Known for its intimate class size and rural setting, Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business attracts candidates seeking an immersive educational environment. Tuck’s Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, Luke Anthony Peña, has written at length how Tuck students are smart, accomplished, aware and nice. In this edition of Real Humans: MBA Students, we see just how all of these elements come together for the Class of 2021.
The 284 students of the Class of 2021 are a diverse group. Women represent 42 percent of the class. Nearly a quarter of the class identify as U.S. minorities and 38 percent of new students are international. A quarter of the new class come from the financial services industry and another 20 percent from consulting. Technology and non-profit/government each saw 13 percent of Tuckies before they began their MBA journeys. Other students brought backgrounds in consumer goods, healthcare, energy, manufacturing and more. Overall, they averaged 5.3 years of work experience.
In regards to their academic histories, the Class of 2021 had an average GPA of 3.52 at their undergraduate institutions. Forty-three percent had students art, humanities or social sciences. Thirty percent had majored in STEM and the remaining 27 percent had pursued business studies. Of those candidates who took the GMAT, they averaged a 723. About a fifth of the new class had taken the GRE; their average Verbal score was 163 and Quant was 161.
When asked why “Why Tuck?” as their preferred choice of business training ground, members of the Class of 2021 pointed to the strength of the Ivy League school’s community and those resources available to functionally support them in reaching their goals—not just after graduation, but beginning at their time at Tuck. In describing the community, candidates chose phrases such as “spirit of empathy and kindness,” “intimate, collaborative culture and dedicated, world-class faculty,” “tightknit,” and “active…people who share the same values.” To sum it up, “At Tuck, individuals self-select into a community that values intellectual curiosity and kindness.”
Read on for more about their stories, their advice for the Tuck MBA admissions process, and what they’re most excited about at Dartmouth.
