I'd attend (not the best idea, but oddly at Tuck it seems to have been well received and I know a number of classmates did this).
@"cje2013" I chose Tuck over two over MBA business schools ">M7 programs (not H/S), and it was fairly straightforward for me given a focus on corporate strategy and GM. Tuck's alumni network really is second to none. People actively bend over backwards for you. There is a reason why alumni giving is at approx. 71% and will likely go up again this year. Alumni also tend to wear their Tuck hat first and their company XYZ hat second, which I love.
As for what I'd change. I do think Tuck needs to get a bit bigger (though not massively). Adding another 60-70 person section would do it. The problem is we'd need to build a new dorm. I hope we do so as soon as possible though.
How possible is it to take electives at Dartmouth outside of Tuck (eg a foreign language)? My understanding is that the Tuck's academic schedule does not align with Dartmouth's other schools.
What are the dorms like at Tuck? I'm assuming that there aren't too many off campus places to live in Hanover, so are all the students in dorms?
Do you get to choose what office you want to work out of for consulting? Or is it based on the consulting firms needs during recruitment?
I was recently talking to a current Tuck student and he told me that there are many free spots to interview with Investment Management firms (Fidelity, PIMCO...), since there is almost no student interested in the industry. What is your opinion and experience about Tuck to get a job in this field?
Thanks for this AMA! I had two questions:
1) I was wondering how many years of Work Exp did you have before matriculating to Tuck and what seems to be a good amount of WE for Tuck? I am curious because I took the GMAT right before graduating college and I will only have about 4 years of work experience before applying for Round 1 since the score is valid for 5 years.
2) Of your incoming class how many percent of classmates would you say (if you could) came from front office roles vs. "middle"/back office roles?
Bumping this as I have the same question as @freddyflintstone. Based on the Tuck Class Profile, the incoming class had an average of 5 years of WE. However, I'll be applying R1 with only 3 years of experience, and 4 upon matriculation. Isn't that same track as the typical 2 Year IB / 2 Year PE student? Typically, you'd have to apply after your first year of PE correct? I'm curious if the 5 year WE average is at the time of application or the time of matriculation?
The WE average is at the time of matriculation FYI. I think consulting brings the average down, while other industries bring the average up due to slower promotion rate.
great thread - how is VC recruiting at tuck?
@"1stWorldProblems" It really depends on what the class is. Foreign language tends to not work out; however, people do take classes at the engineering school and other masters programs.
@"mrharveyspecter" The dorms are fantastic, the majority have brand new Sleep Number beds and have en-suite bathrooms. Additionally, the shared kitchens are fairly well appointed and there is a gym in the building as well. Happy to elaborate further if you'd like. Finally, those with families live in Sachem Village about a mile or so from Tuck which are nice townhouses with easy parking, a play ground, and soccer field. They are quite nice to say the least.
@"Withoutapaddle" Like all consulting recruiting at top schools, you pick which offices you'd like to recruit at. For MBB we have people interning in primarily NYC and Boston, but also in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and San Francisco. As well as internationally in London, Paris, Australia, and Singapore.
@"Tximu" I didn't consider investment management at all, but everyone I know who did got multiple interviews and offers. So, it seems rather easy from Tuck.
@"freddyflintstone" and @"SlikRick" I had six years work experience and there is a wide spread of the number of years people worked before Tuck. As far as people with previous banking experience. The vast majority seem to have come from FO roles (Primarily IBD, but also AM). I know one girl who came from an odd MO role, but that is the exception not the rule. As far as how WE is calculated, it is at matriculation. You will not be disadvantaged with 4 years at matriculation, I know a half dozen people off hand who came in after a couple years in IBD and then two in PE.
@"Frank Slaughtery" VC recruiting has always been relatively strong, but recent tie-ups between Tuck and Dartmouth College in the Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network, has been bringing more VCs campus everyday. Additionally, there are many opportunities to have small group dinners with over a dozen VCs when they come to campus every couple of weeks. Finally, there is also a West Coast VC trek which was very successful for some people.
A great thread, thank you for sharing your thoughts and expereinces.
Can you talk a bit more about partners at Tuck?
I know about a third of Tuckies have partners with them, which is very encouraging. I have also read about how active they are in the school and community, from participation in clubs and trips to sitting in on classes. However, what about the more straightforward details, such as jobs for partners?
My fiancé is completing her MA at a T20 school, and we’re worried that a smaller setting (Hanover, Charlottesville, etc.) don’t offer her the career opportunities of a Chicago, Boston, or even the Raleigh-Durham area. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this and perhaps offer some information to assuage my concerns.
how is the social life at tuck being single? (i'm assuming you are as you didnt mention a wife/gf in your post)
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