Seval Harac, Tuck MBA Class of 2019
Age: 28
Hometown: Istanbul, Turkey
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Bogazici University Istanbul-Turkey, mechanical engineering
Pre-MBA Work Experience: 4.5 years in marketing at a CPG company
Why business school? Why now? I have worked in the same industry since I graduated from college. My reason for attending business school is to fill out the gaps in my theoretical background in finance and improve my skills in leadership in a global learning environment. Another reason is that I would like to make a career change and I believe that an MBA will lead me to achieve that goal.
Why Tuck? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend? Firstly, the rigorous first-year curriculum at Tuck—that is one of the most prominent aspects that attracted me. Another factor that helped me to figure out which school I would like to attend is Tuck’s tightknit alumni community. Because my undergraduate institution is similar to Tuck in that regard, I know the value of belonging to a community whose members strongly support each other. Even during the application process, I was amazed by how helpful and responsive Tuck people were.
What do you think is your most valuable or differentiating contribution to the Class of 2019? Empathy towards other people.
Fun fact that didn’t get included on your application? I collect rare vinyls from all around the world.
Post-MBA career interests? I would like to pursue a career at a tech company as a product manager.
Advice to current prospective applicants:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of your application process? You should absolutely spend a huge amount of time researching schools that are on your mind in order to find out whether they are actually good fits for you.
–One thing you would change or do differently? GMAT preparation. People generally apply to business school approximately after 3-4 years of professional experience. This is an amount of time that makes you out of academic practice. You need to spend time getting warmed up and then you can try to improve your pace. Since you cannot know how fast you will proceed from the beginning, I suggest you start studying for the GMAT as early as possible.
–Part you would have skipped if you could—and what helped you get through it? Getting recommendation letters is a real burden since people are very busy. Recommendation letters are tremendously important in applying to business schools and it is your duty to give your recommender the time required to prepare a thorough letter that explains your strengths as a candidate to the admissions committee. I handled this by providing a list of the important projects that my recommender and I did together so that she had some inspiration and examples to prompt her memory while writing the letter.
Greatest highlight so far at Tuck? Tuck offers a world of opportunities where the student can find multiple resources to enrich their horizon. And I feel very excited about all of the companies interested in recruiting Tuck students.
One thing about Tuck that you didn’t expect before arriving? Tuck is well known with its strong first-year curriculum but I was not expecting that the classes would be so heavily based on real-world problems. This really has a more motivating impact. You are spending time and effort on school work knowing that you will definitely benefit from what you’re learning now during your post-MBA life.
Thing you are most anxious about in your first year? Not being able to manage the balance between academic responsibilities and recruiting.
Thing you are most excited about in your first year? I really wonder where I will end up for my summer internship.
