AdmitMBA360 Blog formerly Journey to my MBA

Journey to my MBA

Thursday, September 28, 2006

Tuck Interview/visit experience

The visit and interview were great. Compared to my visit 2 years ago, I can honestly say that I felt that I was able to get a very good feel for the school this time around. I arrived on Sunday to rest up and try to get past any jet lag.

My wife did a bang up job of finding the Trumbell House Bed and Breakfast. It really helped to keep me relaxed by being in a homely place. Each morning, I was served my choice of up to 7 different home cooked meals.

The next day, I went to the school and accomplished 3 things.
1) Walked the halls of Tuck from corner to corner and took pictures. (I posted about 60% of them)
2) Observed student interaction, especially in the Pepsico cafeteria.
3) Finalized my prep for the interview.

Later that night, I met with three 2nd years(not pictured) who helped me greatly in knowing more about the school and preparing for the next day. We hung out Murphy's which is the popular bar visited by all Tuckies.

Observing the students like I did really helped me to see if the community at Tuck is really what they say it is. You'll have to visit for youself to see what I mean. In preparing for my interview, I made sure to go over some good stories that illustrated who I am. This turned out to be a huge help in my interview. I also made sure to review all the names and programs that I cared most deeply about that aligned with "my story for wanting an MBA".

On the day of the interview, I came in about 30 minutes early. I was handed a green folder. On top of it was a a customized agenda with my name pre-printed on it. My name badge had my name on it already and all I had to do was stick it on my suit.
The agenda had my interview time, who I was interviewing with, the time of the class I would be attending, the time of my lunch and school tour. It also provided information on where to go should any of the events end early in preparation for the next agenda item. Inside the green folder were my meal ticket, a school map, parking pass form to be filled out and handed to the receptionist, list of admissions staff and their contact info, flyers about various program in the school and a glossy school brochure. It really put me at ease to know that things were set up. ABSOLUTELY no other school does this that I know of.

My interview was at 3pm, which was ideal because I had time to walk around, visit class and soak everything in before heading off to the interview. They schedule interviews every 45 minutes and plan on having 30 minute interviews. Mine went 40 minutes.

There were 18 of us in the school tour.(Two of the guys had brought their wives) More than one staff member at Tuck were amazement at how big the group was. In fact, Greta (sp?) the admissions receptionist went out of her way when we got to the Whittemore dorm part of the tour to have one room opened up so that we could walk in. I asked one of the staff if the groups usually got this big and she said that the size was unusually large.

After the tour, we went into the admissions reception area. That room turned into a sauna real fast with 20 of us in there. I say 20 because, Dawna Clarke, the admissions director came in and welcomed us. She had someone close the door to reduce outside noise. I appreciated the gesture, but gulped as I remembered how hot that room got the last time I was there. Dawna introduced herself and then had everyone in the room introduce themselves by telling everyone their name, college, geographic location, and current career. That took a while. By this time, the room was hot and thick to the point that I could feel the air coming in and out of my lungs.

She then asked if there were any questions about the application process etc. 80% of the questions were related to international issues of the application. What makes these Q&A times difficult is that most of us were interviewing and we had prepared. At least I did. So I didn't have any program questions. If any, I had personal ones. I got the impressions that this was the case for all the others as very few questions were asked by US based applicants. After she left, I asked someone to open the door and I stepped outside to cool down because by this time, I was sweating bullets and so was everyone else. How polite we all were.

And so I waited an hour for the interview. It was a good time to run through my facts, stories, and personal bullet points.

By the way, nearly everyone (80-85%) wore dark navy blue suits. Even the women. Two of the three girls had graduated from Harvard. They both wore the same exact outfit except for a slightly different color dress shirt. They really looked sharp. All the guys looked sharp as well.

The interview was what I expected it would be. "Walk me through your Resume" was the first question. But the interviewer did a great job in making sure to brief me on his background before we got started. Doing so helped me to understand my target audience a bit better. Other questions that came up as we went along were:
1) Why an MBA?
2) Why Tuck?
3) How would you describe your leadership style? And provide a non-Resume example.
4) Why are you reapplying? What have you been doing since you last applied?
5) What are your short term and long term goals?

Throughout our dialogue, there were 4-5 other answers to questions that weren't officially asked, but one could have used what I had said to answer other questions. They were:
1) How do you get along with others?
2) Since you're older, how are you able to be teachable by younger students?
3) Why Full-Time vs part-time?

At the end, I was asked if I had any questions about the program, the interview, the interviewer or the admissions process. I didn't have any. I simply thanked him for being so kind to me through the interview.

Every person that came out of interviews all said that same thing with regard to how their interviews went. We were all interviewed in very similar fashion. One woman replied that she was asked the same questions as the essay questions. We all agreed that the interviews were very relaxed and low key. One gent commented how it was his best ever interview experience because it was more dialogue and relational rather than a grilling.

Later in the day, I went back to the B&B and e-mailed, Dawna Clark, the interviewer, and the two female hosts who took my group to lunch. I received replies from all of them that same night thanking me for the Thank You and reminding me that they would like to be of any help in any question I may have in the future.

Lessons learned and Interview suggestions for the future
To be truly prepared for Tuck or any other school, one MUST know all the answers to the following areas:
1) Curriculum outline for 1st and 2nd years
2) Initiatives, Institutes of the school.
3) How Instituts influence the education
4) Key professors or popular professors and classes. Talk to students to find this out. (Be careful that they align with your overall why mba goals that you talk about)
5) Some classes or program(s) that highly interest you. (Be careful that they align with your overall why mba goals that you talk about)
6) Any overall unique qualities about the school (i.e. class size, School vision)
{You can boil down the School vision in 3-5 key words. Here's a hint, for students, the vision is "community leaders". For staff, it's "Thought leaders". If you look at the Tuck web site... you'll see that everything boils down to this. if you can't do this with every school you're applying to... you didn't do enough homework.}

I'll leave you with one thought provoking thing about my experiences with Tuck. It's in reference to their notion of an "info session". They technically don't have one. I didn't get one when I visited Tuck. Nor did they offer it.

Even when Tuck is in your area, they don't provide "info sessions" in the way other schools do. In fact, I would dare call them "anti-info session". Here's why. During their info sessions, they don't do a song and dance of all the in depth features, programs, and curriculum as other schools do. Rather, Tuck reps give a 10-15 oral speal and then go into Q&A with very quick break-out so that you can talk with people one on one. It's absolutely mind boggling. When I took my wife to a Tuck info session, she whispered to me that she thought it was a waste of time. At the time, I thought she was right. Now, I have a completely different conclusion.

Ask yourself this,"What kind of students do you think Tuck wants?". Do you think it's people that are smart? People that are amazing future leaders? People with great GMAT and GPA's? All this is partly true. What kind of message are you sending when you have an "anti-info session" where presentation is negligable; face time with numerous alumni, current students and admissions staff is as long as you want to go; plenty of food and drinks with seemingly no time limit when one needs to leave the meeting room? Add to this, what kind of message are you sending when you mandate interviews to be done on campus where people like me have to fly and drive an entire day, pay lumps of money, just to be there for an interview?

If you can answer this question, you'll have found the most significant thing you can do to greatly enhance your interviews, your essays and your visits. I'm rather confident that I have the right answer. It's up to you to see if you can too. This is the biggest piece of help/suggestion that I can provide anyone applying to Tuck. If you don't get my meaning, then you'll have to visit tuck or meet with Alumni to discuss it. The answer isn't necessarily profound, just clearly audible as a clanging of a bell on a quiet night.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dave,

Great info. Just a few more weeks until the wife and I fly out. I'm really looking forward to it but am pretty anxious, too.

I hope the rest of your trip goes well.

Chris

5:25 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wonderful insight Dave.Thanks for all the valuable info. You are doing a great job.

10:47 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Thanks a lot Dave on bringing out what Tuck expects out of an applicant.

7:31 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

Journey to my MBA Locations of visitors to this page
Stay up to date with this Blog
Monitor changes to links on the sidebars of this Web Site
Dave's E-Mail

Subscribe with Bloglines Subscribe with My Yahoo! Subscribe with Google Subscribe in NewsGator Online Subscribe in Rojo Subscribe with Pluck RSS reader Subscribe with Bloglines Add to AOL
Get Updates of this Blog via Email:

Powered by Squeet.com
Some Noteworthy Blog Postings
Cornell-Johnson Visit Experience-Dave
MIT-Sloan Visit Experience-Dave
Wharton Visit Experience-Dave
Darden Visit Experience-'04-Dave
Darden Visit/Interview Experience-'06-Dave
Darden Pictures-'06
HBS Visit Experience-'04-Dave
HAAS Visit/Info Session-'04-Dave
Columbia Visit/Info Session-'04-Axechick
Tuck Visit/Info Session-'05-Laser
Tuck Visit/Interview '06-Dave
Tuck Pictures1-'06
Tuck Pictures2-'06
--------------------------------------------------------------
Michigan Info Sess. Experience-Dave
Columba Info Sess. Experience-Dave
Tuck Info Sess. Experience-Dave
World MBA Tour Experience-Dave
Travel Guides-Dave
Columbia Open House I-Droodoggie
Columbia Open House II-Droodoggie
--------------------------------------------------------------
Application Essay Advice-Dave
Application Essay Advice II-Dave
MBA App advice-Consulting/Management-Dave
Good Essay question Prep-Uniqpath
The MBA Journey Begins-Dave
The MBA App Process-MarketWiz
Picking Target Schools-Sghama
Pre-App Tips-Bloghorn8
How to interact w/ B-School Staff-Dave
Managing Your Recommenders-ClearAdmit
Schools I Picked & Why-Anand
Import App Elements-Redwolf056
A Successful Essay(Chicago GSB)-PowerYogi
Why Chicago GSB-Paul Jan
Stanford GSB Dean on Essays
------------------ Application Process ------------------
Advice on Admissions Consultants-Dave
Why get an MBA now?-Dave
Why do I need an MBA?-Dave
Story of Tenacity-Dave
MBA App Advice-Dave
Maximize your MBA Info Sess. Exp.-Dave
Low GPA Stories-Dave
Introspect on being resolute-Dave
Why Attitude Matters-Dave
Wharton's Interview Policy-RedWolf
Dealing with a Low GPA
Tuck's App Review Process
UCLA's App Review Process
Wharton's App Review Process
Every Essay Tells a Story
Your Story is so Interesting
What is a great essay?
Am I too young to apply?
When is the best time to apply?
Applying and not sure where to start?
Is school XXX any good?
The B-School Admit Hate List
Hey Applicant, Lay off the Buggin
Should I interview on or off campus?(See comment)
MBA Tour/Info Session Tip
The Interview
------------------ GMAT ----------------------------------
Low GMAT Success Stories
GMAT Score Needed in Europe
GMAT Score Needed
GMAT Score Needed by Age
GMAT Score Needed by Country
GMAT Score Needed by Race
GMAT Score Needed by Major
Budgeting time for the GMAT
Breaking the 700 Barrier
--------------------------------------------------------------
The B-School Route to Career Change
Pre-MBA Resources
MBA Math Build math and spreadsheet skills
Article
MBA Resources show all
--------- Video Interview's of B-School Deans -------
Video Interviews of B-School Deans
------------ B-School Visit Experiences ----------------
Admin Director Interviews
Visit Reviews
------------ MBA Forums ----------------------------------
Business Week Forum
Wharton Student Forum
PagalGuy.com(India)
Chicago GSB Forum
Yale Forum


----------- B-School Articles and News-----------------
How B-Schools get their name
BusinessWeek(B-School Headlines)
The Economist(News from Schools)
The Financial Times(Business Education)
Wall Street Journal(MBA Center)
----------- Gen MBA Info ---------------------------------
MBAMap.com
MBABuzz MBA Blogs, Forum, App Stat Plotter
MBA Info
GMAC
MBAZone.com
MBA Studylink
MBA Jungle
MBA Game Plan
MBA Official Guide
MBA Depot
Top 10 MBA
Ivy League Admissions.com
MBA Podcaster
MBA Jargon
MBA School Directory
Admission411
MBA 4 Success
Military MBA


------------ MBA Program Summary for Applicants---
Accepted.com
BusinessWeek.com
ClearAdmit School Guides
MBAMap.com
TopMBA.com
TheMBATour.com
WSJ School Snapshots
WSJ Who's Recruiting Where?
MBAPrepAdvantage School Profiles
------------ MBA Foreign Related -----------------------
Canadian MBA
Infozee "Foreign MBA"
------------ MBA Conf/Foundations --------------------
Top MBA
The MBA Tour
The MBA Diversity Alliance
Forte Foundation
Catalyst Women
Knowledge@Wharton Podcast
Association of MBAs
------------ Resume Help ---------------------------------
Wetfleet.com
Resumeedge.com
Resumedeli
Darden Resume's
MBA Game Plan Resume Help


------------ Essay Help ------------------------------------
American Dream Project.org - (Dave's Pick)
Essayedge.com (Samples) (Getting Started)
MBA Essay Strategy(download)
MBA Game Plan Essay Help
Some Classic Advice from Wharton Boards
Clear Edit Automated writing editor
MBA Studio


------------- Interview Insight --------------------------
B-School Interview Braindump-Accepted
B-School Interview Braindump-Clearadmit
------------- Ethnocentric Assoc. ----------------------
P.R.I.N.A.
yKAN
LEAD Program for minorities
------------- Post-MBA ------------------------------------
MBA Concepts
------------- MBA Articles---------------------------------
If you want your application to B-School to stand out;first do your homework properly, and then apply early
Admissions Tip:HBS Essay #2
Writing good essays from an ADCOM perspective
Top 5 MBA programs Article
The Full-Time Advantage
Overcoming Procrastination
Why B-School is good for our Economy

MBA Ranks show all
Ranks by Industry Sector Show
--------------------------------------------------------------
Forbes ranking measures the graduates' return on investment
Economist ranking reports how students and alumni rated their MBA experience
BusinessWeek surveys students and corporate recruiters and measures intellectual capital
Wall Street Journal is a corporate recruiter based poll (21 criteria)
U.S. News & World Report evals student selectivity and placement data and gathers the perceptions of deans and program directors to develop the ranking
Financial Times poll measures career progression of alumni, program diversity and a school's track record in producing new ideas in management
--------------------------------------------------------------
BusinessWeek '06 Rank
BusinessWeek '06 Slideshow
Financial Times '08 (PDF) (Interactive)
US News&World Report 2009
Economist 2008 Rankings
------Wall Street Journal Rankings--------------------
WSJ 2006(US)
WSJ 2006(International)
WSJ 2006(Academic Discipline)
WSJ 2006(Women)
WSJ 2006(Ethics)
WSJ 2006(Minorities)
WSJ 2006(Industry)
--------------------------------------------------------------
Forbes Rankings 05' Results - 07' Results
MBAINFO.com Rankings
Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2009
DTU Research per School
B-School Research Rankings
--------------------------------------------------------------
Financial Times E-MBA Rankings '06 PDF
BusinessWeek E-MBA Rankings '05
Money's top 100 MBA Employers '06
US News Category Ranks '06
Financial Times Category Ranks
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia B-School Rank 2000
Australian 2005 Financial Review
German B-School Rank
Computerworld top techno MBA Survey
Consus Group B-School Rankings
Entrepreneur.com top 100 Entrepreneurial Colleges
Find MBA Rankings
International Education Commission's Top 10
Marr/Kirkwood Comparison Rankings
Official MBA Guide:MBA Program Ranking and Screening

GMAT Resources show all
GMAC-Register for GMAT
---------- GMAT Articles ----------------------------------
GMAT 700+ Stories(download)
Why Prepare?
About the GMAT
How someone got a 760 score
How someone got a 790 score
Mark Rice GMAT Advice
Low GMAT Success Stories

---------- GMAT Forums ----------------------------------
Beat the GMAT
GMAT Club Forum
Scoretop.com-Forum and Files!
TestMagic Forum


---------- GMAT Companies ------------------------------
Bell Curves
GMATTutor.com
GMAX Online(Online GMAT Course)
Kaplan
ManhattanReview
Manhattan GMAT
Perfect GMAT
Princeton Review
Syvum.com
Test Prep New York
Test Prep Review(Online Course)
Veritas GMAT Prep
790GMAT GMAT Guru(SF based)


---------- GMAT Self Study Guides ----------------------
Corrections to Official Guide 11th
Advanced GMAT Math Study Guide
Deltacourse
GMAT Study Strategy
Micro Edu GMAT Prep Material
Probability Review(download)
4GMAT - Math Books (India)


---------- GMAT Resource/Reference -----------------
GMAT Scratchpad
Dr Math
Dr Math-Pascal Triangle
GMAT Official Guide Question Info
HyperGrammar
Krysstal.com
Manhattan GMAT Study Guides (Dave's Pick)
Math.com (Math Skills Review)
MathGoodies.com
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Texas A&M-College Algebra
The Math Page (For Basic Math Skills)
101 Basic Radical & Exponent Review


---------- GMAT Tests ------------------------------------
PowerPrep GMAT CAT (Dave's Pick)
Ascent Education
Arco
Axxent
800 Score (Dave's Pick)
English Test
GMATBuster
GMAT Cram.com
GMATExams.com
GMAT Practice Tests
Gorilla Test Prep
Manhattan GMAT Tests (Dave's Pick)
R&B Consulting Prep Software
Realtestquestions.com
ScoreTop Online Verbal-Quant Tests
TestMasters
TestPrep New York
Upstart Raising GMAT Simulator


Financing your MBA show all
Campusprogram.com
FastWeb
Finaid.com
Financial Aid Podcast
Foreign MBA.com
FreschInfo.com
Fundsnet-Search Engine
Gradloans.com
Graduate Fellowship Database
MBA.com-Loan info
MBAInfo-Article
MBAJungle-Article
Sallie Mae-MBA Loans
Studentawards.com
Tuitionpay.com
US Government's E-Scholar
MBA Admission Consultants show all
Accepted.com Forum
AdmissionConsultant.com
Brody Admissions
B-SchoolAdmission.com
Cambridge Essay Service
Clear Admit
EssayEdge.com
Essay Solutions
Expartus
Global Now
ManhattanReview
Maxx Associates
MBAdmission.com
MBA Applicant.com
MBA Apply
The MBA Exchange
MBAGameplan Article
MBAPrepAdvantage
MBA Studio
Stacy Blackman
Veritas Consulting
-------- Brazilian Admin Consultants ------------------
MBA Empresarial
-------- Commentary on Admin Consultants ----------
Why use them?
Comments about some of them
Not all Consultants are good
MBA Life show all
Chicago GSB Online Newspaper
Chicago GSB Magazine
Columbia B-School Wkly Online NewsPaper
Columbia Spectator Daily NewsPaper
Cornell Univ. Daily Sun (Main Campus)
Cornell Daily News Service Highlights
Dartmouth Online Newspaper
Tuck Today Online Happenings
Duke News & Community
HAAS Weekly
Harvard B-School Online Newspaper
Harvard Gazette Online Newspaper
Harvard Online Magazine
Kellogg Online Newspaper
News at MIT
Michigan(Ross) Newspaper
Texas McCombs Weekly
Michigan Daily Online Newspaper
Stern Online Newspaper
Stanford Online Newspaper
Stanford B-School Reporter
UCLA Qrtrly Assets Mag
Univ. Virginia Daily Online News
Wharton Online Newspaper
Yale Daily Online Newspaper
Yale Herald Online Newspaper
Blog & Other Resources show all
IQ Test
Efax.com
Bloglines
Computer Interval Clock
T-Mobile Coverage Check
Picasa
Hello.com
YouSendIt.com Send large files
Sendthisfile.com Send large files
Understanding Blog Template Code
SSI Developer - CSS
Changenotes.com-Web Monitor
Fodey.comNewspaperclip generator
MBA Related Books
Search Now:

Site Meter