It was 10:00 on a chilly December morning and I was sitting at my desk, frantically instant-messaging with my brother. “I read on a message board that Tuck started making calls last night,” I typed. “I don’t think I’m getting in.”
“They’re probably still making calls,” he replied. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
As if on cue, my phone rang. “This is Pat Harrison calling from the Tuck School of Business.” I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I was in.
Sitting in my cozy West Village apartment, in a far less tense state, I’m having trouble believing that seven months have passed since that call. Since December, a lot has happened. I’ve attended numerous NYC meet-ups with fellow T’12s, participated in an amazing Admitted Students Weekend up in Hanover, and, over the past few weeks, launched a frenzied long-distance apartment search. When I visited campus to interview back in October, my student host told me that, as busy as the application cycle had been, I’d find myself even busier once I’d decided which school to attend. I’ll admit that I hadn’t quite believed her until now. Between tying up loose ends at my job, applying for loans, and signing a lease on an apartment sight-unseen, this spring and summer have been a tad stressful.
That said, I’ve had a lot of help, beginning with the ever-patient Admissions Office. Current students have also been a tremendous resource, the Financial Aid Office made figuring out how to finance my MBA a near-pleasant experience, and the Program Office has held our hands through the housing lottery, pre-term program sign-ups, and just about everything else. I’ve also had the advantage of having gotten to know a lot of other T’12s, an experience that seems unique to Tuck, based on conversations with friends entering other programs. Having lived and worked in New York for the past six years, I expect entering an MBA program to be a major life transition, and it helps to know I’ll be greeted on campus by some familiar faces.
Since being admitted to Tuck, I’ve learned a few things about the school that I wouldn’t have known from looking at a brochure or fact sheet. One, I’ve been advised to bring costumes, as theme parties are a Tuck pastime. (Indeed, at a recent mixer, one T’11 gave me specific instructions on how best to dress like a piñata.) Two, Tuck offers a lot of opportunities to shift your expectations of yourself and participate in things you never thought you would. (My family still doesn’t quite believe that I plan to suit up for Tripod Hockey this fall.) Three, Tuckies feel so passionately about their school that they’ll do anything to convince admits to attend — even showing up in a lecture hall first thing in the morning in matching shirts and doing the running man to C&C Music Factory. On video.
Well, it worked. As I wrote after returning home from ASW:
“In short, last weekend was the best weekend of my life. I spent three days with, no joke, the most incredible group of people I have ever met. I feel honored to have a place among them, and I am now certain that I am attending the best possible school for me (if not the best possible school ever). I had an amazing undergraduate experience at a school that I will continue to love fervently for the rest of my life, so I never believed what I’d been told about how I’d feel even more strongly about the school where I completed my MBA. After last weekend, I get it. Pour me some more green Kool-Aid and sign me up for next year’s ASW Committee. I truly feel that I am about to embark on the best two years of my life.”
Read the full article: Getting Ready