Dartmouth Tuck School of Business MBA Essays + Analysis 2024 - 2025

Dartmouth University's Tuck School of Business has released its MBA application questions for 2024 - 2025.

Here are Dartmouth Tuck's MBA application essays for the 2024 - 2025 application cycle. 

Tuck MBA Essay 1

Why are you pursuing an MBA and why now? How will the distinct Tuck MBA contribute to achieving your career goals and aspirations? (300 words)

This is a classic career goals and “Why MBA” essay. Think of it in three parts: why MBA, why at this point in their career, and how Tuck will help. 

We recommend that you use half of your essay to discuss why you want to pursue an MBA, and the other half to discuss how Tuck can help you achieve them. Engage the AdCom by starting with a brief story that explains why you decided on your career goals. This story should lead to a strong mission statement, which is the overarching purpose of your career. Note that you will have stated your goals in a previous short answer. According to Patricia Harrison, Tuck's Director of Admissions, Evaluation and Yield, it’s not necessary to restate them here. Focus on the motivation behind your goals, and recap them very briefly to show how they will contribute to your purpose. 

Note Tuck’s mission of developing wise, decisive leaders who “better the world through business”. Brownie points if your goals involve strategic thinking, decision-making, and leadership skills - those that align best with the school’s vision. As always, remember that your short term goals should be ambitious but realistic, and specify the role, company/companies, and industry you are targeting. Your long term goal should be naturally aligned with the skills and experience you will gain in this role. 

Draw upon your previous experience to show that you have the foundation required for your goals. Now, explain which skills you need from an MBA to be able to move forward in your career and achieve these goals. This will answer the “why now” aspect of the prompt.

Finally, you can match the skills you still need to opportunities available at Tuck to develop those skills. Be specific and research the resources, classes, extracurriculars, and external programs available at Tuck that can be a good fit for you. Speak to alumni, current students, and school staff to better understand the program. It’s best if your connections are working in your target industry or role, as this will give you keener insight into what’s right for your goals. For example, speaking to an alum who has previously held a leadership position in a student club that is relevant to your goals will help you understand what kind of responsibilities you can take on as part of the club, and how it will help you network with industry professionals and gain access to career services and opportunities.

You may also like to mention Tuck’s location - close to global financial and tech hubs like New York and Boston, but distant enough to provide a quiet MBA experience away from the urban bustle. 

Tuck MBA Essay 2

Tell us who you are. How have your values and experiences shaped your identity and character? How will your background contribute to the diverse Tuck culture and community? (300 words)

The first question asks what Tuck can offer you; here, you have to show AdCom what you will bring to Tuck.

This is a good opportunity to demonstrate to AdCom what differentiates you from the rest of the applicant pool. This could include your background experiences, what shaped your personal values, or a passion you have. 

You’ve already explained what shaped your goals in Essay 1; in this essay, you can discuss what makes you unique. This doesn’t need to be about work. Note Tuck’s school values: 

Personal: Tuck wants to know about your strengths, your aspirations, and how you view yourself. They want to see self-awareness and the ability to reflect on your decisions and grow from them.

Connected: The school is looking for a team player with strong interpersonal skills; someone who can network with driven leaders and thinkers and contribute to their community meaningfully. 

Transformative: What kind of positive impact do you hope to create with Tuck’s help? Think about how Tuck can enhance your skills and help you create a larger impact on business and society. 

To recap, the values that Tuck prioritizes are self-awareness and resilience, interpersonal skills, and impactful leadership. Using the SCAR (Situation-Challenge-Action-Result) structure, tell a story that illustrates how you embody one or more of these values. 

Next, connect these to how you will contribute to the Tuck community. For example, if you have discussed how you are passionate about improving access to education since you didn’t have easy access to education yourself, explain how you would work on this passion at Tuck through volunteer work with relevant local organizations. Make sure you create a link between your past experiences and lessons to how you will engage with the Dartmouth community and campus. When discussing your areas of interest and contributions, make sure you specify the role you will take up, your responsibilities, and goals you hope to achieve in that role. 

Tuck MBA Essay 3

Describe a time you meaningfully contributed to someone else’s sense of inclusion in your professional or personal community. (300 words)

This is, at its core, a diversity essay. 

Tuck is asking you to discuss a time when you helped create a more inclusive and supportive environment for others. Given that you’ll be in a diverse and highly collaborative learning environment during your Tuck MBA, the school wants to know that you will be an active and positive addition to its cohort. 

Depending on your demographic, there are two ways you could approach the discussion on diversity and inclusion:

• If you belong to an overrepresented demographic, for example white male Investment Banker or Indian male Engineer, use a story where you have used your platform to demonstrate active allyship or advocate for inclusion.

• If you’re from an underrepresented demographic along the lines of class, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, race or ability, use an example which portrays how your identity and lived experiences have shaped your goals, decisions, and values, and inspired you to take action.

In either case, we recommend using the SCAR method to structure your example:

Situation: Find examples of situations where you promoted inclusion. Describe your role and who was involved. Some examples:

• Leading a cross-cultural team or project

• Advocating for stronger diversity and inclusion policies at work

• Spearheading a CSR initiative

• Taking affirmative action for your community, culture or team

• Starting an entrepreneurial initiative with a DEI mission 

• Representing and supporting your community 

• Being the first to do something

Challenge: Discuss the challenge you encountered or the problem you tried to solve. Why was this important to overcome? What was at stake?

Action: Share your thought process and the actionable steps you took to overcome this challenge and ensure an inclusive environment for everyone.

Result: The keywords in this question are “meaningfully contributed”. So, having a quantifiable outcome is important to convey the value you added to this situation. Usually inclusion stories are tough to quantify, but you can try to measure your impact in dollars, number of people, project size, percentages, etc. 

Optional Essay

Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere (e.g., atypical choice of evaluators, factors affecting academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application. (300 words)

Like the prompt says, answer this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by your application. Don't add information here just because you have an extra 300 words to work with. 

Topics that you can discuss in your optional essay include employment gaps, your choice of recommenders, low undergraduate GPA or GMAT/GRE scores, any criminal records or expulsion from school, or any other extenuating circumstances that may affect your application. Reapplicants will have a separate question to discuss their reapplication.

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