Out of all the classes I've taken at Tuck, one of my all time favorites is Ron Adner's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Strategy class. In the class, Adner focuses on examining the challenges of entrepreneurial innovation and how one should approach the challenge of picking the right opportunity, aligning the right partners, and targeting the right market and, perhaps most importantly, setting the right expectations for a new venture. If you have any interest in innovation, I HIGHLY recommend this class for two reasons: #1 - Adner will rock your world, #2 Adner's frameworks will totally change the way you think about innovation strategy.
Adner has also just come out with a new book The Wide Lens: A New Strategy for Innovation, which covers a lot of the topics we discussed in class such as:
— How to see and manage the hidden risks in your ecosystem
— How to assess alternatives and establish leadership in collaborative settings
— How to reconfigure your ecosystem to create and leverage success
I can't wait to read his new book and would definitely recommend both his book and his class(es) to anyone interested in innovation or business strategy!
In a recent survey BusinessWeek asked graduates at America's Top Business Schools to rate the quality of teaching on several dimensions. I'm proud to say Tuck came in #2 for the Best MBA Teaching Faculty!
In my opinion, one of the many great things about Tuck is that professors tend to be more accountable and accessible to students because of the school's culture and location. Similar to the alumni network, it's incredibly easy to reach out to the faculty and connect with them on a personal or professional level. Feedback is highly valued and used by professors to improve their classroom performance. And, of course, there are some faculty such as Ron Adner and Matt Slaughter that have truly blown my mind!
Answer: Yes - a self-initiated interview is critical to your candidacy. The admissions office uses the self-initiated interview process as a way to #1 - gauge your interest in Tuck and #2 - evaluate your interpersonal skills.
If you're a domestic applicant, you absolutely must visit Tuck and schedule a self-initiated interview before your application deadline. If you don't visit Tuck, the odds of getting invited to interview are extremely low (<5%). Not visiting Tuck essentially tells admissions that you're not that interested in attending the program.
If you're an international applicant, it is understandable that you may not be able to travel to Tuck for a self-initiated interview. If you can't visit Tuck before your application is due, make sure that you attend an admissions event in your home country or connect with some current students or alumni so that you can show sincere enthusiasm for the school.
Often times when I host prospective student visits at Tuck, at least one student gets up the courage to ask, so what is there to do in Hanover? Understandably, this is a fair question to ask. Hanover is a small New England town of roughly 10,000 people after all.
The short answer is, life in Hanover is exactly the same as life in any other city, just minus the hot night clubs and with a smaller variety of restaurants and bars. As a former Manhattanite, I've actually been quite impressed with the number of activities and events in the Upper Valley.
Here's a glimpse of a few of my favorite aspects of life at Tuck:
Parties
The Upper Valley now has roughly one night club so to compensate for the lack of local night life, Tuck sponsors at a weekday cocktail party (Tuck Tails) and at least one big party each weekend (translation: great parties with free food and alcohol!). Dartmouth also has a love for themed, costume parties so needless to say, by the end of second year most students have a treasure trove of costumes and crazy outfits.
Scavenger Hunt - Team Scooby Doo
Party like a Rock Star
Lady Gaga Party
Proof that not all our parties involve costumes
Sports & Outdoor Activities
There are literally a million different sport-oriented activities you can get involved with ranging from hockey to golf or even triathalon training.
Intramural Hockey - The Official Sport of Tuck
Great Skiing in Killington, VT
Men's Soccer Team
Culture & The Arts
In spite of the small town location, we get a surprising number of great threatre shows and musical performances in the Upper Valley. The Dartmouth HOP sources and subsidizes a number of great musical performances and theater acts. Northern Stage, a theatre located in neighboring Vermont, also brings a number of NYC quality acts to the Upper Valley.
Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers @ the HOP
Evita @ Northern Stage Theatre - An amazing performance!
As some of you may know, MBA programs just publicly released total compensation figures for their 2011 graduates. To my astonishment, one of my T'11 classmates earned the highest total compensation out of any 2011 MBA graduate with a total pay package of $863,000. Holy moly! Not even in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that an MBA graduate (anywhere) could earn that much money their first year out of school.
On that note, if you're reading this Mr. or Ms. Anonymous High Rolling Graduate, you'll be happy to know I'm still considering full-time employment options and would even be willing to settle for a measly $500,000 in annual total compensation. Hit me up!
One month from today I will be in South Africa. I am so excited I can hardly control myself! No, this isn't a spring break trip. I'm actually going to South Africa on a Tuck sponsored learning expedition with 20 of my classmates. Although I've travelled extensively, I never been to any of the countries in Africa, so I am very excited to learn more about SA's economy and what it takes to successfully do business there. While we're in South Africa we'll be meeting with some incredibly interesting and diverse companies such as: Standard Bank, McKinsey South Africa, MassMart, Eskom, Streetwires, SafMarine, Grassroots Soccer (a really cool non-profit that leverages soccer as a vehicle to teach HIV prevention) and Pilanesburg Game Reserve. It should make for an amazing experience - details to come!
One of the great things about Tuck, is that it provides a number of excellent opportunities to further develop your global mindset as a future business leader. Like many schools, there are a variety of internationally focused electives, exchange programs and other international business learning opportunities. However, there are a few opportunities that I think are really special:
Second-year students have the opportunity to participate in on-site corporate consulting projects in international venues. This year projects ranged from a Swiss brewery start up (market assessment and feasibility study for an established brewer) to developing a market-entry strategy for a manufacturer in India.
An experiential course that helps students understand political, social, and economic developments in a specific country. The course focuses on the country’s historical antecedents giving rise to the economic, political, and social structures in the country and the key local and global forces that are likely to affect future development. It also exposes students to some of the leading companies in the country to illustrate some of the core management principles studied at the Tuck School.
Case Writing Opportunities
My good friend Shavonne got involved with business case writing this year at Tuck. Over winter break, she flew to China to meet the key executives (for the case at hand) and gather material. She said the experience she had with the Chinese executives was one of her more influential and rewarding learning experiences at Tuck.
One of the things that has really impressed me about Tuck is the cultural diversity. That might sound ironic given that Tuck is located in Hanover, a New England town with less than 10,000 residents, and even more ironic since this comment is coming from a former New York City chick. Hear me out on this: a third of our student body is of international origin. So while we may not have the most diverse community surrounding Hanover, the international students contribute a great deal of cultural diversity to our school both in the class and out.
As a die hard foodie, one of my favoite things about going to school with so many international students is that I've been able to try all of their favorite foods from their home country. The Tuck administration really makes a point to celebrate every culture here at Tuck, so we frequently have Brazilian barbeques (the best steak I've ever had!), Diwali celebrations (curry heaven), and China-Korea-Japanese Day Party (mind blowing dumplings) in addition to number of other international events. In addition to being incredibly smart, my classmates are wicked good cooks and I'm so thankful that they're willing to share all their traditions and holidays with us!
T'12 Student Performers at China Night Party
The ladies did a very elegant Chinese dance performance at the
party while Yang did a popular Chinese rap complete with nunchucks!
In my opinion, one of the best things about Tuck is it's Visiting Executive Program. The Visiting Executive Program brings senior executives to the school to share their expertise with the classroom and meet with students and faculty. From a classroom perspective, this program allows professors to invite senior executives that worked on the case at hand to the classroom to facilitate discussion. You'd be amazed at how much color and clarity their hands on experience brings to discussion!
From a student perspective, the Visiting Executive Program arranges opportunities for office hours, breakfast, lunch, dinner or roundtable discussions with the visiting executive. In order to create a more intimate setting where students can get a lot of one-on-one time with the executive, each meeting is generally limited to less than 10 students. Over the course of my time at Tuck, we've had executives such as Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon), John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods), Robert Eckert (Chairman & CEO of Mattel), Michael Ward (Managing Director at Bain Capital Inc), Brian Myerholtz (Principal at Boston Consulting Group) and a number of other top executives from nearly every industry.* Of course, as a former retail industry exec, my all time favorite visiting executive this fall was Mickey Drexler (CEO of J.Crew). Mickey is a true legend in retail, so my roundtable meeting with him was one of my all time favorite moments at Tuck!
I'm so happy that Tuck offers these opportunities because whether students want to leverage them for networking or just to learn more about an executive's experience, they are truly amazing opportunities to get access to senior business leaders. In some ways I feel that I've learned more from my conversations with these senior execs than I ever could just by reading a book or a case.
*(Disclaimer: As a student focused on general management roles, I've chosen to primarily highlight general management visiting execs. We've had a TON of high ranking banking, finance and consulting execs come as well, but I can't speak to them as much as I haven't followed their sign up lists as closely.)
In keeping with the spirit of a globally focused MBA program, we (students) have a photo contest each year for the best shot of the Tuck logo in a rare, dangerous or exotic place around the world. Here are a couple of my favorites!
If you're early on in the MBA process and still trying to figure out where you want to apply, the best piece of advice I can give you is:
Visit EVERY program you're seriously considering.
Yup, that's right. You heard me.
At the end of the day there are a lot of great MBA programs and frankly you'll get a great education at any of the top schools. That said, the MBA experience, especially first year, is intense. As the cliche goes, 'it's like drinking water from a fire hose'. Given the intensity of the program, it's really important to choose a place where you fit and will feel at home.
In early fall '09, prior to beginning the application process, I visited MBA programs that intrigued me. Tuck, just so happened to be the first visit on my list. Prior to visiting Tuck, I wasn't sure I was even going to apply here. However, that completely changed as soon as I stepped on campus. I fell in love with the New England charm of Dartmouth and was captivated by the classroom experience and the camaraderie of the students. I knew this was the place for me. Two years later, I can hands down say coming to Tuck is one of the best decisions I've ever made.
Given that you're about to make a $160k investment in yourself, it's entirely worth the extra time and money to visit each program. As soon as you visit a school, you'll know whether it's for you. And, as an added bonus, if you decide to apply you'll have plenty of great material to help flesh out your essay on Why MBA / Why School X.
As an MBA student, I truly believe there is no greater time for self-reflection and exploration. Unfortunately, first year wound up being so hectic I never had a chance to write about it. Now that I'm happily enjoying second year (read sleeping more than 5 hours a night) - I'd like to share some of my takeaways and advice for prospective students. As someone that is actively involved with the admissions office at Tuck and a number of clubs, I've found that many prospective students have the same questions but there doesn't appear to be any one stop resource to provide you with answers. I hope that this blog can answer many of your questions and give you guidance on your MBA journey.
