Isaac is a T'15 from Denver, CO. After graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in economics, he headed east for a job with Sears Holdings Corporation in Chicago, IL. Heading even further east, Isaac came to Tuck with his wife and one son. They’ve recently welcomed another little boy to their family. Isaac is currently exploring general management positions in a variety of industries.
A couple weeks ago, I hosted a friend of mine as he visited Tuck as a prospective T'16. It was hard to believe it was just a year earlier that I was visiting Tuck for the first time. I found myself telling him the same things that I was so impressed with a year ago, but this time with the added meaning that comes from actually experiencing it rather than just imagining how it would be. I’ve since reflected on how the main three things that attracted me to Tuck have lived up to my expectations.
• Setting – This is actually the one that took Tuck from off my radar (growing up and going to college in the West and then working in Chicago, New England was just never on my mind), to the top of my list. My wife and I loved the idea of living in small town New England during our MBA experience for so many reasons. My wife always fancied herself the small town-type but had never actually been able to experience it (she’s from busy Southern California). We also love the outdoors so no other MBA program we looked at could compare there. Also, with my wife’s plan to stay at home with our 2 year old, being in a quieter, more peaceful place had huge appeal to both of us. As you might expect, Tuck lives up to our expectations here in every way. It was a little bit of a shock for my wife to actually see how small it is, but after seeing there actually are stores down the road, she’s loved it! It’s even more beautiful than the pictures I kept showing her online. The cover photo was taken on a hike in the forest behind Sachem Village where we live.
• Dedication to the full-time MBA program – This one was harder for me gauge how important it really was, but I was attracted to Tuck having only one MBA-program. I like knowing that all of my fellow alums would have gone through a similar experience to me, and more importantly, it seemed that Tuck was able to more fully invest its resources in each class of ~280 students. I can’t compare this to other schools, but needless to say, from the very start I’ve been blown away by how well run the program—from orientation to the career development resources to how well integrated the classes are.
• Community – My expectation for this was pretty lofty because all of the Tuckies I talked to prior to attending raved about the strong sense of community throughout the school, and especially those in Sachem Village, where my family and I would live. The best way to demonstrate this since I’ve been here would be the support we got when we had our second baby boy 5 weeks into school. The Tuck Partners group organized meals for us for as long as we needed that were brought over by my fellow classmates and their partners—huge help to my wife. She has had more offers for help than she can accept. That support has been true from professors and staff throughout the school as well.
Our new Tiny Tuckie
So needless to say, I was pretty enthusiastic about sharing my experience with my friend and he certainly left with pretty lofty expectations of Tuck if he decides to join us!