MBA Insider: Admissions Q&A April 27, 2009, 5:57PM EST

Dartmouth's Tuck: Admissions Q&A

Admissions Director Dawna Clarke describes Tuck's latest curriculum innovation and explains why applicants need a "global mindset"

Dawna Clarke
Dartmouth

Story Tools

Dawna Clarke, director of admissions at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business (Tuck MBA Profile), laughed as she rattled off her 20-plus years of experience in the admissions departments of three top business schools. Three years at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler (Kenan-Flagler MBA Profile), 15 years at the University of Virgina's Darden (Darden MBA Profile), four years at Tuck…and she's still going strong. "I'm one of those lucky people who fell into something they love early on, and I've been at it for a long time," Clarke says.

While getting her masters degree, she found her fit when she decided to take some electives in the B-school at the advice of her advisor. And when, years later, Tuck reached out and offered her a position as director of admissions, she found an even closer fit. "I had always admired Tuck from a distance," Clarke says. "It was enticing to be a part of a school that had so much positive momentum."

In the 2008 BusinessWeek ranking of full-time MBA programs, Tuck ranked No. 12, and has consistently won top marks for career placement of graduates. In 2008, 91% of graduates received their first job offer by graduation. In a conversation with BusinessWeek's Mandy Oaklander, Clarke talks about Tuck's global mindset, its newly fortified curriculum, and its confidence that an MBA is still worth getting.

In terms of numbers, have you noticed any changes in the number of applications received over the last few years?

Applications to Tuck have been up four years in a row, but this year, it appears that the applications will be flat with last year's application volume.

Do you have any idea why?

If you look at the unemployment rate, the new figures that were announced last week indicated that unemployment is now about 8½%, so I think a lot of people think that because unemployment is rising, applications to business school will go up dramatically. But there's still 92% of the population that have retained their jobs. I think that people decide to sort of hunker down when the economy is bad: They keep their jobs rather than going to business school. So I think it's temporary, but we're pleased because our applicant pool had been increasing for four consecutive years. We get almost 3,000 applications for a class size of 240, so we have more than enough really great applicants to choose from.

Tuck only offers one degree program—the full-time MBA.

Exactly. I have had the opportunity to work for four different institutions—three MBA programs. I think it's a huge differentiator that Tuck focuses exclusively on the full-time, two-year program, in terms of access to faculty and guest speakers and recruiters. We don't share any of our faculty or administrative resources with competing part-time, evening, weekend, or global programs. I love the fact that Tuck focuses exclusively on the two-year program. It's definitely our niche.

Do you find you only get a certain type of applicant because of the rigidity of the full-time MBA?

Well, I think that one of the downsides is that we may not have as many graduates each year as another program that offers [many different] programs.