myice

Round 2 / Adcom / On-Campus (Published December 9th, 2008)

Tuck invites all applicants to come visit the school and interview before (or right after) you apply. I scheduled my interview for the end of the day, so that I could participate in all the events they line up for applicants before my interview. At the beginning of the day, I was paired up with a current student and went to class and lunch with him. Then, there was a campus tour, followed by a brief Q&A with an AdCom. I think it is wise to schedule your interview for the end of the day because the interviewer really wants to find out why you want to go to Tuck and the events of the day can help you decide for yourself whether Tuck is right for you.

Questions:

Walk-through of my resume, starting from undergrad. Wanted to know what I was involved in outside of class in undergrad.
Why MBA? Which led to discussion of what my goals were after school and what my dream goal is.
Why Tuck? (This is very important to them and it seems they ask everyone this)
Tell about a time / how I work in teams.
Tell about a time / how I lead.
How will I get involved in Tuck, outside of class? (what groups and activities?)
I felt prepared for each of these questions, except the last one because based on talks I’ve had with current students and alumni, it seems that between course-work and recruiting, students have little time for extra-curriculars, especially in the demanding Fall Term. Anyway, in general, I’d like to say that people were extremely friendly here and that they really are looking for fit and people who know what they’re getting into in terms of the location of the school.

myice

Early Action / Second-Year Student / on-campus / Accepted! (Published January 28th, 2009)

I was an EA Tuck accepted Tuck applicant and did my interview about two weeks before the application was due. I would definitely recommend everyone to sign up for the on-campus interview if you can. Visiting the school you get the opportunity to see the campus and also explain a little bit more about why you think you'd be a good fit. Also, since Tuck is a unique place it is important that you feel a connection to a place that is pretty isolated but team oriented.

The interview itself was very laidb ack with a second year student. She had not seen my resume until I handed it to her so it was really a "blind" interview. She asked very general questions:

Walk me through your resume
Tell me about an experience where you led a team
Tell me about a difficult experience that you faced
Why Tuck and why now?
Those were really the only direct questions and the conversation flowed from there. It was a very good interview in that it gave you a sense of how Tuck approaches things: casually and with a focus on teamwork. She talked quite a bit about her own experiences at Tuck which was interesting but made me nervous that I was not contributing to my own case but since I was accepted I suppose it all worked out in the end.

myice

Round 2 / Admission-Initiated interview (Published February 4th, 2009)

We met in his office. Pleasant and laid back interview. He told me the interviews were casual and I did not need to wear a suit. He already had my resume printed, but I brought a resume binder & resume just in case.

Tell me about yourself and why you are applying for an MBA
Why did you choose your firm
Tell me about a team member that was difficult to deal with
Tell me about your involvement in your community service
Tell me about a failure or weakness
What do you think you can bring to Tuck, given that the students are so close and many have a lot more experience than you
What type of classes would you want to take at Tuck
Where is your favorite place you traveled
I asked what clubs / activities he did and what advice he would give to me for activities to join.

Right at ~60 minutes.

myice

Early Decision (Waitlisted) / Telephone (Published February 4th, 2009)

Just completed a telephonic interview with Tuck. (I apped in EA round, was waitlisted and then they wrote back saying that they would like to interview me)

The interview was very generic. There were no surprises. It wasn’t a blind interview. I believe she had my full application in front of her or at least, had gone through that in full.

Here are the Qs asked in the exact order that they were asked:

Tell me something about yourself covering your education, work-ex and your motivation for an MBA. (Answered as usual, but while covering work-ex, mentioned the switch from company X to company Y and underlined that company Y is very selective. (This was a lesson from Goizueta Interview ) )
You mentioned company Y is very selective. Why do you think so? And why did they select you? (Explained the rigorous process. As expected, she was impressed. Then, mentioned my traits like technical excellence, problem solving skills and teamwork)
Tell us about a work-related team-story. (Told)
What do your colleagues admire most about you? ( Quoted some qualities, with example. got appreciation)
Motivation for an MBA now. (Told, she sounded convinced)
Why Tuck? (Explained in detail, Clubs, courses, reputation; connected with my goals; she liked my homework)
How did you get to know about Tuck? (Told the whole story starting with the first time I saw the name in one of the rankings to the alum-hosted admission event. Mentioned how I loved the way their alum stood for them once they needed to postpone the visit. Told them how even I am connected strongly with my alma-mater. She liked this.)
Tell us tour involvement with Toastmasters. (Explained in detail how TM made me a better speaker, better leader and a better person. Mentioned that I’d like to rejuvenate Tuckmasters, the now defunct TM club of Tuck. She complimented me on that saying that TM is really a gr8 organization to be involved with.)
Any additional info that you’d like admissions-committee to know. ( Told about recent updates from work-front. She again sounded impressed and asked me to send a detailed note for this.)
Next, she asked if i have any specific Qs related to the WL process or anything else. Here r the Qs i asked:

Next step for WL candidates. (Nothing. It’s a long wait and all the waitlisted candidates would be evaluated at the end of last round. )
What about internationals? Don’t you encourage internationals to apply early to avoid Visa-hassles?? ( Yup, They are seeing to it that if possible, international candidates are notified a bit earlier. But that too will take at least a couple of months.)
Any chance of school/finaid for us. (School: no chances, all decisions with admit-decisions; finaid: chances are there.)
Possibility of a no-cosigner loan? (Tuck is still looking, but the last she knew, there was no improvement in situation.)
Overall, the interview went very well. I was very confident this time. (Goizueta effect maybe) I guess it was the kind that would have got me a seat at Tuck, had it been a regular interview. Even now i guess it may fetch me a seat some time in May.

myice

Nov. Round / Applicant-initiated / 2 yr student / On-campus / Nov 12, 2008 (Published February 5th, 2009)

To have my interview done before the deadline, I scheduled the interview on the last day and submitted the application right after the interview in the lounge.

The interview was very generic, 30 mins, same as what was published on clearadmit. It was a blind interview by a second year student, who had already got a offer from Merill Lynch. The interview itself was very laid back. He had not seen my resume until I handed it to him. The interviewer was excited to tell me that all members of his band got into the same firm, and they will rock together... I noticed he's quite engaged in his band practice, as he grabbed his guitar right after our interview to join the practice. Seems these guys were really having a great time at Tuck.

Here are the Questions asked:

Walk me thru your resume, let's start from undergraduate.
Why MBA? Why Now? Why Tuck?
Tell us about a experience of team work?
Any failure stories so far? (I answered very badly)
any international experience?
What do you think you can bring to Tuck?
Any additional info that you’d like admissions-committee to know. ( I just said no. that was stupid!)
any questions you have regarding Tuck?
Since this was my first interview during the MBA quest, I did not so weel. I didn't prepare well and failed to build a strategy regarding the ways to answer each question. And my essays was also completed in a rush, so I think I might have failed.

myice

Early Action / On-campus / Second Year Student / Mid-September (Published December 4, 2009)

It was very laid back, as expected. My interviewer was a 2nd year student who was very friendly. We chatted on the walk from the admissions office to the interview room. It was relaxed and cordial. He started with the disclaimer that he would be taking notes, and not to let it throw me off, because he was listening. Questions he asked:

Walk me through you resume
I see experience in country XX, tell me about that.
Why MBA? Why now?
Why Tuck?
Talk about a time you worked in a team.
Talk about a time you disgreed with your boss/supervisor and how it was resolved.
Imagine you are selling yourself to the adcom. What are the three things about yourself you would want them to know?
Any questions for interviewer.
In general, the interview was exactly what I had expected based on my research of Tuck. Laid back, not much in the way of behavioral questions, and a focus on teamwork. I'd say prepare thoroughly for the Why Tuck question and have a solid idea of how you want to walk through your resume.

myice

Early Action / On-campus / Second Year Student / Mid-October (Published January 6th, 2010)

The style of the interview was pretty laid back as I had heard from Tuck students and alums that I had spoken to. The interviewer introduced herself and we chatted a bit about my day at Tuck. She happened to be from New York as well and was pursuing Entrepreneurship, which was my focus as well. We also talked briefly about my campus visit.

Walk me through your resume (she hadn't seen it before hand)
What are your goals? Why do you need an MBA?
Why Tuck? (I could tell she liked the research I had done).
Why did you from firm X to Y and then Y to Z?
How did you deal with a difficult teammate?
Questions for me?
I asked her about her experience in pursuing Entrepreneurship and got a few more resources out of the conversation. She went into a lot of detail on how Tuck helped her go from the idea stage to an actual company. I also asked her about the close-knit aspect of Tuck and she related some experiences similar to what I heard from the other alumni. Also spoke a bit about Tuck and partners briefly. Overall, she really appreciated the research I had done since she said one needs to know what they are getting into in terms of location, accessibility etc.

myice

Round 2 / On-campus / Second Year Student (Published January 22nd, 2010)

I interviewed on campus with a second year student for round 2 (this week).

Overall, the interview was fairly laid back.

Questions asked:

Tell me more about yourself that I can’t see from your resume
Talk about your current job, your work in London, etc.
What motivates you to get an MBA at this point in your career
Why do you want an MBA at Tuck
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult teammate
What will you be involved with at Tuck
What is your biggest accomplishment in your personal and/or professional life
His questions took about 30 minutes. I then had 5 – 10 minutes of time to ask him a few questions.

myice

Round 2 / On-campus / Second year student (Published January 26th, 2010)

Definitely low-key. The interview got married where I went to undergrad and we chatted about that for a little bit.

Walk me through your resume.
Why MBA?
Why Tuck?
Didn't directly ask Short and Long -term goals but we worked it in
Talk about how you work in teams? (particularly with little guidance)
Talk about time you had to resolve a conflict and disagree with a teammate
Tell me about some of your activities outside of work
What about your analytical skills (I gave several examples of analytical background but he seemed most impressed when I cited understanding a specific concept from the Corporate Finance class I had sat in on)
Anything else I should know about you, why Tuck, etc.
Probing Questions: How many clients do you have now? Why would you leave your business?

myice

Round 2 / On-campus / Adcom (Published February 1st, 2010)

~45 minutes, very laid back

We definitely covered the whole resume, though not in order, i.e. no "walk me through your resume" question.
Got the standard why MBA and why Tuck questions.
Asked me what type of leader I was
Inquired about how I spend free time
For long term goals, asked if I had any ideas (since I mentioned entrepreneur aspirations)
Ended by asking what I had hoped she would ask but didn't. I responded that I was expecting more about my lack of a quant background, which led to some talk about GMAT scores.
Overall very friendly and welcoming. At no point did she attempt to surprise me with trick questions or anything of the sort.