Last Monday, I visited Tuck at Hanover. After having lunch with current students, I had a nice talk with Kristine Laca, the Director of Admission Office. Here is the summary of this talk.

S: Sfish, K: Kristine

S: What kind of MBA students is Tuck looking for?

K: Generally, we are looking for the students who have the following characteristics: 1. Academic excellence; 2. Good leadership skills; 3. Professional accomplishment; 4. Good interpersonal skills; 5. Diversity.

S: As one of the smallest MBA programs in top business schools, what are major reasons to make Tuck MBA program so successful?

K: The first reason is our recruiting history. Even in central LACE>New EnglandLACE>, our program keeps very bright record for students’ jobs and internships placement. Tuck has very strong presence in Wall Street, famous consulting firms, and top investment banks.

The second reason is our environment and culture. In this small, but tight-knit community, Tuck’s students and alumni are willing to help each other. Each year, more than 60% of Tuck alumni donate to our school. The donation rate is the highest in top business schools. Current students not only study together and play together but also help each to find internships and jobs. Some interviewers from Wall Street firms told me that Tuckees are a little strange. During the interview, the students may recommend their classmates who have more suitable background to the interviewers. The interviewers have never seen similar thing happened in other top business schools.

S: Does Tuck have any plan to increase the coming class size?

K: Currently, our targeting class size is 240 students each year, although we recruited 263 students for class 2006. So far, we do not have any plan to increase the class size.

S: Could you list the factors for Admission Committee to recruit the students in order of the importance? The average GMAT score of class 2006 is 704, does Tuck have the cutting point for GMAT.

K: The range of GMAT score in class 2006 is from 570 to 780, obliviously, there is no cutting point for GMAT.

When we recruit the new students, there is no fixed formula to judge the students’ qualification. We look at the students as a whole. For example, if one student’s GPA is not very good, but he got a decent GMAT score, we do not think his GPA as a big issue. Similarly, a good interview can compensate for a relatively low TOEFL score. So for different students, the importance of those factors is different.

S: Talk about the GPA, how does Tuck judge the international applicant’s GPA? How does Tuck verify the GPA?

K: For international applicants, Tuck does not require them to convert their GPA to 4.0 grading system. We fully understand that it is hard to do so. We also know that the grading standards are different among different schools. To solve this problem, we have the guidebook which has the detail information about all major countries’ grading system, like LACE>GermanyLACE>, LACE>IndiaLACE>, and LACE>ChinaLACE>, etc. For each country, we asked our alumni to evaluate the key universities which most of our applicants came from. For example, we know which universities are top ones in LACE>ChinaLACE> and India.

We are strongly against applicants fabricating their transcript. This is a serious ethic issue. If this kind of behavior is found, the applicant does not have the second chance to apply American business schools. I know that Wharton, HBS, Stanford hired very specific agents to verify the resume and transcripts. Tuck is going to do so. To reiterate, good GMAT score can balance the relative low GPA.

S: Tuck’s first essay is quite tough. Do you think it is hard for the young applicants, especially those who do not have management experience?

K: Studying in business school is a learning and a challenging process. Essay One is a provoking question. Find your own answer and explain it. There is no one right answer for Essay One.

S: Do you think essays can really reflect one applicant’s personality? How does the admission committee judge the reliability of the essays?

K: I always tell the admission committee members that there is no perfect applicant. In our guideline, we emphasize that the applicants should finish the essays by themselves. Do not use the so called application consulting companies to write your essay. They will use the similar strategy for all applicants who apply the same school. For example, previously I read about fifty essays with same structure to introduce themselves: If you want to know me, looking around my house maybe is a good way. There is (…) in the corner, which indicates (…). There is (…) in the closet, which shows (…), and there is (…) in my bedroom, which illustrates (…). This is because one consulting company told those applicants that Tuck likes this “creative” format. Some applicants even submitted the essays with the editor’s critique. We also have the computer program to screen the similarity in different essays.

S: How many Tuck’s alumni are in China now?

K: According our database, there are 24 Tuck’s alumni in mainland China now. Most of them are in Beijing. Several are in Shanghai. This is an improvement to several years ago, when there were just few Tuck’s alumni in China.

S: Last year, how many Chinese students applied Tuck?

K: We got several hundred Chinese applicants last year, including the applicants from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The admission rate for greater China area applicants is around 20%, and the yield is 60%.

S: What is Tuck’s plan for Chinese students this year? Increase the size or keep it stable?

K: There is no quota for Chinese applicants, neither for international students. The international applicants and American applicants are in the same pool. The overall admission rate for applicants is 12% to 25%, which is varied year by year. The yield in 2002 is 33%, in 2003 is 50%, and in 2004 is 60%.

S: Does Tuck have the particular scholarship for international students?

K: No, Tuck does not have the specific scholarship for international students. All admitted students who apply for financial aid will automatically be considered for the scholarships. Also, Tuck has the loan program for international students, which does not need co-signer.

S: Do you have any suggestions for Chinese applicants?

K: If you want to apply Tuck, just do it right now. This year is a good year for MBA students: the job market has bounced up and the number of applicants has decreased. I would love to have more Chinese students in Tuck.