How to Apply with Your Partner

Everyone has different criteria for selecting which schools to apply to, but this decision becomes even more challenging when your partner is also applying to business school. This was one of my challenges in the application process and a structured approach helped to ensure that my partner and I were both happy with the result.

First, start early. Aim to apply in the first round. But before you think about specific schools, it helps to agree on a few principles. Are you and your partner set on attending the same school? Or would the same city or region be sufficient? You’ll want to consider cost in this decision, as paying two rents might not be feasible. If you prefer to attend the same school, do you have a dream school that would be an exception? What will you do if only one of you is admitted to that dream school? Establishing these principles early will help you decide where to apply and will mitigate stress as you receive decisions.

Next, do your research. Some schools value couples and will go out of their way not to admit one of you and not the other. Others clearly state that they have no preference. Still others are known for often admitting only one member of a couple. While it’s not always easy to find this information, you should look out for a few clues. First, see if the application includes a spot to apply as a couple. Second, ask the Admissions Office or a host student how many student couples come to school together. This should give you an idea of how friendly a school is to couples.

Narrow down your list of schools and segment it into first round and second round—just in case. This way you won’t be caught completely off guard if the first round doesn’t work out as you had hoped. Once you select which schools to apply to, be honest. If you absolutely would not attend the school unless you were both admitted, say that in your interview. Just make sure not to say it if it isn’t true. At the same time, be careful not to turn your interview into a “couples” interview. The interview is your time to shine, so you should focus on your accomplishments and goals, and let your partner focus on theirs.

Once you’re admitted and select a school, there are a couple more things to consider. Give the financial aid office a call and see if they have suggestions for couples. If your school has first year “sections,” express a preference to be in a different section than your partner in order to maximize your learning and networking opportunities. You might also ask Admissions to set you up with another partner couple to chat about their experience and get their advice.

I hope this helps you navigate the application process. Good luck!

Ellen Cory, Forte FellowClass of 2014, The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

FINALS…and Recruiting?

It’s finals time at the Tuck School of Business and everyone is hunkered down in their dorm rooms trying to decipher between a deferred tax asset and liability and seeking to understand how to properly hedge one’s stock portfolio. Three finals and two papers stand in my way before two weeks of lying on my parents’ sofa, watching terrible reality television and decompressing from thirteen weeks of intense study groups, quantitative courses and innumerable assignments to be turned into each class every day. However, after receiving an email from our career services office today, I realize my winter break plans might not be as relaxing as I once thought:
“Congratulations! You have been placed on the closed list for company X.”
Oh, right. Recruiting – the very thing I came to school to do. At Tuck, companies come on campus to interview potential interns immediately following winter break. In between getting ready for finals, students have been steadily dropping their resumes and cover letters to potential employers with the very hope of getting on a closed list. Luckily, all is not lost if a student doesn’t make a particular closed list. If recruiters want to come on campus at Tuck, they can choose half of the students they will interview (the closed list) and the other half can “bid” their way on to the interview schedule. Each student is given 1,000 points to bid on interview slots which are essentially auctioned off. This process acts as a way to level the playing field for career switchers and it is proven to work: a historically high percentage of internship offers actually go to students who use their bid points to land an interview!
Don’t get me wrong; I am absolutely thrilled to be placed on a closed list for company X, especially since this particular company is one of my top choices for a summer internship. Yet, reality has set in that I might spend more time winter break preparing fit interview questions and scouring the aisles of Target for marketing and packaging innovations to get ready for marketing cases. Moreover, as the rest of the closed lists come out, I will need to figure out on which companies I will need to bid. Since I just took my Decision Science final, maybe I should build a model and use the Risk Solver skills I developed this term to optimize my own bid strategy…

Julie L. Reimer, Forte Fellow
Class of 2012
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Welcome to Business School – Do you like theme parties?

As I sit down to write my first post about my business school experience, I realize that despite having only been at Tuck for a month, it has felt much longer. We have already taken (and survived) mid-terms for Fall A; been overwhelmed by a deluge of recruiters from every top investment bank, management consultancy and Fortune 500 company in existence; and been asked to join each social and professional club the school has to offer. Yet, what I keep coming back to as an appropriate and helpful topic for this post is exactly the case we are set to discuss in my Leading Individuals and Teams class tomorrow: Building a Network.

Tuck has an extremely sophisticated method in building its infamously tight network of Tuckies: theme parties. Since classes began, I have worn a costume at least once a weekend, be it for Bar Golf, the 80’s party, the Mexican Independence Day Celebration, or just yesterday at the Tuck Scavenger Hunt. How does dressing like an idiot on a regular basis build your network, you might ask? Well, it is certainly easier to approach that intimidating ex-McKinsey consultant who always contributes insightful comments in class when he is dressed like a pirate and uttering “Arghhh” after ever third sentence. Or, after a tense study group meeting, it’s hard to stay mad at your group members when they are dancing in sumo suits or imitating Double Dare contestants. Theme parties have the ability to break down all of the pretenses of business school and let us put any differences aside and truly bond as a class. Plus, I’m pretty sure that if I call up a classmate in ten years to discuss a business opportunity, he might not remember me by name, but will at least recognize me as “the girl in the Nascar jumpsuit”. I’ve been told that your network is the most valuable thing you take away from business school, and I can’t think of a better or more fun way of building it!

Julie Reimer, Forté Fellow
Class of 2012, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth