Resources

Home to just over 600 MBA students, Dartmouth Tuck has built one of the closest-knit MBA communities in the world. Its location in Hanover, New Hampshire, fosters a collaborative culture that extends well beyond graduation through a loyal alumni network. Years ago, Tuck said it was looking for “nice” people. The admissions committee has since refined that language, now saying it seeks candidates who are “smart, accomplished, aware, and encouraging,” but we still think “nice” captures the spirit of a Tuckie remarkably well.

The Dartmouth Tuck application includes three essay questions that together give candidates ample room to introduce themselves to the committee. 

Essay 1

Your professional goals are described elsewhere in your application. What led you to those goals and to your understanding of where you need to grow? Why is Tuck the right environment to support that growth and help you achieve your ambitions? (2000 characters)

Dartmouth Tuck’s first essay is essentially a traditional career goals essay—but with a twist. In the application itself, you will tell Tuck what you want to do in a 300-character response about your short-term goals and another 300-character response about your long-term goal. But this essay prompt is asking for the whys: why these goals make sense for you and why Tuck is the missing piece. 

When thinking about the rationale for your goals, consider the experiences that have pointed you in this direction. Your explanation can take many forms. Maybe there was a pivotal experience that uncovered a passion of yours. I often think back to a client of ours who worked at a marketing agency. In conversing with her clients, she realized that rather than pitching taglines for toothpastes, she wanted to be setting the overall product strategy and direction of consumer goods as a brand manager. Maybe you have developed a deep interest in a particular industry through your career. Perhaps your goals represent the natural evolution of your current skill set. For example, you might have spent several years as a consultant solving analytical problems and now want to help organizations solve broader challenges.

The specific story does not matter nearly as much as the logic behind it. You want the admissions reader to finish reading your essay and think, “Of course these are this person’s goals.” The path should feel almost predictable, given the specific experiences you highlight. 

The second half of the prompt pertains to business school and Tuck specifically. The school notes that the admissions team is evaluating your awareness of your strengths and areas for growth. Do you need to become a stronger leader? A more strategic decision-maker? Do you need to build operational expertise? Gain exposure to entrepreneurship? Whatever your gaps are, connect them directly to opportunities at Tuck.

One exercise we often recommend is imagining yourself as a student on Tuck’s campus. What classes would you take? Which clubs would you join? What conversations would you seek out? How would those experiences help transform you into the leader you need to become? Answering those questions forces you to move beyond simply naming resources to instead demonstrate how you intend to use them.

Balance is critical in this second portion of your essay. For every element of the Tuck experience that you highlight, the reader should learn an equal amount about you. If you simply list resources without explaining “why” you need or want them, the reader learns nothing about you. Conversely, if you merely list your needs without tying them to resources at Tuck, the reader will wonder how serious you are about attending Tuck versus any other business school. 

For more tips, watch our video workshop Your Career Statement – Fact, Fiction, and How to Build One.

Essay 2 

People are often shaped by experiences that are not fully reflected in their resume. Tell us about an important aspect of who you are that has shaped you as a person. How will your perspective enrich the Tuck community? (2000 characters)

Tuck is explicit about what it wants in its first essay prompt, but this second prompt is much more open-ended. Tuck clearly wants to understand who you are, what has shaped you, and how your perspective will enrich the community, but what specifically you share is entirely up to you. 

Rather than asking yourself what makes you unique, ask what has most shaped you. Think about the experiences, communities, accomplishments, struggles, and moments that changed how you see yourself or the world. There is no “right” type of story. What matters is that what you discuss in this essay reveals something essential about who you are.

As always, specificity is critical here. Applicants sometimes worry that their chosen topic is too common. Many candidates could write about family, failure, mentorship, athletics, faith, caregiving, a difficult workplace experience, and so on. But your job is not to find a topic that no one else has ever selected. Your job is to make this essay one that only you could have written by including vivid details: what you saw, heard, felt, noticed, learned, and carried forward. 

The second part of the prompt asks how your perspective will enrich the Tuck community. This does not have to mean listing five clubs or forcing in a long “Why Tuck” discussion. It might include mentioning specific classrooms, clubs, teams, or community spaces, but it can also be about the kind of person you will be on campus—how you will show up in conversations, support classmates, challenge assumptions, build community, or contribute to Tuck’s close-knit environment.

In terms of balance, I would think about this essay as roughly 80% reflection and 20% projection. Most of the essay should help the reader understand the experience, value, perspective, or quality that defines you. The final portion can then be forward looking and explain how that part of you will come alive at Tuck. The reason for that balance is simple: There is more credibility in the past than in the future. If you do a strong job of showing who you have been and what has shaped you, the reader will believe your projection of who you will be at Tuck. 

Essay 3 

Describe a time when supporting another person was not easy or straightforward. What made it difficult, how did you respond, and what did you learn? (2000 characters) 

We love this third essay prompt because it gets at something that lies at the heart of every compelling story: If something was easy, it probably was not that meaningful.

By framing the prompt this way, Tuck is telling you something about the kind of community it wants to build. The school has always valued collaboration and generosity. It wants students who genuinely care about the success of the people around them. But this essay goes one step further. It asks whether you are willing to support others even when doing so is inconvenient, uncomfortable, or difficult.

When you are brainstorming potential stories for this essay, think broadly. Your example could come from work, but it does not have to. It could involve mentoring a colleague, advocating for a teammate, helping a struggling friend, supporting a family member, or standing up for someone whose voice was not being heard.

As you are working to choose your story, also think about balance across your application. Every essay should teach the admissions committee something new about you. Ask yourself, What have my resume and previous essays already shown? What dimension of my character would this story add? 

As for telling the story itself, the STARR framework—Situation, Task, Actions, Results, and Reflection—would be an excellent match for this essay.

Where I see applicants most often fall short is in explaining their Actions. They assume the outcome speaks for itself. But your actions reveal who you are. How did you respond when the situation became difficult? Did you have to persuade someone? Earn another person’s trust? Adapt your communication style? Advocate for someone who was not being heard? Get creative when your first approach failed?

Finally, remember the Reflection element. Tuck explicitly asks what you learned, so resist the temptation to end your story at the point when the problem is solved. However, if you have told the story well, much of the lesson will already be apparent. A sentence or two is usually enough to explain how the experience shaped your approach to leadership, collaboration, or supporting others.

For additional strategies on crafting your essay, watch our video The Importance of Business School Application Essays (and How to Write Them).