Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Welcome to the clear Admit MBA admissions podcast. I'm Graham Richmond, and you are about to hear a mini episode of the show that is part of a series of Admissions director interviews I conducted at the annual GMAT conference, which took place in New Orleans this year. The GMAC conference brings together admissions directors and other admissions professionals from leading business schools across the globe. So obviously, it's a great opportunity for folks like me to kind of get. Get their attention and talk with admissions directors and get all the latest on anything going on with the application process. So I sat down with admissions directors from a number of schools, and I asked them questions about how their team looks at artificial intelligence and its use in the application process. We talked about video in the application process. A lot of schools using kind of video interviews, online things these days, and also just general trends in the applicant pool and some other just admissions tips that they wanted to offer our audience. These are short. They're ten minutes long. And I just had a lot of fun connecting with these admissions directors, many of whom are friends I've known for 20 years now working in this industry. So please sit back and enjoy. And I will say, pardon the background noise. I mean, these are kind of man on the street type interviews. I was grabbing admissions directors right and left and taking them to the lobby of the hotel to kind of have a quick conversation. So you'll hear, you know, things rattling around in the background, whatever, but just enjoy. And, yeah, a lot of great advice. So these are must listen if you're applying to any of these schools.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: All right, I'm here with Amy Mitson from Tuck at Dartmouth. Amy, what's your title?
[00:01:45] Speaker C: I am the director of admissions recruitment and marketing at Tuck.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: Okay, and how long am I allowed to ask you? How long have you been at Tuck? Because I just feel like it's always a pleasure to get, like, you have veteran perspective. You've been at Tuck for a little while.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: I take that veteran title very positively. I've been at Tuck for 24 years. As I said before, thought I'd leave several times and tried to, but there was always another great opportunity. So here we are.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: Ok.
[00:02:09] Speaker C: Veteran status.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: So I have a couple of questions. The first is about artificial intelligence. Everyone's talking about artificial intelligence, and it's been like a year now that people have been talking about this. But what do you like? What's Tuch's stance on this, especially as it pertains to candidates who are making, you know, writing their applications and maybe availing themselves of some of these tools like chat, GPT, do you guys have a point of view, et cetera?
[00:02:30] Speaker C: Definitely a point of view. Candidates can absolutely avail themselves to the AI tools, but I start with the beginning of the application, where any applicant would start, which is with the statement of honesty and integrity. And you sign off that this is your work. So, yes, use tools to help spur your creativity. Maybe you have a little bit of writer's block and maybe the AI tools will help you with that. Use it to check your grammar, see how your essays and statements are coming together. But at the end of the day, you will be asked to talk about yourself in an interview. And so you don't want to use any tools that aid you out of your own story. So I would say, like, again, it could be your writing partner, but you still want to have your voice completely overlaid. Anything you share and think about your future interview, because that will be unassisted.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: And the interviews at Tuck, are they by invitation only or do you have a. Can people sign up for an interview?
[00:03:28] Speaker C: So two things. You can apply for an accelerated deadline for rounds one and round two and guarantee yourself an interview, or you just submit your completed application and you wait to be invited. We are very generous with interview invitations. There will be opportunities to come to campus and interview if you choose. The majority of interviews will still be done virtually. So as a candidate, you have your choice and you can accelerate your process a little bit to guarantee your interview. But we are very generous with interviews. So you go through the regular process and you'll still. You will still be invited for an interview.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Okay? Oh, that's great. So I have to ask, because when I think of Tuck and I, you know, you know, I've been to campus.
Is it as close knit as, like everyone says? Because I've been to campus as a visitor. Right. But, like, what? I always hear these stories about how tuck, like, how all the grads give money to the school at a very high, like, percentage rate and that they're all, like, rabid fans of the community. And so tell me a little bit about, like, is that really true?
[00:04:28] Speaker C: All of that is true. And there is a lot of the foundation of the truth in that is nobody's really from Hanover. So the minute people start at Tuck, they walk across the threshold and they're all in it together, no matter where they're from. And I think that is the first step to building the really close community. But we just, you know, the class of 2024 just walked across the stage and we did interviews, fun interviews with many members of the class. And again, this incredibly successful group of people who succeeded academically, who have their jobs. The reason why they said they liked Tuck so much was because of the biggest impact on the experience. They said people. They pointed to somebody else in their class, but the close knit community. Community. The unique spot in the universe where you don't have an existing network, and so you are leaning on people that you've never met. And, you know, I always say people are not like minded at tuck, but they are definitely, like, motivated, and that keeps the groups together. It's just. Just the crossing paths all day. Like, I could go on and on about it, but it really is true. And so you definitely don't go through any MBA by yourself. And tough even.
Even more because of the small size and the uniqueness of place and that nobody is. Nobody is that familiar with it. It's new to a lot of people.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Yeah, I do. Like, it's almost like it's like an adventure, right? Because you're. Everyone's being dropped into this, you know, unknown place to, you know. I mean, has anyone ever applied from Hanover? Like, there must have been.
[00:06:00] Speaker C: Yes, there.
[00:06:01] Speaker B: Somebody must have applied for Hanover.
[00:06:04] Speaker C: Oftentimes, if I'm doing a coffee chat or an event and I talk about, you know, nobody's ever really been. And there will be a Dartmouth grad in the group. So the Dartmouth grads are the ones who have the closest experience. Every once in a while, there's someone who grew up in Hanover, but that is. That is even more rare than the Dartmouth grad. Most people could be familiar with the environment if they, you know, kind of went to school in a similar place. Sometimes people. People like to draw those connections as they're looking, but there is a uniqueness to the place, and not everyone knows it.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Well, okay. And then the last thing I want to ask you, like, a funny question. So, when I've been to campus, I've often come via Boston, and I've always been surprised at how close tuck is actually to Boston. But also, there's, like, a bus that takes you. Is it a Dartmouth bus or a tuck? I can't remember. But there's something funny about how you go to, like, the train station in Boston or the bus depot, and there's, like, a bus every. Or even from the airport, too. They all just go. And it's like a special Dartmouth only bus. Like, and you.
[00:07:07] Speaker C: You are absolutely correct. It's one of my favorite things. I feel like I'm transported on a magic carpet each time I arrive at Logan Airport. But, yes, there is. It's the Dartmouth coach.
[00:07:16] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:07:16] Speaker C: And I have had friends from the city take it up to Hanover, and they. My best friend says that she. Every time she takes it, she feels like she's gotten a day of her life back. The beauty of the bus is that it again, five or six times a day from the airport, from the train station in Boston. And as soon as you get on the bus, you know you are gonna be in Hanover at the end of that two and a half hour.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:07:39] Speaker C: And it's, you know, Wi Fi on the bus. It gives you time back. You can do other things. Look out the window or work the whole way there.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: They showed a movie when I took the bus.
[00:07:47] Speaker C: Movies.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Water, you know, so I mentioned that just because it's a kind of a fun fact. But also, I think I'm always surprised that it's, like, two and a half hours and you're in downtown Boston, so it's really not so far. And I'm guessing that there's a nice tuck network and Dartmouth network in Boston and kind of probably all over the northeast corridor.
[00:08:06] Speaker C: Definitely. Yes. But it is a fun fact, and it's also a really useful fact. So if people are trying to figure out how to get to Hanover, you can get to Logan or you can get to South Station, and you will have several. Like, every few hours, there's a bus that really just takes you to the front door.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:23] Speaker C: And then all of a sudden, you're on campus.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Yes. And in fact, just as a. Like, to really attest to this, the time that I last came to campus, I literally took a plane from Paris to Boston and then got on the bus. The bus, like, rolled up as I'm coming out with my suitcase. And it was super easy. So I was like, wow, for a.
[00:08:39] Speaker C: School, that's the magic.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Yeah, it's really great. So, anyway, I know that you could be doing a million things at the GMAT conference, so I appreciate you making, like, a few minutes to chat.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: Anytime. I'm so glad you're here. To see you in person.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Yeah, it's fun. All right, well, thanks again, Amy.
[00:08:51] Speaker C: Thank you.
