Dartmouth Tuck School of Business 2009-10 Deadlines

Tuck has not yet released its application materials/instructions for the coming season but they did post their deadlines. Please see below for some important information about interviewing, especially if Tuck is a top choice for you:

Deadlines (17:00 EST)

http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/admissions/dates/index.html

                                      Application                           Applicant-initiated Interview to be Completed

Early Action                10/14/09                                 10/14/09

November Round     11/11/09                                  11/11/09

January Round          1/6/10                                      1/29/10

April Round                4/2/10                                      4/2/10

What is Early Action?

According to Tuck’s website, Early Action is a good option for reapplicants or new applicants who consider Tuck a top choice. Applying by the Early Action deadline allows you to find out your decision in December but does not obligate you to attend; you’d still have until January to make your final decision should you be accepted. To hold your space in the class, though, you will need to submit a $3,500 non-refundable deposit.

Interviews

Tuck offers all applicants the chance to sign up for an on-campus interview by the stated deadlines. Spaces fill up quickly, so you should schedule an interview as soon as you decide you want to apply (and appointments need to be scheduled at least 5 days before you wish to conduct the interview). If you are unable to schedule an on-campus interview, the admissions committee may extend an interview invitation after reading your application. In this case, though, there is no guarantee you will be granted an interview. This puts international applicants in a tough position, I think, because it is much more difficult to fly to Hanover if you are overseas. Schools are supposed to treat applicants equally but if Tuck is a top choice and there is some possibility that you could go to Hanover to interview, I would encourage it.

Application instructions and materials as well as interview sign-up will be available in August (mid-August for application and late August for interview scheduling).

Common MBA interview question #2

Common MBA interview question #1

Congratulations to those who applied in the second round! January 15 typically marks the end of the peak MBA application season. However, just because you’ve submitted your applications, your work doesn’t quite end yet as you probably know. Now is a good time to turn your attention to interviews, even if you don’t have one scheduled yet.

Interviews for international applicants are not just about good English; you will also be evaluated in terms of poise and confidence, which take time to develop. Your interviewer will not be recording every grammatical mistake or word you utter; rather, she will try to get an overall sense of your personality and communication ability to see how well you might fit in at your target school.

For the next few weeks, I’ll go over some common interview questions. This week, let’s start with a common interview opener:

Walk me through your resume.

While many Japanese applicants aren’t familiar with this expression, they are able to guess from context what this question means. If you get this question, you are basically asked to take your interviewer through your resume, giving an informative but succinct summary of your career progression. You will focus not on reading the resume or explaining every detail but highlighting the main points in your career growth.

Different people have different advice as to how to approach this question, but my personal preference is to use the outline below, which follows a chronological rather than reverse-chronological sequence as used in your resume. My reasoning is that “Walk me through your resume” is really the same as “Tell me about your career progression” in which case – when you are speaking – it feels more natural to tell your story from past to present than from present to past. If you are afraid this might confuse your interviewer, you can simply say, “Okay, I’d like to start with my university experience.”

Recommended approach:

1)    Start with your university experience. Mention anything you believe is worth highlighting – perhaps you were very active academically, or maybe you were the leader of a sports team or school organization. (e.g., “I graduated from XYZ University in 2003 with a major in political science. I was very interested in international relations and was active in …”)

2)    Proceed with your career, starting with your first position. Mention briefly what your responsibilities were, any significant contributions, and why you moved to your next position. (e.g., I started in the accounting department where I xxx and was able to contribute to xxx. Seeing my efforts, I was promoted to xxxxx in two years…”)

Remember that the main point of this question is to give the interviewer an idea of how your career has progressed since university. Highlight the most important points by briefly mentioning them only and save the details for other questions that your interviewer will likely ask you.