Interview and class visit experiences

[Dev]

This thread if for people who want to post their interview and class visit experiences....

[Dev]

Hi PGs,

I had been to Darden this weekend (24/25 Sep) and believe me it turned out to be a grt experience. Charlottesville is quite a scenic place esp with all that greenery around. The traffic is easy going and the entire place gives you a laid back city kinda image.

UVA is around 20 mins of drive from CHO airport. I reached the campus at 8 AM...parked my car and went down to the ADCOM office. First was a class visit....this was a decision analysis class and was primarily centred around probability/stats. I was told to give a small intro and basically speak a lil bit about my background. Then a Darden student asked me to pick a up a chit and answer the question that was written on it. This was simple...i mean they are just trying to make u a lil uncomfy.

The case study method was a first time exp for me and I found it pretty interesting. The prof started the class by asking one of the studs to give his view on the case. The 1st 30 mins of discussion was at a superficial level but then it started building up. What i found was that the prof was more of a co-ordinator. He was chipping in every now and then ...but he was extracting everything out of the class. Class participation was quite amazing...Almost 40 % of the class got an oppurtunity to speak...Also students were questioning each other or rather clarifying things amongst themselves. For example if student A has made a point and student B wants a clarification he would raise his hand and the prof wud give him an oppurtunity. Another distinguishing factor was the aptitude level at which the class was moving. That was more reflective of the students' apti level and not the prof's.

After the class it was time for an ADCOM interview. Darden has a very open interview...there are no specific questions as such and you are told to tell ur life story ...right from ur school days to the present. And thats happened with me. I was told tell my story but at the same time explain why I want to join Darden. It was never a monologue....infact my interviewer was asking specific questions in between...like the kind of teams I ve worked in/my co - currics/international wrk exp etc. Infact i never felt like I ws being interviewed. One question that she was very interested in was why i want to join darden and why an MBA. We also talked about fin aid etc. Oh ya she did ask for my resume.

Bottom line....If you have an interview with Darden...stay cool...frame ur answers well....make the entire conversation interesting....U have to correlate ur strengths with Darden's philosophy....Go thru the website....Listen to Dean Bruner's podcasts....I did most of my info gathering from Darden's website and from a frnd at Duke.

I have my Tuck/Duke intis lined up...And wud defi post them on PG....

Regards,
Dev

[nonedone]

Originally Posted by Dev

Hi PGs,

I had been to Darden this weekend (24/25 Sep) and believe me it turned out to be a grt experience. Charlottesville is quite a scenic place esp with all that greenery around. The traffic is easy going and the entire place gives you a laid back city kinda image.

Regards,
Dev

Great work Dev!

All the best!

Will post my experiences soon as well!

[Dev]

Hi PGs

Here’s my TUCK interview and college visit experience.

I flew down to Manchester, which is around 80 miles from Hanover and then drove down to White River JCT, another place near Dartmouth. From White River Dartmouth is around 15 mins of drive….My interview was scheduled for 8:30 slot and I guess I was the first one on campus that day…Dartmouth has a fabulous campus….and the location is damn scenic…this time of the year the leaves turn into all shades of red,yellow,green and brown...There aren’t many restaurants or hang out zones so I guess if you are at TUCK you don’t have any other option but to be at the campus…and more importantly its so damn cold that you wouldn’t feel like venturing around unless you are fond of snow.

My interview started with a resume walkover and then she started asking very probing questions.

• What do you think has been your greatest learning out of ur international wrk exp?
• Is there anything that you have learnt at ur workplace that you think you will be able to use at TUCK?
• How do you think that you have been doing good work at ur workplace?
• What has been ur biggest challenge in ur current assignment?
• Why Consulting? Do u think consulting falls in line with ur prior wrk exp/background etc?
• Why MBA? Why TUCK? Why now?
• How did your hobbies/co-currics contribute to ur overall development?
• Tell me something about taking up karate as a hobby?

My interviewer was quite helpful too…she took me to the fin aid office cos she didn’t have any answers to some of my questions.

I think that the TUCK interview is not an easy going one…its not a conversational types....Darden on the other hand is very interested in knowing what you feel is more important…in other words they don’t have any specific questions….and even if they have any they extract them out from ur life story. But TUCK’s inti is very defined and is quite fast track. You have to frame your answers very well and make sure that you don’t fumble or beat around the bush.

Tuck’s CDC was pretty impressive esp in the way they have staffed their office. Some of them are ex Tuckies and some of them have solid exp in the industry. Tuck also has a concept of open and closed interviews…for example if BCG wants to interview 10 students that it has shortlisted then it would have to interview 10 more. And these 10 would be students who didn’t get shortlisted by BCG. These are called open interviews where students bid for an inti slot.

Most of the applicants that I had come that day were apping to H/W/S and so I could infer that even though Tuck is M9 it still is a highly sought after school. I met some gr8 guys that day….one was working on wall street, one was a biochemist and the other a consultant.

I guess the idea of going down to hanover was worth it. The fact that my car broke down on I 293 is different story altogether....

I would post my Duke inti exp soon…

Regards
Dev

[kgkid]

Dev, you have started a gr8 thing here. May be i will be able to pitch in something in coming weeks. I am awefully late this time but hangin' in there.
Anyways, does Tuck interview every applicant just as Duke does?

[Dev]

I think TUCK interveiws all candidates...I met a couple of international TUCK students who got interviewed over the phone.

But these guys were from places like germany, brazil...etc ...i.e. not from over represented communities. Being an Indian i reckon someone who is serious abt TUCK should defi try to visit them...esp if one is already in US. U see theirs is a small class (240 strong) and they dont want to compromise on the student quality...plus they want students who are serious abt Tuck..

If u r in Dallas then why dont u plan a visit...u never know this may make a BIG difference....

Regards,
Dev

[Barricuda]

Dev

Did you do your interviews before submitting your applications? I am trying to figure out if yours essays come into play during interviews for the schools you interviewed with.

[kgkid]

Originally Posted by Dev

I think TUCK interveiws all candidates...I met a couple of international TUCK students who got interviewed over the phone.

But these guys were from places like germany, brazil...etc ...i.e. not from over represented communities. Being an Indian i reckon someone who is serious abt TUCK should defi try to visit them...esp if one is already in US. U see theirs is a small class (240 strong) and they dont want to compromise on the student quality...plus they want students who are serious abt Tuck..

If u r in Dallas then why dont u plan a visit...u never know this may make a BIG difference....

Regards,
Dev

Thanks for the info. Actually, I am not planning to app at Tuck coz of itz location "Middle of nowhere". I have a wife with a qualification to shake the doors of Lehmann Bros at NY. I cant let her S"Tuck" up. That is my problem
Otherwise, i have a great regard for Tuck and its excellent recruiter feedback.

[Dev]

Originally Posted by Barricuda

Dev

Did you do your interviews before submitting your applications? I am trying to figure out if yours essays come into play during interviews for the schools you interviewed with.

Yes I did my intis before submitting my essays. Infact the college supports this idea because they want you to get a feel of the program..... plus u also get an oppurtunity to personalize ur essays...

Having said that, I feel that my interviewer had read my essays....now that doesnt matter even if it was a bootleg copy....on Tuck's appn site there is an option of allowing the ADCOM to look at ur profile even before u ve submitted it....and I am sure they did it with me.

How do I know about it.....I reckon I made it out from the kind of curiosity my interviewer had esp wrt to my extra currics.

Your essays may or may not come into play during ur interview....actually it depends on ur interviewer and the school.

Regards,
Dev

[Dev]

Originally Posted by kgkid

Thanks for the info. Actually, I am not planning to app at Tuck coz of itz location "Middle of nowhere". I have a wife with a qualification to shake the doors of Lehmann Bros at NY. I cant let her S"Tuck" up. That is my problem
Otherwise, i have a great regard for Tuck and its excellent recruiter feedback.

I understand ur situation....Tuck's location is a major drawback.....I say this bcos I ve been there and some of the married folks over there had a smilar dilemma.

Regards,
Dev