Challenges of First-Year MBA Experience Inspire Bridge Gift

By Adam Sylvain

After graduating from his undergraduate alma mater, Middlebury College, Allan Dragone T’82 joined the sales training program at Champion International, a Fortune 500 company. He says he enjoyed the work but felt limited in what he could achieve outside of sales and marketing.

“I went to my boss and told him I wanted to take a shot at an MBA,” says Dragone, now senior advisor at Altamont Capital Partners.

The MBA decision came down to Yale School of Management—at the time, a relatively new program—and Tuck. The Upper Valley location and established reputation of Tuck ultimately won him over. Dragone says he loved everything about his Tuck experience but admits his first year in the MBA program was a struggle academically.

“It was a lot more quantitative than what I was familiar with from my time as a psychology major at Middlebury,” says Dragone. “I don’t think I ever worked so hard in my life as I did that first year.”

His persistence and the support of peers got him through year one and by the time his second year arrived, Dragone’s classmates were coming to him for help. 

“I did really well with a lot of the second-year strategy classes and was able to help classmates with their presentation skills which were second nature to someone who came out of a sales environment,” he says.

Year later, the challenges of that first year in the MBA program came to mind when Dragone began hearing about Tuck Business Bridge from several Middlebury trustees who had also graduated from Tuck. He quickly learned the value Bridge provides to students who are preparing for a similar transition.

“Through Bridge, you are exposed to a number of different skills and topics that liberal arts graduates can really benefit from as they enter into a world-class MBA program,” says Dragone, who funds a scholarship program for Middlebury students to attend Bridge. “I knew the Bridge experience would be really helpful for students with backgrounds like mine.”