Feb 11, 2014

I interviewed on campus after completing a campus visit. My interview was with a second-year student. It was a blind interview–she only had my resume. It was a very conversational interview. Here are the questions I was asked:

-Walk me through your resume.

-Why an MBA now?

-What are your short-term and long-term goals?

-How will an MBA at Tuck help you reach those goals?

-What will you bring to the community at Tuck?

-Tell me about a conflict you have had in the workplace.

-What would you do if you had a member of your learning team who wasn’t pulling their weight?

-Is there anything that you wish I would have asked you?

-What questions do you have for me?

Overall, the interview experience was very positive. Although I wasn’t 100 percent ready for the “learning team” question, my interviewer gave me time to think about my response and made it very easy and natural.

Jan 7, 2014

I submitted my application for the November Round and got an interview call about a month later. I’m an Indian applicant and one of Tuck’s second year students was in my city for his Global Consultancy Project. So he scheduled a face to face interview and emailed me a week in advance. We met in the lobby of the hotel he was staying at.

The interview lived up to my expectations in terms of being very relaxed and conversational. The interviewer introduced himself in detail – where he is from, what he did before Tuck, and what he’s doing at Tuck. And then he asked me the following questions:

1. Tell me about yourself, what you have done in life so far, and reasons for the decisions you’ve taken in your life.

2. Why do you want to do ‘Retail’ and how will an MBA help you (I mentioned that I want to move to Retail from my current job)

3. What do you want to do after your MBA? How would Tuck help you?

4. Tell me a little bit about the restaurant you were involved in (I mentioned about this in my introduction)

5. Tell me about one accomplishment you’re really proud of and one failure. A little of bit cross-questioning.

6. Tell me about a situation where you acted out of your comfort zone.

7. When you’re working in a group, what kind of leadership attributes do you exhibit?

8. Tell me about a time when you had a difficult team member.

9. Asked a little about the volunteer work I had mentioned on my resume

This took about 30 minutes. Another 10 minutes for my questions. All in all, very friendly chat and he smiled often. I hope that’s a good sign!

My two cents to people preparing for Tuck interviews – Have a solid 2-minute introduction ready. Mention specific things about Tuck that you’re interested in. Smile lots but don’t be over-friendly.

Nov 27, 2013

The interview was held on campus, by a second year student and lasted about 45 minutes.
The interviewer created a very friendly atmosphere and started by talking about her background and experiences. She basically listened and made a few remarks about life at Tuck.

1. Tell me about you (I added “why MBA” and “why now” at the end of my answer)

2. Why Tuck?

3. Tell me about your teamwork experience.

4. Tell me about a difficult situation you have been through and how you handled it.

5. What legacy would you like to leave to the community at Tuck?

6. Questions for her

Overall, it was a pleasant day, except I was unable to visit a class since the students were taking their mid-terms. The staff was very friendly and I was able to talk to many students during the Q&A session and later at the cafeteria.

Nov 7, 2013

Received interview invite for my early action application as I was not able to visit the campus (I’m international). The interview lasted for 36 minutes, very relaxed conversational interview. We had 20-25 minutes for his questions and the last 10-15 minutes were for my questions for him.

Interview questions:
1) Walk me through your resume
2) Why MBA ( I covered long term, prior exp, MBA, short term)
3) Went in more details of Long term and how i am planning to achieve it
4) Why tuck
5) Example of a successful team you have worked with and what you accomplished? could be from undergrad or work ex.
6) What would your team say your three biggest strengths were
7) What does your team think you biggest weakness is?
8) Any failure/risk situation and how did you overcome?
9) Is there anything you wished I had asked?
10) What does your husband do? (as I am applying as a couple)
11) Any questions for me (had time to ask three questions)

Sep 28, 2013

The following questions were asked:

• Walk me through your resume?
• Why Tuck?
• Why you for Tuck?
• Why do you want to pursue an MBA now?
• Challenging team experience and how did you overcome it?
• What are 3 strengths that your teammates would say you have?
• What are a couple of weaknesses that your teammates would say you have?
• Talk about a passion that might not be on your resume?

And then she gave me about 5-10 minutes to ask her questions….

Sep 25, 2013

Approximately 30 minutes — 20 minutes questions for me, 10 minutes questions for her.

• Walk me through your resume.
• Did you choose your grad. school thinking you would join [unrelated industry that I'm currently in], or did you intend to go into [related profession]?
• What were your experiences at a rapidly growing firm?
• Why MBA now, given your good position in your firm?
• Long-term & short-term goals?
• Why Tuck?
• What can you contribute to Tuck?
• Questions for her.

Overall, quite relaxed and friendly atmosphere–very much like the overall atmosphere of Tuck.

Sep 24, 2013

Pretty similar to everything described on here. 25 minutes of questions, 5+ minutes of questions for her. Very relaxed and conversational, which was to be expected. The following were my questions, as far as I can remember:

1. Walk me through your resume

2. Why an MBA?

3. Why Tuck? –> This lead to a question of whether I picked my small, liberal arts undergrad because of its size

4. Extracurricular Activities at Tuck?

5. Time where you dealt with a difficult situation at work and what you did to respond

6. Long-term goals (had already alluded to these in why MBA/Why Tuck, but she still asked if I wanted anything else around them)

7. Questions for her

Overall, good experience, and I think it went decently

May 15, 2013

As a reapplicant, I was absolutely thrilled to receive my interview assignment during the visit of a member of the Adcom who would also be hosting a reception for interested students the night before.

Interview Questions:

• Walk me through your resume (you should know this one really well. ,make sure you cover the entire resume and not just the job part of it)
• Tell me more about your work and your company (niche industry)
• Tell me about a challenge at work and ow you navigated it
• What are your three biggest strengths that you’ll bring to Tuck
• What is one weakness that you feel hampers success at work the most
• What are your career goals and how will Tuck help you? (Answered it) follow up question: ok, whats the alternate plan? (Answered that) ok, whats the second alternative (she really drilled me on this question overall)
• Why Tuck? (This was my strongest answer)
• Any questions for me (asked her about the centers at Tuck)

Thats it. Thirty nerve wracking minutes and finally an admit

When I interviewed at Tuck, the school had scheduled a day full of events, including a class visit, lunch, a tour, and an information session. My interview was scheduled for the afternoon, so when it came time to have my interview I left whatever event I was in and went to the admissions office to meet my interviewer. At that point a second year student came to take me to a room he had reserved for our interview. Before the interview, I believe that he had reviewed my resume. During the interview first he asked me to walk me through my resume, and would chime in with questions about my background.

The majority of the remaining questions were primarily about how I would fit in at Dartmouth.

1) Why Dartmouth?

2) What can you bring to the school?

3) What do you know about the school?

The interview felt like a conversation, and did not seem to be very intimidating. I think that they just wanted get a sense of whether I would be a good “fit” at Tuck. Because they are such an isolated campus they really focus on fit.

Jan 18, 2013

Non-stressful atmosphere. Snowed day of interview. Missed class visit. Others did, too. Tour and first-year Q&A was informal and nice. Underground tunnels connecting all Tuck buildings so did not have to venture outside, although it was nice to look at the falling snow (not great to drive in, though). This was followed by another admissions Q&A by a seasoned admissions officer. Interview was last event of the day for me. Tip: highly recommend scheduling interview after at least tour and Q&A.

Interview was done by a second-year. Originally, not scheduled to interview me but last-minute switch due to illness. Turns out we had both a mutual colleague and a friend, one of whom was a Tuck alum.

Interview was blind and just off my résumé.

Questions, from what I can recall:

- walk me through your résumé (do bring a copy!). He asked for one and used it. Seemed like he was seeing it for the first time.

- example of setback

- if you attended Tuck, how would your classmates describe you?

- short-term and long-term goals post-MBA.

- why an MBA?

- greatest achievement.

- weakness

- why Tuck?

- any questions for me?

Overall, the interview was informal and more of a conversation. Not unlike how others have described it. Tuck admissions team intentionally does a great job making you feel welcome and at-ease.

My Tuck interview was with a 2nd year student who was very friendly.  He claimed it would be “conversational” style interview, but when I asked a question during the interview, he asked me to hold to the end. He was very focused on getting through a set of questions he had.  That said, he was very friendly.

1. Tell me about yourself

2. Why MBA? (he pushed for follow up and more concrete details)

3. Why Tuck?

4. Tell me about a great team experience you had.

5. Tell me about a conflict at work?

6. Why do you like [current company] so much?

7. What can you bring to Tuck?

8. What obstacles do you see preventing you from coming to Tuck?

9. What questions do you have for me?