Are you smart, accomplished, aware and encouraging? Dartmouth Tuck may be the MBA program for you. [Show summary]

Pat Harris and Amy Mitson, co-executive directors of the MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at Dartmouth Tuck, share all about the Tuck experience including its close-knit community, amazing alumni network, and unique location while offering guidance to those seeking to attend. 

What the Tuck adcom looks for in applicants, and how to show you've got it [Show notes]

Welcome to the 430th episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted's podcast. Thanks for tuning in. 

One of the questions applicants sometimes ask is, “Are Accepted's services worth the money?” The answer is a resounding, “Yes!” at least in my opinion. If you're curious as to why that's so, or why I’m convinced it’s true, check out the MBA consultant ROI calculator and find out for yourself how much not teaming with an Accepted consultant could cost you. Use the calculator and you'll see three different scenarios that you can try out. 

It gives me great pleasure to have, on Admissions Straight Talk, Pat Harris and Amy Mitson co-executive directors of the MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Amy joined the Tuck admissions office in 2000. An attorney by education, Pat joined the Tuck MBA admissions office in 2004. Both have assumed increasing responsibilities over the years and became co-executive directors in September, 2020 -- in the midst of the pandemic. I believe I met both of them way back when Tuck hosted a conference for admissions consultants in 2005 and probably had them on our typing-only chats way back when. 

Now it's my pleasure to have you both on for the first time. Amy and Pat, Welcome to Admissions Straight Talk.

Can you give an overview of the full-time program focusing on its more distinctive elements? [2:36]

Amy: The Tuck program starts with an expanded orientation for students to establish a firm foundation so they can jump into a very rigorous academic experience during their time at Tuck. It was several years ago when we redesigned the orientation program to now be called Tuck Launch and there are several components of that: integrated programming in Tuck Launch, experiential learning, as well as very specific opportunities for reflection.

We believe this sets a stronger foundation as people jump into the core curriculum. The core curriculum at Tuck begins and weaves its way through the first year at Tuck with expanded fall term opportunities and new data analytics courses. We made some changes to the winter term to try to optimize student academics as well as recruiting, and we've gotten some very positive feedback on that. When students head into the spring term of the first-year, a distinct element of the Tuck experience is the first-year project. Many MBA programs will have a capstone project in their first year. The uniqueness of Tuck is that students have total choice of the team that they want to work with and the project that they want to work on. It could be something consulting, non-profit focused, entrepreneurial where you'd present to investo...